MANY OF YOU WILL NOT HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO VISIT THE MANY IMPORTANT HISTORICAL SITES OF THE FELLOWSHIP OF ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS. I PLAN TO SHARE WITH YOU PHOTOS I HAVE TAKEN OF THEM AS WELL AS PHOTOS I HAVE TAKEN OF SPECIAL MEETING LOCATIONS THAT I HAVE VISITED.
Before you attempt to read the below article please note that I have typed the entire article in large print immediately below the article.
The above article appeared in the local Hong Kong English language newspaper .. THE STANDARD .. on Monday, December 21, 2015.
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Warning labels needed on booze, say doctors
Health warning labels on alcoholic drinks should be required to lower deaths from booze-related disease and accidents, the Hong Kong Medical Association urged yesterday.
"The practice of health warning labels is widely adopted in Western countries and even the mainland." association president Louis Shih Tai-cho said. "The government and alcohol retailers should also take this as a responsible first step to ultimately lower the number of patients and deaths caused by drinking alcohol."
Shih said the standard drinking measure guideline - printed in Chinese - should at least be included on a label together with warning slogans like those that are now compulsory on cigarette packaging.
A safety standard for daily intake of red wine with 12 percent alcohol could be "100 milliliters for women, 200 for me." he said.
The association also said tax should be imposed on red wine and beer, which are currently exempted from duties.
"Young people are the most sensitive on price changes. Imposing tax on these drinks could change the addictive or regular alcohol consumption pattern." said Shih, who dismissed claims that drinking can be good for health.
"No medical association would ever encourage people to drink." he said.
Shih added he was one of the victims of the mistaken belief, after proposing "wine dinner" activities for association doctors around a decade ago, but stopped them two years ago.
"Pregnant women should stay away from alcohol completely." he said, adding that women should stop drinking a year before conceiving to avoid fetal alcohol syndrome.
Drinking alcohol is now classified by the World Health Organization to be a direct cause of six kinds of cancer.
KINLINGLO
I wish you all a ..
HAPPY SOBER NEW YEAR 2016 !!
Back again to Sukhbaatar Mongolia ..
This will be my second post about meetings in Sukhbaatar Mongolia. Below is a link to my first post.
http://aaphotoshere.blogspot.com/2015_07_01_archive.html
I am not sure what I expected to find here in Sukhbaatar Mongolia but what I found was PHENOMENAL.
Sit back .. Relax .. Enjoy the photos ..
Sukhbaatar is on the Northern border (RED HORIZONTAL DOTTED LINE) between Mongolia and Russian Siberia. On the map below it is spelled .. SUHBAATAR. Can you find it just below dead-center?
The below map shows Ulaanbaater the capital of Mongolia (SHOWN IN YELLOW NEAR THE BOTTOM OF THE MAP). It is very hard to see Sukhbaatar (DO YOU SEE IT IN RED AT THE TOP OF THE MAP JUST BELOW THE MONGOLIA - RUSSIA BORDER).
I rode the Trans-Mongolian Trans-Siberian Express Train North from Ulaanbaatar to Sukhbaatar.
Of course! I am just teasing all of you! As it says on page 132 of the Big Book ..
We insist on enjoying life .. Here is the real train!
The Ulaanbaatar Mongolia Railway Station ..
All aboard!
Mongolia from the train.
Grazing sheep.
Almost like Northern Lights.
I stayed in a clean and modest hotel for US $ 12.59 per night.
What more does one want or need? It sure beats 'Three hots and a cot' down at the local shelter!!
It rained in Sukhbaatar Mongolia during the night! Do you see my hotel almost dead-center below?
A little fun and relaxation. Because it was an ' open-meeting '
a few of the local ' pool-sharks ' dropped by!
The Time Has Come for a meeting.
I have attended meetings in each and in every single state in the U.S. and across Canada as well as in many parts of the world.
In Sukhbaatar Mongolia I found the neatest meeting room (??) perhaps ever in my life.
If you want to see the love and the passion these members have for their recovery just continue scrolling down. WHEW! I get just a little teary when I contemplate what I found below.
One of the local Sukhbaatar ' pool-sharks ' .. can you see him peering at me through the doorway? .. Wanted me to join him in a game of 8-Ball.
Sukhbaatar Mongolia ..
I feel like I-AM-AT-HOME IN SUKHBAATAR MONGOLIA!!
DON'T MISS GOING TO A MEETING THE NEXT TIME YOU ARE THERE.
A FEW ANSWERS :
I came to Mongolia 16 July 2015 with a group of International A.A. members who conducted a two-day seminar on the steps and traditions. On Monday 20 July the others left. I stayed and have my own apartment in Ulaanbaatar as well as one in Hong Kong.
I was invited to return to Sukhbaatar as a result of the meeting I attended in July. See the link at the top of this post. I did not just drop-in.
Members of the local fellowship met me at the train and arranged my hotel room. I paid all of my own expenses.
The meeting was a 2-hour meeting. I had a local NON A.A. lady as my translator.
Here in Mongolia the members are hungry for our experience strength and hope. To paraphrase the Big Book they are like the drowning grabbing frantically for life-preservers.
I am not able to give you a percentage but not all members in Mongolia own their own Big Book. The Mongolian Big Book does NOT have the stories! Only the first 164-pages are translated. Fewer members yet have the translated 12 and 12 .. Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions ..
I have seen absolutely no other A.A. books in English such as .. A.A. Comes Of Age .. Pass It On .. Dr. Bob and the Good Old Timers .. As Bill Sees It .. Living Sober .. Daily Reflections .. Came To Believe .. Experience Strength and Hope ..
Several A.A. pamphlets (I can not say which) are available in Mongolian.
Basically it was two-hours (with one 15-minute smoking break) of questions asked of me with my answers. I did not tell my story. The members were full of their own questions. The meeting actually lasted well over the scheduled 2-hours and it could have continued on into the night. It was raining cats and dogs and I had to walk back to my hotel and I had a 6:30am train to catch the next morning. Their passion for knowledge is so great several members walked with me in the rain back to my hotel asking more ever more questions.
Questions were asked such as: How do I know when I have completed Steps 1 through 3 .. How can we grow A.A. here in Mongolia .. MANY questions were oriented to GOD and beliefs about GOD. Mongolia is a Buddhist nation with over 50% of the adult males being Buddhist Monks in the mid to the late 1900s .. Because sponsorship (as it exists in the U.S.) is rare to non-existent here in Mongolia there were many questions in this arena .. Many questions were asked on each of the steps and many of the traditions as well .. What do we do if a member at a meeting is drunk?
For me personally being in Mongolia is God's Grace working in my life. I feel at the summit of my life .. That my entire life has prepared me for this time in Mongolia.
Isn't it something how-things-work-out sometimes. If I had not heard about this magnificent adventure in Ulaanbaatar Mongolia I am positive that would have been that. I would not have ever heard of it.
But because I was familiar with the book ..
And because I knew of the adventure .. I recognized it.
On the right side of the below photo you can see the A.A. pamphlet table in the front corner on the Borrett Road side of the meeting room at Nr. 12 Borrett Road in Hong Kong.
The book is not in the above photo.
When I was at a meeting recently .. because I instantly recognized it when I saw it sitting there on the pamphlet table I snapped several photos.
You have to look closely at the very bottom center of the above photo to see the book.
Below you can see it very clearly.
A good closeup look at it resting in Hong Kong.
An inscription in the front of this Hong Kong copy of Global Sober.
How much fun was this? A lot of fun!
In Sobriety ..
Once in awhile .. From time-to-time .. I run across something so phenomenal .. so outstanding .. so unbelievable .. so amazing .. that I am at a loss-for-words.
Yesterday here in Ulaanbaatar Mongolia I was made aware of a book titled ..
And an organization as well ..
GLOBAL SOBER .. www.Global-Sober.com
I contacted the author and was told it was OK for me to post a few photos of the book of 600 pages ..
Without further ado ..
Here we go loop-de-loop .. Here we go loop-de-li ..
The book is enormous. The pages are approximately 11x17 inches in size. It must weigh at the very minimum two (2) pounds.
Will all of you just-look-at .. The Table Of Contents ..
I personally have visited many of the above locations and I KNOW what a demanding task it is ..
I selected the following pages to photograph because .. Each page or photo means something very personal and special to me ..
MILFORD CONNECTICUT !!
Words fail me !! How very special !! Of all the places visited .. MILFORD CONNECTICUT .. makes-the-cut !!
Do you want special? Visit the Canyon Club in Laguna Beach California !! Global Sober did !!
THE CANYON CLUB ..
I was lucky enough to actually know Dr. Paul ..
When I was visiting Dr. Paul and his wife Max in their home I verbally in a friendly manner 'attacked' Dr. Paul about this 'crap-you-wrote' that Acceptance Is The Answer!
Dr. Paul just smiled and told me that ..
"Acceptance does NOT mean approval." ..
Dr. Paul's personal words-to-me in his home. What a difference this makes concerning the concept of acceptance !!
If I am not accepting what I cannot change then I am trying to change what I cannot accept. There are bad-things-happening-to-good-people but they are what they are.
The Canyon Club is so famous .. from Chuck C. right down-the-line ..
I now sit here in MONGOLIA .. Had I not been here I may never have heard of this book and journey ..
Do you want special? Come to Mongolia !! Global Sober did !!
In addition to having an apartment here in Ulaanbaatar MONGOLIA ..
I have an apartment in the Sheung Wan District of Western HONG KONG ..
Do you want special? Pack your bags TODAY and fly to Hong Kong !! Global Sober did !!
It gets no better ..
Number 12 Borrett Road Hong Kong ..
Hello Lychee ..
Oh Yes .. Hong Kong ..
Do you want special? Catch the next flight to The-City-By-The-Bay .. San Francisco !! Global Sober did !!
I lived in the actual City of San Francisco .. off-and-on for the better part of thirty three (33) years .. What a significant place it is for me ..
Do you want special? Visit Toledo Ohio .. Global Sober did and was lucky enough to meet Mel B. the author of the A.A. book .. Pass It On ..
It would seem to me that a greater power was involved during this journey.
Now DO you REALLY want special ?
Set The Drink Down .. Trust God .. Clean House .. Help Others .. DR. BOB ..
Global Sober did !!
"Well that is that said Baba Fats sitting back down on his stone .." .. REST IN PEACE SHEL SILVERSTEIN .. THE SEARCH FOR THE PERFECT HIGH ..
