Moving on to other forms of wildlife

I haven' t posted anything in a few days and this is actually my last posting as volunteer with the wildlife...indeed, on Sunday, I start my two week stint with the elephants. Yes, elephants are wildlife too of course, but here at the centre, they are divided into WRC (Wildlife Rescue Centre) and EREC (Elephant Rescue Centre).

As I'm typing away, I'm trying to remember all the things I did in the past week. It was a week of mixture of pleasure and work. Pleasure as in I got to go to the beach with a couple of friends here from the centre. We spent a nice full day in Hua Hin, half at the beach, mostly in the water, and the other half just roaming around the night market, drinking cocktails (they are unreasonably cheap here!) and basically just relaxing. I returned from our outting with a massive sunburn which is now pealing suitably.

I must tell you all that working at the centre has been one of the more physically challenging things I have done in my recent years. We work long hours  in rather intense heat (the warm season has just begun, so it's close to 34° C every day now). Most of our work is in the sun and involves sweeping, scrubbing, climbing sometimes, pulling this, pushing that, cutting and chopping this and that (the blisters on my hands attest to all the fruit cutting), carrying heavy water buckets. All I have to do is look at a broom and I start to sweat! And I am VERY DIRTY all the time!! Along with the black and red ants, the zillions of flies and other pesty creatures, perhaps you get an inkling of what it's been like so far. So to make things clear, just in case any of you out there thought I was on a prolonged vacation, that is not so!! In fact, I've finally shed those 3 kilos I couldn't get rid of ;-)

Again, on the pleasure side, I also got to go back to the Petchavarin Resort for a much needed foot massage and lounging by the pool. And the festivities in the village (which I mentioned in a previous posting) have begun for 5 days so I've been out a couple of nights for dinner, a very simple affair here in Thailand as you can see from some of the pics below. I've sampled a lot of Thai food since getting here! All very spicy indeed which I particulary like.

As I said, Sunday, I start working with the elephants. I am really looking forward to that because the pace is much slower than the pace I've had to keep up until now and more importantly because there is so much interaction with the animals. But of course, I will tell you all about that as I go along. It feels rather strange actually to be moving on to the elephants because it means that one part of my volunteering here is already over. It's been 5 weeks already, it's gone by incredibly fast, I can hardly believe it. I have learned so much over these weeks starting from scratch and now eagerly looking forward to more volunteering in the near future. I have mixed feelings of course which will only intensify when I have to leave altogether, but the nice thing is that I have that fantastic project in South Africa to look forward to, so I think I will leave here fulfilled and looking to the future. I have enjoyed first and foremost discovering the world of the animals and learning about their plight and some of the ways I can be of help. I have enjoyed working outdoors all day in weather which suits me. I have enjoyed getting dirty (yes, even that!). I have enjoyed the fact that some of the work is completely mindless, repetitive, manual and enjoyed the fact that I have had to use my brain for alot of the work too.

There have been those magic moments when I saw Miauw walk, or when I saw the Lorises playing in their enclosures at night (they are nocturnals), or when I saw the deer run by me when I was feeding the Gibbons in 'the jungle'. I will sorely miss the Gibbons' singing which accompanies our work all day long. I have fallen in love with the bears and their funny attitudes of sleeping on their backs or running around like overgrown teddy bears...

I have not enjoyed the moment when Mami, our Siamang Gibbon, who is incredibly powerful and hates women, pulled my hair and scared me to no end because I didn't know what to do to make her let go. (I now know but it's after the fact, maybe it will serve me at another time). I have bumped my head any number of times going into or under low enclosures, I have got bit by a bear and electrocuted by the wires surrounding the bears' enclosures...and despite all that, would I do it again? Yes, in an instant....after a few days' rest:-) It is very rewarding work and I have come to the conclusion that there is no end to the misery that animals are made to endure from the hands of man, but every little bit of volunteering helps to make  a slight difference and I can only encourage all of you reading my blog to go out and do your bit, may it be with animals, children or nature....we all contribute to make world a better place.

 A baby flying squirrel was brought to the centre. As such, some of the volunteer babysit him and feed him 4 times a night, 3 AM (!) so here I am syrins feeding little Steve....

 A fish foot bath.....does it work? Not sure, really.....

 The streets and market of Hua Hin

 One of my favourites....he has the most gorgeous eyes, don't you think?

 Food House 2: food preparation for 106 primates twice a day, every day. From the board to the basket and on to feeding...

 Mocha...

 Being picked up to be taken to the resort for my foot massage:-)

 In the pool at last!

 Festivities in our village of Kao Look Chang.....

Did I mention? Thailand is great!!!  Sawadee kaaa.....