Sunday, December 16, 2012

Vegan is NOT a dietary choice

This post is trying to clarify a very common misunderstanding I've encountered over and over. Your comments are most welcome here. I present here my personal perspective and opinions.

Being vegan is NOT a dietary choice but a way of relating to sentient beings who are not humans. Vegans often simply think that unnecessarily harming another being, be that a cat, cow, sheep, dog, fish, elephant or any other, is morally unjust. That's it, nothing so big and nothing that most people cannot easily relate to. Being vegan is, in a nutshell, enlarging your circle of empathy to include others who are not human. While I believe such empathy is in the nature of most of us (how would you feel when you see someone beating up a dog and hear the dog whimpering?), it is forcibly repressed during our childhood by misinformation and indoctrination. Re-opening to that natural empathy and compassion makes individuals around the world change their views about many things that the majority of society still accepts.

While people relate most often to the dietary aspects of not eating flesh of another animal or drinking milk of a cow, being vegan isn't on par with "I believe white sugar is bad for your health and you shouldn't eat it" or "don't smoke, it's bad for you and everyone around you". Choosing to be vegan is a moral choice. Most vegans would not wear clothes made of skins or hair of an animal. Most vegans wouldn't ride a captive elephant, camel or horse for their pleasure, feeling that the animal might not be enjoying the ride or its captivity as much as the rider. Most vegans would not enjoy a circus show of lions jumping through hoops or dolphins dancing in a pool. The reason is that, as empathy works, they'll look at these situations the way they think the animal would look at them.

Maybe vegans are wrong. Perhaps dairy cows who have semen pushed into them by a human enjoy the process and the vegan use of the word "rape" is out of context. Perhaps these cows don't feel bad when their babies are taken away from them because they enjoy their daily milking routine so much. Perhaps their newborn babies are happy to grow up confined to a small cage for the few months of lives they are given before becoming "veal". Perhaps there's nothing wrong with cutting the throat of or electrocuting a captive animal as its physical death helps its soul reach nirvana more quickly. Perhaps. I don't know for sure. My empathy to them makes me feel horrible when I see such acts of torture but maybe my feeling are misleading me.

What is important to me when talking about being vegan to people who don't understand it is sharing real facts that most people are unaware of (as in the amazing movie Earthlings) and explaining that there is a moral choice to be made. Most people don't think that eating meat, dairy or eggs is a moral choice as it's the default in today's society. Most people wouldn't think twice about buying leather products as they're offered right next to everything else. This perception is wrong. It is a moral choice and we're all making our choices. Personally, I thought again about my choices and made the change 19 months ago and have written a blog post you're welcome to read about it.

A vegan diet, one of the aspects of being vegan, has very important ramifications both health-wise and to the environment. One can have a very bad vegan diet that would be unhealthy but constructing a good diet that does not include animal products has proven health benefits. Hell, I used to think that vegetarians are weak and sickly and those who adopt a crappy diet actually are. Factory farming is an ecological disaster and you can look it up yourself. If there's one thing I'd really be happy to learn that you did after reading this post, it would be to search for information yourself. Learn and make your own choice.

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Exciting Colnect news - API and Plans

This blog post might be somewhat different as I seldom write much about Colnect on this more personal blog. However, since we settled down for a bit in Pai, I was able to focus more efforts into planning Colnect's future. The future's looking bright and I'm adding a blog post here so that if any of you actually sees an opportunity here, you won't be scared to contact me about it.

Beautiful flower coming out of a twig that could otherwise have seemed lifeless

Today I've announced publicly Colnect's API which I think is a fantastic idea. I really don't know why I haven't done it before and an API is the best way any application can develop quickly and to many directions previously not considered. My programming abilities are limited as I'm just one person but with an API other people can take over and develop more things using Colnect's infrastructure. IMO having open APIs is one of the things that made FaceBook so successful as its core functionality was extended by third parties. Google often offers APIs to their products to improve them and increase third parties dependency on Google services. So if you have an idea to rock the collectors world, now's a good time to read about Colnect's API and get it touch :)

In addition to this development, I've finally resolved some load balancing issues that addressed the growing traffic to Colnect. The catalogs are growing and, with more requests from the community, they're becoming more professional and organized over time. Amazing to see how a dedicated community is built over a great hobby that connects people the world over.

Transportation for pigs - I feel pain and disgust seeing how humans treat animals almost anywhere in the world. But hey, someone has to feed all those meat-eaters so some abuse is fine, right? Well, not to me. We don't have to do it, we choose to do it although human survival would be better without abusing and consuming the results of abuse.
On a personal note, life in Pai is going on great. Many great restaurants with delicious vegan dishes at a short walking distance. Not that it doesn't take an effort to explain that an egg or shrimp is something I don't want to eat, but altogether we get great yummy things. Nature is so beautiful and inspiring here and at least a few daily minutes to appreciate it help recharge some more happiness in. Our apartment treats us well, now that we've finally managed to resolve the Internet-connection related issues and can surf quickly and smoothly.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Run Visa Run!

This post is about visas and travels and I share my opinions which may bore non-travelers to death. Thus, feel free to skip through the text and enjoy the pictures.
Beautiful sunset on the Mekong may actually get you to read this post

In all my travel experience, this was the first time I did a visa run. To those who don't know what this means, I'll explain simply: most countries don't allow you to stay in them for more than a specific amount of time and then demand that you leave. So if you wanna stay longer, all you have to do is leave and then come back again. Some even do it the same day. Sometimes it involves getting new visas, sometimes it doesn't.

My last attempt at a visa run ended up with going back home. We left Yangshuo, China planning to come back but in Hong Kong felt like it's a good time to visit Israel and ended up flying away and not coming back to Yangshuo, where we actually left some stuff. Luckily, a nice person managed to get our stuff back to us a day before our flight.

This specific visa run ended up costing about 3 days of our lives and around $130US per person. For some sense of proportion mind our monthly rent (for both) is $100 and a typical dish in a restaurant is $1+. The part for the new Thai visa itself was $33 so I really wonder wouldn't the Thai government be happier to simply charge $70 to provide this visa while we're still in Thailand. Make more money with less hassle to the person and less pollution to the environment from useless travels. Perhaps the issue is motivating more short-term-big-spending tourists and less explorers or people who want to start residing in the country. Perhaps it's about making sure you know who's the boss as you're never really sure if you'll get the new visa to come back. What do you think?

As a visa run is a very common thing in Thailand, especially with expats living here, many agencies offer a whole package. In the past, your passport could have traveled without you and thus your costs and hassle were minimized. Naturally it was illegal and nowadays it's not very common from what I hear. One agency actually offered it to us but we preferred not to.

After hearing from an American friend here that the agency's package in a minivan has been a nightmare ride (roads are far from perfect and the drivers speed up irregardless of passenger comfort), we decided to go independently and use VIP sleeper buses when possible. Costs were about the same, physical comfort was much better but we were never sure we'll get the next ticket. We always did though :) Altogether about 36 hours net on the road from Pai, Thailand to Vientiane, Laos and back.

In-city dirty smelly river. I wouldn't be surprised if people played dare on swimming in it...

Had no expectations from Vientiane and so they were all fulfilled :) There are beautiful places in Laos and Vientiane didn't impress me much. I did think that if it creates much interest, I'll linger a bit before going back but it didn't. Laos, to my humble experience, is better around smaller villages closer to nature. In comparison to Thailand, prices are higher and level of services is lower. Considering that there aren't much "attractions", the allure isn't too big and my guess is that without neighboring Thailand and its visa regulations, it would have seen a lot less tourism. I believe that the establishment of Thailand as a big transportation junction (read: cheap flights) in addition with easy but short entry permits greatly benefits its neighboring countries. Currently Thailand gives 30 days entry for free when flying in but only 14 days at land borders. Had Thailand given 90 days for free and charge $30 at land borders the tourist route would have been very different.

May seem odd to those not traveling much but visa issues and regulations do set a certain atmosphere for visitors. One of the reasons to India's great popularity with long-term travelers is that it's easy to get a 6-month visa. In the past, one could have easily gotten a new 6-month visa in Nepal so people would stay as long as they wanted in India. As India is quite cheap, especially when you're staying there for long, many foreigners would make some cash outside and come back often. Nowadays, the Indian government added some "cooling period" (often 2 months away from India) before re-entry to the country. This is likely meant to weed out the foreigners who spend less. Take China as a counter-example. It's often quite annoying to get a Chinese visa and in most places it's only given for 1 month. It can be extended twice though, each time being a hassle on its own. The reason you can still seem a good amount of travelers in China (not anywhere close to India though) is that it's always possible to go to Hong Kong and easily get a new visa through an agency there. These agencies used to offer 6 and 12 month visas as well but now they're much harder to get. That's why so many foreigners in China are either there for business or work. Visa exemptions between countries often promote tourism in both countries. Israel, for example, established such with Ukraine and Russia, likely after realizing that considering how many people travel between the countries, it would be financially better to do it.

Last interesting anecdote: Israelis are requested to add a letter explaining why they want the new visa from Thailand. So we get one month entry for free without questions but for a single-entry 2 months visa I need to explain myself? I do wonder what the reasons behind that useless demand are. I doubt if anyone read my letter describing how beautiful Thailand is and how I'd keep exploring it for two more months.

End of visa story. We got a new visa and I don't think I'll do visa runs like that ever again. I kind of miss how this all worked out in South America where I would always get a 3 months entry stamp without any hassle or payment. Si, voy a regresar a sudamerica :)
One of Vientiane's dangers - especially at night and when drunk

Who said only Chinglish is funny?

Arc de Triomphe in Vientiane


Let's shake hands on it, okay?

Chinese Opera in Lao language is surely different

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Home Sweet Home @ Pai

Being indecisive as we often are, it took us a while to decide to settle down in Pai for two more months.We'll need a visa run to Laos soon but we like Pai so much and it's so great here that we're willing the take the hassle.
We stayed in a very nice room close to Pai's central walking street and yet incredibly quiet. We liked the woman running the place and the fact that it was more often than not empty. However, with the high-tourist-season looming, we saw the place fill up on weekends and wanted to check for alternatives. The final push came when we asked about staying longer and were a day later given the opportunity to stay at about double the price we were already paying. Still nicer than the Indian version of the same thing which happened to me in Varanasi some years ago. There I was quoted the higher price retroactively as if it's clear I should be paying more than before. I didn't end up paying the higher price but actually moving to a better place for a lesser price. This time it was similar.
We found a fantastic new apartment (we're the first to ever live here - it was finished a few days before we arrived) for less than half the price we were paying for the room at the guesthouse. We love the settings here. We're in the middle of a field and a few minutes walk from town. Everything is new and they got us brand new furniture after we paid the first month's rent. Enjoy the pictures and come visit us! :)

We're the right-most apartment out of 6 in this complex. For now, we're the only ones living here.
There's a temple at the corner of the complex so we hope it'll bring us good luck :)

That's the complex from the other side. Next to it they built a shop, not yet open for business.

Yet another angle, so you'll get a feeling of the surroundings.

Some of our neighbors :) In case you didn't know, cow's milk is meant for a calf, like in this picture, not for humans.

That's not our bedroom :) Across the road there's a guest house offering wooden rooms (ours in concrete, which makes for a better room) for about 6 times the price we pay.
That is our bedroom, still messy but look how happy that girl in the picture looks!


The evening we got the place we went to Pai's main walking street and on some T-Shirt stand there was this HUGE butterfly. Had to take a picture there. Wildlife is a our doorstep the whole time and we love it.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Scootering Near Pai, Mae Hong Son, Ban Lak Thai

Beautiful scenic views are a scooter's throw away from Pai and scooters are easy to rent and of good quality. Lotsa people end up in cast as the twisting roads are quite the challenge for inexperienced riders. Add alcohol and over confidence and you'll get good revenues for the nearby health industry.

Here are pictures from two occassions when we rented out a scooter. The first was with a couple of friends who came to Pai for a few days. We just explored around and saw nice views and a waterfall the next day. The second time was a more challenging 48 hour trip from Pai to Mae Hong Son, passing through Ban Rak Thai and many other unnamed unknown turns on the way. There was no specific goal set so if a turn seemed nice, we took it. The whole experience has been marvelous. Seriously.

Challenges did include riding in the dark with hordes of insects flying to my barely protected eyes. Add some nice slopes and > 180 degree turns and you're good to go. But then again, without challenges, where's the fun?

I'm now writing this from our sweet new apartment in Pai but that's on the next post. For now, enjoy the pictures and write something about them.

Quite a few nice waterfalls with freshly chilling water

Frognector enjoy the garlic heads

The Thai version of a Chinese village next to Pai. If anything, it reminds of ridiculous park in China that try to display other countries.

Pai's walking street has all kindsa artsy stuff on sale. These magnet coasters are always pinned to a cool WW beetle

Leafless tree reflecting on Dana's sunglasses

Frognector and Moo enjoying the view from the area's highest peak while we get eaten alive by sand flies. It took us a few days to realize that's what the new odd bites were.

Straw Buddha at Mae Hong Son

First time I see something of the like in a Buddhist temple...

Museums at temples (and churches) are often an odd conglomerate of things that made sense to someone at some time. For now, this sense eludes me.

Tourist info + police station: efficiency in Mae Hong Son

Appreciating our wonderful scooter, 125cc but went up and down like a real horse

Brand new scooter it was. We got it with ~700km and returned it with 1,000km+ :) Unfortunately I missed the 777.7 and 999.9 marks...

Ban Rak Thai - BEAUTIFUL village near the Myanmar border

Ban Rak Thai - BEAUTIFUL village near the Myanmar border

Ban Rak Thai - BEAUTIFUL village near the Myanmar border

Ban Rak Thai - BEAUTIFUL village near the Myanmar border

Ban Rak Thai has a significant Chinese population so we get a different kind of yummy noodle soup here

Ban Rak Thai - BEAUTIFUL village near the Myanmar border

I kinda half-visited Myanmar

At the army base near the border I saw the specs of the Negev, an Israeli-made machine gun

Ban Rak Thai... again

Mushrooms on a branch close to a waterfall

Close to Pai

Close to Pai, higher up

Mirrors for sale in a local Pai market

From a previous scooter trip with a couple of friends

Monday, October 22, 2012

Pai - Upgraded

Thailand is comfortable. Thailand is beautiful. Thailand offers yummy healthy food. As it's been ran over by tourists for such a long time, it might not be the most interesting SEA country to explore but it sure is the most well organized one.

Remembering how tranquil and embracing Pai was, we decided to go back. We passed two nights sleeping on planes and buses. Flight from Amman to Colombo, Sri Lanka. A stop over at the airport made me realize I wanna explore Sri Lanka soonish. Flight to Bangkok, then a train, then a taxi, then coconuts and Pad Thai (the noodles) and a foot massage. Night bus to Chiang Mai, taxi to the bus station, bus to Pai and here we are. About 48 hours after arriving at Amman's airport.

On the last bus concluding two days of transportation
At first I was sure this dog was a puppet.
Was it worth all the hassle? Hell yeah! We're now enjoying an upgraded Pai. The weather is nicely warm but not humidly dripping hot. There are more tourists but not that many so it means more feeding options are available at our disposale but we still manage to get a quiet spot. All in all we're on a Pai high :)

You can't see the river but it's flowing under it all and next to our door

This corn was not there 4 months ago! A minute from our door.

Happiness is yellow today

Some more Pai - are you coming over already?

A dog in the temple. Licking meditation is uniquely practiced by temple dogs.

You got to read this line? Really? Well, there's actually a hidden message in this blog. See if you can decipher it.,.,.