Somerset in the spring

I spent a few days with friends in Somerset in March. The woods are full of wild daffodils and the primroses are starting to appear.

The weather was mixed, blue sky and sunshine, then hailstones

We went to a friend's farm. I loved these donkeys, they are spending the winter at the farm then in the spring they will return to their beach job at Weston.

The cows in the yard were inquisitive and one kept licking my camera!

Full moon in London, March 2014

I can't resist taking photos of the full moon, even though my camera is no good for this.
This is the full moon 16th March 2014 as seen from London. It rose from behind the houses in the distance.

Charcoal kilns in southern Vietnam

Whilst caving in Dong Nai province in southern Vietnam in Feb 2014, I saw this small scale charcoal industry. Dong Nai is the province just to the northeast of Ho Chi Minh City.
Many people in the region use charcoal for cooking, especially for heating pots of water and for grilling meat.

The kilns are inside the attap roofed building

 

Wood is put into the kiln and it is then heated and turns into charcoal. It is a hot and smokey process.
This area has many cashew trees as well as other fruit trees, so these are probably used when older.

The smoke is coming out from the bottom, not from the top

there is no smoke from the chimney on the roof

I don't know why this kiln is covered up

 

 

 I tried to find out more about this charcoal industry but didn't find much. However I did find an interesting article on a village in another part of this province, where lepers are involved with the charcoal industry, charcoal kilns help lepers.........

 

 

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission

Haze 2014

2014 began with a prolonged dry spell. January and February were very dry, causing a water shortage in many areas. Some places had water rationing, of 2 days off, 2 days on.

By early March the air quality was at a unhealthy level in the Klang Valley.

The Star 3 March -
"First the water, now the haze.

It looks like Klang Valley residents can't find any respite in the weather. Having to endure weeks of disrupted water supply, they now have to contend with the haze.

The air pollutant index (API) reading shot up to near-unhealthy levels by Monday afternoon with Port Klang registering an API of 117 (API of 100 to 200 is categorised in the unhealthy range) at 2pm. Petaling Jaya (92).

-----------------------------------------

March 13 The Star, some headlines :

Water levels in Sungai Selangor Dam nearing critical level

Haze worsens due to peat fires and farm burning

Very unhealthy API in Port Klang

Photo from Star 14th

Klang 8.15am 13th March

 

The rainy season started by early April and was said to last until mid May, then it would be hot and dry again!

By the 2nd week in June it was very hot. I was thankful to leave Malaysia mid June. I then read the haze had returned -
Star photo 24 June

It was reported that unhealthy levels of air pollution were recorded in Port Klang, while other areas in the country recorded moderate and good readings.

----------

See Part 2 for August update.

Valentine's Day is banned‏ for Malaysian Muslims

I read in the Economist, 15-21 Feb 2014, that Valentine's Day is banned in Malaysia, as well as in other Muslim countries. As I hadn't heard such a thing, I googled it.

The Malaysian Digest, 13 Feb, has an article "Five Countries Where Valentine's Day Is A Crime Or Banned". The countries are Iran, Malaysia, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia. For Malaysia it says "Sorry lovers! V-day is a total no-no even in Malaysia where Muslims account for over 60 percent of the population. The people belonging to this religion are prohibited from celebrating the day. You won't believe this, but in 2012 police busted couples and arrested for trying to get a little - just a little, you know - closer. They said the couples were being arrested for 'Close proximity'.
It was a complicated, official, sophisticated, authoritarian language but perhaps the best we can understand by that 'close proximity' claim is that - maybe they were holding their hands? Or kissing at the most?".

Then I looked at The Star and saw this on 13 Feb :
"Selangor Mufti Dept distributes “Hukum Valentine’s Day” leaflets

The Selangor Mufti Department has distributed thousands of pink-coloured leaflets advising Muslim youths against the ill-effects of celebrating Valentine’s Day.
“Youths are responding well to our campaign and they are agreeing to what is stated in the 2006 ruling by the state fatwa council,” said state Mufti Department Assistant Chief Mat Jais Kamos.
The ruling states that the practice of celebrating Valentine’s Day was never organised by Islam, and hence, Muslims are forbidden from participating in the celebration.
Yesterday, Mat Jais and a team from his department distributed leaflets titled “Hukum Valentine’s Day” to more than 500 students from Universiti ITM (UiTM) in Puncak Alam, Shah Alam. The leaflets stated that celebration was against the state fatwa council ruling.
“This is our second day after handing out leaflets to students at SMK Seksyen 9, and so far everything is going well,” said Mat Jais, who added that this was the first time that the department is conducting such a campaign.
Mat Jais said the Mufti department will be doing similar roadshows at several institutions of higher learning in Selangor.
“It is not decided which institutes we will be going, but the campaign will last until after Feb 14,” he said.
Seeing religious officers handing out leaflets outside the university, Mohd Fariq Ishq, 20, said it was the first he is seeing such a thing since joining UiTM last year.
“Usually, salesmen would be standing outside, but anyway, I think it is a good move,” he said, though he declined to elaborate further whether the campaign was of any good for Muslim youths."

And this article says that "In Malaysia, the government-run Office of Islamic Development has led a public campaign to warn against Valentine's Day as a trap that can lead to immoral behavior. Leaflets have been distributed to university students encouraging them to forget that it's Valentine's Day. "

McDonald’s is now in Vietnam

I didn't realise that McDonald’s is new to Vietnam. Apparently it only arrived in early 2014.

I was in Ho Chi Minh City in Feb, and I took a photo of a roundabout with lots of bikes, and later realised that in my photo is a McDonald’s.

The franchise has been given to Henry Nguyen, a Vietnam-American businessman who is the son-in-law of the Prime Minister.

On the same day I posted this blog, I read that Malaysia is the 3rd cheapest place to buy a Big Mac.  It comes in 3rd after India and South Africa . See report in The New Straits Times , 15 Feb 2014.

Coffee plants & turmeric in Vietnam

In Dong Nai province we saw lot of cashews, pepper and tobacco being grown. Dong Nai is the province north of Ho Chi Minh City, in the south of Vietnam. We were in the area near Gia Ray in February, which is the dry season.

We were looking for lava tubes in a volcanic area. The volcanoes are long extinct. The soil seems rich for growing these crops.

Coffee -

Turmeric -

This is no longer grown as the price is too low, but there are still some plants in the ground

And this is the finished product of the coffee -