I woke up this morning not sure of what I wanted to do. I looked at the map and saw the Zoo so thought I'd take a run over there and see what it was like.
I got some money out (without my passport I can't cash T-Cheques) and took the bike for a spin. I got to the zoo at about 10am and it was pretty empty. I paid for the one of the "hop-on, Hop-off" buses as the Zoo is set on a mountain side and it would be a lot of walking up steep hills.
Anyway I got off at the first stop. There were giraffes (which I got to feed :-0 ), Giant Pandas, Tigers Tapirs and Camels. It was nice and I had some fresh fruit and crisps as I walked around. I got to go through a walk through Aviary which was interesting, until I saw my first Thailand spider (my good those things are big, and scary) from which point on I was on a hightened state of alert (carefully examining each branch I walked under etc) :-{. The birds were quite stunning but I saw more information boards about birds, than birds themselves. Guess they were sleeping (classic Zoo experience that).
Anyway I waited for the bus to come back up and had an Ice Cream, it came by but for some reason it didn't stop, which was a little annoying. I had to walk up the next bit which was pretty steep and in 30 degree heat was a bit of a killer. Lukily there was a cool spot at the top where I could rest a bit and watch goats and stuff at the childrens zoo.
I got to see some Koala and lots of cute animals. before walking the next bit (just missed the bus again!). I had my umbrella up by this stage which did make it a little easier. Next were monkeys including an Orang-utan who was amazing. He wandered over to near where I was watching and just sat looking at me. He really was beautiful and such amazing eyes. Stirred some ancient memory of being an ape which I can't really explain :-) Anyway it was a nice to just sit there and look at him. The gibbons were just noisy, but that;s gibbons for you.
I timed it just right to be at the seal show which was quite fun. It did fill up with school kids who seemed to find me fascinating, I guess they don't see a lot of tall red-headed white women around :-) The show was fun, although I have no idea what the announcer was saying as it was all thai. The seals put on a good show and I caught some good stuff on video (pics were a bit hard).
Next I did manage to catch the bus, only because it stopped for all the kids (think they enjoy leaving farangs standing there :-0. I got off at the little temple and chedi that is on the site and had a quick pray (the place was rather full of ants so didn't fancy sitting there too long otherwise I'd have been eaten alive). I managed to catch the elephant, although he did look a little sad and was going through a bit of a routine which makes me think he's been worked hard in shows and now goes through the routines even when not in the show. Hopefully this hasn't happened at the zoo itself though.
A few more animals and I was just about done. I had a lovely coconut Frappe and a piece of cheesecake in the Zoo cafe (wish I'd found that earlier) and then headed a little further up the mountain to the HuayKeaw Waterfall. I parked and walked a little bit up to get some pics. I then found a nice little spot to sit on (warm) rocks and rest a bit. It seems like this is where lots of Thais come to have picnics and stuff. I had a nice time there and even had some slightly powerful out of body stuff. Can't really describe it, but it was one of those things where when you come back you feel a little disorientated, as if your body isn't familiar. This only lasted a few seconds but it was quite interesting.
I headed back home now as it was getting a little cold. I enjoyed the ride back and it was good fun to skip past queuing traffic for once (now I know how it feels I want a bike back home!). I headed over to Blue Dimond for food. I went for sweet and sour veggies as I thought that would be safe. It was however rather full of chillie and was a bit hot for me really. I ate most of it but it was a bit of a challenge and took me a while :-). I had some ice cream for dessert which was lush.
Had a good chat with people on skype and updated the blog (as you can see :-) ) and will be heading off to bed soon, I really feel like watching a film but nothing is in english and I'm not sure where I could go for anything else. The cinema maybe, but it's a bit late to think about that now.
The guesthouse family were watching a thai drama so I thought I'd give it a go. It was actualy quite good because it was either really well-acted or over-acted (making it easy to tell what they were saying/thinking) and the music they used was very simple and emotion driven, so it switched dramatically from cute and funny to shocking etc etc so it was actually quite enjoyable, in a strange foreign way :-)
Anyway I was bit tired so didn't catch the end. To be honest I don;t know if I would have known it was the end anyway.
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