Friday 20th January Visit to Freshwater Research Centre Lu Kang

Friday 20^th January 2012

Had a great day. 

8.30am Chen Guan-Ru (my mate Chen) picked me up outside the hotel and we drove south to LuKang.  Chen brought along his daughter, Sue, I think for support in English translation, really sweet kid.  Chen apologised for his lack of grasp of English, I tried to explain that in that context I would be obliged to a jail sentence for my lack of Taiwanese!

I should say that Chen drove.  I found this another very scary experience, Chen was a good driver but it felt as though I was in a “video game”.  There were cars randomly changing lanes, scooters flying in from all directions……like you were meant to shoot them down!  Everyone drove so close and so fast.  For the first ten minutes it was completely unnerving, after that I was like….Chen, take him out!  Mentally I was shaking my fist and gesturing to them, "Suckers……..you got nothing, with your scooter moves…..”

Chen lives in Taichung so he knows the roads well.  In a completely delusional moment back in Wales I had contemplated hiring a car to drive from Taichung to Lukang (about 50 mins drive).  I reckon I would have made about 170 yards before I would have been forced to pull over and sit shivering in the car waiting for assistance.

We arrived at the Research Station in good time and Chen ushered me into his office for a 'coffee', poor Sue had to wait in the car.  I was presented with a can of cold “Dark Bean” coffee which was surprisingly nice.

For the next hour and a half Chen showed me around his research station including:

·         Genetic research for breeding native endangered and commercially important species

·         Research on domestic river populations and exotic fish species

·         Breeding and stock enhancement for Japanese eel

·         Development of aquaculture techniques

·         Studies on fish nutrition

·         Disease treatment

     

There are no doubt other things that I have missed out!  We had a break for Oolong tea and then continued the tour.

Finally Chen suggested lunch in the centre of LuKang.  He took Sue and I to a 'traditional' Taiwan restaurant. I really enjoyed it….nice dim sum, soup and a vegetable like choi sum.  I tried to pay but Chen would not let me…..so kind.

I had a pleasant surprise in the afternoon ... Chen had arranged a 'practical' for me.  He had arranged for his students (and me) to anaesthetise, tag and inject hormones into adult Japanese eels.  This was awesome, what I had come to learn!  I managed to tag the eel without any mishaps.

After the practical session we headed back to his office for some tea and wrap up sessions where I made some notes about everything I had learned.  Chen was on the phone for a few minutes making various calls then he called me over and passed the receiver to me….. he had only arranged for the Director of the Institute, Dr Fu Gaung Li, to speak to me!  What a lovely gesture.

At about 3.30 we headed home, Chen said we were going to stop at a famous glass factory on the way back ... the Taiwan Glass Gallery.  I didn't know what to expect but it was a really interesting place.  Every imaginable object or ornament you could think of were there,  together with displays of all different types and shapes of glass.  I bought a couple of gifts and then we headed off.

      

I thought Chen was going to drop me off at the hotel but he took me home to meet his wife, a very sweet lady who was a primary school teacher.  The houses where Chen lived were packed tightly together but they had a lovely house in a nice area, in downtown Taichung.  Sue, Chen’s daughter took me across the street to the bookstore to find some postcards and a couple of Chinese New Year lanterns.

After that, I thought we would be heading back to the hotel but Chen’s family came with me and took me out to their favourite Taiwanese restaurant!!  The generosity was never ending.  We had some 'carrot cake' starters….nothing like our carrot cake, sort of like a fried turnip cake and some kind of green beans. I had rice, a pork dish, some chicken and stir fried vegetables and another dish which Chen’s daughter 'Googled' on her phone for me.  It was made of soft jelly like squares…..pigs blood…..quite tasty.  We also had some Pearl Tea, a sweet sort of milky coffee with a very aromatic zing.  It was really nice to have eaten some proper Taiwanese traditional food, apparently this restaurant is quite famous worldwide and there is one in London.  But the worst thing was ... they would not let me pay again, so incredibly kind and generous to a stranger.

So finally the evening came to an end and Chen and his family dropped me off at the hotel at about 7.30pm.  I was genuinely overwhelmed that he had given up his day for me and welcomed me with his family in such a generous manner.  I managed to sneak some Lai See (lucky money) in to a red envelope (older folks give this to the young ones during Chinese New Year) and give It to Sue as a gift, they seemed very touched.  Chen and I vowed to keep in touch and we definitely will, I hope he comes to the UK some time so he can meet my family.

Well I was so tired I watched a bit of TV and then crashed out, still not quite believing what a fantastic day it had been.

Thursday 19th Jan 2012

Started off with a rude awakening….Sharon (my missus..sorry luv!!) called my mobile at 8.00am.  I was so jet lagged that I couldn’t work out where I was, what the noise was and why I was hearing it !!!!!

Greatfully received.

Had a nice breakfast of sausage and scrambled egg, fruit and plentiful coffee.  After packing up I got a taxi from the hotel to Taoyuan High Speed Rail (HSR)station.  This was a lovely experience, had a great conversation with the taxi driver on the 20 minute trip.  We talked non-stop even though he could not understand a word I said and I not one from he…. But we giggled and nodded our way through it, smashing.

TheHSR, what an amazing place….so futuristic.  Printed out my ticket via the machine and made my way to the platform.  So well organised, your ticket gives you your place to wait on the platform for your carriage….great system.

The train was roomy and quick, took 35 mins to go to Taichung, apparently normal rail takes 3 hrs.!!!!  The top speed was around 250km/hr. !!!, 8 quid, pretty good value.

Hotel was excellent, checked in quick and did a couple of hours work to catch up with admin stuff and work.  Had a call from Dr Chen of the research station in La Kung to check I had arrived.  Nice

1 hours sleep, still a little time zone confused then Skype home to check on the family.  Slightly guilty about wearing my fleece to counteract the hotel air conditioning when I knew that temps were close to freezing in Wales!!!!.

Around 4 pm walked to night markets, less stressful than the night before as I knew to expect severe road stress!!!  Coped well and even had some street food…sticky rice with chicken and bacon and veg, some kind of soup for less than 2 quid….good value in my book.

Bought  couple of souvenirs then back to the hotel for a rest, saw a sign saying “Gym”, so I passed according to my lack of Taiwanese.

More admin and work stuff on my pc, thank God for Wi Fi.

Headed out pm to a bar/pub…..took about 30mins to explain this to the hotel staff.  It was a Belgian bar located in a Department store basement!!!! I know !!!!  I got puzzled looks from staff in the store even though the place “Le ble d’or” was 50 yards from where I was trying to explain!!  The only thing that did it was the action of drinking and the word “beer”

I Had a couple of beers….dark stuff and then taxi back to hotel.  Calculate daily expenses and type up blog

Have to say everyone was so friendly, they do their best to help you then just laugh if it all comes to nothing!!!

Well off to bed and really looking forward to tomorrow, visit to the Fisheries Research Station in La Kung, Dr Chen (Associate Researcher) has kindly agreed to pick me up at the hotel.

Phase 2 - here we go again !!!!

Well

'Twas a cold and frosty January morning when Shaz and the girls dropped me off at the bus stop in Llanfrynach en route to Heathrow.  Can't believe it's come round so quick, thought I'd planned pretty well but still working up til the last minute!!!

Needless to say it was a bit of a  wrench, this is the longest I have been away from the girls (3 weeks plus), many tears were shed.......some of them belonging to the girls.

As British travel goes this was sublimely smooth, train from Abergavenny to Newport to Reading, then bus to Heathrow.....all like clockwork.  Managed to Skype home from Heathrow.....what a great invention, nice to see faces and here voices after a sad parting.

All loaded onto the plane to HK without queue or incident, it's a breeze!!!  Flight was good (nice grub) except that the ear phones could not pick up the sound of the movies enough to make it worthwhile watching more than 3 films (i.e. the 3 films I watched were good just couldn't here the dialogue).  Having said that it's a far cry from the journey to Ireland we used to endure every summer as kids on Stenna Sealink from Holyhead to Dunlougheire.  The only things you could guarantee were canvass burns from the "backpack-whipping" courtesy of Swedish tourists and the complimentary pile of sick in your aisle floor sleeping position.

Decided to get and earlier connection from HK to Taichung which worked out well at no extra cost.  Got to the hotel after about 1.5 hrs sleep in 30!!!......So had to go out for the evening.

Hotel staff lovely but English very limited, surpassed only by my command of Taiwanese.  After much pointing and gesturing....isn't it funny how after you try explaining something to a person as a foreigner...and they don't get it....you repeat it but a bit louder.... and they still don't get it.... then you mime and get louder!!!!!.....I made my way into the wild city night (Taoyuan) to find food.

I have to say this was one of the scariest two hours of my life.  The hotel staff gave me directions, looked like about 20 mins and two or three blocks.  They failed to mention that there were no pavements, crazy moped drivers whizzing past your shoulder and a completely dysfunctional traffic light system.

The night markets were absolutely fascinating....rammed full of people (from ages 5-75) buying food and cheap goods. however I was unwilling to trust my stomach to the risk of food poisoning.

In the end I got a little bit lost, only bought a mouse for my pc (the touch pad was playing up for some reason) and ended up asking directions form street venders.  Before I was about to give up the food quest, I stumbled upon the only place I could find where you sat in an air conditioned restaurant.  Unfortunately for me they stopped serving Chinese food 10 minutes after I arrived !!!!!!  So I had lemon chicken skewers with some kind of sweet chilli sauce and a pile of French fries which they could not understand from me the first time I ordered.

Well I have to admit it's been an experience, walking around for two hours in Taoyun with nothing to show for it other than effectively " Chicken Nuggets" and chips and feeling like a girl guide at a Hells Angels convention!!!!!

Today I made Karl Pilkington look like a distinguished Travelling Scholar.........Aye carumba !!!!!


View of Chuenr Road, outside my Hotel, Taoyuan

Thursday 28th April 2011 - Right up North

Yet another early start.  Breakfasted and checked out by 7.50am.  A two hour drive through Silkeborg right up to the North coast to a little town called Hanstholm and a visit to Royal Danish Aquaculture.

A slower drive than I’ve been used to so far, single carriageway roads.  Never the less after just over two hours we reached Hanstholm.  Sharon told me to drop her in the centre.  We drove up and down for a while and discussed what actually constituted a ‘centre’, then we spotted a conglomeration of about 5 shops, that was it.  They said they would probably make their way to the beach afterwards so I would meet them there.

So I drove a bit further towards the coast amongst a few factory type buildings which were obviously to do with some kind fishy business and then I spotted it, Royal Danish Aquaculture.  Not much sign of life at the front door so I peered round the side, a large roller door was opend with a couple of guys involved in some eel grading and one chap who looked in charge.  I waved nervously and the boss came over, it was Lars Lyn my contact.  After general introductions I again explained about the reason for my visit and the generosity of the Churchill Trust.

Lars wasted no time in ushering me into the main rearing units.  As we chatted about the various operations being carried out I was struck by the shear scale of it all, just the size and complexity of the pumps and pipe work systems alone were overwhelming.

I was lucky to walk straight into a grading session.  Juvenile eels of one year of age were being air-lifted into a three tiered grading device with fixed metal bars set to varying widths apart.  Each tier represented a different grade, or size of eels with the metal bars getting further apart with each tier.  So the smaller eels dropped through on the first one, the middle sized on the second and the largest on the very last tier.

At the end of the grader were three metal bins about two thirds of a cubic meter in volume.  They were filled with eels, a different size in each one and oxygen bubbling up from below.  Just then a forklift truck zoomed in and lifted the end tub with the smallest eels in, “They are for re-stocking, going to Germany,” said Lars.

We moved on to see halls of smaller juvenile tanks but no glass eels, these were weaned at another site.  Then Lars showed me his filtration plant, again on an immense scale, they produce 900 tons per year!!!  The drum filters were huge as were the bubbling fluidised bed bio filters and the degassing tanks.  With the cascading water and spray bars on drum filters it was really trying to hold a conversation.

After passing some massive grow out tanks, approximately 100 cubic meters in volume holding up to 150,000 eels weighing up to 300g, we retired to his office for coffee.  Lars was very pessimistic about the eel industry.  There had been good supplies of elvers this year and last so farms were buying them like crazy. With the ban on selling to the Far East, Lars felt that there would be a glut of European farmed eels in the next couple of years, causing a price crash with many people going out of business.

I asked about re-stocking but he said they were prevented from doing this on any scale and in any case, “Who is going to pay for them?” Lars was quite bitter about the stance of Green Peace and WWF (World Wildlife Fund, not the World Wrestling Federation…. although they may have a view on eels).  He was quite bitter about how these conservation organisations portrayed his business and mentioned that they did not believe in stocking.  I must admit I have some sympathies with his views, I think it is astonishing that these organisations discount re-stocking.

One thing is for certain, if the eel is to be saved the only thing that will save it is if we use all the possible resources that we have in the right combination.  Neither the fish passes or the water quality or the fishing bans will do it in isolation.  What seems obvious to me is that when a stock is at such perilous levels then it vital that the first life stages, the most vulnerable, have the highest survival possible.  In the case of the eel, stocking is a great short term measure because it is scientifically proven to increase silver eel escapement.  Habitats and water quality are long term aspirations needed for sustainability in the future.

Anyway we touched on eel breeding and  Lars again wished that the academic institutions would include the industry a bit more as they have the practical knowledge. 

It was time to pick up my family and leave Lars to his business.  I couldn’t help feeling a little sorry for him as I drove away, it seemed everything was against him and yet all they were doing was producing a product that obviously was required by the market.

Well the kids and Sharon were just a few hundred yards away.  They were sat on a block of concrete beneath a huge wind turbine beside an oily smelly, rusty container at the back of a fish processing factory…… not quite the beach they had anticipated!  They were frozen and glad to jump into the car.

So we set off south for Silkeborg where I had promised the kids we would stop to see the park and aquarium I visited yesterday with Michael Pedersen of the DTU.

After a good two hour drive we arrived and had a quick drink before visiting the park.  The PA system announced that the otter was about to be fed so we congregated around the pool next to the aquarium.  A young lady from DTU Aqua proceeded to throw in a couple of dead ducklings, I couldn’t believe the speed that the otter approached, retrieved, tore apart and digested the duckling.  She then threw in a couple of live salmon smolts and the swiftness with which the otter tracked them down was pretty awesome, although this probably would have been frowned upon in the UK by the PC police.

After a thoroughly entertaining 15 minutes my wife took the kids off to the play park while I went down to the basement room of the aquarium to see the eel display.  The whole basement was a tribute to this species and the displays were excellent.  I read every board and took many photographs.  There was a large central tank with some big eels in, again beautifully set up.  It was a thoroughly professional set up, I’ve always wanted to have something similar at my hatchery for a visitor centre, something that inspires youngsters and gives visitors  a little taste of the wonders of nature.

It was nearly time for the park to close so I tracked down Sharon and the kids by the paddling pool.  Sharon took one last photo of me by the eel tank and then we headed down south for the long drive to Copenhagen for our last nights stay.

After three hours of singing, Nintendos and in desperation, Danish Radio, we finally arrived wearily at our hotel at about 7pm.  A quick trip to the supermarket for some food for tea and then the kids were settled into bed.  I spent the next couple of hours, as I have done each night, downloading my pictures, typing up my notes and updating my blog.

We all retired to bed earlier than usual, shattered from 8 hours on the road and glad in the knowledge that we could have a lazy morning, it would be our last day.  We were flying out tomorrow evening, no more meetings and no more farms to visit, I must admit to feeling slightly relieved and very satisfied.   

Wednesday 27th April 2011- Silkiborg

Another early start as we had a long drive up to Silkeborg to meet Michael Pedersen of the DTU (Technical University of Denmark) to talk about tagging and stocking of eels.  It was a 3 ½ hour drive.

Made good time getting out of Copenhagen and got to a truly massive bridge going across to Odense, it 18km long.  It is an amazing piece of engineering with stunning views.  However this was slightly tempered when we got to the other side by a hefty toll fee of about £24 …to be paid each way!

A quick stop to refresh ourselves and then we headed off again.  Another hour and a half we were close to Denmark’s second biggest city, Arhus.  Sharon decided she would spend the day there while I met Michael, as it had an interesting looking living museum.. After a couple of circuits of Arhus’ outer ring roads, like a plane waiting to land, we eventually made our way to the centre.  I jettisoned my family pretty quickly as I now had to make up some time.

Eventually arrived at the DTU offices in Silkeborg about 15 minutes late and was met by a smiling Michael Pedersen.  We went straight to lunch which was again provided for me, people are so kind. 

So for the next couple of hours we sat and talked in the sunshine about his experience with tagging and stocking eels.  I learned that it was entirely possible to tag eels as small as 5g with a coded wire tag and that 95% of tags stay in.

Michael also gave me his views on the status of eels and the reasons for their decline.  It’s interesting that everybody has a slightly different take on it.

Then Michael told me about his research trip on the Galathea 3 in 2007 where he and other researchers went to the Sargasso sea to search for eel larvae.  He explained how they trawled a huge plankton net 3m in diameter and with 1mm mesh down to several hundred meters and on bringing it emptying out the contents (various plankton species) which amounted to about a mug full.  They found a couple of hundred larvae.  Michael described the Sargasso as a wide expanse devoid of much life.

Then Michael took me round the DTU Aqua, and aquarium and park open to the public.  The highlight for me was the bottom floor of the aquarium, totally devoted to eels and eel history.

Michael Pedersen at the Eel exhibition

After this we went to his office for coffee and Michael introduced me to a couple of his colleagues involved with eel stocking.  After digging me out a couple of papers it was time for Michael to go and pick up his daughter off the school bus and for me to go and collect my family from Arhus.

I parked in the city and met my girls for tea.  We decided to have a Chinese meal.  The flavours are so different here, I don’t think any of us enjoyed it and Chinese is our favourite!

Well after a 40 min drive we got to our hotel in a Village called Braedstrup.  It was quite a shock to see this huge hotel complex in such a small place.  Luckily it had a small pool so the girls were thrilled to have an hour splashing about while Sharon and I sorted out administration details and planned the next day.  All had a late night and were very tired.

Another long day tomorrow, driving 2.5  hours North and then 7.5 hours south back to Copenhagen.

Tuesaday 26th April 2011 - Baby eels !!!!!

It’s a brilliant sunny day again, but then so has every other day been since I left Wales…..so this is what the rest of the world is like!  Seriously though they tell me this is the warmest spring for many years and most unusual.

Today I am heading up the coast from Copenhagen to Charlottenlund to meet Jonna Tomkiewicz, Head of the Danish Technical University’s (DTU) collaborative Eel Breeding programme, PROEEL.  Sharon and the kids are coming with me as it’s right next door to the Danish Aquarium.

Lovely drive through Copenhagen city and along the coast going North, again signs a little dodgy. We passed the aquarium and had to turn round, signposted from the other way…..silly me.

Similar experience to Monday trying to find the eel farm.  Jonna had told me it was opposite the Aquarium but there were a number of buildings surrounding it so I thought the lady in the aquarium office would know. 

 “No, DTU, I need an address,”

“But it’s opposite the aquarium.”

“No, don’t know.”

Anyway left my wife and kids in the aquarium and went to explore.  About 12 yds to the right of the aquarium was a sign saying ‘DTU’ !

They pointed me in the right direction.  I was met by Jonna and her colleague Peter and we strolled across to the beachfront for lunch, which Jonna kindly paid for.

We talked for the next hour about their project (they have managed to get eel larvae surviving to 21 days) and the Japanese success.  After explaining my involvement in conservation captive breeding with the Environment Agency I think Jonna was a little bit more at ease.  It is quite a prestigious project and there seems to be much competition between workers to get the best results.  Jonna gave me the impression she had been let down before.

When we went back to Jonna’s office, Peter took us to his labs in the basement.  There were several tall black tanks of about 40cm in diameter by 1m deep with various tubes and pipes entering them.  Peter fired up a torch and invited me to look inside.

After adjusting to the dark depth, I suddenly spotted them, tiny little string like fragments about 6mm long hanging vertically in the water.  These were actual eel larvae only a few days after hatching! This was such an honour, seeing something that very few people have ever seen. 

Peter put one under the microscope for me.  It was completely transparent with a bit of pigmentation in the head region and a large oil droplet.

5 day old eel larvae (Christian Draver, DTU)

As soon as light was shone on them they began to swim away, surprisingly quickly with  a rapid wriggling movement……..amazing.

Then I bid farewell to Peter, and Jonna and I went up to her office for a chat.  I explained to her about my project and what I hoped to do with stocking and setting up an eel culture facility.  I discussed my aims to use this facility for collaborative research and tentatively tested the waters regarding potential collaboration between the DTU and ourselves.  Jonna was very matter of fact and stated that she would want me to deal with her but not with certain individuals, however she was quite positive about the prospect.  This was great news.

Well seeing the eel larvae and making a good contact for future collaboration had really made my day.

My wife and kids were on the beach when I got out so we all set off back for the hotel.  That evening we went into Copenhagen on the metro and found a place to eat…….Hereford Steak.  After a nice meal we headed home to the hotel.

Really into Tom Fort’s book now, he is talking about the American eel and the demise of their fisheries.

Easter Monday 25th April 2011

Another bank holiday, it’s a long holiday weekend in Denmark, and everything closes.

Despite being a bank holiday Morten Lauritzen of Jupiter Eel, Stege (about 50 miles south of Copenhagen) had kindly offered to host a visit from me.  As he said, and I know only too well, working with animals is 24/7.  This reminds me of a conversation I had with our senior personnel officer who was quizzing me about the need for over-time…, “So does somebody have to work on Christmas Day?”  I thought for a moment and responded shortly, “Well, the fish don’t know it’s Christmas”.

Anyway left the wife and kids to make their way into Copenhagen on the metro and set off on the drive south.  Pretty easy route to follow and after about an hour I was practically there.  About 250 yards from my destination, I stopped to ask a petrol forecourt attendant whether he knew of the building.  He looked so puzzled at my attempt to describe ‘eel farm’ that I was sure I had gone horribly wrong somewhere.  He mentioned something about an old sugar factory so I carried on to an old looking industrial complex.  I drove around but couldn't see anything obvious so I called into a mini-market on the complex.  Again I tried to describe an eel farm, fish farm, eels, fish….farm.  Once again, I received many blank looks and much giggling from the checkout girls but still no clues. 

I began to get seriously worried, I was still half an hour early but it seemed that nobody knew where this place was and I knew I had forgotten the phone number.  I decided to drive around the complex again and round to the front entrance of a grand old building.  On one of the doors I just happened to notice a faded black and white label, “Jupiter Al.”  This is the eel farm I had been looking for!  What really puzzled me is that this was about 250 yards from the petrol station and about 15 yards from the mini-market!!!!!!!  Morten certainly has maintained his secrecy, despite being there for 25 years.

As I pulled into the parking space Morten was there to greet me and I reiterated how grateful I was for him to give up his time to see me on this bank holiday.

We proceeded into this huge red brick building, a network of chasms, which Morten rented to run his operation.  The sugar factory was built in the late 1800’s and most of the original structure appeared unaltered.  It was quite easy to picture the scene of the factory running at full pace 130 years ago….bedraggled and weary, factory workers toiling in impossibly hot and filthy conditions.

Anyway, it was not long before I heard the familiar sound of splashing water, bubbling air and that wonderful smell of fish food.  No matter how many farms I go to….. I still love that combination.

Morten led me in to what looked like a ‘Great Hall’ in a medieval castle which housed the main on-growing tanks.  There were 17 and they measured 5.3m X 5.3 m X 1m deep each holding 25,000 eels of approx 80g.

The tanks were totally covered, with just a small hatch for the feeder and to inspect condition.  Morten said he never needed to clean them if he kept the water quality in tip top condition.  Next we inspected his filtration set up.  Two huge drum filters filtering down to 40 microns were supported by fluidised bio-filters, static bio-filters and Ultra violet sterilisation.

I had to marvel at the construction which was all Morten’s own design and one, which he had been at pains to point out, had been the result of many years of trial and error.

From here we ventured further into this industrial revolution ghost factory maze and saw many smaller juvenile tanks containing around 40,000 young eels.  All looked in pristine condition.

I was lucky enough to handle a few individuals all tangled together on a resting platform.

All the time there were intermittent alarm sirens sounding and Morten and I would disappear into the depths of the building where he would interrogate the various water quality parameters on his computer system, never seeming too perturbed.

Finally, we came to the weaning room where there were many small tanks used for culturing the first stage of captured eel, the glass eel.  These small tanks were full of small eels, approximately 30,000 in each tank which were just making the transition from cod roe to pellet food.

As we talked, I made furious notes jotting down all the things I knew I would forget when I returned to the UK.

After a coffee and brief chat about stocking and breeding eels, I realised I had better let the man get back to his business.  It was a thoroughly fascinating 2 hrs for me and as we shook hands and said goodbye, I felt sure that our paths would cross again in the not too distant future.

After a good drive back, I met the girls in time for tea at the city centre, nearby one of Hans Christian Anderson’s houses.  We shared a couple of burgers and wedges and convinced ourselves that we were enjoying it.  Sadly, still recovering from the food poisoning we were just glad to get back to the hotel and rest for the night.