Slivovice or Slivovitsa or Slivovici or Slivovitz

31 December, 2010


This post is dedicated to Jiri (George) Stransky, Kamila Otavova, Petr Zrink, and Petr Machalec who introduced us to the MAGIC that is distilled plum liquor.

We first met George, Kamila and Petr x2, at the end of the Tiger Leaping Gorge hike in China's Yunnan Province back in September. By chance we shared a dinner table and got to talking...and drinking. Our friendship formed quickly as we talked about dried pork skin treats, Leslie Neilsen, George and Kamila's house plans with a room for the Petrs, and the art of buying knock-off goods in Beijing. That was the night Devin and I had our first, but not last, taste of homemade Czech slivovice "imported" by Petr M & Co.


They didn't think we'd like it...but we did. It's strong, really strong. But it's smooth. And Petr had added a bit of honey to sweeten the deal. I think they were impressed when we had a second shot.

Jump ahead a few days and we met the foursome again, further south in Lijiang for a quick round before Devin and I had to catch a train to Yangshuo, where we planned to meet up again. (Our train took a collective 32 hours. They were smart and took a plane.)


In Yangshuo the six of us spent two evenings atop Monkey Jane's Guesthouse - the roof overlooking the city and the surrounding karst peaks. We had a blast...and of course, more slivovice. (We had to toast the Mid Autumn festival with something, right?)

It was in Yangshuo that we had to say goodbye to our friends. We were traveling south towards Vietnam and they were heading northeast to Shanghai and then home to Czech Republic. As a parting gift, they gave Devin and I a .5L used water bottle of slivovice.

Three months later, we still have the bottle...it's empty now...we just finished it. It's been to 8 countries, on 10 planes, countless buses and trains, all the while stuffed in the depths of Devin's pack. It's quite crumpled and smashed, but never leaked a drop. It's been sampled by travelers from all over the world, with varying reviews. (We think this is due to the fact that it's gotten stronger over time in the plastic bottle - seriously.)

We've been savoring it and taking small sips on special occasions, making sure we'd have enough left to toast our friends on New Year's Eve...

We did have enough left. We're so happy our paths crossed at the gorge...

Happy New Years guys!

(Important toasting protocol: eye contact.)

(I told you it's strong.)

(Tip some out for our homies.)

The End...of 2010

Elephants

29 December, 2010

Elephant Nature Foundation is a non-profit organization

which advocates and acts on behalf

of the rights of Asian elephants in Thailand.

Our mission is to increase awareness about the plight

of the endangered Asian elephant, educate locals on

the humane treatment of their elephants, and provide

sanctuary for rescued elephants at our nature park.

Today was an amazing day. Devin and I woke up around 7, ate pad thai for breakfast and at 8 we were picked up by a van on it's way to an elephant sanctuary. At 11 we fed elephants baskets of fruit and at 2 we helped them bathe in a river. We fed them more fruit at 4, said goodbye to the elephants at 4:30 and after returning to our guest house in Chiang Mai we had pad thai for dinner. Perfect.

Let me back up for a minute...

When Devin and I were in Luang Prabang, Laos - in October - we considered going on an "Eco-Trek/Mahout Training" adventure. There were many companies offering this sort of scenario: You would go off into the jungle, do some trekking, find yourself at an elephant camp, learn how to ride and command the elephants, bathe them, and eventually return to Luang Prabang to conclude your trip. At first I was very excited about doing this, after all, Laos is the Land of A Million Elephants. However, my concern was for the well-being of the elephants - how were they treated? Plus, did we really need to ride on top of one; especially with the big baskets they have to carry around?

With these questions swimming in my head I turned to fellow travelers and the interweb for advice. I asked people who had been throughout SE Asia what they recommended, including suggestions from friends of friends at home. I looked up reviews for the different companies in Luang Prabang, as well as other elephant trips throughout SE Asia. I tried to find information on whether or not the people-baskets the elephants have to carry are heavy or if they hurt? Finally, I searched for "the best elephant experience in Asia" and came across The Elephant Foundation.

What did I find? A woman named Lek who has dedicated her life to rescuing abused domestic elephants and providing them with a place to live their lives in peace, with respect, kindness, love, and lots and lots of fruit. At this sanctuary people have the opportunity to feed, bathe, and watch these large creatures go about their daily business. These elephants free. Not wild, but not in chains.

Sold. We opted out of doing our "elephant thing" in Laos and waited 2 months until today, our "elephant day." It was one of the best days I've had in the past 5 months.

Elephants are amazing from a distance and up close they are like giant majestic lumbering wrinkly people. I know that sounds a bit odd, but when you hear about the relationships they form with each other at the park, how they cry when a friend dies and how they play and get into mischief, and when you look into their eyes, you know you're looking at a being that is really looking back at you.

Each elephant at the sanctuary has his or her own story about how they ended up there, and while many of them are tales of pain and abuse, they also tell of healing, love, and commitment. If you have a chance, please read about some of the rescued elephants - it will give you an idea of what they lived through before Lek brought them to the park.

Above is Medo (Mae Do), one of our favorite elephants. She broke her ankle while working in the logging industry and then broke her hip as the result of an aggressive male elephant.

She is as healed as she will ever be, and although she walks slowly, she walks!

This is Jokia and behind her is her best friend Mae Perm.
Jokia has a terribly sad story involving losing a baby and being blinded by her old Mahout. She was one of the most gentle elephants there and I would have been happy to feed her pumpkin all day.

Devin and I with Lek, which is Thai for "small."

Elephants are the largest vegetarians!
We fed them pumpkin, zucchini, watermelon, and bananas.


Happy to eat watermelon...lots of watermelon!


Nice schnoz Jokia. (Great picture, Devin!)


Bucket bath in the river.

Feeding and bathing the elephants was a fantastic experience, as was sitting back and watching them roll around in dirt and mud after said bath in the river. Also positive was the feeling of the sanctuary itself. The wooden structures for people visiting and working at the park are simple, beautiful and fit in well with the surroundings. There was a sense of calm that I would have loved even without the elephants.

Some things we didn't know about elephants before today:

1. Elephants can live into their 90s!!!

2. Elephants only sleep for about 3-4 hours a night and they lay down.

3. Elephants in the wild spend most of their day eating, and adult elephants eat 300-400 lbs of food per day.

4. An elephant's skin is about an inch thick but surprisingly sensitive to insect bites.

5. Elephants' gestation period is 22 months and babies weigh 200-250 lbs at birth!!

6. Three distinct differences between Asian and African elephants are their head size, forehead shape, and their ears. (Asian elephants have bigger heads, two bumps on their forehead and smaller ears.)

7. Most elephants have 4 teeth.

8. In Asia there are different species of elephants: those with tusks and those without.

9. 100 years ago there were 100,000 wild and domestic elephants in Thailand. Now there are only 5,000.

The End

Japanese Carp

Date: August 19, 2010

On a more uplifting Hiroshima note, we found our new favorite baseball team there: the Hiroshima Carp! Here's how.

Soon after rolling into town and exiting the train station, we noticed the city was a buzz with Carp fever - hawkers (that word is RARE in Japan) were peddling Carp t-shirts, Carp hats, Carp noise-makers, and even CDs containing Carp cheers. We both thought: if there is a game, we must go. Who names a team the Carp? So, we confirmed there was indeed a game and walked to Mazda Zoom Zoom Stadium (Mazda has a 7km long assembly line in Hiroshima…that’s long…the longest in the world) and bought the cheapest tickets available.

Before entering I learned that patrons are allowed to bring their own beer into the stadium, as long as it’s transferred into the red and white-striped ‘official stadium cup’, so I ran to the nearest convenience store and bought two of the biggest beers I could find. BYOB! As far as the game, the Carp got whooped by the Tokyo Swallows...yes, real name too...but we didn’t care – it was unlike any other baseball game we had been too and well worth the price of admission. Organized cheers (by fans), a marching band, sushi (instead of hot dogs), dried fish bites (instead of nachos), and of course, sake.


Very bizzarre-o, very Japanese. “Carp-u, Carp-u…” That’s all I can remember from the cheer. And you have to love the Japanese high leg kick delivery.




Go Carp!

A Bomb - Hiroshima, Japan

Date: August 20, 2010

On our way through Japan, we stopped in Hiroshima with the main intent of educating ourselves on what happened there on August 6, 1945 - the world's first atomic bomb attack (and unfortunately not the last - Nagasaki, 3 days later). It was an extremely powerful and somber experience for us both....something we will not soon forget (even 4 months later...).

We started out by visiting what is now called the A-Bomb Dome. This building was built in 1915 and was used for a variety of purposes pre-1945; it was last called the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall. The atomic bomb exploded almost directly above it, instantly killing everyone inside. However, due to the proximity of the blast, some of the walls of the building remained standing, leaving enough of the building and iron structure at the top to be recognizable as a dome. This was one of the only structures in the area (once the bustling center of the city) not completely reduced to rubble. After the war, the citizens of Hiroshima were apprehensive to leave it standing, but today it remains as it did then (now a UNESCO World Heritage Site) and is a powerful symbol of the nation’s and humanity’s collectively shared heritage of the catastrophe. Its sacredness and sadness transcends time.

Near the A-Bomb Dome are the grounds for Peace Memorial Park, which include a number of various monuments, the Memorial Cenotaph for A-Bomb Victims, and the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. It is estimated that by the end of 1945, 140,000 people died as result of the bombing (both direct and indirect) and hundreds of thousands more suffered the effects of lethal radiation exposure years and years after. The purpose of the Peace Memorial Park is to not only memorialize these victims, but also to establish the memory of nuclear horrors and to STRONGLY advocate for world peace. Within the museum, the historical details of the bombing and events leading up to / following are laid out in a very black and white fashion with no discernable political spin or blatant omissions. Basically, it happened, period. We all know who actually dropped the bomb (and I would be lying if I say I didn’t feel any national shame during my visit), but the ultimate message is, let’s (ALL of us) never let it happen again, period.

During our visit, there were a couple especially emotional moments for me. One was when listening to audio recounts of survivors describing ‘the scene’ immediately after the explosion – the screams of victims, their eyes popping out from their heads, their charred skin hanging off of their bodies. I cannot imagine. And there were pictures too (I won’t go until more detail). But above all, what stirred me the most was seeing a concrete step found in the ruins of a building now on display at the museum. On the step was a black charred stain. Someone had been sitting on that step that August morning, perhaps reading the paper, perhaps waiting for the bus, perhaps just watching the street traffic, and then boom. In an instant they were gone, leaving only that mark.

In all, I have never felt as powerful and tangible a cry for world peace as experienced that day. Hiroshima has made a call for the end of atomic weapons and there is a flame burning in the park that won’t be extinguished until all atomic weapons are destroyed and the planet is free from the threat of nuclear annihilation. It has been burning continuously since it was lit in 1964.

A Very Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

We miss you and love you and wish you were with us!

Enjoy your time together during this festive season!

Love From Emily & Devin

P.S. I want a hippopotamus for Christmas...

This picture was taken on Dec 17th in Darjeeling, India on Observatory Hill, which is a sacred place for both Hindus and Buddhists.

Vientiane

This is the only picture I liked from our Vientiane, Laos group, so I thought I'd post it here rather than put it all alone in a folder in Picasa. We were walking around town on our last night in Laos and Devin pointed out the cool, old Bug and I took a picture. That's all! :)