I bet you didn’t know that honey was used in mummification millennia ago, or that bees have sky orgies with the female bee managing to save up to 45 sperm deposits in her lifetime. Did you also know that bee mites are incestuous, or that they only affect the European honey bee, our fit Thai bees being more hygienic therefore better to stave off their insidious attacks?
If you didn’t and any of this is rather titillating to you then make sure you join editor Pim Kemasingki, her snoozy pug Tiggie and her friend Dr. Paul Page, a Swiss bee expert who can make your toes curl with wild stories of his beloved bees.
Paul Page has been coming to Thailand for over a decade, conducting research into Asian honey bees and working primarily with universities here in Chiang Mai and Isaan.
He dispels the myth that has been lingering for decades that the world bee population is under imminent threat, explaining that it is in fact just the European bees which are unable to survive in the wild anymore, instead relying on the works of beekeepers to continue. He also explains some of the shenanigans that goes in on the honey world, giving some useful advice how to not get conned by fake honey and syrups.
This and all sorts of fascinating vignettes and insights into the buzzing world of bees.