Back in Bangkok
Trip Start
Jul 29, 2003
1
8
31
Trip End
Dec 01, 2003
Bangkok,
Thailand
Wednesday, September 3, 2003
Back in Bangkok now, much to my disappointment. I was supposed to leave the sanctuary yesterday but managed to stay another day. Wish I could've stayed another 6 months.
Me and Rachael left together to go to Bangkok and bawled our eyes out and managed to make a couple of people cry too. Little Pin had already said to me yesterday "tomorrow you leave, I cry. I like, you good" and both Pin's said they wanted me to come back. Which I decided I am going to do in November, before I go home. Not sure how long for yet, depends on how booked up the place is and how my travels go. Janine has to be in Singapore at the end of October now instead of November so I think Vietnam and Cambodia might be a bit shorter than planned but thats fine with me as all I want to do at the minute is go back to work at the sanctuary - how sad
A little bit tispy after a night out in Hua Hin
!I'm debating career paths now too as its made me realise I really want to work with animals even though it generally pays nothing. Hmm...
Had a great night out in Hua Hin on Monday night as it was Rachael's birthday and a few of us were leaving over the following days. Mel got really drunk in about 30 mins which was funny for everyone else, especially since she was on the rota to do feeding at 6:30am the following day!
Herman thought he'd do a really nice thing for Rachael since it was her birthday and arrange an oil massage for her - with a man! Obviously Rachael felt fairly uncomfortable since they massage your front and back and the man also got a little over excited...
Herman seemed really surprised she hadn't enjoyed it but I dont think he realised its not the same as it would be buying a nice looking woman to give a man a massage.
I got a traditional Thai massage which was great. They give you a funny little outfit to wear and basically pull you about and crack your back which sounds painful but it was really good.
On Tuesday we let the two baby bears - Poppy & Peanuts - out of their cage so they could wander about a bit since they're soon to have a new enclosure built and won't be in cages anymore
Billy the biker hornbill
. Poppy really didn't want to come out but when she finally did she went straight over to Meow the tiger's enclosure and starting roaring at him. Needless to say Meow was straight over to see if there was any way he could eat the little bear. Peanuts was scared by the whole thing and was hiding behind a pole!All 4 of the bears and possibly a couple mroe are due to be moved into a bear enclosure which we started building before I left. Hopefully it should be finished in October and the bears will be able to play in the grass and a huge pool and not be in cages any more as the enclosure will be surrounded by a deep moat.
The morning I left there was a bit of an incident with Federico, the Spanish volunteer, who opened Nee's cage (a blind gibbon). Nee was too close to the door so bit Federico and his hand was just pouring with blood but instead of trying to stop it bleeding he kept squeezing it to get more blood out!!?! Anyway he didn't want to go to hopsital even though it looked pretty bad, so I don't know yet whether or not he still has his finger...
There is a really cute baby gibbon at the centre called Zach, who I think was rescued from the floating market in Ratchaburi near Bangkok
Charlie
. Edwin asked me to take him out of his cage the other day so he could run about and climb some trees and I was a bit worried that he might not come back to me cos although he would always come up to me when I went to his cage I thought if he was out he might run off! He was clinging to me for ages though and everytime someone came near him he'd run back to me! It was really nice to see him swinging about in the trees but then he found the cage outside the foodhouse where the bananas are kept and he wouldn't leave there after that! It's not a myth that monkeys love bananas...It was raining really hard Tuesday night and all of us were in Bram's room watching a DVD so he went to get Zach cos if he's out in the rain too long he catches a cold. As soon as Zach saw me he ran over (which looks really funny as he runs with his arms by his sides and they touch the ground or sometimes he sort of walks on his fists - Charlotte has a video of him doing that I really need to get a copy of. Alexis - you'd love it.)
Anyway...Zach sat upside down on my lap looking at me for ages, and hid under my arm at the scary bits of the film (28 Days Later), until he noticed Mel sitting next to me and decided her boobs looked more comfortable!
Thats pretty much all the animal news anyway - I'm sure its bored all of you who don't love animals
Cheree
!Friday 5th September...
I met Janine ok on Wednesday night and said a sad goodbye to Rachael yesterday as she was off to Phuket. Met Janine's friend Kathy who's come over for 2 weeks yesterday morning, and Kate last night. Also met Janine's friends Vicky and Olli last night who have been travelling around South East Asia for about 4 months already. We went to a bar round the corner from Khao San Road last night which makes a change from staying on the road cos it was a bit quieter. We ended up in a lock in with a few locals until about 2am.
I'm meeting Mel from the sanctuary tonight, who flies home on Monday, while the rest of us are heading to Ko Samui then Ko Pha Ngan on Sunday night, to go to the Full Moon Party on 10th. After that I think we're hoping to head to Ko Lanta and then Phuket/Ko Phi Phi. Slightly unsure of whats happening after that. We're probably heading up to northern Thailand for a few days when Kathy goes home on 19th, then to Cambodia for a few days, then 2-3 weeks in Vietnam. There seem to be some problems in Laos at the moment so I don't think I'm going there on this trip. Janine is heading to Singapore at the end of October and I'll either stay in Vietnam for another week, or go somewhere else in Thailand for a bit before hopefully spending a couple more weeks at the sanctuary
Eva and the puppies
.I think next time I travel I'll read up a bit more on where I want to go and what to do cos I have no clue at the moment, but I'm sure I'll be back here one day!
Sunday 8th September...
Strangely enough met up with Herman (from the sanctuary) in BKK on Friday night, and me, him and Mel all went to Ayuthaya yesterday while the others went to Kanchanaburi which I've already done. Me, Janine, Kathy and Kate are heading down to Ko Pha Ngan tonight on a 12 hour bus trip for which I'm trying to find some medication to knock myself out. Failing that it will have to be cheap Thai rum again...
We leave at about 6pm tonight and arrive at 11am Monday morning but at least we will have a couple of days to relax on the beach before the Full Moon Party. Should be good!
Thats all for now folks!
xxx
ps: I have more animal photos to upload but have been trying for the last couple of days and it keeps crashing but they should be up in a week or so.
