Thoughts of the Travelling PenGuin

Fly-by Birdie

Travelling Guin — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 01:24:00 GMT

Hello

If you've visited Lord Howe island -- off Australia's NSW coast- you'll recognise these places -- I'm on Ned's Beach -- in my goggles -- ready for a snorkel trip and the video view is from the top of Mount Eliza. Watch the birdies -- some are Sooty Terns

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQQgj5_yGKk

:_)

Peng Guin

Discovered a secret Walkers' Register

Travelling Guin — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 01:40:00 GMT

Last weekend we walked (some more) and discovered a new Great North Walk 'walkers' register'. Now this one isn't even on the Great North Walk -- its on a spur -- the one form Millfield up to the Hunter Wine Region at Pokolbin. Want to know more about how to 'sign in' on this SECRET register -- go to our latest EveryTrail lsiting of GNW tracks -- at -- www.thegreatnorthwalk.com/discussion

Great North Walked!

Travelling Guin — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 03:20:00 GMT

One year ago I said me and my friends had BEGUN the Aussie 'Great North Walk'. well we've finished it now! This bushwalk (http://www.thegreatnorthwalk.com) connects New South Wales’ two largest cities from the obelisk in Australia’s first planned town square to the wharf from which its oldest home-built steamship still sails in over 250 kilometres of history, mystery and fascination. The trail only just turned 21 in 2009 although some paths are many tens of thousands of years old; it has been completed in 66 hours and is walked over decades; its story impinges on diverse faiths passing Australia’s largest provincial Anglican cathedral while the walk’s highest peak – Mt Warrawolong (641 m) – is the site of Aboriginal ceremonies; be amazed to walk right beside examples of the oldest rock engravings in the world and modern street art; cross dramatic and beautiful waterways by means as diverse as the world’s widest steel-arch bridge to its oldest operating river postman’s boat; be puzzled by en route mysteries including more than a dozen murders, disappearances and inexplicable deaths; wind past the southern hemisphere’s largest salt-water swimming pool, the park dedicated to our longest-lived cartoon character, the site of the first coal mine and see where the first Brooklyn Railway Bridge (1890) was erected on the deepest pier then plumbed (49.4 m). I do hope you'll forgive me if I say walking it was DAM hard!

I've just heard of a new novel called The Great North Walk Companion: in celebration of the 21^st birthday of the Great North Walk, this ramblers’ novel recounts a family mystery as the identity of Billie’s walking ‘companion’ is revealed. Readers walking this track for the first time and those recapturing an earlier encounter will enjoy this literary, historical and environmental treasure hunt along Australia’s most accessible wilderness trail. More about the mysterious “Companion” can be found at http://www.thegreatnorthwalk.com/companion

Home disappearing fast

Travelling Guin — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 01:51:00 GMT

No Ancestral Home to Visit Any Longer

About a year ago I got worried about my homeland – Antarctica. In March 2008 a big chunk of what my great- great- grandparents called home broke off – this was the beginning of the end for the Wilkins Ice Shelf. The Wilkins ice shelf covers an area of about 5,282 square miles and satellite images taken at the end of February 2008 revealed that its rapid (on ice-sheet timescales) disintegration began after an iceberg the size of the Isle of Man broke away from its western edge. Last year scientist said “we thought it would take 30-50 years for this massive ice sheet to break-away but now it looks as if it will happen much faster”.

Penguins and scientists around the world have been watching the remaining ice bridge since last March, anticipating its collapse. Now it has broken! Why worry – well because the loss of an ice shelf can also allow the glaciers that feed into it to start flowing ice into the ocean at an accelerated rate, contributing to a rise in global sea levels. The Wilkins Ice Shelf is located on the southwestern Antarctic Peninsula, the fastest-warming region of the Earth. In the past 50 years, the Antarctic Peninsula has warmed by 2.5 degrees C.

Now, let’s be clear, I’ve never seen the Wilkins Ice Shelf and (like those cartoon penguins in Madagascar) I don’t’ think I’d much like to actually LIVE there. But lots of my family and friends do – so its worth worrying for them – but also, it seems, for other bigger and more important reasons. Scientists think that the dramatic loss of these ice shelves, which have existed for hundreds to thousands of years, is an important sign of climate change in the southern hemisphere. They say that the Wilkins is following a pattern of instability and rapid collapse that many Antarctic Peninsula ice shelves have experienced in recent years.

If you want to learn more then read here

http://nsidc.org/news/press/20090408_Wilkins.html

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/04/03/antarctica.ice.shelf/

Gives me the shivers -- Brrrrrrrrrrr!

Peng Guin

Earth Hour & polar bears

Travelling Guin — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 07:56:00 GMT

I hope you celebrated Earth Hour last Saturday by switching off lights and as many other electrical appliances as you could do without for an hour. From being a Sydney-based effort only four years ago, Earth Hour was this year celebrated by more than 37,000 cities and towns around the world. This means that, at 8.30 p.m. local time, folks switched off lights and reduced power consumption as much as possible. This year, Earth Hour used Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and a social networking group to coordinate over a million people to send a powerful political message to world leaders convening for the G20 in London the same week.

On the Thursday before Earth Hour, I was invited to a Teddy Bears’ Picnic to raise awareness about Earth Hour and generate cash for a local Children’s Hospital. Although I am usually strictly a penguins social events bird, this was in a (well in fact 2) good causes so I decided to go. I didn't take a bear to the picnic and wasn't expecting to meet many penguins. Neither was I expecting to meet a polar bear -- but I did. I think (in view of Earth Hour) I can forgive his presence -- but he was eating all the cup cakes -- which was a bit much even for a species that is seriously threatened by global warming!

Deep Sigh

Happy Christmas

Travelling Guin — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 07:12:00 GMT

Happy Xmas

I got SO MUCH stuff!! I am a very lucky bird and have clearly been VERY VERY GOOD this year…. There’s no need to have a bath next year judging by the niceness of stuff I’ve got this year …. no need to remind me (not a nag of course) next December .

I am really is DELIGHTED with my new hat (see pic ) – my best friend says I look like a poinsettia – well she looks like a dandelion I say !

I am taking my new blue bag (very clever of you) on holiday tomorrow – we have to start at 7am – ugh!

I also got a new train set – a bad (evil actually !) penguin book – who knows why … a rubber ducky :_) the world’s smallest kite, popcorn, dress ups and new scarf (like Dumbledore’s) – and specs like his too! – for reading. And a Dr who DVD and loads of chocolate too – yum!

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas – we did :_))

Peng Guin

Surviving the Holiday Season

Travelling Guin — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 04:18:00 GMT

Let’s face it, the holiday season can be a time of joy and happiness, however it can also be one of the most stressful times of the year. Below are some tips for surviving the holiday season….

1. Be realistic. There are going to be queues; there are going to be traffic delays – don't let yourself become stressed or angry. Leave a little earlier; shop later in the day. Take public transport (where available).

2. Plan your day – Don’t try to do too much on a given day. See 1 above.

3. Drink plenty (of water!).

4. Incorporate relaxation time in your day. It's the holiday season – relax and have some fun. Read a book, paint, meditate

5. Moderation – this goes for alcohol and food. Alternate alcoholic drinks with water or soft drink; watch you portion sizes; eat more veggies & fruits.

6. Keep active – incorporate exercise into your day.

7. Rest – Aim for at least 8 hours of sleep a night.

8. Stay COOL! (All birds need low temperatures)

9. Above all, have fun.

No good Prime Minister: when the pollys' party lets you DOWN

Travelling Guin — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 05:48:00 GMT

Here’s what one blogger said of Aussie Prime Minister’s ‘cut’ of 5% today,” This is a shameful act of political and moral bastardry!   We needed to have 20% reduction from 1990 levels by 2020 and 60% reduction by 2050.  This is the start of the planet losing whole different ecosystems - as the higher latitudes become temperate and the deserts expand into previously temperate higher latitudes.   A visit to a zoo in 200 years time representing the animals of the world will have about 3 exhibits.  

Exhibit 1 - the most common animal in the world, The Camel. 

Exhibit 2 - a stuffed, extinct polar bear 

Exhibit 3 - a stuffed, extinct penguin.  

All because the people we elected to look after our interests are too interested in the finer things of public life and are more afraid of losing them than doing the right thing for generations to come.   With so much energy falling onto our country every single day from the sun it is shameful that our society has timidly clung to digging up rocks and burning them rather than embrace the opportunity of planning our energy future from the ground up - using cleaner, saner and renewable energy technologies.  Future generations will condemn us.”

I REALLY agree! Especially about the stuffed Penguin!

The Australian Government has further betrayed its voters (who elected Rudd on a ‘join up to Kyoto’ banner) by further increasing the amount of free permits allocated to those industries (the really BIG polluters!) described as trade exposed because they face international competition and cannot pass the cost of a trading scheme onto consumers.

One threshold for eligibility has also been lowered, meaning more companies will be covered by the assistance.

The amount of free permits available to those industries - such as aluminium, cement, lime and silicone production - has been increased to 25 per cent, compared to 20 per cent flagged in the green paper.

That amount would rise to 35 per cent once agriculture is included in the scheme, which is not expected until at least 2015.

Well maybe I’ll be extinct – but at least there will still be plenty of camels!

Advent Calendars

Travelling Guin — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 00:36:00 GMT

Have you got an Advent calendar this year?

I have quite a few – I keep them from year to year but usually get a new one each year too… so I have rather a lot now. This year’s is a wooden train – it has three carriages each containing little drawers – my friends have stuffed these with treats—one for each day of Advent!

My favourite are the oldest ones – these are European – well I think originally German – in design. They tend to show old fashioned ‘snow scenes’ in middle Europe villages. They are ‘classic’ (or so I thought until very recently) in that they do NOT have sweeties or chocolates just a door for each date form 1-24 December. These doors open onto a picture that makes sense in to big scene but also offers another step towards Christmas or rather Christmas Eve. I must admit that I thought chocolates in Advent calendars were very recent inventions (of some confectionary manufacturer) but a little research suggests that I was wrong.

The origin of the Advent calendar can be traced back to the 19th century. The earliest seem to be from the protestant areas of Germany. They were based around chalk lines for every day in December until Christmas Eve made in religious families. The first known had-crafted Advent calendar was made in the year 1851. Other early styles were the Advent clock or the Advent candle - a candle for each of the 24 days until Christmas, like today’s Advent wreath in some churches. In 1902 a Christian bookshop in Hamburg published a Christmas Clock. . In 1904 an Advent Calendar was inserted in the newspaper "Neues Tagblatt Stuttgart" as a gift for their readers. Another competing claim to be ‘the first printed Advent Calendar’, although without windows to open, published in 1908. This Calendar was named "Christmas-Calendar" or "Munich Christmas-Calendar". Esther Gajek says that the first printed specimen with opening doors or windows was made in 1908 by a Swabian parishioner, Gerhard Lang (born 1881 in Maulbronn, Germany -died in 1974). Mr Lang recalled that that when he was a child his mother made him an Advent calendar with 24 "Wibbele" (little candies) that were stuck onto cardboard backing.

At the beginning of the 20th Gerhard Lang produced the first Advent Calendars with little doors to open and Advent calendar as we know it today started a triumphal way around the globe. Before the Second World War terminated the success of this German tradition and Lang had to close his, he had produced about 30 different designs. After World War II many companies began printing and selling Advent and Christmas calendars. Advent Calendars filled with small chocolates were available in 1958.

If you want the fun of the countdown to Christmas Eve without the expense of a purchase or without the trashy chocolate taste that some cheap calendars now deliver try these alternatives. Make your own Advent calendar by downloading ‘pdf’ files to print out:

http://www.janbrett.com/christmas_treasury_advent_calendar.htm

There is one to sew for yourself or friends. This one has pockets to put small toys or candies in to sew:

http://www.sewing.org/html/advent_calendar.html

Or – easiest of all try “Around the world Advent” quiz from Kent junior school—go to

www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/Xmas/calendar

Happy Advent

Peng Guin

Beware Web Travel Bookings

Travelling Guin — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 22:11:26 GMT

I often book events and especially special treats when traveling on the web. Mostly this works out well – but occasionally it is a disaster. I am working on a theory to use so I can figure out which ones are good value and what they claim to be and which are REAL LEMONS! The basic idea would be – do the buildings look as if you have ot hold them up by hand?

Our worst this year was at the Alhambra in Spain, or in our case not at the Alhambra. We had chosen a 4 star from the web and selected one described as “just beside the Alhambra Palace grounds”. We had arrived in mid afternoon and, noting the group of large hotels nearby, had gone directly into tourist mode. It was after 6 p.m. when we decided to check in – then we discovered that our hotel was about 15 km away on the other side of Granada. It took us 8 phone calls to get alternative rooms and a long letter follow-up to recoup the prepaid booking costs. In case you’re wondering why we cared the reason is that to get into the Alhambra you have to queue from 6 a.m. so you really need to be close at hand.

Then there was our Turkish but not so delight. Our BIG mistake here was to end up with a company with luggage tags promising ‘no hassle’– of course we should have known this was a trap! Our Turkish trip degenerated into cheap minibus travel with 3 backpackers and a couple from northern England who were touring Europe on less than 20 Alterian dollars a day. This was quite a shock as we’d booked (and paid for) a 4-5 star tour. This descent into student travel arose from the globalization and subcontracting of delivery. We had booked with Chatours, who subcontracted to Global in Europe, which, in turn, used a company called, amusingly, Hassle Free. In the end by a very firm telephone call to Australia from a horrible motorway service station produced a return call from Athens and a minute later a very apologetic one from Istanbul. To give the Turks their due, we were rebooked into a super ‘resort’; the clapped out minibus magically transformed into a stretch limo with deep leather seats; and the hopeless girl surprised by our desire to get to Pergamon in time to visit was transformed into skilful guides whose ‘personal friends’ offered us fresh home-baked Turkish bread and carpet-emporia tours.

Of course, you expect weird food abroad but surely Greece is famed for ‘food of the gods’. Not so our Greek experience - oddest this year. Bought as apparently ‘nice nougat’ in one of the very many Greek sweetie shops we visited, this turned out to be two large (6 cm diameter) communion wafers (honestly!) sandwiched together with pink and white goo (really!). As it was Trinity Sunday when we sampled this, it seemed somehow appropriate but we didn’t eat it all.

The GREAT North Walk -- begun!

Travelling Guin — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 03:13:00 GMT

Australia’s Great North Walk was originally conceived as part of the celebration of Australia’s Bicentenary in 1988 The idea arose 7 years before that when two walkers from Sydney, Gary McDougall and Leigh Shearer-Herriott, came up withthe idea of an official walk from Sydney to Newcastle. Various grants from theNew South Wales Bicentennial Committee finally made the whole track official intime for Australia’s 200^th birthday. The documentation and website state that the full hike takes 12-16 days and is traversed by more than 40,000 tourists and dinky-die Aussies each year. My 2 weekender ‘starter’ sample does not entirely support these assertions.

We began at Warners Bay that

on the top end of the Lake Macquarie system well to the north of Syd

ney. We are not sure where the 38,997 of the hikers were; we saw only two groups of genuine hikers: a gang of probably school students on oneday carrying tents and indeed camping since we saw them later in their tents and two pairs of stalwart walkers with big rucksacks going the other way to us. We were also greeted by a guy who pulled his car over on one of the very shortstretches of road walking to greet us. He told us that he had done the walk from Sydney to Newcastle last year and was recce-ing it in his car to go back the other way this year. He did offer us a ride but (what a shame!) was only joking.

The best thing was seeing our first ‘in the wild’ echidna, which literally wandered across our path in the afternoon. We tried to get close in for a photo opbut the echidna simply squeezed under a fallen log displaying the verysignificant quills of its back and tail and looking for all the world like anenormous, rather sharp, fir-cone. It wasn’t until we walked on down the paththat we saw it come out again to continue it’s foraging. Still, it was jolly exciting to see one in the wild and, apparently, not very frightened by us. Speaking of frightening wildlife,we also had a worst experience on this trip too - we managed to get tic-infested. The tic had to be dragged out still kicking and no doubt screaming with tweezers (doubleyuck!!). This was NOT (despite what was said later) because I spent a happy few minutes poking a stick into atermite mound—after all tics don’t live with termites – do they

Next day wewalked up and over Sugarloaf Ridge to end where we had ended day one: at HeatonGap. This walk intersected many power lines – Newcastle is famous, like its counterpart, for coal-mining and power stations – and many of the walking tracks that the Great North Walk intersects lie under the spoke-like radials ofpower lines spinning out from the Newcastle greenhouse gas emitters to powermuch of NSW. We also saw wildlife on this day, the most impressive of which a wallaby and joey and some leeches.

Our next 3days took us from Wattagan Forest over the next two ridges to Paxtan (great pub there!) and then on to Wattagan Creek. We did take the middle day off in the vineyards of the Hunter Valley – ofcourse this wouldn’t be an Australian walk if there wasn’t both great pubs anda wonderful side spur up into wine growing region. By day six, we were looking for something fairly flatand indeed we had planned our trip well because most of our last day’s walk wasalong the lake and bay front from the outskirts of Newcastle, past Warners Bay and on into Teralba itself. The locals who use this very attractive waterfront walk for biking, skateboarding, scootering etc. and also a beautiful pair ofpelicans who roost on the sodium lights on an impressively engineered bridge crossing the Five Islands entrance to Warners Bay and swoop from these man-made perches to fish in the bay edge.

After six tough-ish days, tics, leeches, echidna, roo and wallaby sightings, many pelicans and a fair few blisters on the rear flippers of my official carriers, I have accomplished 85 km, so that’s just 165 left to do.

Visiting a Fossil Tree: Wollemi Pine

Travelling Guin — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 02:31:00 GMT

Last week I visited a very very very old tree well this one wasn’t THAT old but its species (the Wollemi™ Pine is one of the world'soldest and rarest plants dating back to the time of the dinosaurs. With less than 100 adult trees known to exist in the wild, the Wollemi™ Pine is now thefocus of extensive research to safeguard its survival. Anyone can own one now –and the one I visited is in the Mount Annan Botanical Gardens in Sydney. The Wollemi was found near Sydney – asrecently as 1994. Assist in theconservation effort by growing your own Wollemi™ Pine and becoming part of oneof the most dramatic comebacks in natural history. There’s a tabluar detail set on the official home page ofthis fossil tree at http://www.wollemipine.com/

Scientific name	Wollemia nobilis
Family	Araucariaceae
Relatives	Kauri, Norfolk Island, Hoop, Bunya and Monkey Puzzle pines
When discovered	1994
Where discovered	200 km west of Sydney in a rainforest gorge within the 500,000 hectare Wollemi National Park in the Blue Mountains of Australia
Discovered by	David Noble, a NSW National Parks and Wildlife Officer
Age	Wollemi belongs to the 200 million year old Araucariaceae family
Oldest known fossil	90 million years
Wild population	Less than 100 mature trees
Characteristics	Conifer with attractive, unusual dark green foliage, bubbly bark and sprouts multiple trunks
Growth habit	Fast growing in light, favours acid soils, and temperatures from - 5 to 45°C (23 to 113°F). Trials in the USA and Japan have indicated that it will survive temperatures as cold as -12°C (10.4 °F).
Height	The largest wild Wollemi Pine in the rainforest gorge is 40m tall
Width	This tree has a main trunk of 63cm in width

The Wollemi is unique for many reasons – not least its great age—but also because of the Pine's habit of spontaneously sprouting multiple trunks from its base (known as self-coppicing) has proved a vital defence in withstanding damage through fire and other natural disasters. Another unusual characteristic of the Pine, commonto the Araucaria genus, is its habit of shedding whole branches rather than individual leaves.

The best bit I read about these fascinating ‘dinasaur’ treesis that their distinctive bark has been described as resembling bubbling chocolate

Yum – put me down for two bars of the Wollemi Pine! Order yours from http://www.wollemipine.com/order.php. Royalties from sales of the Wollemi Pine to support conservation of the Wollemi Pine and other rare and endangered plant species

Genuine ‘Guin Global Greenhouse Bagels

Travelling Guin — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:12:00 GMT

I am sick of being asked, “Do you believe ingreenhouse?” Why? Because -- well for many reasons

1. It’s a silly question – greenhouses keep in warmth (ormore usually keep out cold air) and help grow plants jolly well but the“greenhouse’ the questioner usually means is the one that keeps Mars, Venus theEarth and, in fact, Jupiter, Saturn etc (how many planets are there thesedays?) warm! So – “yes!”

2. It’s not a **belief** thing – not like, “do you believein God” or “do you still wait for the Tooth Fairy?” – I do and I don’t’ in thatorder but then PengGuins don’t have teeth so the latter is not toosurprising. The former may be –but see later.

3. Greenhouse is really more of a FACT thing. So I would prefer these guys to beasking, “Do you have a bread machine?” – I do – do you? (see later also). Anyhow – then they would ask, “Dogreenhouse gases warm the Earth?” – Answer YES. And then, “Are we (people not PengGuins) emitting loads moregreenhouse gases into the atmosphere?” – Answer YES. They should also ask, “Do you think this is a problem?” –Answer YES.

Now – to go back and tidy up some of the lose ends Iscattered I there

Ø Belief-- goes back to my New York Jewish ancestry.

Ø Breadmachine – was purchased while we were in Geneva – taking me back to my UN days– and hence to climate change ‘beliefs

Both of bring me neatly to my Guin Global Greenhouse Bagelrecipe as baked by my Granny – Mrs Global Guin Senior

Global Greenhouse Guin’s Patented Onion Bagel Recipe

Ingredients (to make about 8 bagels)

1.2 cups lukewarmwater (greenhouse pre-warmed)

3 cups wholemealbread flour

3.3 tablespoons brownsugar

1.5 teaspoons onionsalt

4 teaspoons finelychopped onions (reserve half – 2 tspns – for top)

3.25 teaspoons yeast,active dry

Directions:

Save half (2 tsps) of the finely chopped onions to sprinkleon top of the bagels before baking.

Place all other ingredients into a GREENHOUSE pre-warmedbread machine including the other half (2 tsps) of the finely chopped onions.

Remove the dough from the machine after the first knead- after 20 to 30 minutes.

Place dough on a floured surface and divide into 8 parts androll into balls.

Push flipper end into the middle of each ball of dough andcarefully stretch into bagel shape.

While bagels rise, globally pre-warm – well in fact boil –plenty of water in a biggish pan (around 3 quarts of water).

Using a slotted spoon, drop 2-3 bagels into rapidly boilingwater (see Granny Guin’s instructions).

Remove and cool on rack 1 minute, brush with egg andsprinkle with the remaining 2 tsps of chopped onions (Actually GGG Granny likedmore onions than this but try this first).

Bake in a GREENHOUSE pre-warmed over at 400 on a bakingsheet sprinkled with frog spawn.

Greenhouse Guin Granny Instructions on How to Boil yourBagels – regurgitated directly from her cranky old beak

She always sys “bagels is different from frogs!” So – first watch Al Gore’s movie “AnInconvenient Truth” – noting the story about boiling a frog (actually my Grannyhadn’t seen the movie till last week – but she knew the frog story – and usedto tell it to us little ‘uns when we were just fluff balls). For bagels (not frogs) drop ‘em in whenthe water’s roiling. Boil ’em tillthey float (both bagels and frogs).

Don’t get the frogs and the bagels muddled up becausedusting frogs with finely chopped onions before they’re ‘done’ means loads ofmess in the kitchen

What a Dish!

Travelling Guin — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 02:14:00 GMT

Recently I went to cookery school in Vietnam. This wasn’t just about how to preparenew dishes – though there was lots of that- it also included having to “pass”many “name the fruit” quizzes. This seemed to be a popular pastime amongstguides, partly because Vietnam has an astonishingly large variety of fruits andpartly because, I suspect, tourists are as hopeless at remembering names andindeed tastes. Well now I know what the outside of a dragonfruit looks like (Ieven saw one growing) and I have learned what colour the inside a of ajackfruit is – and how nice it tastes. Our first school chef was “from theNorth” and rather scary although she did manage to keep her temper when one ofthe other 2 class members mixed her marinade and dipping sauces all in onebowl. Our recipes included: Lotus stem salad, sour fish soup, caramel fish andsteamed rice and (for dessert) sweet green bean soup which tasted rather likesemolina

I had a full day trip to the Mekong Delta. During this, wetook two different boats on a very silty river, enjoyed our fir

t freshly andhand-made spring rolls but refused to sample both snake and scorpion wine. Thisis the Vietnamese versio

n of saki, or rice wine, into which is immersed a wholesnake – honestly! – or a rather frighteningly large number of scorpions. Theguide assured us all it was “very good for men” but – just sometimes- I amasexual so I still refused. At one stop we walked around a coconut candy“factory” – all in the open air. At another, we were guided around an orchardfarm (more fruit naming) and then enjoyed the fruits of their labours enlivenedby a musical entertainment

In Hoi An, I visited a local market and enjoyed the secondand most entertaining cookery class in an up-river restaurant facility owned byan Ozzie and where the hosting chef had excellent English skills. He was ableto joke and deliver fast one-liners as well as getting up close and cuddly withme during the demo. We learnt to create seafood salad in half pineapple,Vietnamese eggplant, fresh rice paper rolls, Hoi An pancakes, steamed fish onfresh vegetables and, this was best, how to decorate food! On the trip to thiscooking class, which was again by river, we saw very many of the open fish netstypical of this region. The clever characteristic of these is that just beforethey are lowered into the water a light is lit above them and in their centre.This used to be tallow or oil but is of course now electrical. The clevernessof the design comes as insects are attracted to the light that is lit at night.Many of these bugs blunder into the water surface thereby supplying free baitto the fishermen who simply have to come along the next morning and gently lifttheir net on its four sticks a little above the water surface so that they can“catch” their fish.

Best for entertainment value was the scarifying cyclo tripthat everyone had to take from market to cooking class in Hanoi! This time thefood market despite being very fresh raised a few ughs for the seaweed jelly(which I foolishly sampled) to our last cooking class. This was boiling hot andtherefore an occasion on which I would have preferred not to have had to wearchef’s hats they gave us but it was too complicated to resist. The guide tothis school (Anh pronounced ‘Ann’) taught us a great Vietnamese-ism – “toenjoy”. After each dish was created (recipes were Imperial spring rolls,shrimps sautéed with cashew nuts, sour fish broth) she asked very firmly “doyou want to enjoy them now or enjoy them later?

Are You Sitting Comfortably?

Travelling Guin — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:22:00 GMT

Work Chair Set up Correctly?

Many aches and pains suffered whilst at work are due to an incorrectly set up chair. The following Guin Guidelines will assist you to set up your chair correctly –

Adjust the chair height -

Start with the seat in the highest position and then adjust the seat downwards until your legs and feet feel comfortable, and your knees are bent at a 90° angle.

Sit back even if you can't relax –

Adjustthe height and/or depth of the lumbar support so that it provides support to the lower back (the rest should support the curve of your lower back).

Adjust the recline of the chair –

Set your chair recline at a comfortable position. It is better to be slightly reclined as this relieves tension in your lower back.

Adjust the seat bottom (not your bottom) –

Sitting back in your chair, adjust the seat pan until you reach a comfortable setting. You may need to shift your body weight around until you find the right position. Allow a distance of about 2.5cm between the edge of the seat and yourleg, making sure that the seat is not applying pressure to the backs of your knees.

Adjust the arm rests –

If you have a seat with arm

rests make sure that they are set to a position that is comfortable for you. When typing or doing mouse work, lower the arm rests.

Check the Wheels –

Make sure that the chair wheels (castors) move smoothly and are not broken. Ensure that the chair is able to be located directly in front of your desk and computer

Are your feet flat on the floor –

When seated your feet should be able to be placed flat on the floor. If you are unable to do this, you need a foot rest (or to be taller – like me).

Smile as you sit :_))

Try this Desk Exercise (or D’xercise) http://www.travellingguin.com/Penguin_ecard_preview.asp?SmileNo=1&Preview=yes

Share this with a friend -- or make new friends ...

Remember to regularly adjust your seat to ensure that it is comfortable for you.

If you need further assistance, please contact T.Guin peng@travellingguin.com

Medical emergency for the Earth

Travelling Guin — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 22:13:00 GMT

My favourite TV series of all time is Star Trek (TNG &Voyager) but my second favourite is MASH. I just came across a web site that reminds me very much of MASH. Its about environmental issues -- so it sounds odd that it would remind me of the KoreanWar -- but it does. Why? Because the whole point of this new siteis that the world is in such a mess that it needs the sort of triage that Captain Hawk-Eye is good at handing out – and Frank isn’t!

So, if we agree (which you might not but I do) that the Gaian patient is in a near terminal state then you have to ask (as these web owners do) what actions are useful (to save things that can still be saved),hopeless (nothing can save this stuff) and unnecessary (this can get through italone)?

In Bali last December, the world accepted the reality of global warming and began thesearch for climate change action. Our politicians and business leaders are nowattempting to balance mitigation (reducing atmospheric greenhouse gases)against adaptation (living in warmer and hydrologically more extremeconditions). Responses, at leastin democracies should follow from community-based prioritization comparing lossreduction investment against funding to improve ‘wins’. As the reality of climate change bitesthis new web site says, a third response strategy may be required: triage.

Global climate triage is to be applied in the same way as in an situation such as MASH:emergency to allow the most productive use of inadequate support. As the world’s population comes to grips with climate change disasters, this web siteargues it will be necessary to stratify responses three-ways. There will besevere climate disruptions, which will be left untreated because they will berecognized as still able to recover ‘naturally’. People living in these places and businesses affected by their local climate deterioration will not gain support. There will be a smallnumber of climatically induced emergencies where tax-payers’ money cangenuinely reduce suffering and where investment is deemed worthwhile. These communities and enterprises willbe ‘saved’ at the expense of others.

This is pretty tough stuff but, if I think about the Murray Darling mouth now (in South Australia) then I can see their point. The urgency of the current environmentaldisaster around the Murray mouth today has brought Australia what might be the world’s first climate change triage challenge. The question is – do we save the Coorong at all costs, leaveit to become something different as is already happening or invest heavily in ‘palliative care’, which will use up resources without ultimately changing its fate? Check out the web site – www.climatechangetriage.net

What’s in a (New) Word?

Travelling Guin — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:00:00 GMT

I've just been reading about the new words that made it into the very latest version ofthe Concise Oxford English Dictionary. My favourites are about eating, drinking adn making merry – well having fun -- in different ways. The first are for my co-habitees and are ‘custard cream’ and ‘muffin top’. Now you may not love custard ream biscuits the way I do --but I can assure you that as a stuffed person that sometimes has to BEG for biscuit crumbs me and my owner have serious tussles about who gets the verylast bit of each and every custard cream. Of course we all know what a custard cream is -- right -- if not the OED now helpfully tells us:

custard cream - a biscuit with a vanilla-flavoured cream filling.

You might know that -- but do you realize that poor old custard creams have had to wait 100 years to get into this, the most esteemed English language dictionary? My daily tug of war over biscuits takes us onto my second best new entry in the OED - muffin top. My owners need to read this one carefully - very carefully:

muffintop - roll of fat visible above the top of a pair of women's tight-fittinglow-waisted trousers (and not only women’s I would add – personally I look terrible in trousers – but so do some people).

Once they read this maybe they'll share more chocolate and custard creams with ME! My other favourite new English words are about my hobbies ofdrinking (not boozing) and playing cards. The words that are new and that I like best are:

busted flush - A poker a hand containing four cards of thesame suit and one of a different suit.

But I like the informal meaning better:

a promising person or thing that turns out to be unsuccessfulas in ‘ his leadership is already a busted flush’.

I’m astonished to find that the OED has only just ‘recognised’ my favourite ever thing – the mocktail! As follows:

mocktail - non-alcoholic drink consisting of a mixture of fruit juices or other soft drinks.

Now I don't drink alcohol but I do like a big fizz. I like mocktails because drinking other birds’ tails is unethical for PengGuins. In any case have youseen the state of most cockerels’ tails? I like fruit of all sorts and chocolate. I'm often spoilt for choice....... Below are two of my current favourites... but like new words these will be superseded in time. Enjoy them now!

Orange Flipper: a fizzed-chilled orange mocktail

You will need:
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons lime juice
6 tablespoons orange juice
1 egg yolk or 4 tbsp sugar (or both!)
6 tablespoons cold sparkling water
6 crushed icecubes (about half a glass full of crushed ice)
3 orange slices, 2 lemon slices and a cherry for garnish

Mocktail Construction:
Put the lemon, lime and orange juices, sugar and/or egg yolk in a mocktailshaker with ice. [No shaker? Well, any container will do if it has a firmly fitted (not muffin) top].
Shake vigorously
Strain into a chilled tall glass
Top up with the sparkling water and stir gently
Garnish with the orange and lemon slices and the cherry.
Drink through a straw but be careful of bubbles ascending into the beak.

Guin Colada: fluffy mocka colada

You will need: one cup whole milk (or a big dollop ofvanilla- or chocolate- ice cream)
2 cups unsweetened pineapple juice
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 tablespoon coconut extract
2-4 tablespoons sugar (to taste)
abig slice of pineapple and 2 slice of banana for garnish

Mocktail Construction:
Put all ingredients (not the garnish!) in a blender and mix on high untilfrothy.
Pour into ice-filled glasses
Garnish with the slices of banana and pineapple.
Before drinking try to find some of those tiny paper umbrellas and stick one in the top of the straw. (Be sure to remove the umbrella before drinking).

Chinese Whispers: Ultimate Saving of Face Loss

Travelling Guin — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 04:06:00 GMT

Do you remember that kids game called ‘Chinesewhispers’? At least that is whatit was called back in the UK when I was a fluffy little chick. The idea is that little kids all sit ina circle and one of them starts with a phrase or sentence – for example “Thebig, bad wolf eats girls”. Thefirst child whispers this message to the second and the second to the third andso on all around the circle. Whenthe giggling and whispering stops the last kid shouts out what she or he heardfrom their neighbour followed by the starter saying what they first said. Then everyone hoots with laughterbecause the ending phrase is SO different from what was said first. Misunderstanding as simple child fun ascompared to (today) the Beijing Olympics - misunderstanding as world politics.

Sometimes it’s fun to not hear what was said or whatwas really meant and sometimes it’s devastating. The classic example of thistype of ‘lost in translation’ message garbling is the famous Second World Warmishap in which: “Send reinforcements we’re going to advance” became "Send three and fourpence we’re going to a dance”. Again a jolly joke – at least as retoldnow.

Right now, at the mid-point of the Beijing Olympics,are the Chinese having fun? Arethe rest of us who are watching mishandling and cheating enjoyingourselves? Is this the Olympicsthe IOC hoped they’d awarded – of course not. Especially not now the ITN journalist has been ‘stomped on’for doing his job. Why does itseem that China is cheating at everything? Is this because of politicalinterference or a fear of displaying of inadequacy or weakness? First they usecomputer-generated fireworks that were shown on every TV screen around theworld China – the nation that invented fireworks is showing a computer-createdfacsimile! Then, pigtailedand smiling, Lin Miaoke turns out not to have been singing at the OpeningCeremony – some other little child who wasn’t as pretty did the voice-over. Now,there is even some trouble about the little girls who don’t even look close to16 but despite this have just won the gymnastics gold.

Over the last couple of years, I have hadopportunities to visit China on a variety of trips: a family holiday, aconference one of my friends was organizing and a business trip. On each occasion I’ve been surprised bythe efforts hosts, guides and organizers in China have gone to have us believe(or at least say) how good all the facilities and arrangements are – whetherthey were or were not. This isannoying but no more on a holiday. It proved quite tricky on the business trip and utterly impossible forthe big conference my best friend was organizing. This latter was ‘aided’ by Beijing ‘security’ men who notonly allowed (or failed to apprehend) thieves stealing cameras, purses and bagsbut also who became very defensive when we challenge their lack ofdiligence.

Maybe the Chinese have a different name for thesituation in which, while you try hard to say something nice, what your guestshears is a totally different message. Do they call this ‘saving face’ or is it so embarrassing now that it isin fact, ‘losing face’? .

CPR down under – not really!

Travelling Guin — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 00:38:00 GMT

I have mentioned in this blog before that I am an Australian– at least a naturalised one – born overseas and immigrated here 20 yearsago. When I’m travelling I alwaysstick up for my country and even during the Howard era I tried to feel goodabout my adopted homeland. When“Kevin 07” was elected and made his FIRST act in office the ratification of theKyoto Protocol… a sadly overdue and (for Oz as we gained an embarrassinglylarge allowance of greenhouse gas emissions) not very tough act of globalcompliance we were all delighted. They were penguin parades on Penguin Parade in Victoria!

This month we’ve seen the publication of Kevin08’s GreenPaper on how his government will deliver its current stated emissions reductionof a 60 per cent decrease on 2000 emissions levels by 2050. This Green Paper (still a discussiondocument under the Westminster system) was to be entitled ETS for EmissionTrading Scheme – the method recommended by Garnaut and accepted by the RuddGovernment. At the last minute thetitle was change to CPR (not cardio-pulmonary resuscitation) but CarbonPollution Reduction…. well OK so it got the shock jocks attention. Sadly, this Green Paper (http://www.climatechange.gov.au/greenpaper/index.html) is bad where Garnaut’s (http://www.garnautreview.org.au/domino/Web_Notes/Garnaut/garnautweb.nsf) report is good – they are both VERY LONG – over 550 pages each –just thinkwhat that does to greenhouse emissions as many many people download them andprint them full size – sigh! Thegovernment’s paper fails because it does not demonstrate the political resolvethat is required to design and implement an effective ETS (well CPR if youinsist). The paper emphasises thepreferred 'softly softly' approach to the scheme's introduction. This includesindicative calculations in the Green Paper based on $20 per tonne of CO2, —half the current EU permit price — a price cap and special exclusions.Unfortunately this sends a poor message to industry: "no worries — youdon't have to change – or at least not yet."

The Aussie government target (60% reduction in emission by2050) and, worse, its broadcast view that bad greenhouse behaviour will be notbe strongly taxed but will be subsidised are both inconsistent with what thelatest climate science suggests will be required to avoid dangerous warming. We(people and penguins) require larger and faster global reductions not slower,weaker ones. The emissions target also fails any test of international equity:Australians have the highest per capita emissions in the world. Aussies shoulddo more not less than –say- Europeans. Right now our government is playing the piano while the iceberg crashes into the ship of state!

Worse still the Kevin08 team appears to have accepted theclamouring industry demand for compensation for the introduction of an ETS/CPR.Compensation is naturally perceived widely to mean righting a wrong orimposition placed upon some party. So this CPR Green Paper sends another bad message "We don't reallyhave the right to require you to change- so we’ll compensate you for your troublean losses". Wrong againKevin!

Overall the clever title just ends up boomeranging – we doneed CPR – for our CPR proposals.

Stuffed-Animal Biodiversity: New Study Planned

Travelling Guin — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 00:44:00 GMT

I’ve always been pretty interested in science and also, ofcourse, stuffed birds (like me) and other animals. I was pretty amazed to find a SCIENCE article about usthough. OK it’s a bit old – itdates back to April 2001… but the findings are still true and, in fact,probably more so now. The pointwas to compare stuffed fauna diversity with real ditto ditto. The story seemsto have originated from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) – the guys with the pandalogo. They counted the number ofspecies available in plush forms and found stuffed-animal biodiversity to berising rapidly: up nearly 800 percent in the decade form 1991- 2000 (see http://www.theonion.com/content/node/28501).

Back in 2001, the WWF director Ruth Aberg said, "Whilethe number of living species continues to plummet, the exact opposite is trueof their toy counterparts," "This is particularly true in America,where polyester-fiber-filled replicas of even the most endangered species canbe found in glorious abundance." This rise in stuffed-animal biodiversityseems to have been made possible by humans' growing interest in environmentalissues: Science-themed toy stores have popped up in large shopping precinctsaround the world – from Canada to China you can now find full shelves and evenentire sections of such retail giants as Toys 'R' Us are devoted to animalsfrom around the world.

But, I wonder, is such consumer demand for plushbiodiversity a good or a bad thing? According to the WWF, 885 animal species were in danger of extinctionworldwide in 12001 (its higher now!), and another 165 classified as threatened.Of these 1,050 at-risk species, weirdly around 1000 were to be found in massquantities in children's toy boxes and on collectors' shelves. If our non-stuffed friends can buy avery rare animal or bird do they feel better about it going extinct in thenon-plush version or worse?

I was thinking of conducting an update of this 2001 WWFsurvey myself. I guess you’d haveto do it through toy stores around the world. For example I have seen rather a rich collection of stuffedanimal life nestling under stuffed leaved canopies in big toy stores in theUSA. To name just one: WildRepublic, a major manufacturer of stuffed animals, produces more than 100species of animals, including Halima The Snow Leopard, Brunei The ProbiscusMonkey, and Adoncia The Poison Dart Frog.

As I travel the world I’ve encountered lots of local plushiesrepresenting local wild-life. Naturally the iconic stuff is stuffed to be sold locally. For example, here in Oz you can ofcourse buy kangas, possums, koalas and – rarer- echidnas. In Gibraltar one can hardly avoidstuffed ape shopping and in Morocco the street vendors push plush camels intoyour hands at every turn.

There are, I observe, fewer of the single theme (plush wildlife) stores in Europe but maybe more National Geographic shops where loads ofdifferent wild-life plushies can always be found. My ‘local’ Nat Geog has a very large collection ofstuffed penguins who I am hoping one day to liberate. If you read a new report about a raid on a large store inSydney that left all merchandise intact but following which no plush penguinscould be found – you’ll know I did it!