Prior to my departure to South Korea and the World Small Animal Veterinary Conference, my personal physician warned me that my return trip home would take a toll on me. Indeed, the twelve hour difference has had me going a bit wacky as I'm ready for bed at 10 AM EDST and wanting breakfast at 7 PM EDST. I gather I should be back on schedule by Thanksgiving.
So what about Asia? The people were great and I spoke on communicating with pet owners to audiences of veterinarians that ranged in size from 70-200 people. As I flew from South Korea, to the Philippines, then to Shanghai and Beijing China, on to Tokyo,Japan and finally in Taichung, Taiwan, I learned a lot about veterinary medicine in these locales. Dogs and cats in Asian cultures have traditionally been considered outdoor animals and not pets. This has been changing slowly over the past 10-20 years with many Asian families owning small dogs and some cats as household members. To my surprise most of the medicine practiced is of the Western influence and only a few practices are doing Eastern medicine such as acupuncture. While the majority are small 1-2 person veterinary facilities it was surprising to me that there were also a good number of multi-doctor, multi-hospital facilities, some with 24 hour emergency care and a few that even offered pets ultrasound and /or CT scans. This being said, dogs and cats are still being raised for food and inhumane treatment of them made it to the Chinese newspaper's front page. I was also supposed to have spoken in Bangkok, Thailand but due to flooding from the recent Typhoons, that trip was cancelled.
Many of the Asian countries that I visited had veterinarians who could understand English but concerned about their speaking abilities and since I'm not fluent in Mandarin I had interpreters at each conference at which I spoke. Lecturing with interpreters is a bit of a challenge if you haven't done this before as not only must you slow your pace down but in certain cases you can only speak a few sentences before stopping so the interpreter has time to rapidly digest the speaker's words and then transpose them into the appropriate language.
I'm pretty adventurous with my willingness to try different foods and for the most part everything was delicious. There were a few fishy things in Manila that could break a tooth if you chomped down hard, so I did elect not to consume them. What was another surprise was the delicious and varied breads that were served in China. "Against the Grain" would really have to work hard to compete with the taste, texture and content of these Asian breads. Did anyone say wine? Well Dr. Mel, wines in the Philippines, Korea, China and Japan are not what we get here. The Asian wines are most frequently drank from a shot glass and sipped pretty slowly, they are sweet and powerful with an alcohol content of greater than 40%. B-town's Mayor may need a sip or two after battling with the Maryland legislature over refunding our gas tax.
With the exception of Jeju Island, S. Korea, most of the nations are still battling with pollution and as you will see many of my photos are backgrounded in haze. Perhaps our very own environmentalist Kim Kohl should visit to bring them some real sunshine. This being said Shanghai was my most favorite spot, having visited there in 1987. What a change! It is a modern city with amazing public transportation where all signs including main street signs are in Chinese and English. While B-town suffered some recent bout with bad boys and girls stealing and damaging neighbor's properties, I felt very comfortable walking through the many parks and streets of Shanghai. Went to the People's Park, where parents are offering their daughters for marriage to eligible Chinese men. Parent's of the men must come with a suitable resume of the future husband and much discussion pursues.
Well enjoy some pictures and let the Blogger know what your holiday plans will be? Happy Halloween! Oh! What do you think of the blog's new format?
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