Rabid Balinese Monkeys and The Spork's Bastard Cousin

Nothing like an eye-catching title! Not a lot to report today. We went down to Christchurch this last weekend to go to a conference on Travel Medicine. We stayed at the So Hotel,

an inexpensive trendy hotel.
It aspires to be like the W Hotel lite, if you ever stayed in one. Rooms are tiny but full of amenities, like wireless Internet, flat-screen TV, iPod station, mood lighting..

They had a feature I wasn't allowed to use: you could set a wake-up alert to have the room lights come on gradually, simulating the sunrise OR have the actual sunrise piped into the room. Huumm. (It probably wouldn't have worked.)
I really enjoyed the conference. The speakers were fascinating people: knowledgeable, very experienced in travel with unique insights. Things like:
1) Not much rabies in China or Korea where canines are frequently on the menu, whereas Hindu countries like Bali and India have lots.
2) Speaking of Bali, watch out for the rabid biting monkeys around the temples.

 3) There is no good Chinese word for "privacy"- the closest would have a connotation of secrecy.
4) Coronary disease is on the rise in China. Why? Driving instead of bicycling, high-rise buildings with elevators (not just the stairs), and diet are probably part of the problem.
There were also great travel quotes. Some of my favorites:
1. “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” – Mark Twain
2. “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” – St. Augustine
3. “There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.” –Robert Louis Stevenson
4. “What knows he of England, who only England knows?" - Rudyard Kipling
Lots more good information; malaria, traveler's diarrhea, dengue, a lot of other data especially important to travelers in this part of the world. Enough for me to give my first talk to the House Officers here today. it was my first use of Power Point (welcome to the 1990's!). I thought it went well.
The weather is frosty in the AM's, what with the Winter Solstice down here and all. Next week we are off to explore the North Island a bit. It will be my first of three weeks of leave I will have in my six months here. Should be "blogalicious", to coin a phrase.
Speaking of coinage, I have discovered a new utensil here. It came with kiwifruit, and is a combination knife (to cut it open) and spoon to scoop it out.

I have dubbed it The Spife, the bastard cousin of the more popular spork.
 On a serious note, my mother had a fall, broke her leg, and needed surgery. She is doing as well as can be expected in Marin, but will have a long road back. With modern technology, I have been able to keep in touch fairly well, but I miss her and love her, and our thoughts are with her.