Fish watching spot.

It's been a really busy few days since I last wrote! Brandy got into town Tues and 2am- I was slightly tipsy when she arrived because a few of my things had gotten stolen earlier that day so I thought the best idea would be a few drinks with the TONS of backpackers on Khao San Rd. Met some very interesting people actually... brits and scots and irish and aussie.
Later that day Brandy and I attempted to see the famous Bangkok floating market via longboat on the canal, but it turns out our "floating market" consisted of one lady on a boat trying to sell us souvenuirs. Nice. But we got to boat around the back canals of the city for an hour and a half - it was actually really interesting - I don't understand how some of those houses were standing upright. The pic of the temple looking thing was just something we saw from the bo-at. Its perty.
Yesterday I convinced Brandybeans that she needed to see the Wildlife Center, so alas, I got to go back and visit. It was wonderful. We took a big bag of dog food up to the temple to feed the hordes of animals there. Just call me the cat whisperer. This morn we left the center to seedy Hua Hin, and in an hour we'll get on a train(really excited) and go to Surat Thani in the South. Then to Krabi, which is where they filmed The Beach. Needless to say, I am looking forward to lobstering up in the Thai sun. The last pic is of some cows blocking the road we were driving on. Ha ha, they're cute.

Backpacker Mecca

Back on Khao San, in all its backpacker glory. I got here at 5:30 this morning- actually they stopped the bus about 5 blocks from here, unloaded all our stuff onto the street, and told us it was Khao San Rd., which it very clearly wasn't. OF COURSE there were heaps of taxis and tuk-tuks willing to take us there. This town. But after safely walking to the main street and getting some breakfast with a random Brit, I found a little guest house and CRASHED! The room smells a little like feet and the "bedspread" looks remarkably like two towels, but it's cozy and has AC and is my own little paradise for the moment.
I spent the rest of my time in Chiang Mai just wandering around through various markets and temples(every 30 feet, I swear.). The old looking one was right outside my guest house. love it! The metal working guy was at the night market and was using only a hammer and various nails and screws to create the masterpieces behind him. Stellar, eh? So not much else to report- not as much day to day as when you're working with wild animals, but still an adventure...
This is sign on a bathroom in Chiang Mai. :)

First beer free. Second beer 100 baht.

So I've just stepped out of my second hot shower in four and half weeks and tonight I will have a room to myself for the first time since October 8. Wow am I excited. wow.
So I got back tonight from my short 3 day hike/trek in the Chiang Mai province in the north of Thailand. I was pretty skeptical at first about going on a guided tour, because it seemed weird visit a hill tribe village that gets hundreds of backpackers a month. But it was a really good adventure- we were out pretty far in the middle of nowhere, staying in huts next to rice fields and rivers, and the group was friendly as well. The pix are of two of the Karen tribe people burning stuff(aren't i learned?), then a whole bunch from the second day, when we hiked up to a hut on a peak where we ate lunch, and then down to a waterfall area for overnight. This is where I spent thanksgiving. A little different from Tdays past, yes?. Theres a pic of dinner just for kicks- we had rice, chicken, potatoes, and beer. It was delicious! Then I spent probably the coldest night I have ever spent where I couldn't escape to a car (dehaas? dy?), got no sleep, and continued the trek this morning. We joined up with a few other groups and went bamboo rafting, an unpredictable, falling in the river, trying to swamp other rafts kind of activity. Totally wonderful end to our trip. I reccommend. No pix of that because ze camera would have gotten soaked.
So, from here on in, I am on my own. Tricky business, but there are tons of people traveling just like me and so far they have proved a non dubious bunch. The new adventures of beckymonster coming in a few days!

The next adventure

Hey all! Well, I've left the Wildlife Center. I'm not sure I was quite ready to, but at this point there are new adventures awaiting, right? Goodbyes were hard, but a bunch of people came into Hua Hin with the four of us who were leaving to see us off. We had a big italian dinner and then went to a bar on the beach until the wee hours of morning. It was a really nice end to a wonderful four weeks. The pics are of half the table at dinner, some of the ladies chillin on the beach, and(don't freak out mom, dad) where Steph and I stayed overnight. Quite possibly the biggest dump I've ever had the privledge to stay at... oh ps that alley way goes for at least another 30 meters before the entrance to our guest house.
So this morning we got on a bus to Bangkok and here I am! Finally able to see all that is this glorious city (or at least the ever touristy Khao San Rd.) I'm not staying though- I've booked a short tour up to Chiang Mai and then I'll spend a couple extra days there before coming back to Bangkok to pick up Brandybeans. yippee! So I may be cut off for a few days but I promise I am thinking about all of you. All the best-

Where's New England?

Not much has actually happened since yesterday, but I wanted to post a few pictures n stuff. First, I finally got that picture of the gibbon eating a coconut to upload. And then Ollie the otter frantically trying to get a piece of monkey chow into cage.And then a picture of me and one of the village dogs. This is about how all the dogs look here- mangy, scabby, and a little bit hit by cars. But still cute. Speaking of dogs, today we had a little crisis with ours. We have 14 pups living here, split roughly into two packs that dont really mix well. But today one of the "elephant dogs", as we call them, had the audacity to sit by the lake across from the main house and our pack drove him into the lake and tried to rip him into pieces. Pretty crazy seeing a pack of dogs attack. We finally got them locked behind the gate and the one in the lake to the clinic. Not badly hurt, just some stitches here and there. Anyway...
Oh, the last pic. So I walked into the volunteer house this afternoon and several people were pondering this map of north america. Nice, isn't it? :)

More Cowbell!

I finally walked around the lake that borders the center- theres actually no path so most of the time we were walking through bush or through peoples property. Kind of interesting to see the area around where I've been living- lots of banana farms and run down houses. Saw a herd(a flock? a pod?) of cows with old-fashioned cowbells. ;) Like my artistic picture of us walking? I do. We also had clear view of the farthest gibbon island, which is almost self sufficient and has hardly any human contact. This guy was tightrope walking along the length of the island as we passed him, using those loong arms as a balance beam. funny!
Had enrichments as well yesterday, just wanted to show some pics of that- we stuffed a tire with cooked potato and hung it outside the langur cage. By the end they were all covered head to toe in crumbled potato but still looking fantasticly cute. We gave the macaques some coconut(boring) but I wanted to show you all just how large and pointy their teeth are. THIS is why we dont go in with them! (wow, ok i just tried to upload that pic 5 times. I hate these computers!) Oh- we had three busses full of kids show up to see the center today and us volunteers had the distinct pleasure of giving them tours. joy of joys. I actually had one girl who stuck to me like glue and asked questions though, so it was a nice break from no one paying attention at all. :) Ok, thats about it for today. Can't believe I'm leaving this place in four days!

Petchvarin Resort

Well, I've just had my third day off and my first night I've actually spent away from the center. Me and three others decided to go to this little resort in the middle of nowhere and be absolute bums for an entire day. And we suceeded. Thoroughly. We stayed over on Monday night, and spent all day tuesday basically alternating between eating, drinking(we started at 10am!), and laying around the pool. And though very expensive by Thai standards, we only spent about $75 each. That's for the room, the massage, taxi to and from, four meals, and MANY drinks. A very well spent day in the sun. The pix are of Chris and I drinking Tequila Sunrises by the river waiting for our massages, Max and I wearing as many cocktail drink accessories that we could find, and then Max, Chris and Steph at the dinner table tuckered out from a hard days play. Like the couches?
And, beacuse I couldn't possible NOT write about it, on Monday, Max and I had monkey chow duty(always entertaining). Unfortunately he got a little too close to the cage and one of the macaques made a grab and stole his hat! We thought he would just chew it up, but he proceeded to put it on and parade around the cage. Funniest damn thing I've seen. These monkeys are tricksy I tell you!
Today everything was back to normal, up at 6:30 and all that. I did swim around the gibbon islands a bit- you have to stay about 8 or so feet away from the islands or they will jump on you, which can't be fun...they don't swim and would probably alternate between attacking and trying to use you as a flotation device. Greeaaaat. Oh- the last pic is of Bong, yes Bong, laying about in his hammock. So human! Ok, more news from the jungle in a few days!

Beast of Burden

HI! Another awesome day here in our little middle of nowhere wildlife haven...
After finishing the bears this morning we cleaned the tiger pool-- we do one pool a day so everyone gets done once a week. But today, Mieow was being quite a pain in the ass- he would NOT get into his enclosure, in fact he wouldn't even get out of the pool for 45 minutes. Very annoying but also kind of funny. Every toy(branch, tire, rope) they used to try and lure him out he eventually got a hold of and took into the pool with him. Eventually got the kitty locked up though. :)
Me and a girl named Camille had enrichments today after lunch, which is also something each animal gets once a week. The idea is to figure out something to make their lives locked up more interesting- we do everything from cutting down ant nests for the bears to freezing coconut milk with things inside for the monkeys. Today we had the hornbill, the pigs, the tiger, the mongoose, the croc and the iguana(totally out of place by the way- he's from the south american pet trade). So, most of our enrichments failed- the croc("dundee") barely even woke up when we had fish dangling right above him. But we found some bamboo halves and stuffed it with cat food to give to the mongeese and it was a total hit! Only one mongoose("monty") actually lives here but there is a tunnel leading out of the cage and he's got a wild wife and kids ;) so we feed them too. Monty is way too tame to leave his lovely hotel.
SOOO, the best part of today, hence the title, is I GOT TO SWIM WITH AN ELEPHANT!! I know they are big and scary(and heavy, thank you matt for pointing that out) but these are pretty tame and they listen to their mahouts pretty well. So we hitched a ride when they were on the way to the lake- I walked through the forest and then down into the water on one, where they completely submerge themselves! It's a totally weird feeling but also really really cool. I'd reccommend it to anyone. Ok, I've written enough for today- gotta get to the store before I'm due back at the center for dinner. Lata!

Caves and wild macaques!

Hi there- writing from Cha-am after a long and interesting day! Cha-am is kind of a sleepy beach town thats a whole lot smaller/nicer/cleaner than Hua Hin. We got here this morning, had some english breakfast, then took a bus up to Phetchburi to see the cave temples at Khao Luang. Very quickly discovered that about ten people in all of Phetchburi actually speak english, which made things a little more interesting! So after paying 3 baht to pee in a hole in the ground, we hopped on a motorbike taxi in hopes that he actually understood where we wanted to go. About five minutes before we got to the temple, we started seeing wild macaques all around us(in the outskirts of the city). They were in the road, on basketball courts, walking on telephone wires, basically all over. And as we got closer to the temple there were just more and more and more- it was so surreal! They all looked healthy and wonderful and the group that we saw at the temple was probably 100-150 macaques from babies to old geezers. Wish I got some better pics but at least you can see how many there were. Amazing. And this was before we even walked down into the temple. It had 300 buddhas in it and was a couple centuries old. Also amazing. AND we were also the only people there(with our guide) so it was completely quiet and wonderful. yay.
We wandered a bit around Phetchburi after that, which was cool because its the first place I've been that CLEARLY was not structured around tourists(except our little village). We couldn't even find a place for a sit down lunch- it was all open food markets(full of godknowswhat) and little shops of everyday things. So we got back on a random bus back to Cha-am, and now here at the internet place. Its been a very good day off- we're going to get dinner now and then headed back to the center.
Did I mention the monkeys were cool?

Hua Hin en masse

So, the elephant trip got cancelled. Not the worst thing in the world because the original plan was for us all to go to Hua Hin for the evening to send off two volunteers who have been here for eight weeks. Then Edwin planned the trip right at the same time, then got sick, so no trip. I REALLY hope it gets rescheduled for sometime in the next two weeks, because a lot of us were looking forward to going. Aaaaanyway, we had a great time on our night excursion. I finally bought some stuff at the night market, and then we met up again at the same bar for pool, darts, and general shenanigans. Even in the bars people come up to you about every three minutes trying to sell you things, and it takes several times saying no to get them to leave you be. Plus both times I have gone there was this little boy(maybe 8?) selling flowers until about 1am when the bar closed. Kind of sad. So we got home at 3am and all got up at 6 to start work today. whew! Have a real day off tomorrow- going to take a taxi to Cha-am, bus to Phetchburi, then another taxi to the cave temple. Should be cool, although I'll need to make another CD tonight because my memory card is full. Again. :) We have been compiling all of our pictures one guys computer so that we can all take home the best shots of everything we've done, so I'll have lots of wonderful animal pictures when I get back. Not a lot of new pix- I've been taking a lot of videos and for now have given up on getting them on this blog. The macaque is "bandit", a little baby that was born with only one arm and no legs. It is amazing how well he moves around his cage!(sorry, can't get the picture right side up...) Then there is a picture of Nin the gibbon sitting at the bottom of her cage. When they lay down in their caegs they tend to look like a pile of arms sometimes...
And then I added one of us working a bit- we had just finished washing and cutting up all the fruit for the bears and were carting it off to the enclosures to feed. Sorry I'm not in any of these pics- thats why we're sharing all our pictures I suppose.
Can't believe I've already been here over two weeks!

Festival of Lights

Hey all- feeling much better! I hated being sick here- basically just slept between all of my jobs. On saturday night I nursed my belly with some really good european food and watched a bunch of videos made about the center and the wildlife trade, including a special done by Animal Planet a few years back. Got to see what a lot of the animals that we have here now looked like when they were first rescued. Most of them looked very different before they got healthy- it was cool to see the difference you can make. I'm going to try to get Edwin to burn me a DVD of everything so I can bring it home to show you all.

Last night was the Loi Kratong festival in this little village that we spend two hours an evening in. The name of the festival, loosely translated, means "floating flower thing". :) The Thai ladies who work at the center helped some of us build them and then at the end of the night we let them go in the river. Very beautiful. In the village we saw the real floats, which they judged in a contest. I included a picture of one of them, and keep in mind that they are made entirely of bamboo, folded banana leaves, flowers and fruit. Unbelievably intricate. So it was a fun night- I also added a pic of ten of us piled into the back of Edwins van on the way back...drinking the one dollar 40s that we love so much. The pancake lady was at the festival and I finally snapped a shot of her- notice the vat of oil and butter that comprise about 50% of the lovely pancake taste! Oh and yeah, the Wildlife Center people were the ONLY non-Thai at the festival. good times!

Tomorrow some of us are supposed to be going with Edwin into one of the National Forests to see if we can find some wild elephants- I'm really excited about it- they've actually seen them the last two trips! There is so much to see here- I could probably stay a year and not do everything I want! More soon...

Ugggh.

Just a quick post to keep the faithful satiated...
I've been a little under the weather the last few days- I suppose its bound to happen eventually but I'm just trying to sleep it out. Though tonight is "european night" for food, and i don't think i can resist that deliciousness. Next day off is next thurs, right now we're planning on being touristy and checking out this cave temple about an hour north of here- a little complicated to get to, but hopefully we'll still go. And everyone is going in to Hua Hin again on tues night- so I'll be able to hit up the night market then and do a little shopping. I'll get pix this time- its a very hectic place at night. From the last blog, yes the water did come back on, but went out again the next morning for the whole day. I DID get a shower before bed, thank god. SO not much to report except yuck, my belly hurts, but I promise more soon. Also I forgot my camera battery at the center, so no new pix... :( Miss you guys!

Retic!!!

I got to see my first animal drop last night! After dinner a van drove up and dropped off a cage with a 15 foot reticulated python in it! They caught it inside a telephone company office and brought it in because it's head was bleeding and they didn't know what else to do with it. The vet fixed it up(minor problem) and they will release it tonight or tomorrow morning. Very cool - I've never seen one before but they are one of the meanest and most dangerous pythons out there. The guy on the left is Edwin, the one who started and who runs the Wildlife Center.
A whole bunch of new volunteers have arrived yesterday and today- I think that I'm expected to start training them soon- I don't even know what I'M doing half the time. It'll be good though. My new roommate is French and speaks very little english-I think that will be interesting/good for me. It has been an weird day here at the center- the water/electricity shut off this morning at about 9am, and has yet to come back on(it's about 5pm). Theres only water in the quarantine area, so we've been carting it all over the place to wash the animal food, clean the cages and bowls, etc. And obviously no one has been able to shower or wash their hands all day. Fun. Hopefully by tonight beacuse I've just had my sheets washed(can only do it once a week) and I'd rather not get into them smelling like this(cleaned the bear pool again today). Ok, I've missed most of dinner the past few times I've posted b/c these computers are SLOW, so I'm out. Love and miss you all!