Thailand

My wife who is taking some time off to see her family in Thailand called me all upset early this morning from Japan’s Narita airport. She had made a mistake and told them to pick her up at noon when she was actually going to arrive in Bangkok at midnight. At the time she could not get through on the phone to our home in Thailand and was going to have to board the plane so she asked me to notify them of the proper time. Hesitantly I agreed, but I dreaded the call because the only thing worse than my phrase book Thai is the English of my family from the Asian Pacific Rim.

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When I saw this story come up on my news feed I thought maybe it was a just a typo. After discovering that it was just a clever play on words I really didn’t expect to find any relevant content for a recovery related blog.

Wrong again.

When rain forest logging was banned in the 1990’s Thailand was instantly faced with a large population of out of work elephants, over 300 in Bangkok alone begging on the streets… and these are the lucky ones.

Some owners turn to illegal logging, which became far more dangerous. Forcing the beasts of burden to work faster, loggers prod them with spears and hooks, and feed them bananas spiked with amphetamines. Many logging elephants become drug-addicted, exhausted and ill. ~ Animal Planet

That’s right, drug addicted elephants.

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Bob Popplewell of Bayou Bob's Brazos River Rattlesnake Ranch in Santo, Texas has been charged with the sale of alcohol without a license. What makes this news story worthy of mention (well, at least interesting) is that each bottle of bootleg vodka Bob sold contained a baby rattlesnake.

"It's almost a spiritual thing," Popplewell told the paper, saying he caters to the Asian community and that the liquid is used for wellness and stability. He likened the concoction to cough syrup. ~ FoxNews.com

You can click on the link to see a rather poor example of Bob’s bottling since it seems that the Texas Alcohol Beverage Commission photographer doesn’t know how to use a view finder. You’ll notice that I have posted a much better traditional Asian example of “snake enhanced alcohol” from Thailand (my second home- another story for another day) where the local men swear upon its power to increase sexual prowess. Yeah right.

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