Travelogue: Ximending, Taipei, Taiwan

4 years ago when I was planning to go to US, I bought an airticket that requires me to have a layover in Taiwan for 6 hours. Then, I already decided I want to make my pilgrimage to Ximending - the Shibuya of Taipei, Taiwan.

However, as things turned out. I never made that trip. Still, I constantly hear references on TV and watch shots from the place on taiwanese programming on TV. I must admit, despite all appearances, Monkey is very ha-tai. That basically means that instead of being a jpop or kpop nut, I'm actually a tpop monkey. lol You can see why...


My house is at Ximending!

Unfortunately, as circumstances would have it, my companions for this trip were not very cheena and find no excitement whatsoever in this "shopping district". Well, I will have them know that it is more than just a shopping district. This is a mecca for youth culture thankyouverymuch!


Look! Even miaomiao comes with its own shrine here. (Postscript: I think this photo was taken beside Shilin MRT station instead of Ximending)

Enough talk from me, just look at the pictures!





Some of the highlights of the short one-hour whirlwind tour of ximending included some students doing hiphop dancing along the street. There were also some people doing breakdancing in front of a hiphop clothing store which I dare not take picture of. I'd look too much like a hick lol or perhaps not at all since isn't it asian culture to snap snap snap? lol



Of course Monkey couldn't resist taking photos with the cutiedolls and the Da Ding Dang (read: big doraemon)



It was just too bad that we didn't see any cosplay girls (and guys) in action! We did see one at Shilin market area and she had a witch/maid outfit with a frufru umbrella, sitting at the MRT station waiting for her friend. Was hoping to see more in Ximending. Oh well. But perhaps this could pass off as some costume-play.



It's interesting how the indigenous people of Taiwan has costumes similar to the Native Americans. And more interestingly, a visit to the indigenous people museum near Yangmingshan and a very indepth and interesting conversation with one of the museum staff who was also of a ethnic-native background informed monkey that the tribes in Taiwan are of a austronesian background and have closer links to the maoris than to the tribes of sino-tibetan origins. *phew* that was a long sentence. In fact, none of the tribes have concept of the sea so they could not have had migrated through seafaring. The only tribe with such a concept was the Yami people who were from Philippines and travelled by sea to Taiwan and they are the "newest" people in Taiwan, well apart from the Han Chinese who arrived just a few hundred years ago.

See more photos from taiwan at my flickr account.

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Back

Although I am back, have been and will be very busy. Will blog about my adventure in Indonesia soon, especially the flight fiasco on the last leg of the trip.

Will be helping out with Homecoming 2006 tomorrow and then taking a trip to Pulau Sekudu with Wildfilms hopefully. Just got to secure some kind of transport now.

Need to blog about my Expedition H during Heritage Fest to the North Indian community. Today bumped into our guide for Expedition H at the STB info centre at sommerset. Turns out a couple of seniors from the geography honors class 2005/6 are also on attachment there and I bumped into one there today as well. I was actually there with some friends from China who are here for the LKY Global Business Plan competition finals. One of them was my fellow Bayer Ecominds representative in Philippines. She was representing China, naturally.

As the Earth spins, the world gathers in my little island called Singapore.

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Pulau Nias

Selamat Bagi!

 

From 17-20 July 2006, I will be at Pulau Nias, Indonesia, off the coast of Northwestern Sumatra helping out with a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) capacity training for local officials and the staff from Banda Restoration and Rehabilitation (BRR) in Nias. These are the people who essentially help to rebuild homes for the Niasan who lost their homes in the 2004 tsunami and the many subsequent earthquakes. In fact, there was just an earthquake last week.

 

It is to no surprise on my part when my mother called me yesterday with a worried tone in her voice asking me if I was alright because on the first day we arrived here in Nias, an earthquake of magnitude 7.2 hit East Java, subsequently causing a tsunami. Of course there were some concern by some of our team that the tsunami would hit Nias which is nothing more than a small island.  However, I rested well, assured by my basic geographical knowledge that any tsunami from the Pacific side of Indonesia would take quite a bit of effort to reach the Indian Ocean where we are.

 

The island is really rather fantastic. I took several videos and hopefully will one day share with everybody. Maybe even upload on Youtube or something. It’s just beautiful here. Settlements line the road along the eastern coast of the island where we are. The main tourism of the area involves hardcore surfers. That’s how rugged and pure this place feels to me. I visited a local Christian Orphanage where our NGO liaison volunteers. It was quite the experience. Also we saw a US hospital ship pulled up near the shore and people were registering to get on board for treatment. I almost wish we could stay here longer.

 

Currently we are staying at a house maintained by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). Surely if I don’t ever get to work for UN, at least I can say I’ve once in my life stayed in an UNDP accommodation. Yes, yes, I know it’s just cheap thrill.

 

Today we make the handing over ceremony of various work that we did with the remote sensing images and GIS datasets. I am also trying to learn as much Bahasa as I can. I knew I should have taken Bahasa last semester. Instead now I am just confusing my Thai, English, Mandarin, Spanish, Bahasa Melayu and Bahasa Indonesia! *lol* The good part is that some knowledge of Bahasa Melayu is coming back to me. Very very slowly though. Thanks to the lesson from itik a while back ago, visits to Frasers, ordering food from Malay stalls and just watching tons of Malay TV when I was a kid is really paying off. Haha!

 

While I am writing this in our living room right now, I would be posting this online from the headquarters of BRR that comes equipped with free wireless!

 

Stay tuned for more!

---

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Old School (Edited Version 2)

Old School Kicks Ass

By November

 

Earth! Fire! Wind! Water! Heart!

With your powers combined, I am Captain Planet!

 

Many 20-somethings amongst us would remember these familiar words from the popular American cartoon series, Captain Planet and the Planeteers. It was created in the 1990s to champion the environmental as Captain Planet battles villains like “Sly Sludge”, “Doctor Blight”, “Verminous Skumm”, and “Duke Nukem”. He is weakened by pollution, radiation, toxic waste and smog just as you would probably imagine our planet is being weakened by these very same things in reality.

 

However, these pollution-fighting, “save our environment” themed cartoons did not just begin in the ’90s. In fact, they started as early as the ’80s with the Canadian cartoon “The Smoggies” which is about an island-dwelling, environment-loving race called the Suntots, who are fighting a family called the Smoggies who live on a ship just off the coast and pollute the Suntot’s beautiful island and pretty much everywhere they go. When the show was introduced to USA, it was even approved and endorsed by the Greenhouse Crisis Foundation!

 

Once in a while I get random questions from people asking me when I started being environmentally conscientious and decided that I want to be an environmentalist when I grow up. It may be rather embarrassing to admit this to other consumerism-bashing environmentalists but the truth is… it all began from watching television – the greatest icon of consumerism of all times.

 

Still, imagine this – constant exposure to cartoons that celebrates the environment and teaches children the importance of protecting your environment from big bad polluting baddies. Surely a child would get the message after a while. In fact, I am proud to say that I am a card-carrying Planeteer, complete with mask and sticker book!

 

It was a time when air and water pollution were a main concern with oil spills regularly reported worldwide and the ozone hole was a global crisis that captivated the world’s attention. There was definitely a lot more attention paid to the environment back then. In fact, even popular cartoon series such as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles started including themes like social, environmental and animal rights issues!

 

Old school cartoons did make an impact. For me, it changed my life. When I meet up with budding environmentalists of our generation from all over the world, almost every one of them has heard of Captain Planet and sing the song proudly. It was almost as if we were brought together, just as the Planeteers were, by the powers of Mother Earth, Gaia, to champion the planet.

 

On the other hand, I really don’t remember any recent cartoons that have a strong environmental theme as before. What happen to our animated sword-brandishing environmental knights in shining television land? Alright, so recently there was that animated movie Over the Hedge. It was funny and best of all it touched on serious and updated issues like urban sprawl, especially in the US, where animals are losing their homes to our homes. Singapore has long passed the point of urban sprawl to urban domination. The movie would definitely serve as an answer to why the monkey crossed the road. Yes my friends, it is precisely why we find road kills on expressways, especially the one called BKE that cuts right across our Bukit Timah Nature Reserve.

 

The kids of today definitely need more of the vintage heroes we had that kicked some environmental ass. Maybe it’s not so much about oil spills or ozone layers anymore these days but we definitely need more heroes to defend our planet Earth on the silver screen. That will be the day when Barney the purple dinosaur starts giving great big hugs to trees and perhaps a kiss or two to endangered species!

 

Even the “big kids” of today get our share of environmental programming on our television screens. I recall vivid memories of days when friends begin a conversation with what they saw on Discovery Channel and Animal Planet the previous day that involves the fornication of African Elephants and battles to be the Alpha Male of the herd. Yes, sex and violence sells. However, it also brings to attention issues like conservation of endangered species. Local programs about the little known nature areas of Singapore is also a big hit. Without the media, Chek Jawa would never have been saved without the masses being alerted to its near destruction.

 

However, if we are just going to sit at home in front of our television sets, watching elephants having sex without batting an eye when people are appealing for help to “save the elephants”, then surely, the media has failed. If people merely indifferently watch on as Chek Jawa was destroyed without actually standing out and speaking up for its preservation, then the media is nothing more than blasé entertainment. It is really a very thin line between apathetic and proactive. As Captain Planet always says, “the power is in your hands”!

---

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Pitched green roof at renovated part of Botanic Gardens

By Joanne Leow, Channel NewsAsia
15 July 2006

Visitors to the Singapore Botanic Gardens will be able to enjoy a host of new facilities as its renovated Tanglin Core reopens to the public.

Tanglin Core will have a pitched green roof - Singapore's first - that showcases hardy plants like ferns and orchids.

A pilot project, the roof is part of NPark's efforts to use new technology to promote skyrise greenery.

Other high-tech facilities at the Tanglin Core include an orchid breeding and micropropagation lab.

But a sense of history is also important in the Botanic Gardens.

It has a library of 30,000 books and journals dating from 1875.

And its Herbarium, a plant museum that houses over two centuries of accumulated knowledge and plant collections, has attracted international scientists.

There are some 650,000 herbarium specimens at the museum, the oldest from 1790. - CNA/ir

Monkey says...
"Wow this is exciting news. Must visit the newly renovated botanic gardens!"

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Spotted on the MRT

Months ago, I was approached to give some ideas from my recent NHB work/research for the heritagefest MRT adverts.

Today I finally spotted it first hand on the way home from downtown!



How exciting... to see one's work in public. Well ok, I didn't write it neither did I design it but I gave them the idea, researched it and mailed them my writeup so as to use this little bit of information as a bit of enticement for the heritagefest :)

Honestly I like the cricket peeing one a whole lot more. *sigh*

Read full article here

Old School Kicks Ass

Earth! Fire! Wind! Water! Heart!
With your powers combined, I am Captain Planet!

Many 20-somethings amongst us would remember these familiar words from the popular American cartoon series, Captain Planet and the Planeteers. It was created in the 1990s to champion the environmental as Captain Planet battles villains like “Sly Sludge”, “Doctor Blight”, “Verminous Skumm”, and “Duke Nukem”. He is weakened by pollution, radiation, toxic waste and smog just as you would probably imagine our planet is being weakened by these very same things in reality.

However, these pollution-fighting, “save our environment” themed cartoons did not just begin in the ’90s. In fact, they started as early as the ’80s with the Canadian cartoon “The Smoggies” which is about an island-dwelling, environment-loving race called the Suntots, who are fighting a family called the Smoggies who live on a ship just off the coast and pollute the Suntot’s beautiful island and pretty much everywhere they go. When the show was introduced to USA, it was even approved and endorsed by the Greenhouse Crisis Foundation!

Once in a while I get random questions from people asking me when I started being environmentally conscientious and decided that I want to be an environmentalist when I grow up. It may be rather embarrassing to admit this to other consumerism-bashing environmentalists but the truth is… it all began from watching television – the greatest icon of consumerism of all times.

Still, imagine this – constant exposure to cartoons that celebrates the environment and teaches children the importance of protecting your environment from big bad polluting baddies. Surely a child would get the message after a while. In fact, I am proud to say that I am a card-carrying Planeteer, complete with mask and sticker book!

It was a time when air and water pollution were a main concern with oil spills regularly reported worldwide and the ozone hole was a global crisis that captivated the world’s attention. There was definitely a lot more attention paid to the environment back then. In fact, even popular cartoon series such as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles started including themes like social, environmental and animal rights issues!

Old school cartoons did make an impact. For me, it changed my life. On the other hand, I really don’t remember any recent cartoons that have a strong environmental theme as before. What happen to our animated sword-brandishing environmental knights in shining television land? Alright, so recently there was that animated movie Over the Hedge. It was funny and best of all it touched on serious and updated issues like urban sprawl, especially in the US, where the animals are losing their homes to our homes. Singapore has long passed the point of urban sprawl to urban domination. The movie would definitely serve as an answer to why the monkey crossed the road. Yes my friends, it is precisely why we find road kills on expressways, especially the one called BKE that cuts right across our Bukit Timah Nature Reserve.

The kids of today definitely need more of the vintage heroes we had that kicked some environmental ass. Maybe it’s not so much about oil spills or ozone layers anymore these days but we definitely need more heroes to defend our planet Earth on the silver screen.

Note: This is written for an environment column im helping to start in the ezine Uberture. It's really raw and rather badly done in my personal opinion. The theme for the next issue is vintage and I was really trying very hard to make a point which I myself am not too clear about. Give me some comment but please be gentle.

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Bye Bye Monkey

Tomorrow I will be leaving for Taiwan to board the Semester at Sea boat at Keelung, Taiwan.

Regarding my itinerary, not too sure since I will be on the boat mostly. Am thinking of joining the following classes:

SEMS 106: Environmental Ethics and Human Rights
SEMS 101: Global Studies (mandatory)
SEMS 160: Special Topics: Biogeoscience
SEMS (# to be determined): Environmental Geology

Sounds interesting.

For my itinerary in Taiwan:

5 July: Arrive in Taiwan
6 July: Day trip to Taroko Gorge
7 July: Yangmingshan Park

Itinerary in Singapore:

Boat docking on 12 July, rushing to school for honors briefing at 10am then will be back to boat, bring people to Ubin on 13 and then perhaps I will be off to E's home for dinner.

I heard there will be wireless access onboard the ship so I hope to be checking my email and blogging the many things I simply havent had the time to blog about recently.

See you in a week!

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NEA YEE Project Sharing @ Landmark Hotel

Not that this photo has anything to do with the project sharing today but after the session, (from left) Otterman, Anand and Acroamatic had dinner with monkey where a myraid of discussion occurred. Somehow batman, superman and wannabe dune worms from B-grade horror Tremors were pitted against each other for best storyline. Somehow skype, msn, yahoo messenger and strategy towards buying a macbook was discussed as well.

What an evening but nothing new and absolutely enjoyable.

Of course the project sharing was fun and I took lots of notes. Expect many posts to follow. Especially in Pulau Ubin Stories although a move is currently in the works to migrate to Wordpress. Blogger is just being hell for my patience when it refuse to uploads to the NUS server. Of course I'm being slack while away from Singapore. I haven't even been to the island for the last 2 months! Instead, in 2 weeks time I will be leading a group of min 22 visiting foreign students to the island. (clarification: im bringing the students to "the island", i.e. Pulau Ubin)

*sweat*

Anyways back to the project sharing. Weisong and Otterman did their little (and not so little) presentation with the participants taking it all in with Otterman's usual captivating powerpoint show and vivid storytelling. Even I who have heard 70% of the talk before had to laugh at a few "old" jokes. Otterman is a good storyteller and he knows it. After a while, I notice toddycat guides taking on similar ottermanish traits in their guiding techniques. Before you know it there will be an Otterman School of Guiding.



I enjoyed catching up with a few friends after my stint in Thailand. In fact, there is a food project (about choosing the right fish) which I might get in on. Afterall, it's similar to the fish project I did in US and has things to do with food, primary production and ecological footprint. Afterall, asians are the biggest consumers of seafood in the world! More details on the project to follow if it goes through.



For more photos, visit my flickr set.

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Low Spring Tide Morning at Changi

Yesterday morning at a luxurious time of 6am, Ria and I went to Changi for the last of the low spring time visits for this "season". I was really lucky to be able to go with her since I only just got in from Thailand 2 days before. What a way to get me reacquainted with Singapore!

In fact, this is the first time I am visiting our shores so early in the morning, save for the time we camp over at Hantu. Even then, our exploration of the intertidals were done only in the day time. The first thing we saw yesterday was this peacock anemone in the semi-darkness of early rays of the sun.



Despite promises of stingrays, lobsters and stargazers, we were not so lucky that morning. Nonetheless, for this monkey, anything would be interesting. Just take this pile of sand that threatens to be a very very long worm for example!



After talking about parasites just the night before, this is NOT something we want to go near! *grin* But then considering I'm full of foreign parasites after my swim in the Mekong River, this should be the least of my worries!

Of course there was no shortage of crabs that morning. It was bustling with activity. Every clumsy mammal step I take results in the hasty scurrying of an anxious crabby creature.



Well some just like to stay put.



Others couldn't care less! Instead they mock this city slicker of a monkey for her ignorance.



Monkey couldn't just let that lay and sought to seek an education. After seeing tons of "skeletons" and "moults", monkey finally voiced out loud what the difference between a dead sand dollar and live one was! Straightaway, I got my answer. Some poking was involved.



For more photos of my adventure on this sea of gold that makes me imagine what sahara would look like, check out my flickr set.



Edit: Read Ria's more educational account and check out the conch's eyes! Looks almost like they were photoshopped on but I can assure you... well ok, maybe not assure but I definitely don't think they were! Ria spent a long time coaxing the baby out of his shell! Also read about the anemone-thieves! Poor shrimp babies. Now they're deprived of a home because people have been removing the anemones which are actually the homes of shrimp babies. Instead, the anemones are now stuck in somebody's aquarium in their HDB flat. Hah!

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Year of the Turtle seminar

Date: Sat 24 June 2006
Time: 3.00-5.00pm
Title: Year of Turtle 2006 Public Seminar
Location: Imagination Room, Level 5, National Library Building, 100 Victoria Street
Webpage: click here

Speakers will include:

1) NIE's Prof Diong, turtle researcher & rescuer, who will give an account of Sea Turtles and Singapore: Biology, recent nesting, and conservation

2) Underwater World's Assistant Curator Wah Yap Hon who will share about Underwater World Singapore and Sea Turtle Conservation

3) AVA's Senior Wildlife Enforcement Officer Gerald Neo who will discuss the theory and practice of Singapore CITES and Sea Turtles

NParks' Senior Biodiversity Officer Jeffrey Low will facilitate.

There will be a Q&A for them so bring your questions. On their part, they will be bringing some exhibits.

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Charity Premier of "Fireflies: River of Light"

Recently got an email about SEC's charity premier screening of the movie "Fireflies: River of Light"

The event is organised by the SEC, Singapore Film Society and partners, to raise funds for the SEC's Green Volunteers Network. The screening will be held next Friday (2 Jun 06) from 6.00 pm to 8.30 pm, at GV Grand (Great World City). For details and enquiries, kindly refer to the attached e-flyer.

"Fireflies" was produced in 2003 and has been shown at Film Festivals like the Japanese Film Festival in Sydney in 2004. It is directed by Hiroshi Sugawara, and tells the tale of how an elementary schoolteacher, Hajime, captures the imagination of his students who passionately embark on a project to clean up the river and raise fireflies to fly over it once again, despite conflict with parents, the school administration and even the city itself.

Tickets are $10 each and will be issued on 2 June. Payment is to be made on 2 June by cash or cheque (made payable to ‘Singapore Environment Council’). For enquiries and booking of tickets, please email: fireflies at sec dot org dot sg by 31 May (Wed).

Sounds like a nice movie at an affordable price and it's for a good cause!

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BWV ReefTalk: Jocara Indian Ocean Quest

BWV ReefTalk
Date: 3rd June 2006 (Sat)
Time: 3 to 4pm
Venue: The Programme Zone, library@Orchard

Title: Jocara Indian Ocean Quest
Speakers: Caroline Durville
Summary:
In 2004, the Potter family set off on a one year expedition sailing their boat 'Jocara' around the Indian Ocean, visiting places like Krakatoa, Cocos Keeling, Zanzibar, Seychelles, Chagos and more. Come join Caroline as she shares some of her experiences, with images from above and underwater. Read the online diary of the whole voyage at www.jocara.net

ReefExhibits will be there with our info booth & poster display of our amazing local marine life so come by early to check out! Free seating and standing space available. More info on BWV at http://www.bluewatervolunteers.org/. Enquiries are welcomed, drop me an email at reeftalk at bluewatervolunteers dot org

Got this little bit of news of an interesting talk in my email today and though I would not be able to go, show some love for BWV :) I'm sure a certain duck and cow would be interested :)

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NOAH Dialogue

Recently I received an email from SEC regarding a dialogue session for the heavily debated Project NOAH.

Here's what the email says:

"Dear All,

Following on from our discussion on 12th April, at NSS, I mentioned that SEC will organize a follow up dialogue session to provide more clarity as to the NOAH project as well as to engage all concerned groups and steer the project forward in a constructive manner. Well I must apologize for the delay as Earth Day saw us committed with a whole bunch of projects and events, as usual. Anyway, we have finally arranged a session. Details are as follows:

Date: Thursday, 25th May
Time: 7pm
Venue: Hilton, Level 3, Vista 2 & 3

DRAFT AGENDA

1) Introductions
2) Brief Recap of NOAH Project as presented 12th April
3) Q & A / Feedback Session
4) Open discussion
· Collaboration
· Working towards a Blue Water Plan

It's rather a pity that I would not be able to attend since I am in Thailand but gosh golly wow, they're having the meeting at the Hilton hotel! That's sure a big step up from the previous meeting at NSS' headquarters with grapes and bananas kindly provided by Vilma. I wonder how much the meeting room cost...

Really quite a pity I would be missing out on such a luxurious dialogue session afterall!

On the other hand, I wonder if this is an open dialogue session where anybody can attend. In case you are wondering why SEC is organizing the session, that's because SEC has declared themselves the secretariat for the project. The middleman, the go-between, the money bearer, and well that's essentially what SEC was originally set up to do anyways. Or at least that's what I heard. Please correct me (gently) if I'm wrong.

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Elephant in Bangkok

When I arrived in Bangkok, I read in a guide book that elephants are banned in the city of bangkok by Thaksin in recent years. Apparently it creates traffic congestion in the already congested country.

However, I almost could not believe my eyes when I spotted this surreal sight of seeing an elephant in the redlight district of Bangkok just a few roads down from my hotel! It was unbelievable. For a moment, this city monkey thought it could have been a giant model of a monkey or perhaps even a mechanical elephant.

When I tried to take photos, the keeper came over and tried to sell me sugarcanes. I gave the guy a 20B and then gave the sugarcane back to him. On hindsight, I wish I fed it to the elephant because who knows if the keepers were starving him or not. But being a money tree for the keepers, hopefully they do not starve him.



Unbelievably, on going to the next redlight street, we saw another elephant! This time it was a female with no tusk. They were all rather juvenile elephants, judging by their size.

Anyways, just unbelievable. And in the redlight district no less! Probably because these were the joints catered for tourists and with the large amount of people at night, it was the best time to bring out the illegal street performers.

Of course there are softhearted monkeys like me that would rather die than to see these animals suffer. Sigh. Felt so helpless.

Read full article here

Monkey rescued from captivity repatriated to India

By Asha Popatlal, Channel NewsAsia
19 May 2006

A young rhesus macaque of Indian origin, smuggled probably by animal traders to Singapore, finally went home on Friday.

The monkey, named Asha, was held as an exotic pet before she was rescued from captivity by animal activists in 2004.

Louis Ng, Executive Director of Animal Concerns Research and Education Society, said: "When we first found Asha, she was chained up just outside the warehouse area. So it was in pretty horrible condition. There wasn't much shelter from the sun or the rain and also she was really fat, which means lack of exercise because they chained her up with quite a short leash."

Zoo officials estimate Asha to be about 15 years old, which would make her middle-aged.

Asha has been living in the zoo for the past 20 months while letters and appeals flew back and forth to find her a permanent home.

She finally headed to the Wildlife SOS Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre in New Delhi on Friday.

Mr Ng said: "Wildlife SOS will be doing the reintegration. They will introduce her to another rhesus macaque and see if she recognises and, maybe, they start to touch each other.....but it's a very long process because in the past few years she has never seen another monkey and it will take some time for her to recognise that this is actually her own kind." - CNA/ir

Rest assured, the thai government has yet to attempt to repatriate this monkey back to singapore. Nonetheless, this is good PR on ACRES side but repatriating a middle-aged monkey may not be the most effective. Most of the time, these repatriated immigrants do not adapt to the wild and continue to live in "captivity". Sort of like the prostitutes who get saved from the "evil crutches" of the human traffickers, only to return back to the trade willingly. Perhaps there are more consequences associated with repatriation than with captivity. We cannot only act on addressing the problems we see but pre-empting the problem before we can even SEE them! Definitely have to apply the precautionary principle here and do as the chinese say, "pull up the roots when removing grass". I am sure they are also doing their best as well to stop demand on this side of consumer-intensive singapore. All the best ACRES!

PS: Did you recognize Asha? The monkey is famous! She is the covergirl of ACRES on many publicity material that you can even see on the MRT trains!

Read full article here

Mixed Signals

Sustainable Thailand harbors Conspicuous Consumers!


Look past the police and you will see sharks fins hanging blatantly in the display window. (Click on image to Enlarge)

I do not know how to respond to such images when there are posters, publicity and propaganda touting a sustainable Thailand. I guess the practised reality is a clearer truth than a scripted one.


This was found on a bridge leading to the major shopping centres downtown.

Of course, contrastedly, the sharks fin shop was found at an area that was for wholesalers. Hide the ugly truth eh? Of course they are not going out of their way to hide it, it is just not in the main upclass shopping area but just beside. Not even very far away, only 10minutes walk through the busy international trading area. This Watergate Market area where Bangkok Sharks Fin is found is an area that is for international traders. People from all over the whole come here to purchase things wholesale to Europe, America, Asia and even Africa! There are shipping companies concentrated here, ready to ship out at minutes notice. So even if the Sharks Fin is not consumed there, this is the point where it becomes distributed worldwide, feeding into the consumption of Sharks Fin on a global level.



So what is sustainability? Is it from green buildings, better living environment, high standards of living, clean rivers, clean air or high rates of recycling?

Even if people do not consume sharks fin but are part of the global supply chain of feeding the consumption of sharks fin, they are still just as guilty even if their immediate environment is sustainable. Of course there are more examples of this than just mere sharks fins.



Thailand is trying to clean up its rivers which is so polluted I'm afriad I would have ingested parasites just by having its waters splash on my face during a boat trip. It reeks and its colour impossibly dirty. But most of the people in Thailand live in slums along these klongs. A colleague told me today that if he was the city planner of Bangkok, he would clear the whole place and build over. Of course that is not possible but then he is just trying to say how much of a mess the place is.


I'm sure it's not all bad, even if our onboard climatologist informed us that the air pollution in Bangkok is worse than Los Angeles and just a step behind Mexico City.

So they have horrendous water pollution and as we stand by the river we spotted blatant water leakages from the pipes spanning the river. Of course air quality and urban heat island phenomenon is outrageous. There are abandoned buildings all over Thailand. The traffic is ridiculous. Consumption of sharks fins, and possibly other illegal wildlife trade is not uncommon. Of course there are mostly Thai Chinese in Bangkok so nothing curious about the sharks fin bit. Restaurants in Bangkok sell Sharks Fins and Bird Nest ast there prime culinary items. So what is sustainable in Thailand?



I think I feel consoled that there are many NGOs very active in Thailand. On board with us is a Thai lady (well she's my age so that makes this monkey a lady too hah!) who works with the university in Chiangrai with the hill people. She told me she has many friends who were university classmates in Chiangrai who now work with NGOs in bangkok. Over dinner, I also met a girl who just graduated from the top law school here in Bangkok and has applied to go up north to work with the NGO in getting citizenships for displaced hill people. Of course there was robert, an american that gave us a talk in Singapore who works in the NGO here in Bangkok. So NGO is aplenty here as compared to in Singapore. People ARE working hard to improve the environment and quality of life in Bangkok.

This morning, there will be a talk from one such person who works with an NGO here helping sex workers to reduce AIDS in Thailand. Maybe then I will have more insights on how the battle here is faring.

See more photos from Day 3.

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Bangkok Day 2

More photos to be seen at my Flickr

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Blogging from Bangkok

The congregation awaiting despatch at our lil guest house in Bangkok

I have been in Bangkok for almost 7 hours and am absolutely lucky to have access to free wifi in my room at the guesthouse which we are staying at!

I am not planning on blogging excess details on MMM so if you are looking for the grits and gripes, please remember to check Ramblings of a Leaf Monkey every day.

Indeed, I believe I would have much time on my hand this 10 days in Bangkok. Already we have been to the chatuchak market and tomorrow we will begin our intensive tour of Bangkok.

For photo updates, remember to check out my Flickr Account.

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My kitty problem continues

Last night when I came home from a meeting, I encountered the source of the smell in the void deck. It was positioned strategically right outside the lift too. If anybody who was not careful step out of the lift, they'd definitely end up in the kitty trap.

Today I spot only 2 kittens with the mother who look almost just as big as the kitten herself. It was such a sad thought that the mother is so scrawny and probably very young too. The rest of the kittens and adult cats cannot be found anywhere in the vicinity. I hope the cat population has somehow decreased.

Thank you all for the advise on seeking help with cat welfare society. I would most probably take up the advice once I come back from Thailand.

I will be away for 6 weeks and during this time I will probably be blogging from the land of smiles.

Happy Vesak Weekend!

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Operation No Release

If you truly care for the animals with great compassion and wish them freedom, love, peace and joy, please do not purchase anything from any stores or merchants just to release them in the wild.

First of all, your demand would encourage suppliers to go out of their way to catch these animals just to satisfy your needs. These animals may never have to suffer had you not want to release them from what you imagined is suffering. If these animals are captive-bred, releasing them may be more torture. It would be like sending a rich man who has never had to find food for himself onto the streets with no money and no ability to find food. He might not even be able to find his way around or walk because he's been so used to being served. Of course he would ended up dead within the day or if he survive, ends up causing other innocents to die.

So here are some ideas if you really want to practice the release of animals for vesak day:

1) Become vegetarian for the day so you spare animals from being killed for the day.

2) Become vegetarian so that you will never be responsible for the death of an animal to become food on your table ever again.

3) Adopt an abandoned animal from a shelter and commit yourself to their care for the rest of its life. They cannot go back into the wild and if there are nobody to adopt them, they might be put to sleep. You can save and alter the fate of a vulnerable life by adopting these abandoned domesticated animals. This is much more preferable than to buy a wild animal for a pet or to go out of your way to import a pedigree animal only to find they cannot suit the environment here. You have to make a commitment to care for it for life because most animals who are abandoned because their owners lost interest in them or they got too big.

4) Donate money to an organization who is saving animals in the wild. I personally have donated 25 pounds to the World Land Trust to save an acre of rainforest in ecuador. They also have other projects like saving the mangroves in India or certain other wildlife in other countries. You can also help specific causes like the Orang Utans in Malaysia or the Asian Elephants. To really "release" an animal, you can donate money to a rehabilitation program that helps to release captive, injured or homeless animals back into the wild.

5) Be a nature volunteer or help spread the word! I've even given brochures to my mom to distribute at her shop in the heartlands but it is such a sensitive issue that people pretend not to see it. Alas, as she said, it's lucky nobody came and threaten violence as it is. But it's heartening that there has since been a reduction in the number of release in Nature Reserves. However, they may instead go to reservoirs and parks! This is why, on Vesak Day, the monkey will be helping to patrol Jurong Lake (beside Lakeside MRT) to make sure nobody tries to release any animals into the lake.

Although according to the article below, it is also suggested that people can "release fishes already caught in the kelong, and release back into the deep sea. For freshwater fishes, there are fishes kept in the tanks at seafood restaurants. You can buy them and release them into the ponds. They are ponds in certain areas that allow people to release fishes there". However, I have seen the ponds in Bright Hill Temple (Guang Ming Shan) where people release turtles and fish. The ponds are so overpopulated and overcrowded that there is no space for the animals to swim or move. Although they are alive, they are living in poor conditions. The best would be to not release at all because all you need to do is to remember that you are responsible for the life of this animal forever. Releasing it into such bad conditions would make you responsible for its suffering. Remember, it can be free instead of 'released'.

----------------------

Fewer people releasing animals into the wild during Vesak period
By May Wong, Channel NewsAsia
11 May 2006

SINGAPORE : The National Parks Board (NParks) says fewer people are releasing animals into the wild during the Vesak period.
It is hoping this downward trend will continue ahead of Vesak Day celebrations on May 12.
During Vesak Day celebrations, some buddhists would release animals such as fish into the reservoirs.
The act symbolises compassion and respect for life.
But such actions do more harm than good to the animals.
"The animals are not able to fend for themselves. Imagine this, you're kept in a homely environment where you're given food everyday, then all of a sudden, you go into the wild. But where's the food? So in the end, they die of starvation," said Sharon Chan from the National Parks Board.
Last year, NParks saw only seven cases where people released animals into the wild, a significant drop from 44 in 2004.
To keep the cases low, some 100 park rangers and volunteers will comb the reservoirs and nature reserves over the Vesak Day holiday.
Animals released into the wild such as the reservoir die within a day and their decomposed bodies affect the quality of the water.
Things are made much worse if the animals are sick with diseases.
Some of the common animals released are fish and frogs.
The Singapore Buddhist Federation is also educating its devotees to do the right thing.
"The best way is to release fishes already caught in the kelong, and release back into the deep sea. For freshwater fishes, there are fishes kept in the tanks at seafood restaurants. You can buy them and release them into the ponds. They are ponds in certain areas that allow people to release fishes there," said Sik Kwang Sheng, secretary-general of Singapore Buddhist Federation.
Those caught releasing animals into the wild can be fined up to $50,000.

Read full article here

Feedback needed

Several new nature/environment-related websites have been launched recently and seek feedback from youths... and the young at heart of course *grin*

1) Vilma of NSS writes:

"We're coming up with a new webpage for Nature Society and would value your input. Do you like what you see attached? We'd like young people like you who value nature to give us some feedback. This is a mock up with respect to the text... But these are the suggested features.

Thanks
Vilma"



You can view the mockup design at: http://tinyurl.com/hdnne
Email your comments to: vdroza at nie dot edu dot sg

2) Patrick of MEWR writes:

"Youth Habitat goes live! Give us your feedback!

Youth Habitat is a first-stop environmental portal for 13 to 25 year-olds. From this portal, you can:

* Find out more about our environment
* Check out the environmental activities you can join in
* Be inspired by what other youths are doing for our environment
* Hook up with environmental or youth groups for possible collaboration
* Or see how you else you can make a difference to our environment

Check out the portal now at: www.youthhabitat.sg

Please share with us your feedback on how we can make this portal even better. If you have any events, stories, tips or other information you would like to share on this portal, do let us know. Or better still, if you want to volunteer to be part of our team of writers, you are most welcome!

Email your comments to: Patrick underscore Chu at mewr dot gov dot sg

Thanks a lot!"

Read full article here

My feline problem

This sweet pie is not so sweet when the stench of pee and poo accumulates in my previously clean void deck. Sorry if this sound elitist but the area usually smells clean and fresh. This is due to the design of my flat, the void deck, being not void but like a condominium that has units on the ground floor, and thus individual home owners keep the area very nice and clean. But because of the 8 cats running around outside this one flat on the ground floor, the place is exceedingly smelly.

Let me explain.



There used to be 3 grown cats and they were adorable. Then they had a litter of kitten with 4-5 new kitties. These babies are cute but the increased in population has led to the floor being dirty, stained and reeks of an overwhelming stench of amonia. What is worse is recently I heard the calls of a kittie in heat and I can almost expect another litter to appear around my flat. I do not understand why the kitties do not poop in the grass right in front of their unit but they don't. The increase in population has overtaken the environment's natural ability to neutralize the wastes. The family also does nothing to create toilet facilities for the felines. There are no litter boxes. Food is served on plates but at the same place where the cats pee and poop. I know they try to clean up at night as I see them mopping the floor outside their homes sometimes but I still smell the stench increasing everyday. Technically that area is public corridor and it's right beside our letter box.



I really love these kitties but the neighborliness-irresponsibility is overwhelming. Unfortunately due to certain religious or ethnic sensitivity, I am afriad to approach the family and suggest neutering the cats. I thought of writing a note and slipping it into their letter box but that would be quite irresponsible. I honestly have never spoken to this family and it kind of intimidates me. How do I make sure they know I really do love cats and have all our interests at heart? How do I get the guts to do something about this? Or maybe there is nothing I can do because it's none of my business? Should I respect their choices? It is worth respecting? Do I have a right to do say something? What happens when there are MORE cats?! These cats are not feral but they get to run about the neighborhood and do not ever enter the house it seems. I cannot suggest adopting them and I do not want to disrespect the owners by sneaking them off to neuter, god forbids! Besides what if the owners do not want to give them up and enjoy the multitudes of cats?

What should I do?

Read full article here

Heritage Fun on Foot!

Click to enlarge

"Find treasures in the heartlands with Fun on Foot"

Fun on Foot in the Heartlands will be held on 22 July 2006 from 9-3pm. It's like an amazing race with the flag off point at Jalan Besar Stadium in conjunction with Heritage Fest 2006. Come in a team of 3. The prizes are really attractive. In the open category, first prize is $1000!

You will soon be able to register online at:
http://www.heritagefest.org.sg
[not updated yet, please be patient]

Unfortunately, Monkey and Azure are not eligible to participate as disclaimed in a typical miniscule footnote at the bottom of the registeration form that says staff family and of whatever association cannot enter. Oh well, we wouldn't want to ruin the fun for you guys either *grin*

Do check it out!

PS: The poster is amazing. How many places can you identify? It's very "Where's Wally"-ish! I love the details. *gush* All we need now is a Wally. Can you spot the 4 Mr Fun on Foot?

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River, Bridge and Jelutong Tree

Monkey writes about the Jelutongs on Pulau Ubin and I mean the river, the bridge and the tree.

Read: "Jelutong Namesake" on Pulau Ubin Stories

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If Geography was Greek... Part II

Well children, it would appear that Ms Monkey's Geography class yesterday stirred a few closet geographers amongst us and also earned me a few knowing nudges. Hopefully my "geog-challenged" state would not get to the ears of my professors in charge of the NUS Geography Challenge where I am in charge of quizzing the youths of Singapore about .. well Geography.

I am sure many of you are looking forward to the continuation of yesterday's class where we will now look at the geography of the Americas. I shan't go into too much detail because in total, the continents of North and South Americas contain more than 20 countries in total (39 to be exact, yes i counted)!

But let's be realistic, most americans do not know the Geography of the United States - just watch the first episode of the reality program Beauty and the Geek. Most can't even spell Mississippi and Massachusetts!

"The study found that less than six months after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, 33 percent could not point out Louisiana on a U.S. map."

While I know how Florida look like, and maybe even Mississippi too, but I sure as hell cannot remember how Louisiana looks like on the map! Gosh, wasn't Katrina in New Orleans? *Gasp* That's actually in Louisiana? Wow. Gee, they keep talking about the Mississippi river but it's actually not in the state of Mississippi? Somebody ought to have made that clearer. Damn semiotics.



So now you know, look for Texas - the largest state in USA, the triangular piece of loin cloth at the south of USA - and you'll find Louisiana, the boot, on the right of it. Look up, you'll find Arkansas, home of Bill Clinton and then right of Louisiana is the real Mississippi state.

Now the interesting bit is, while the Americans cannot identify their own states, they seem to think rather highly of their country and their world rather revolves around their surrounding geography.

"Inside the United States, "half or fewer of young men and women 18-24 can identify the states of New York or Ohio on a map [50 percent and 43 percent, respectively]," the study said."

"Six in 10 did not know the border between North and South Korea is the most heavily fortified in the world."

"Thirty percent thought the most heavily fortified border was between the United States and Mexico."

Now ladies and gentlemen, monkeys and ducks, I'll leave you to decide for yourself, which of these borders are more heavily fortified. Besides, didn't they watch James Bonds' Die Another Day where it showed how tanks are constantly waiting to be mobilized at the drop of the hate? Maybe for once they realize that's just hollywood. Still, how far is that away from reality? Obviously North Korea did not take kindly to that portrayal.


N Korean-S Korea Border


Mexican-US Border

Of course, after laughing at other people's expense, how much do you really know about your own country's geography? Otterman posts a good quiz for all to try. Not only does it involve knowing your own country but also knowing the landmarks in Singapore!

Or perhaps you scored brilliantly on CNN's quiz that you feel ready to take on the National Geographic's Geography Literacy Quiz and see how well you do compared to these American youths. I haven't had the gut to try but after all these crash course in today's World Geography, Ms Monkey feels assured that her students would not perform too badly. At least you had a headstart and know that Sudan is not in Asia but in Africa! Oh of course I hope you do know that the tsunami in 2004 was really in Indonesia...

"Nine in ten couldn't find Afghanistan on a map of Asia.

And 54 percent were unaware that Sudan is a country in Africa.

Remember the December 2004 tsunami and the widespread images of devastation in Indonesia?

Three-quarters of respondents failed to find that country on a map. And three-quarters were unaware that a majority of Indonesia's population is Muslim, making it the largest Muslim country in the world."
- National Geographic's Report

Well if you're ready, do the 2006 National Geographic-Roper Survey of Geographic Literacy!

Technorati Tags: Geography

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