At last, we return to Elephant Nature Park tomorrow. Pending pachyderm pandemonium. Heh heh. If the Wifi works on our gagdets, you’ll hear from us. If not, toodle pip and we’ll catch you all in a couple of weeks. Ta ta for now. 🙂
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Category Archives: Travel
Ravings on places I’ve travelled to.
Thailand 2013 (1) – Volcanoes, Icicles and No Camels and Welcome to Your Asian Experience.
The volcano we flew over.
Hi all. As you can see, we made it to Thailand safely and are still alive and kicking so far.
 We got to Auckland Airport with plenty of time to spare, and managed to get the Malayasian Airlines staff to accept our slightly overweight luggage at check in – we have our wonderful donors to thank for that: Whangamata Library who donated books for Cambodian kids, Whangamata Vet Hospital who donated syringes, gloves, IV lines, etc, for the Elephant Nature Park clinic, and Sunny’s, Whangamata who gave us coloured pencils and half a carton of kids t-shirts, also for kids that are less fortunate than us. Awesome people, bless their lovely hearts for that! Peter modified a large plastic toolbox to use as a suitcase, which gave the check-in staff cause to wonder if he was transporting tools, but it was more along the lines of a good hard shell, somewhere to sit while waiting in line after line, as you do when travelling, and also a rather marvellous vehicle for scooting around the large international airports. We can duly report that this worked very well, as well as amusing airport staff. We try to be adult, but it doesn’t always work out that way…Â
Wahhh! We’re Lost in a Giant Airport!
Lost in Kuala Lumpur airport. It’s huge and scary and it’s past our bedtime.
Thailand and Cambodia 2013. Or, Travel Anxiety – Am I Normal?!
One more sleep then we’re off to Thailand. I’ve found I’ve been somewhat anxious over the last week or two. This is what I’ve been doing:
- Packed my suitcase, repacked it 15 times minimum – and that was only in my sleep.
- Checked my passport and ticket. Checked again in case they have disappeared since last time I looked.
- Checked that Malaysian Airlines still exists and hasn’t gone bust and sold off all their airplanes while I wasn’t looking.
- Checked that I have the day right for our flights and don’t turn up at the airport to hear ‘I’m sorry Madam, your plane left yesterday’.
- Sent copies of my itinerary, travel insurance, passport and other documents to multiple members of my family in case of attacks by rampant snakes or being sat upon by a absent-minded pachyderm.
A New Baby at Elephant Nature Park – The Aunties are in Fits!
A new baby was born at the park yesterday. Have a look at this video and check out the excitement of the aunties. This is the third baby born here in the last few months – they’re absolutely beside themselves!!
Video of the new baby
Try having one of these very close to your own…
A Big Thank You for Donating to the Elephant Nature Park Projects
A Big Thank You to these business in our lil’ town in New Zealand:
Whangamata Veterinary Hospital for their kind donations of supplies for us to take to Elephant Nature Park for their animals.
Sunny’s, Whangamata, for their donations of pencils and T-shirts for us to take to the free school for Cambodian kids that ENP is developing at the Cambodia Wildlife Sanctuary.
And Whangamata Library for donating books for the kids also.
Big smiles and thanks to all of you – I know this stuff is going to be really appreciated at the other end. 🙂
Mong Dee keeps bananas at the ready while Sao Yai bathes in ecstacy…
Lizard Queen of Navarac – (Contains Lizards).
Tiny house living has its idiosyncracys. Such as being stuck inside a small space during very bad weather. A couple of winters back I had the dubious pleasure of experiencing this while it rained for two weeks solid. After several days I got to wondering if I should tie 44 gallon drums around the outside of my wee home, while nursing visions of it lifting from the ground and gently drifting out to sea.
A bottle of wine or two combined with over a week of solitude, and three nights later, I had written a poem/saga encompassing the visions that flashed through my head. It contains lizards because I’m great fan of them and somehow a collection of lizards ornaments and doodads has grown around me over the years. Funny what happens in a 17ft-long tiny house when the rain and the wine do flow…
Never had the lizards seen a sighting like the Lizard Queen, leading from the towbar thus…
Tokay Gecko in the Kitchen and the Two-Headed Cambodian Taxi Driver
In the evening after my last email, I got a lesson on making Cambodian fried rice in the kitchen out the back, from one of the lads – ‘Destiny’ he calls himself. Not long after we started cooking, a Tokay gecko started up. Much to my frustration, I couldn’t find him to photograph him. He sounded like a big one too. So noisy yet so hard to find. As I was taking my generous pile of fried rice up to our room, the manager walked by. ‘Goodnight’ I said. ‘I am drunk – goodnight.’ said he. He’d been at a wedding all day…Cambodia – Points of Interest
A great way to travel…
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Many people are happy to eat dog here but some are fussy about eating cat. Go figure.
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The roads are very potholed and full and puddles and hard to walk down. There are some footpaths but often there are cars parked all over them.
Fat Frogs and the Temple of Doom
The Side Walk Never Die Hotel is rather a nice place.
Siem Reap, Cambodia
It’s about 3 stories high with lots of columns and plants, is painted a sort of pinkish-strongish-marone colour and has a fantastic ornate teak ceiling on the inside of the lobby. It’s very spacious with lots of glass, the rooms are big and pleasant and the staff are really friendly. A nice oasis from the water-laden, pothole-strewn mess outside.
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