-^-for posterity-^-

the bird flu.

so, the bird flu came to south east asia. in case you haven't been following along (i'm sure it isn't getting too much coverage back in the states), it has made life a bit more complicated for the several hundred million people that live here.

you see, chickens have now become the enemy. you see, you can contract the chicken flu by having very close contact with chickens for a long period of time. you will eventually get a cough and then, for some mysterious reason, you'll drop over dead. a huge amount of people have not died because of this disease however, there is room to fear. the disease has spread very rapidly and no one is exactly sure how to stop it.

they have been culling chickens and ducks for the past few weeks. one fairly important person told me that they already killed 100,000 chickens and over 1,000,000 ducks in this province alone. the local government subsidises the farmers for each animal killed. also, people are told to stop raising fighting cocks. this has been a blow to the esteem of many a manly man. the fighting cock (not to be used for fighting, which is illegal, but for show) is a sign of vitality and strength.

they say that if the disease finds a way to morph with the common cold or the common flu and eventually is passed from human to human that it will be disastrous.

when i was in spain there was mad cow and foot and mouth disease. now, in vietnam, there's the bird flu. it seems these odd diseases that attack both animals and humans alike follow me wherever i go.