Very Good Quote

"Your assumptions are your windows to the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or light won't come in."

Tuesday 17 March 2009

Amazing Pattaya - The Apiarist

Pattaya really is a truly amazing place. Its famous for sun, sea and sex. But it also has so many other attractions. Me,I used to keep Bees when living back in Uk. So imagine my surprise when I stopped to buy some orchids only to find next to me was Bee Farm outlet. I wondered in and had a good half hour chat with the owner. Apparently their main bee farm is up north East of Chang Mai . That's about 800 kilometers north of Bangkok. So here we were in the middle of Pattaya as he explained here is a good outlet for the business. We were surrounded by a few bee hives. Kept there I think more to to amuse the visiting tourists while they are being seduced into buying various honeys and Queen Jelly's. It was a great chance for me to have a look at the hives. The first thing I noticed the bees were very docile. On opening a hive I discover the reason. Next to the wax was a plate of sugar and some water sticks. So finding a food source was easy and made them possibly lazy!!


And another ting. Whenever I opened up one of my hives at home I always used smoke to 'calm' them down. Other wise the bees would go crazy thinking their hive was being attacked and they responded accordingly. This use of smoke is the most common practice in UK to make access easier and safer. However here he used water. Just sprayed it on each wax frame as he lifted them out. The bees seemed to calm right down but as I said earlier they were fairly calm to begin with. I suspect having wet wings means flying is not so easy! And no doubt the hives were opened several times a day which probably accounts for a lot.
As I said Pattaya is full of amazingly different things. What ever next?...

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