I panicked as the monk’s hand slid slowly down my chest to an area in which it had no business. No business at all.

Rewind a few hours and I was sitting comfortably on an express coach from Beijing to the seaside in neighbouring Liaoning province. In a country as vast as China, anywhere less than an overnight sleeper train journey away is practically next door. I was on my way to spend a week in a small island monastery and I was excited. Buddhism, with its Schopenhauer-esque philosophy of mastering desire as the path to contentment had always intrigued me. That and incense. So when I was offered the chance to stay in a real-life monastery with real-live monks, I couldn’t wait to shimmy into my saffron robes and start notching up some über-karma.

On the surface the monastery seemed idyllic, an isolated island retreat of the sort normally reserved for those on a six-figure salary or heavy-lidded rock stars trying to overcome a crack addiction. Each day ferries would carry fishermen and traders, the odd tourist like me and various oddly-shaped bundles that would whimper, bark and squawk and be mollified, beaten or ignored accordingly.

‘China is far more than just the “world’s fastest growing economy”.’

Quiet courtyards hung heavy with the sweet smell of sandalwood incense as visitors knelt before a colossal golden Buddha to a rhythm of drums, chanting and the distant murmur of the waves.

I passed an interesting day learning about monastic life. In fact the monks were just as interested in me as I was in them. Money was a hot topic. Did I find China cheap? How much was a packet of cigarettes in Britain? What did it cost to study in Oxford? How much did my parents earn? How much did I pay for my shoes? All these questions they asked with an eagerness that transcended mere intellectual curiosity. So much for renouncing worldly possessions!

Then it came to the sleeping arrangements. I was to share floor space with a tubby middle-aged and very jovial monk who was rather fond of soap operas. I gave up trying to follow the complex developments of various tragic love triangles as I struggled to keep my eyes open after an early start that morning. My relief when the TV was finally put to bed was short-lived for I was to be kept awake for the next hour by the noises emitted from his super-swish mobile as he messaged his friends on QQ, the Chinese equivalent of MSN. After a bit of pillow talk (“Is Britain in America?”) the lights went out and I dreamt of sleep. It was unbearably hot, made worse by the fact that my bed-buddy seemed to want to snuggle. As he put an arm around my shoulder, only the desire to be a polite guest and the fuzzy memory of a Radio 4 documentary about platonic male intimacy in certain Buddhist communities kept me from protesting too vehemently. But when his hand started to venture south, the line of cultural relativism was crossed, somewhere around my navel I think. I quietly made my discomfort known and he got the message. Next morning I was on the first ferry back to the mainland with a lucky Buddhist charm in my pocket, an apologetic token from my would-be lover that would apparently keep me safe on my travels.

Although such misadventures are far from representative, my overall experience of Buddhism as a living religion differed hugely from the textbook portrayals of R.E. classes, the celluloid religion espoused by Western celebrities and the sanitized version on show at my local Buddhist centre. By the same token, China is far more than just the “world’s fastest growing economy”. Sweeping statements are easy to make but I want to avoid casting casual stereotypes about such a rich and varied patchwork of people and places. I am not a culture-junkie-gapper; I didn’t find myself in China, but then I wasn’t looking very hard. I went with an open-mind and hope that it has been opened still further as the experiences that gradually filled the pages of my diary challenged assumptions and misconceptions I never knew I had.

In July this year, as we faced the fact that the economy had moved from a credit crunch into a full-blown recession, the British Retail Consortium revealed that food prices were rising three times as fast as the average wage. At a time when money is becoming increasingly scarce and food increasingly valuable, it often feels like little can be done to stop that tug at the purse strings. However, it seems some have found a way to ease the pinch of the economic downturn, but it’s not for everyone.

Whatever you want to call it; skipping, dumpster-diving or freeganism, there is no getting around the fact that in involves rummaging around in bins in the middle of the night for food that’s been thrown away. I first came across this counter-consumerist movement quite by accident; when in the pub a friend of a friend finished her drink, got up to leave and announced that she was going up to Summertown to do some skipping.

Like the majority of people, I’d never heard of skipping – and, like the majority of people, once I had heard of it, I wasn’t an immediate convert. Besides, food has a use-by date for a reason, doesn’t it? Well, yes and no. One of the reasons why skipping can yield some profitable hauls that are safe to eat is the confusion surrounding use-by and best-before dates. Whereas use-by dates mean the food should definitely not be eaten after it’s expiry, the best-before date indicates that food is past its best after that date has expired, but is crucially still edible. The problem is that many consumers aren’t aware of this distinction, and so they don’t purchase food past its best-before date.

In a society where the consumer is king, this means that supermarkets are forced to trash food that is perfectly safe to eat. Unfortunately, since EU law requires both best-before and use-by dates, the Environment Agency’s plans to scrap best before dates last summer were still-born.

‘I’ll bring back armfuls of sandwiches to my halls. They go pretty quickly.’

Stephen Robertson, Director General of the British Retail Consortium, said that this shouldn’t matter, ‘Scrapping best-before dates won’t reduce food waste,’ he said. ‘Customer education will.’ He is also points out that it isn’t just food in supermarkets that goes to waste. The same use-by/best-before confusion in the home means that good food goes to waste in dustbins up and down the country. WRAP, the Government funded Waste and Resource Programme estimates that in England and Wales alone, household and commercial food wastage amounts to over 3.5 million tonnes of perfectly edible food being thrown away each year. This means that whilst in the midst of the recession, a staggering £12.2 billion of food per year is being needlessly bulldozed into landfill. Rummaging around in bins in the middle of night is starting to make sense.

So what is the skipping scene like in Oxford? ‘Robert’, a third year undergraduate, first went skipping a year ago. ‘I was already involved in various environmental groups, and then a friend told me about the amount of free food that was on offer. I was appalled at the amount of wastefulness’. Since then, he tries to go at least a couple of times a week. ‘Quite often you come across bins that have already been skipped – but usually there is something on offer, because we only take what we need and there is always more food than one person can take.’ Speaking to Robert, I wondered the extent to which freeganism remains a fringe activity of the idealistic few. ‘A fair amount of people in Oxford go skipping,’ he assures me. ‘Actually, you start to recognise people after a while’. When I ask what sort of food you can expect to find around the city, I’m amazed at the variety Robert describes: ‘Sandwiches, doughnuts, bread (there is always bread), fresh fruit and veg. I once found a whole packet of hobnobs – that was pretty nice,’ he muses. ‘My best haul? Well, once I found some tortellini and then in the very next bin I found a jar of posh pasta sauce. It was a good dinner that night.’

But is there really such a thing as a free meal? Robert asks me not to publish the specific supermarkets and cafes where he goes skipping. When such information has been published in the public domain before, freegans have found that the food in their favourite skips has been sprayed with bleach, or even mixed with broken glass. As well as that, removing food from bins is illegal – if caught, freegans could potentially be prosecuted under the 1968 Theft Act, although no freegans in Britain have ever been charged. Aside from the free food, Robert believes that freeganism is worth the risk. ‘It’s a way to try and counteract the socially accepted culture of wastefulness that is so obscene. Supermarkets, in the interests of increasing their profit margins, are willing to allow perfectly edible food, that has in many cases been over-packaged and travelled a great distance, to end up in a landfill site where it rots, contributing to global warming, driving us even more towards climate change. Freeganism is a way to negate these effects of over-consumption.’

Nevertheless, I put it to Robert that there are many who just wouldn’t want to take food from a bin. ‘No, maybe not…But what I’ve found is that whilst there are certainly those who aren’t willing to go skipping themselves, plenty of people are willing to eat what I find. Often, I’ll bring back armfuls of sandwiches from [well-known high street sandwich chain] to my halls, put them in a fridge and put up a sign telling them where the food is from, inviting people to help themselves. They go pretty quickly.’

But it’s not just students who engage in freeganism. Websites and forums from around the world have sprung up all over the internet dedicated to sharing information and tips. One website, www.freegan.org.uk advertises freegan meet-ups and skipping expeditions, and allows users to share their experiences. ‘I had my first freegan experience with a friend yesterday’, wrote one user, ‘It was amazing. We collected for free bread and cakes that we shared with five other people…I’m looking for people living in the same area as me to keep on collecting food’.
The website also shares the best places to go skipping, depending on what you are looking for. Sainsbury’s for example, is one of the best supermarkets to go skipping for bread according to one website, because of company policies that govern the life cycle of bread. The first day a loaf is baked on site, it sits on the bread counter to buy fresh, then if it’s not sold it gets sliced up and put on a shelf, on the third day it’s heavily reduced, and on the fourth day, it ends up in the skip at the back of the shop.

After talking to Robert and learning of his and other freegans’ experiences, I couldn’t help but admire their actions. Whilst skipping might not be for everyone, it does highlight the culture of over-consumption that many people in Britain are either ignorant of, or else apathetic towards. As food prices, the rate of climate change and the amount of food that goes to waste all continue to rise, Britain can’t afford to not take notice of the levels of wastefulness for much longer.

Cherwell News editors Izzy Boggild-Jones and Nicky Henderson discuss religion and the OUSU elections as well as the Christ Church nude calendar controversy.

Mention Thailand, and instantly a stream of clichés bubble to the surface of a warm, azure sea of thought. Paradisiacal beaches, full moon parties, trekking, prostitutes, cocktails in buckets, lady-boys, the odd incarcerated tourist, luxury hotels, elephants, mushroom shakes, gap ‘yaaah’ tragedies, tsunamis, world-famous spas, and mopeds jostle together on the farang (foreigner’s) consciousness of a country that remains one of the top tourist destinations in the world, receiving over 14 million international visitors last year. This trend is bound to continue its increase with the advent of budget flights to Asia from airlines such as Air Asia X, who recently launched £99 promotional flights from London to Kuala Lumpur, from where Bangkok, Phuket and a whole raft of other holiday destinations are within a short £20 hop.

Even a few days there can establish that Thailand is a land of extreme contrasts, where a luxury villa can all too easily overlook a slum of immigrant construction workers, and a Holiday Inn can be within a stone’s throw of a multi-storey massage parlour providing happy endings for tourists in straining Hawaiian shirts.

A thorough understanding of the ever-evolving Thai justice system seems a near impossible task. It is a system subject to change on the slightest whim of the specific police officer or judge, the nationality of the perpetrator or victim of a situation, and the government in power.

What has hit the majority of Western minds throughout the past year as airport closures and civil unrest caused delays for hundreds of tourists flying through Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport is actually allied to serious political issues that have affected Thailand for the past decade. A series of coups against democratically elected governments, accompanied by violent protests, has led to the deposition of several Prime Ministers, with military regimes ruling in the interim. In December 2008, British-born Abhisit Vejjajiva, educated at Eton and St John’s, Oxford (with a First in PPE, no less!), became Thailand’s third Prime Minister in the space of three months. His critics say he does not understand the rural majority and emphasise his consistent failure to win power through fair electoral means.

‘A luxury villa can all too easily overlook a slum of immigrant construction workers, and a Holiday Inn can be within a stone’s throw of a multi-storey massage parlour.’

Abhisit gave a speech at his alma mater in St John’s auditorium last year, trying to allay international concerns about the future of Thailand and promising that democracy will move forward, stating that he was “here to reaffirm that Thai democracy is alive and well.” He was overeager to defend his less-than-democratic rise to power by stating that: “Democratically-elected Parliamentarians decided to end the deadlock …and voted openly for my party to form a coalition government. The decision was subsequently vindicated by by-election results a month later, when we won 21 out of 27 seats.” No one threw a shoe at him, but the International Relations Society that invited Abhisit to Oxford came under fire from critics of the Prime Minister for endorsing a speech entitled “Taking on the Challenges of Democracy” from someone with, at best, dubious democratic credentials.

The political situation and rioting has caused massive losses to the country’s lucrative tourist industry and further damaged the national economy, which was facing a bleak year anyway due to the global crisis. The national carrier, Thai Airways International, announced that its bookings had dropped 20 per cent since the state of emergency was declared, while many foreign investors have put their investments in the country on hold. The number of tourists is expected to drop to 11 million from the projected 14 million by the end of 2009.

The constant political uncertainties and changes in government that have dogged the last few years mean that the justice system has been inconsistent and often unfair. Most people can recite an example of a foreigner unjustly imprisoned in a Thai prison, usually on drugs-related charges, even if it is the case of Bridget Jones. The Lonely Planet Guide even offers advice on visiting foreign prisoners in Bangkok jails, a trend encouraged by films like Brokedown Palace starring Kate Beckinsale and Claire Danes.

Examples of miscarriages of justice abound in the media, including some cases of prisoners successfully released. But whilst some prisoners have enjoyed high-profile happy endings, like our beloved Bridget, many innocent Thai and foreign visitors still remain detained, according to the Foreign Prisoners Support Service, which campaigns for the release and transfer of prisoners interned abroad. Prison terms are long and conditions harsh. In Samut Prakan Central Prison, up to 65 prisoners are crammed into cells originally built to house only 25 prisoners each. Numerous prisoners are not convicted, either awaiting trial or their appeal. Many are in prison because they couldn’t afford the bail or the fine, one example of the corrupt nature of the Thai justice system, from which the rich can often escape.

Common cases of drink-driving accidents offer a more visible comparison of the daily injustices affecting everyone in Thailand. On-the-spot fines paid partly to the victim, and mostly to the police, range hugely, with some paying under 5000 baht (£100) and some forced to cough up over 50,000 baht (£1000) or risk a court case. A huge majority of ex-pats and local Thais do continue to drive under the influence. This Songkran (Thai New Year, celebrated April 10-16th) alone, road fatalities rose 1.4% from 368 last year to 373 and 4,332 were reported injured in road incidents, according to the Don’t Drive Drunk foundation. The Centre for Alcohol Studies has highlighted that intoxication is the cause of a staggering 72.7% of road accidents in Thailand, killing 14,000 and injuring 900,000 people annually.

‘If you’re a foreigner, you must be guilty, whatever the circumstances.’

Police efforts to halt this worrying trend are inconsistent. Road checkpoints are sometimes established on major festival days, but those in the know are fully aware of this and alter their routes home accordingly. Even if caught most bank on paying a corrupt police officer an on-the-spot ‘fine’ or bribe. The Chief of the Thai police force, Pol. Gen. Patcharawat Wongsuwan, admitted in a speech marking the New Year that his agency was wanting, and promised improvements, but it is difficult to imagine any genuine change without a radical shift in attitude.

In the traveller’s hotspot of Koh Phangan, site of the full-moon, half-moon, black-moon, Shiva-moon and everything-in-between-moon parties, daily miscarriages of justice are par for the course. Motorbike accidents happen every few seconds, and the bike hire companies make more money by charging uninsured drivers exorbitant damages than they do on actual rental. The maxim: “If you’re a farang, you’re guilty,” is commonly accepted when it comes to road accidents, so there’s no point talking to a policeman even if you could find one. There is a police presence, but it is mainly preoccupied with attempting to prevent drugs entering Haad Rin beach during full-moon parties. Of course, they don’t succeed. Anyone who has been can tell you that as well as the normal weed-on-the-beach formula, there is any amount of cocaine, MDMA and ecstasy for the taking, as well as a questionable assortment of colourful pills in the pockets, shoes and God knows where else of the shiftily smiling vendors. A ‘mushroom’ bar on the cliff overlooking this popular party beach is a permanent fixture, and appears untroubled by police. But, despite this apparent lenience, nothing here is consistent, and if caught in possession of any amount of drugs, a foreigner can face anything from a hefty 50,000 baht fine to a prison sentence.

Drug-dealing is a major industry on the islands, and drug-taking is an all-consuming habit for some locals. Similarly, in the mountainous region up North, where tourists can go on three-day treks to see the hill tribes, a drug culture is still prevalent. Officially, the Thai part of the Golden Triangle (the junction between Thailand, Laos and Burma) has now been brought under the control of the government, and the opium crops that used to be the main source of income in this area have been destroyed. On visiting this area, however, it becomes apparent that opium-smoking is still a way of life in many of the hill-tribes. Opium is sold to visitors for about £1 per pipe as part of the ‘trekking experience’, and I met a few travellers who were there just for that reason.

‘Opium is sold to tourists for about £1 a pipe as part of the trekking experience’

Despite this drug culture throughout the country, few Thais can forget the 2003 massacre of an estimated 2500 drug dealers following orders alleged to be from the government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who had launched a high-profile ‘War on Drugs’. In yet another example of unauthorised and illegal street justice, Thaksin reputedly gave instructions and sent signals that led to the extra-judicial killings of a blacklist of people around the country. The National Human Rights Commission has lodged a petition with the justice ministry concerning some 40 cases that have been thoroughly examined and found to have been killings of innocent persons by police or their agents, and claim that many more people on the blacklist were not guilty.

Only time will tell whether the latest Prime Minister, Oxonian Abhisit, will be able to fulfil his promises to heal the country’s deep political divisions by establishing justice for all. It is certainly true that his country has gone from being one of the most stable to one of the most chaotic in Southeast Asia within the last few years, and it will be a hard job to turn the tables.
The justice system is certainly riddled with inconsistencies, but this should not detract from Thailand’s status as a prime travel destination. It offers so much for the visitor: beautiful islands, blue seas, buzzing metropolises, blazing sunshine, outdoor activities, wild parties and tranquil rural life (all on a student-friendly budget). So don’t be discouraged from planning the trip of a lifetime to the ‘land of smiles’. Just stay on the right side of the law while you’re there.

Student protest in central Oxford