September 2004
Nick sends me a fantastic motto to live by:
Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely , in an attractive and well preserved body; but rather to skid in sideways, champagne in one hand, strawberries in the other, body thoroughly used up, worn out and screaming, "F*ck- what a ride!!!"
I still get excited at receiving things through the post despite the speed of the Internet. Yesterday I found in the letterbox asking me to collect an item from the post office which is about a mile from Happyland. To get there I had to travel a few hundred yards along the Bangna Trad road which is riddled with roadworks. I didn't mind because I suspected the item was a set of videos Shep is sending out to me. The journey took an hour... and hour can you believe it!!! And when I got there I found to my dissapointment that the item was just a receipt for a hotel room I'd booked, sent to me as a registered letter.
I think to moral to the story for those of you reading this is to send all those exciting packages and parcels to the School address
If a giant water beetle landed on your face, would you:
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a) Run around shrieking like a big soppy girl:
b) Casually flick it to the ground and stamp on it.:
c) Eat it.:
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At three and a half inches long, giant water beetles (maing daa) look absolutely monstrous but they?re actually rather delicious and the Thais regard them as the nation?s number one edible bug.:
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These days, they?ve become quite rare in the wild so most are raised on bug farms. A street value of 5 baht per insect makes this a lucrative business.:
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When you?re faced with a giant water beetle for the first time ? it?s difficult to know which bits to eat and which to throw away. The meat makes good eating but the hard parts should be discarded.:
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Pull the legs off and nibble any meat from the wet ends. Rip the head and wings off and throw them away. Detach the long abdomen and suck the paste out of it. If you?re lucky, it will be full of chewy eggs. Prise open the thorax and enjoy the tuna-like meat inside. :