A note to tourists

Yes, he's beautiful.
Yes, he makes a great photo op.
However, he comes attached to pointy bits. Which he sharpens regularly.
And he's aggressive because it's mating season.
So please, please, don't walk right up to him with your bloody phone out.
Thank you.

London zoo, one Tuesday in June

You lookin' at me? You must be lookin' at me.... I'm the only one here 

I'm guessing camouflage isn't a big part of his life....

Southern tamandua, snuffling for grubs

Small monkey having his lunch

Kill it! Kill it with fire!

I'll be seeing these in my nightmares tonight

A two headed lizard! With two tails! And eight feet, and.... oh.

It's called an axolotl. No, I don't know why it exists either.

All taken at the ZSL London zoo.

Berlin zoo

Do you remember when throwing grass clippings in the air made you this happy?

Leopard close-up, heavily photoshopped

I think he's looking at me

Taveta Golden Weaver

Orangutan eating a carrot

It's been a long time since I posted.

Partly laziness, but mostly due to an unfortunate "spillage" incident which wiped out my laptop.

In apology for my quietness the past weeks, please enjoy this picture of a dolphin.

The birds of Hong Kong Park

Space is at a premium in Hong Kong.

There's no room to build out, sandwiched between the hillside and the sea of Hong Kong Island, so everyone builds up. People live in high-rise apartment buildings, and work in high-rise offices. Even the public transport is tall and skinny (the narrow double decker trams that dash from one end of the island to the other).

With so little space available, every inch space to breathe is precious.

That's why I love Hong Kong Park, and especially the walk-in Edward Youde Aviary. Visitors meander along wooden walkways set 10m above the ground, with a bird's eye view over the forest... and the 90 species of bird that live in the aviary.

It's truly wonderful.

Red lory

Silver-eared mesia

Cute as a button Java sparrow

Singapore zoo

Anyone who's been reading this blog will have noticed by now that I love looking at and photographing animals. But like many people I worry about animal welfare issues, which is why I loved Singapore zoo.

Baby cotton-topped tamarind

The open-concept zoo means almost no cages. Animals are kept away from humans and other species by a series of moats and tree lines, and judging by the number of babies visible during my visit, the animals are well-looked after and content.

Flying fox having his lunch

The zoo is easy to reach from the centre. On public transport you've got two options: either take the MRT to Ang Mo Kio station (or Choa Chu Kang station), and grab a bus from there. Or you can take the slightly-more-expensive but more direct "tourist" bus that picks up along Orchard road (stops are at some of the big hotels), and goes all the way to the zoo from there.

One pissed-off lemur (a sloth had just stolen his perch)

You can get more information on the zoo's animal welfare policies, plus detailed transport information on their website: http://www.zoo.com.sg/

Baby probosis monkey

My new furry crushes

KL zoo

An almost perfect day: Cameron Highlands

The Cameron Highlands are one of those onion areas - you have to peel back the ugly, visible layers to find the gorgeousness underneath.

The main towns and roadsides are filled with tacky touristy shops, restaurants, and billboards, all chasing every last tourist dollar.

Get off the main roads and hike out into the hills and valleys, and you're in another world. Deep green, undulating fields of tea as far as the eye can see. The drone of insects and the rustle of the wind in the bamboo that grows along the roadside verge. Finally, I understand why so many people come here.

One of the highlights of this trip was the Roberson Rose Garden. It's not set up as a tourist attraction - rather it's someone's home. The Robertsons are rightly proud of their lovely garden, so they welcome visitors to have a look around. We chatted with the Malay Indian woman who helps looks after the property and family (she and her husband have worked their almost their whole lives), and fed raspberries to a pair of adorable puppies.

It was one of the nicest afternoons I've spent in a very long time.

Things take a turn for the worse: Taiping

Well, it had to happen sooner or later.

I met the first shitbag of the trip today. I'm in Taiping, a fairly small town without a lot of draw for Western tourists, and one of the locals has just given me wrong directions on purpose, just so he could laugh at me.

Nice.

Taiping is known for the 3pm drenching - the rain that hits the town every day (or almost) in mid afternoon. It hit as I wandered around the small zoo, next to the Lake Gardens. Most of the animals looked as disgusted with the rain as I felt.

Except this guy.

Off the banana pancake trail

I've previously written about the few days I spent in Prachuap Khiri Khan over Christmas, so in place of another article, please enjoy this picture of a monkey:

Call me Mr Bombastic: Ayuthaya

Ayuthaya is bigger than it looks on the map in the Lonely Planet, so renting a bike would be a good move.

I see you

Don't rent the one I did, though: the brakes were wonky and after three hours of cycling the chain fell off and couldn't be reattached without a screwdriver (which I didn't have). The funnest bit was that, when the chain fell off and I lost control, I was unable to stop easily because of the wonky brakes and instead toppled over sideways in slow motion.

Luckily I was on a quiet country road miles from anywhere, so there was no traffic to fall in front off and I didn't even get a bruise. Annoyingly, as I couldn't repair it, I had to walk the bike a long way back to a main road in the midday heat.

And it is hot here. I've bathed 4 times today (3 full showers and one go-over with a wet-one) and I still feel sweaty and smelly.

Nice ruins, though, and the "festival of history" is on. There's a great night market selling fantastic food - barbecued bacon skewers, stuffed omelets, ice cream topped with corn kernels, ground rice, and bean paste.

The festival also hosts a "sound and light spectacular" as they are calling it -  a rather bombastic recreation of major historical battles, complete with charging elephants and traditional dancers.

Holy crap! A white elephant!

You put your left foot in....

  

Walking with elephants

A cheap local bus out of Lampang passes by the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre. It's a third class service, so an ancient bus with rust holes in the side panels, torn seats leaking foam, and the front door was tied open with a length of old rope. No seatbelts, of course.

I spent the first 5 minutes of the journey plotting my escape route and how I could best wedge myself in to prevent being thrown out if were unlucky enough to roll. Luckily, the shuddering old beast seemed incapable of going faster than 50kph.

Most visitors to the conservation centre come for the elephant show; a dozen animals and their handlers (known as Mahouts) demonstrate traditional elephant work (lifting huge logs) as well as elephant party tricks (hula-hooping and painting). The audiences clap appreciatively, and after the show line up to feed lengths of sugar cane to the animals.

I was more interested in the field hospital, where they provide care for injured, sick, or just old and abandoned elephants from all over Thailand.

At the end of my visit, I took a ride through the jungle on a bull called Sarai; it's a rather bumpy mode of transport, and you have to hang on like the blazes when he goes down a steep hill, to prevent sliding off. I loved it. Plus as all the proceeds go to support the hospital, you don't feel like you're exploiting these massive beasts.

They take photos of all the elephant rides to try and flog you the images. Normally this practice annoys me, but this time I bought a photo of Serai and myself to send to my mum as a present; the Centre presented it in a bright blue frame made from elephant dung paper.

I don't think I should tell mum what it's made from.

Some first thoughts on Thailand

Here:

1) Motorbikes are family cars. Dad driving, mum sitting behind him, one or two children squeezed in between dad and the handlebars, or somehow sandwiched between mum and dad.

2) You still see plenty of the clichéd 50-year-old-white-guy-with-22-year-old-Thai-woman on his arm. I suppose it could be true love, and I'm just a cynic....

3) Bananas taste amazing when wrapped in thin pastry or a crepe-like flatbread, fried, and drizzled with condensed milk. Yes, I know it's a clichéd tourist food, but seriously! They're delicious!

Today I visited the Chiang Mai zoo. They let the visitors feed a lot of the animals, so they come right up close to you in hope of lunch.

I'm always a little nervous about visiting zoos - I love seeing animals and having the chance to photograph them, but I'm slightly leery about how the animals will be treated. This one seemed ok, for the most part. The ostriches looked a little stressed, but many of the animals seemed in good condition.

Today was also my first experience of an Asian breakfast (as opposed to the fruit-yogurt-and-bread breakfasts I've been having so far): a bowl of rice, with a friend egg on top. Better than I was expecting, to be honest (although I don't think I'm going to be giving up toast any time soon).