A visit from a wild Thai turtle

 

A strange thing happened over the last few days that I'll pass on:  a relatively "wild" turtle visited us.  He lived at our house for a few days (not captive, but in the yard and garden areas), then I took him to a recovery program animal hospital for a checkup and relocation to a reserve.  He really could be female, that's just how I think of him.  It turned out that he is "Thai," a variety that is found in neighboring countries but centered in Thailand for distribution with a Thai city as part of his name (Malayemys Khoratensis).  This some may find interesting:  Integrative Taxonomy of Southeast Asian Snail-Eating Turtles

Morphological differences in shell characteristics and head colouration patterns of Malayemys khoratensis (orange), Malayemys macrocephala (blue), Malayemys subtrijuga (green).

Turtles aren't so unusual where we live.  A lot of turtles, fish, and water monitor lizards live in a canal not far from our house (maybe 80 meters away, so not that close either).  They tend to not leave that water area.  We first met him when we returned to the house late on a Sunday, when he became jammed in the gate mechanism, from trying to crawl through a very narrow passageway.  We put him in a small tub to take to the vet for a checkup, since he looked a little roughed up by that, with his shell notched and scratched.  He made it out of that shallow tub; he's not bad at climbing.  Then I kept seeing him over the next couple of days but he looked fine, seemingly moving quite well for a turtle.

he wasn't into being fed

That led to me asking around in online groups about what to do with him.  The idea of just letting him live at the house sounded appealing, but that's only if it seemed a suitable environment for him, and we didn't know what he would eat.  I kept offering him food, giving him vegetables, tomkatsu, dried fish, and cat food, but it was hard to know if he was eating any of it, especially since he wasn't in any confined area.  The house, yards, and gardens are fenced, so he probably couldn't leave, but he wasn't really in captivity either.  He had walked in on his own but it wasn't easy to walk back out.

That led to a critical finding and twist:  he's an aquatic turtle that eats only aquatic snails, so he was starving to death.  The race was on to find him again and get him safely relocated.  Then I was also concerned that maybe the scratches on his shell weren't so minor; I wouldn't be a good judge of that.  A friend who had turtles before mentioned that he could get an infection after returning to the water if his shell integrity wasn't complete.  I reached out to three different turtle experts online, but in the end someone needed to get a look at him to make a complete call.  I took him to the local (Bangkok) Chulalongkorn Aquatic Animal Disease Research Center, or VMARC.

In the end it turned out that he was fine.  They were going to give him a complete checkup, get him fed and re-hydrated, and put him through a de-worming treatment, then release him at a reserve outside the city.  That seemed sad, that he wouldn't return to his home canal.  But then the water being a bit dirty there had caused him an earlier case of shell rot, and the road beside that canal was a significant risk to him, and those water monitor lizards eat turtles.  It was for the best.

his original home, where go to feed bread to the fish and birds

In finding him stuck in the gate, and then stuck in a house fence, I had rescued him twice in just over 3 days.  This wasn't the right place for him, even though he did come to the right place to be relocated.  

saying goodbye to "turtely," he never did get a name

The turtle experts seemed a bit suspicious of us seemingly attempting to detain a wild animal as a pet, but then he hadn't been invited any more than the squirrels who live here, who keep eating the mangoes and papaya.  It just took time to figure out what to do with him; 3 days, then on a fourth he was off to that animal rescue center.  My first guess was that he was from that canal, of course, but I couldn't even be sure that he was an aquatic turtle.  The part about him only eating aquatic snails I didn't expect.  If you Google search what turtles eat, as I did, a number of references come up that tend to not even mention that in the range of possibilities.  Most turtles seem to be omnivores, from those sources; they eat whatever they feel like eating.  There are lots of snails in our yard but it seems likely that he wouldn't eat those.

It makes you think through pet experience in general.  Of course you can tell if a cat or a dog is having a positive life experience (less so for cats, maybe), but for a pet like a turtle who knows.  Or a pet lizard or snake that you keep at home, and so on.  How would you know how happy and fulfilled they feel?  That turtle was either exploring to find food, just looking around, or panicked about getting out to support his immediate survival, and in retrospect probably the third.  He was "wild," but a turtle bred to be a pet might not be so different, beyond being a type that can eat turtle food or whatever else, vegetables and such.

We feel an attachment to the small lizards living in our house of their own accord, a theme that was also common in Hawaii (house geckos).  It's odd even considering if all really goes well for them, if they are happy, or even well-fed.  There are some insects around in the house, just maybe not enough to make for ideal conditions, and we don't try to make the insect populations thrive.

I loved swimming with the sea turtles in a swim lane in Hawaii, when I lived there during grad school.  There was no interacting with them, really, but I would swim underwater a lot of the time to check out them and the fish and coral.  Kind of a tangent, but I changed underwater swim stroke based on learning from how they did it, their slower swimming version using one flipper at a time.

there is a flag out past those reef areas to swim to, along a lane of sorts

what those looked like (photo credit)

I would like to thank Peter Brakels of the Natural Laos group for covering feedback on status so completely and quickly, which really led to speeding up resolution.  The Reptiles and Amphibians of Thailand page was an interesting reference, and they responded quickly with good advice too, but Peter helped specify exactly what that turtle was, and the critical problem with him staying in someone's yard, and where he needed to be instead.  It was great that the Chulalongkorn program was so ideal for resolving this issue, even helpful about talking through the concerns and doing an initial review of that turtle's health status through photo images.  It all worked out.  I could've just put him back in the canal but I always would've wondered if he really was fine.  And he probably would've been, based on what a specialist vet review turned up.  His shell was beat up but he was ok.

visiting a sea turtle rescue program center in Bang Saen, with a favorite cousin

It's just in my own mind, for sure, but I felt like beyond me freaking him out he might have had the sense that I really was doing my best to help him.  I think the staff at that rescue center thought it was a little strange that I had just knew that turtle for a few days and then kept asking about what would happen to him, and took a couple minutes to say goodbye to him.  On the car ride to the vet I had put him in the passenger's seat and talked through how it was all going to work out, and he really seemed to calm down, probably more from being tired of crawling laps in the cat's box, and having a rough day.  It was great having a chance to meet him, just unfortunate that it all ended up being so stressful for him.

more on that VMARC related program, but all in Thai

Later status update:

Once you turn in a turtle in to a wild animal recovery program like that one that's it, you don't go back for a visit and check on him or her.  But of course that's what we did, since Eye--my wife--was out of town when I took "him" there.  It turned out that she is female; I was mis-gendering her the whole time.  She's fine, just not exactly stress-free and happy, given the week she's had.

The vet and admin staff were nice to make an exception about visitation, after my wife explained those circumstances, and her concern.  It turned out that she's 4 or 5 years old, nearly completely mature, but a bit roughed up from prior experiences.  She can live to be 30 or so, if life gets easier for her, as it should.  That vet said that at least some of the shell damage occurred prior to it getting caught in that gate opening mechanism, if not all of it, since it has healed.  I really thought that notch was from that, but maybe not.

We asked about her diet, if she's eating ok, and they have been feeding her but she's not eating much yet, due to the stress and transition.  At least she should be on the path to re-adjusting, and they should be able to get her stable and healthy before re-release into a reserve.

I want to offer a guess about whether she recognized us, and how she reacted (really me; I spent a few days talking to her, kind of sporadically since I would only see her out walking a couple times a day, and hidden for the rest).  It's probably a stupid thing to talk about; I can't "read" a turtle, and if she could recognize me it would remind her of awful experiences.  She did put her head out and look around a good bit while we talked to the vet though, which I took as affirmation that she wasn't so uncomfortable.  Of course I talked to her, and told her everything would be fine, and that she needed to relax and to eat.  I suppose all of that was more for me than her.

This time I never will see her again.  I'm happy that we crossed paths so that she could move on to a better place for her, and to where turtle specialists could make sure that she is fine during the transition.

Greengold Georgian black tea

 

Reviewing another black tea from Nika and Greengold of Georgia (the country).  He joined a meetup discussion and discussed their tea production background, summarized here.  

This should be pretty straightforward and familiar, probably just including a novel flavor aspect or two.  Earlier black teas were balanced, refined, and complex, so this should be the same.  A cool mint aspect was present in some but not others, I suppose most likely related to a plant type input; maybe that will turn up.

If I hear more about a certain version this is I'll include that, but with tea versions changing year to year that will be more irrelevant again next spring.

Using a Gongfu approach seems standard to me for whole leaf black teas, giving better results, so I used that.

Review:

First infusion:  as expected, it's complex, balanced, and refined.  A less expected aspect range comes in this being a bit savory, including some sun-dried tomato range (or probably umami, for people into that range of description).  That can be fantastic when it balances well with the rest, and it should in this.  Very pleasant warmth rounds it out, towards cocoa, more in a dark chocolate form than processed cocoa (so really cacao), with warm underlying mineral as a base.  

It's clean; there is no hint of mustiness, wood (beyond tones similar to that being general black tea range), sourness, mushroom, odd earthiness or mineral, etc.  That cacao and warm mineral range comes across a little like brandy, leaning a bit towards dark cherry or some other fruit.  Just as this it would be good for the entire cycle, but this is surely just opening up.

Second infusion:  warmth increased, which comes across as a neutral change.  Probably this is brewing fast enough, and at a high enough proportion, that I'll have to be careful to limit infusion time or I'll miss getting the best out of this.  Just a little shift into a tea being brewed too strong makes it come across as warmer in tone, and more astringent, and causes lighter fruit tones and sweetness to be harder to pick up.  

It makes you wonder how the traditional tea tasting approach of brewing cups in the "ISO standard" form, overbrewing them by quite a bit to help identify flaws, works well at all for identifying positive range.  That would be strange to give up a lot of input on positive range to just focus on flaws, not that I'm saying that would be a necessary result.

The rest is still similar, cocoa / cacao, warm underlying mineral, dried fruit, and brandy.  The fruit range picks up a bit and heads more towards citrus, like red grapefruit or dried orange peel.  Trying out a lightly brewed round might help identify an extra flavor or two, or at least help place how these transitions are going better.  I was brewing that for in the range of 10 seconds, so it was already pretty fast, but as usual I've maxed out the proportion, and for teas that are a bit intense that demands really short infusion times.

Third infusion:  not different, just ever so slightly better balanced, even though it is a little light this round (tried out brewed really fast, in the range of a 5 second infusion time, with a second or two of pours on both sides).  I'm not noticing mint in this version but I suppose the way the savory aspect and citrus comes across if looking for it one edge could seem like mint.  It could be that a minor hint of mint, or something along that line, is what makes it seem so complex.  

Fourth infusion:  either mint really did develop or else I've just talked myself into noticing it.  This is so nice, with mint, cocoa, and limited fruit mixing in a way that's probably better than it sounds (maybe along the line of dark cherry, or some other dried fruit).  Feel is nice and full with a touch of dry edge, a form that matches the rest nicely.  A good bit of all this would come across brewed Western style but it would be hard to get the exact best infusion strength dialed in, and mixing these shifts together would retain an impression of complexity but would make it impossible to experience the details to the same degree.

Fifth infusion:  fading just a little, since brewing it longer (in the 15+ second range) only drew out the same infusion strength as earlier, but as pleasant as ever.  It's far from finished; it will keep making pleasant rounds.  Citrus might seem a little heavier in the balance, but natural shifts during an infusion cycle will occur, and slight differences in infusion time will add to that variation.

  

Conclusions:

It's really nice, as I expected.  This is not just "not rustic," or beyond basic, it's refined, balanced, and complex.  

I tried it since brewed Western style and results weren't as good.  I think it could be in the same positive range brewed Western style but it's not a given that dialing in infusion strength would work out.  It's intense, and overall flavor intensity and heavier flavors can extract quickly.  Astringency isn't really an issue, although it does have a full and structured feel, but the heavy flavor range works best with infusion strength moderated (heavy as in both warm-toned and intense).

Probably my interpretation of this set of flavors would shift if I kept trying it Gongfu style a number of times.  I wasn't certain if I was picking up mint or not, or just expecting it, and the fruit and heavy floral range I didn't really clearly identify or define.  Early focus on cacao and some citrus seemed less open to interpretation, and that brandy-like range was relatively pronounced and distinctive, maybe even stronger in the Western style preparation.

visiting Sukhothai not long ago for a lantern festival theme event

celebrating Loy Krathong, where you float Krathongs to carry away sins

Tea blogging life cycle

First published in Tching here

It feels a little like I've written about this before, in considering a tea enthusiast quitting tea in this 2016 post.  Looking back that was about pros and cons of a developed tea habit, about caffeine concerns and expense, with only a little on exploration playing out a natural course.  My favorite tea blog author just gave up blogging, Geoffrey Norman of Steep Stories, making it a good time to revisit that theme.  To add context, his current blog page is 10 years old, but he had been doing tea reviews and writing in different forms before that.

In between that earlier post on a tea interest lifecycle, in the past five years, I've written a lot more than I ever had prior.  I switched from mostly oolongs and some black tea to mostly sheng pu'er.  Maybe more relevant, over the last year I've questioned why I keep writing, for many of the same reasons Geoffrey mentioned in that final sign-off post.  It just gets old, writing similar thoughts over and over, and even covering new tea-range exploration feels like repetition.  In general the audience shrinks as platforms like Instagram draw more attention, with pictures with moderate caption text easier to browse through than reading text.  Facebook now focuses more on showing people ads than private blog link posts.  I could pretty much end this post there; all that is the crux of it.

But of course I can say more.  There would always be ways to add new dimensions to a long-standing interest that you aren't completely burned out on (tea scope, not just tea writing).  Geoffrey mentioned that he will dabble more in making related videos, and he has been making memes about tea for awhile.  Last year I was part of a small social circle / meetup group related to tea interest, along with three friends, and this year we extended that to talking to a number of tea specialists.  I should summarize how that has went here in a post, beyond posts covering individual details, since we didn't broadcast or edit and publish that video.  Even that series sort of felt like it ran its shorter course, since it was hard to set those meetings up, and it worked better as a late covid wave replacement for other social contact, with the pandemic finally easing up a bit now.

Long ago I started taking tea more seriously than would be typical for a beverage interest, and to some extent it's that part that isn't sustainable.  Learning and experiencing new things has been great, and making contacts, even friends, but it would help if it felt like it was leading somewhere.  

This is probably a good place to explain why I even started:  about a decade ago I started exploring social media more and used tea as a subject theme as a basis for that.  Just joining Twitter might be interesting, but connecting Twitter to a subject interest makes sense, not that I ended up liking Twitter.  The same applies for writing a blog, trying out joining and then co-founding a Facebook group (this one), starting a Quora Space, and so on.  A new form for social media channel interaction hasn't clicked in awhile, beyond the meetups.  And it's a little harder to keep learning now, having already encountered so many ideas.  

I'm writing more about other subjects, an activity that isn't new, but that I've only started including in my tea blog over the last year or so.  I guess that started here:  Calhoun's Universe 25 mice experiments; overpopulation effects related to modern social themes.  It's uncertain that this is the "writing on the wall" for quitting blogging about tea; maybe balancing different interests would work well.  Since then I've written about foreigner / expat perspectives on culture in China, Dissociative Identity Disorder (the multiple personality theme), on how social media groups define and reinforce perspectives as distinct subcultures, and on Buddhism as it relates to rejection of a real internal self.

None of this really relates to any broad movement in tea culture or awareness.  It's not that I think the subject itself loses steam, or ceases to renew cycles of discussion.  It just seems natural to only talk about an interest like tea for so long, and then to just drink it.  As one Tea Chat forum veteran said he felt "tead out" after awhile, or to paraphrase Alan Watts (about another subject) after you get the message it's time to hang up the phone.

But then I don't see my own interests, goals, or experiences as the boundary of what I communicate or discuss, or else I wouldn't have stuck with it for this long.  Helping others can be pleasant.  Even then declining interest in text content definitely offsets that as a motivation for writing a blog.  It doesn't matter if 50 or 500 people read posts, but at some lower threshold it somehow seems to make less sense.

people do still read the posts but not as many

I'll probably keep writing, and slow down review pace, and keep diversifying themes.  Asian culture  has been a longstanding interest, related to living in Bangkok for 14 years, and I've not really said as much as I might have about how perspectives are similar or different, which should eventually tie back to tea.  Not in blogs at least, but I did also start a second Quora Space about that.  Other things could come up too, interactions or tangents.  I met with tea producers from five different countries this past weekend to talk about industry perspective and some processing background; things like that.