Brr--rr--rr ... Sabering, chilling and nitro-ing at the Bearfoot Bistro

Are you a fan of those epic swashbuckler movies of the 1930's, '40's and 50's - you know, the ones that featured great sword fights with heroes like Errol Flynn, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and even, on occasion, Gene Kelly?

Even if you're not, you really should get to see someone "saber" a bottle of champagne, at least once in your life. Better still if you can do it yourself, but if not, at least watch someone else do it "live."

I had the chance to do that a few months ago during a visit to the Bearfoot Bistro in Whistler, B.C. During a tour of their wine cellar, one of our group was allowed to actually saber open a bottle of pretty good champagne. I actually tried to volunteer, but one other member of our group got her hand up more quickly.

 Sabering a bottle of bubbly

For those not familiar with the term, "sabering" a bottle of champagne is exactly what it sounds like: it involves using a sabre, or sword, to open the bottle by lopping off the cork and surrounding glass neck cleanly enough to pour the champagne without fear of getting glass in the glasses.

Technically, the art is called "sabrage" (not to be confused with "road rage" or "roid rage!). Its history dates back Napoleonic times.

It may sound daunting, but Jennifer Patterson, our selected saberer, did a fine job under the tutelage of J.S. Dupuis of the Bearfoot. Personally, I would loved to have had a chance to do it myself, partly for the experience, but mainly because the champagne went down way to easily with the oysters we enjoyed. Would have liked a few more flutes of the bubbly, myself ...

Na zdrowie!

But we were not done, yet. From the wine cellar, we migrated upstairs to the Belvedere Ice Room, which holds in excess of 50 different kinds of vodka from around the world.

It literally is an ice room, the walls are solid ice, the vodkas are kept on shelves chipped out of the ice.

It is cold - you have to bundle up in warm coats and hats - supplied by the Bearfoot - to spend any time inside the room.

We tried two or three premium vodkas, including one from Poland and one from B.C., actually made from organic potatoes.

Note to spirit afficianados: It's a myth that vodka is always made from potatoes. While it can be, it's usually made from grain, like most spirits. In Russia, potatoes were substituted for grain during World War I, as all the grain was being used to feed the troops at the front - at least until the Russian Revolution took place - then everyone could drink as much vodka as they wanted, from grain or potatoes!

Personally, I preferred the Polish vodka. Nice clean, crisp taste. The B.C. vodka had to heavy an after-taste for my liking. But, to each his own.

After champagne, after vodka and after a wonderful meal, there was one more "chilling" experience we had at the Bearfoot that night. 

Nitro ice cream, anyone?



Following dinner, we were treated to the creation of "Nitro Ice Cream." It's made by taking a bowl of slightly sweetened cream with a bit of vanilla in it, then adding liquid nitrogen (really!) to the cream so it freezes instantly while your server mixes it.

So what does Nitro ice cream taste like? Is it really as good as its hype?

Well, I'll tell you ... it was the creamiest, smoothest ice cream I've ever had.

Eating it was like letting vanilla velvet melt on your tongue.

Batman's old foe Mr. Freeze would have been very jealous indeed, of the icy trifecta of champagne, vodka and nitro ice cream we enjoyed that night.

A different kind of spa experience at Scandinave

There are spas where you can get massages and other body work, and there are massages where you can get facials, pedicures, manicures and other kinds of esthetics done. That's the modern concept of most day spas.

However, spas originally started in Europe and they didn't involve those kinds of treatments, at least not in the beginning. Look it up on an online dictionary or encyclopedia, and you may find the term spa is associated with water treatment which is also known as balneotherapy.



Everybody into the spa!

 At Scandinave Spa in Whistler, B.C., you can enjoy the best of both spa worlds: you can enjoy a very relaxing massage or other form of bodywork; and, you can also immerse yourself into the world of balneotherapy, or hydrotherapy. While those two processes are slightly different, they do overlap.

There is an added benefit to enjoying the spa there: you're surrounded by the beauty of the Coastal Mountains.

I had the opportunity to visit there recently, in February 2011.

Those unfamiliar with B.C. weather may not realize that at that time of year, it's often very mild here. So the fact that many of the various hydrotherapy "stations" are located outdoors should not deter you from visiting there at any time of the year. In fact, I found it more invigorating in late winter than I might have during the heat of summer. But, to each his own.

I started off with a Eucalyptus steam bath for 15 minutes, then went outside, plunged into a cold pool for 15 seconds, then hopped out and made a beeline to one of the Adirondack chairs placed around an open outdoor fire.


After some time outdoors, you might want
to have a snack or drink inside the spa by the fireplace.


Again, even though it was February, and I was dressed only in a bathing suit, flip-flops and a towel, I was not uncomfortable.

I repeated that hot-cold-warm process several times, using different parts of the facility: jacuzzi-cold shower-solarium; Finnish sauna-cold pool-solarium; steam room-cold pool-solarium.

After a few hours of that, I was certainly very relaxed. While I didn't have time for a massage that day, the next time I go there, I will make sure I take advantage of that option as well. And there will be a next time...

Stepping through a portal to the past at Ottawa's Diefenbunker

Ghosts. I could swear there were ghosts, I just couldn't see them or hear them as I walked the halls of the Diefenbunker, a.k.a., Canada's Cold War Museum.

The facility is a huge four-storey bunker, buried deep under a hillside in the rural area outside Ottawa, Canada's capital city. It was originally built in the late 1950's and early 1960's, under the orders of the Prime Minister, John Diefenbaker, (hence its name) to house crucial elements of the Canadian government in the event a nuclear war broke out.

Thankfully, that never happened. However, it was only recently - 1994 to be exact - that the facility was de-commissioned and eventually turned into a museum.

Fatboy Atomic Bomb.

Walking through the long tunnel leading into a hillside and down into the four levels gave me a bit of a chill, and not just because it was a cold, damp March day. It made me think how seriously people feared an actual Atomic Armageddon back then. Not that we don't live in trying times today, but walking past the empty shells of atomic "Fat Boy" and hydrogen bombs in the entrance way is bound to give anyone pause for thought, I would venture.

The museum features some of the original equipment along with much newer replica equipment sent down to replace the materials removed when the armed forces pulled out of it back in the mid-90's.



Making the long trek down the tunnel.

You have to pass through the decontamination chambers as you come into the building, rooms where people showered then got Geiger-countered before being allowed to pass in. We visited the surgery, the war room (where the P-M and all the heads of the government dept.'s and military) would convene to plan the future of a war-torn continent. Shades of the movie Dr. Strangelove...

The entire facility is very institutional, right down to the pale green paint on the walls and the durable, functional furniture on display.

The cafeteria is still there, and while you can't get a meal there, you can sample modern-day K-rations, the food armies travel on.

Supposedly, Canadian rations are among the best in the world. The chili and beans weren't bad (better if you're camping out, I suppose) but if this is the best, I'd sure hate to see the worst ...

Of course, there is a gift shop where you can purchase several kitsch-y items as well as some less tacky souvenirs.


K-rations, anyone?

Although it is a bit sombre, it's heritage is a part of our past - our recent past - and all sombreness aside, it's kind of a cool place to visit.

And although you might feel like they're there, I doubt if will find any ghosts lurking about, even though there is a bit of a haunting, haunted quality about the place.

And as you leave, you might want to say a prayer of thanks that it never actually had to be used ...

Playing with Panthera at Tiger Temple

The tiger sniffed my hands, decided he liked the smell, then started to chew.

That is, he decided to chew the chicken I was holding out for him. (Betcha wondered where this was going, didncha?)

Although this sounds like I'm tempting fate, it's really not, at least not in my mind.

However, there is something very special about offering food to a large carnivore that you know could eat you if it decided to, but instead it takes the food from your hands, even taking time to lick your hands to make sure it gets all the juices and every last little bit of chicken there is to be had. The tongue, surprising, was really no rougher than the tongues of house cats I've kept as pets, albeit, it's much bigger.

Hand feeding a teen tiger.

The tiger was a large, but not fully-grown adolescent who lives with 87 other tigers at the Tiger Temple in Kanchanaburi, Thailand. Feeding him was part of an incredible experience that capped off my visit to Thailand the first two weeks of April 2011.

Visitors to the centre may choose to participate in one of the extended programs that includes feeding an unweaned tiger cub with a bottle of formula, walking (or rather, being "walked by"!) a tiger cub, giving them a bath with soap and water, feeding them cooked chicken from your hands, playing with some of the adolescents in a pool, and finally, walking with/watching adult tigers engaged in play in a larger pool where only the facility's staff are allowed to be while the tigers are loose.

These tigers are not exactly wild, but not exactly tame, either. What has now become the Tiger Temple, started with the saving of two young Indo-Chinese tiger cubs from starving to death after their mother had been shot. Someone brought the cubs to this monastery and the monks began to care for them.

Before long, more cubs were brought to the temple, which eventually became a sanctuary.


A hungry cub


As with any approach that is outside the standard practice used in animal conservation or welfare, there are critics of the temple's approach to keeping these endangered animals in what is essentially a zoo. Some cite evidence of less-than-adequate conditions for some of the creatures. I cannot dispute that, nor can I confirm it; with any touring group, even as a media member, we are shown what the management chooses to show us, so I really cannot speak one way or another about the conditions behind the scenes. Quite honestly, I wouldn't really know what to look for. I can tell you if a companion parrot or dog or cat is being cared for properly; I don't know anything about caring for large carnivores.

The animals I saw during my visit seemed healthy and happy. Again, I didn't see all 88 tigers, so I cannot say one way or another how the overall conditions there match up with something like, say, the Bronx Zoo, which is probably the best zoo in the world.

During a lengthy conversation I had with Dr. Somchai, the head veterinarian at the Tiger Temple, he admitted the situation at the Tiger Temple is not a perfect solution; far from it. Would he not rather see these tigers in the wild? Yes, he would. But he does raise the pertinent question, "Where would they live?"

That's a question that is only partially hypothetical in nature - it is very practical, as well. There are very few extensive tracts of forest cover large enough to provide food and habitat for the 88 tigers that live at the temple, certainly not in Thailand. Dr. Somchai stated, quite accurately, that if those tigers could somehow be rehabilitated and be released into the wild, they would very soon be shot.

Kind of puts us all between a rock and a hard place, really. That question about dwindling habitat is one we all need to ponder as we continue to see more forests cut down in what used to be prime tiger habitat.

Sadly, the doctor expressed the thought to me that unless humans change our ways, he felt that eventually there will be no more wild tigers, anywhere. In fact, even now, there are more tigers in captivity than there are living in the wild. And that latter number seems to be decreasing further each year.

 

Tigers at play, Tiger Temple, Thailand

I hope to someday see a wild tiger in its natural habitat, before they all disappear. I may or may not experience that. I do know the experience I had at the Tiger Temple was awe-inspiring. It makes me want to do even more to save the remaining wild tigers.

There are many organizations working toward saving the last few remaining wild tigers. Among that group are:

The World Wildlife Fund Tiger Conservation Program
The Save the Tiger Fund
The Sumatran Tiger Trust
The Wildlife Conservation Society Tigers in Peril

I'll finish this post by leaving this quote for you to ponder (bearing in mind, that given humankind's current path, we may very well be eliminating the other possibility):

"It is not part of a true culture to tame tigers, any more than it is to make sheep ferocious."
  Henry David Thoreau 

(If you would like to see more images of my experience at Tiger Temple, go to:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.1886343991254.106330.1021036665&l=4d0d6a1e2b )

Hanging with the Hill Tribes of Thailand

A good portion of one day during my recent travels around Thailand involved a bit of hiking, a bit of haggling and plenty of highland views of some wonderful landscapes.

We enjoyed these experiences while visiting a pair of Hill Tribe villages in the Chiang Mai area of the country.

Hill tribe is a term used in Thailand for all of the various tribal peoples who migrated from China and Tibet during the past few centuries. They now inhabit the remote border areas between northern Thailand, Laos and  Myanmar. These areas are known for their thick forests and mountainous terrain.

Ready to bargain for a purse

We spent time with the Palong (also spelled "Palaung") tribe, a group originating from China and Myanmar. We only needed about a half hour hike up a road through the forest from our van to reach the first village, set off the road a bit, which peters out as it goes further into the hills.

As soon as we arrived, three or four women wearing the traditional clothing of their culture began to spread out blankets and set out crafts to sell us.

Bartering is part of their way of life, so I quickly became embroiled in a bargain for a small purse. She wanted 150 Baht for it, I countered with 100, she came back quickly with 120, and I thought that was a good bargain, so I purchased it.

The most striking feature about Palong women is their teeth: they're dark black. Depending on who you talk to, it's caused by chewing betel nut combined with lime paste and palm nut wrapped in a betel leaf, done to improve the strength and health of the teeth (that's what our guide, Chan, told us); or, according to other sources, it's done through a painting process as the women consider it to be a form of beauty, much like we co, according to other sources.

While not all the women sport blackened teeth, and regardless of the reason or cause, it does produce a striking appearance.


Beyond the Lost Horizon ...

After chatting with some of the women through Chan's interpretation (most of the men were away from the village, working), we paid a quick trip to the village temple, then strode across a short bridge and began a trek that would take us high up into the hills above the village.

When we reached the highest point, we looked back down into the village we had left, and down and ahead to a beautiful valley below, seeing the village we were headed toward.


 We were about halfway between the two villages, in terms of the distance between them. The one we were headed for, far below, surrounded by hills and forests, reminded me of the mythical kingdom of Shangri-La, of the book and movie , The Lost Horizon.

Down we went, across the hills, past fields of crops, including coffee and pineapple plants. A short walk along a narrow forested path brought us to a bridge across a stream and into our second village.

We ate lunch, did some more trading, took some more pictures, then piled into our van, which had met us there, and our drive back to the city. 

A Palong woman weaves cloth the traditional way,
and listens to the less traditional radio.


Before leaving the village, though, we had an opportunity to observe a Palong woman using a traditional loom to weave cloth used by the tribe for their traditional dress as well as for selling to tourists.

It was a short trip in terms of distance - but it was a much longer trip in terms of time, if you consider it truly is a trip back in time to see an ancient way of life practised as it has been for centuries throughout southeast Asia.

River Kwai reminders of how atrocious man can be to man

It would be very remiss of me to visit Kanchanaburi province in Thailand, and not visit the Bridge on the River Kwai.

Of course, the bridge that's there now is not the same one built then destroyed during World War II. But close by, there are a pair of memorials that serve to remind us of man's inhumanity and brutality to his fellow man.

 Riding the tourist train over the Bridge on the River Kwai.

While the events that transpired around the bridge did not take place exactly like the movie (or for that matter, the novel) tells it - it was eventually blown up by a bomber airplane, not a group of commandos coming in through the jungle - the brutality and poor treatment of the POW's who worked there was real. That's all documented at the Jeath War Museum, located not far from the bridge in Kanchanaburi province.

A visit to that museum will show you displays of old newspaper accounts, as well as photos and artwork depicting the actions that took place there. There are also a few displays of some old army equipment from those times.

A quick drive will take you to the site of the bridge itself. There, you can ride a tourist train over the river along the bridge. At night, you can eat at a restaurant by the water and see the bridge lit up.

Hellfire Pass, also known as the "Konyu Cutting," was on the same railway line as the infamous and better-known bridge. The Thai and Australian governments joined forces to build a memorial museum and place markers along part of the trail where the old railway ran, to commemorate the horrific loss of life suffered here during World War II.


Walking the trail of the Hellfire Pass.



As I strolled down the trail, breathing the cool morning air of the jungle, it was hard to believe a place this peaceful was the scene of such horror and brutality.

Yet the images shown on film in the museum do not lie. There were some terrible things done here, people treated horribly. Going inside from the peace of the forest to seeing those images can jar one's senses.

Like any museum whose focus is war, or least military in nature, this museum's role is not to glorify battle and killing; rather, its most important role is to serve as a reminder of how badly humans can treat their fellow men and women - and remind us of how we have to guard against that, or - paraphrasing another war movie set in southeast Asia, Apocalypse Now! - to help us keep "the dark side (from) overcome(ing) ... the better angels of our nature."
 
Amen, to that.

Quirky aspects to every culture, Thailand no exception

One of the wonderful things about travelling to other countries and experiencing other cultures is the chance to see quirky little things, expressions and ways of doing things that are different than my own culture. Mind you, living in Vancouver provides me with the opportunity to see many different cultures right here; however, there's nothing like experiencing it firsthand in the country where a culture originates.

Take for example, eating quirks. In several Andean countries in South America, guinea pig - or "cuy" as it's called there - is considered a delicacy. I've had cuy in both Ecuador and Peru. I preferred the Peruvian version, as the cuy I had in Quito was deep-fried while in Cuzco, I ate a con fit of cuy as part of an appetizer.


Anyone in the mood for some frog skins?



Of course, in many cultures, bugs are considered good sources of protein. I admit to eating ants in the Amazon jungle - just tiny ants, popped into my mouth from a tree, tasting a bit citrus-y. However, I never did work up the nerve to try the cicadas or beetles that were on sale in some food markets in Thailand. Ditto, the frog skins or snakes.

Food is not the only quirky aspect you'll see in other countries. The rituals surrounding the use of bathroom facilities can also be interesting. Sometimes the facilities themselves can be quite interesting.

How about some nice, fresh beetles?

One of the aspects I really liked about Thai bathrooms (or at least the ones in the hotels and lodges where I stayed) is the presence of what I call a "poor man's bidet." It's a small shower head and hose attached to the toilet, used to clean yourself after doing your business. Very sanitary, much more so than just toilet paper. I wish they were standard equipment here in North America, or for that matter, everywhere.

Of course, if you happen to be hiking or doing some other outdoor activity where there are no toilets, you have to go behind some bushes. Thais have a couple of really quaint expressions for this: if you're a man, you have to go "shoot a rabbit;" if you're a woman, you have to "go pick some flowers."

I was really tickled by these expressions - and even more so when I went to use the toilet facilities at a café where we ate lunch. Outside the two sets of washrooms was a bas-relief mural that left no doubt where the men's and ladies' washrooms were located.


Shooting a rabbit, picking some flowers:
Guys on the left, gals on the right.



Of course, every culture (including our own) have some quirks that are not as nice.

For example, in Thailand, you can often find people in the markets who will have animals like birds or fish captive in cages or water bowls. For a small fee, you can purchase the "release" of said animals and gain karma points.

The problem is, those same birds are often re-captured by the seller in order to re-sell their release and help others gain karma points. So I don't know that it's really doing what it is supposed to do. Buying the release of an animal just so it can be re-captured and re-released so the seller generates profit seems to go against the whole spirit of Buddhism, in my mind. It's not really released - so how do you gain karma points?

Maybe there is an explanation. Until I hear it, though, it's one of those weird, culturally quirky aspects of Thailand I'll continue to ponder...