TAIPEI POSTER
JH on 24.05.07 @ 10:44 AM AEST [link]
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Thursday, May 24th Tuesday, May 15th DIHUA STREET ...... Shark fin soup recipe
 Dried and canned abalone, dried mushrooms, anchovie type fish - even dried jellyfish amongst the herbal products. It's an amazing street to visit. A few dried shark fins too. The recipe for shark fin soup goes something like: Soak fins in fresh water for 24 to 48 hours (depending upon something - maybe the species). Boil for 30 minutes in wine with ginger. Throw away the liquid. Next boil the fin with a whole chicken for three hours (or maybe six hours if it was the other species of shark fin). What happens next is a guess. Maybe other vegetables were with the chicken? As China becomes increasingly wealthy, anyone with any real money to spare is going to want to taste shark fin soup at least once in their lives. It's a status thing. This means hundreds of millions of shark fins are required. There is no avoiding this demand. It is real. The solution to this looming threat to sharks would seem to be something artificial which copies the taste - a salty, thick soup not unlike chicken soup - which figures. Trying to remove the attraction is a simple and wishful hope - at best. An expensive and tasty alternative is required. JH on 15.05.07 @ 08:01 PM AEST [Shark fin soup recipe">link] BLUE SKY- DARWIN ........ Rick Trippe hard at work
 A video story showing Rick Trippe chasing fish like these underwater in Darwin Harbour would be interesting and very valid. Rick is one of the few, maybe the only spear fishing diver in Darwin where visibility is poor yet this is compensated by the fish being there in good numbers. The down side? Too many crocs for comfort. The big sharks eat the small crocodiles which keeps the situation in check. Rick is a former Sans Souci Dolphins club member of that famous Sydney club with mate John Black. SImon Trippe is following his famous Dad's flipper trails as both a hotelier and a freediver in Sydney. Simon recently collected a case of a major 1960's era spearfishing trophies from the champ of champs, Ron Taylor who requested a new home be found for the silver cups. Included were four consecutive Australian title trophies from that intense era when hundreds of competitors signed on. (That era pre professional abalone diving. ABout 1967 almost all the top freedivers quit the clubs attracted by millions of dollars available from the sea in the form of molluscs. An undersea gold rush). JH on 15.05.07 @ 12:22 AM AEST [Rick Trippe hard at work">link] Friday, May 11th RICK TRIPPE ........ of the Northern Territory. Australia
 JH on 11.05.07 @ 06:46 PM AEST [of the Northern Territory. Australia">link] Thursday, May 10th UNDERWATER PROMOTIONS ........ McDonalds, Taipei
 Spotted near my hotel. This is at Zhongshiao East Road (near Shando Temple Station), a busy area near the Gucci and Rolex stores. What a Sydney dive store wouldn't do to have a promo like this nearby. It's not paint on the building, appears to be material with a stuck-on external Ronald replica. (No split fins thankfully, either. What a dud they are). JH on 10.05.07 @ 07:38 PM AEST [ McDonalds, Taipei">link] Thursday, May 3rd BANGKOK RIVER CRUISE
 It was a party for Tom (American film producer based in Bangkok, the Asian Quentin Tarantino). We cruised the Bangkok River for about five hours and into the night. How come? My pal Kevin and I had just stepped off a long-tailed boat ride (one of the best boat trips I've ever experienced - a V6 car engine powering a 56 foot canoe-style James Bond boat) when I spotted a Jocelyn Edwards look-alike. Minutes later, in true Jocelyn form, she had invited us aboard their hired boat along with about 50 friends, both new and long-term friends, for a champagne and beer party cruise. The look-alike was 'Tom's' girlfriend. One American about my age was Glen Miller - a Texan with a Johnny Cash voice who now flies light aircraft for fun after years working with B-52's. Maybe our video recorded that day will see the light of day, somehow? "Welcome to Bangkok" said Glen - with a cigar stub from the corner of his mouth. No other Aussie's were aboard. We are a rare mob. JH on 03.05.07 @ 05:02 PM AEST [link] |
