søndag 19. juni 2011

Still here..

Friday's blog;

So, some updates since last time.

I got my computer fixed, thanks to Bird. I have no idea what he did, but it was obviosly something right. Allthough that is no longer a problem, the internet here at the temple can be a little on and off and so it's hard to actually plan to update the blog.

And in other news.. I guess it was about a week ago I got a nice little bite on my lower arm from a little girl called Sang Rowie. She didn't really want to go to breakfast, and she told me by nibbling me. No biggie though, it's almost gone allready.

The past week we've also been taking our group of about 10 tigers out to play several times in the hour before lunch. They get to run around freely, play with each other, with us and with whatever else they can find in the enclosures. They are LOVING it! Most days the babies from last year; Lucky III, Happy, Money and Vayo also get to go out and play, sometimes with some of the older tigers, like Saifa, Nit Noy or Lucky II. A lot of fun seeing them all run around like crazy!

Other than that it's been pretty quiet here. I'm having some trouble sleeping at the moment, because I keep getting too cold at night. Tonight I'm planning on bringing an extra blanket, cause I'm way to lazy to get up and out from my mosquitonet to turn the fan off.

Tomorrow we're going out for dinner, which I'm really looking forward to. Most days dinner is a couple of pieces of toast with peanut butter or nutella, and some real food is going to be just perfect!

I was going to put some pictures in this blog, but because of the slightly moody internet connection that will have to wait for next time.

Still here..

So, some update since last time.

I got my computer fixed, thanks to Bird. I have no idea what he did, but it was obviosly something right. Allthough that is no longer a problem, the internet here at the temple can be a little on and off and so it's hard to actually plan to update the blog.

And in other news.. I guess it was about a week ago I got a nice little bite on my lower arm from a little girl called Sang Rowie. She didn't really want to go to breakfast, and she told me by nibbling me. No biggie though, it's almost gone allready.

The past week we've also been taking our group of about 10 tigers out to play several times in the hour before lunch. They get to run around freely, play with each other, with us and with whatever else they can find in the enclosures. They are LOVING it! Most days the babies from last year; Lucky III, Happy, Money and Vayo also get to go out and play, sometimes with some of the older tigers, like Saifa, Nit Noy or Lucky II. A lot of fun seeing them all run around like crazy!

Other than that it's been pretty quiet here. I'm having some trouble sleeping at the moment, because I keep getting too cold at night. Tonight I'm planning on bringing an extra blanket, cause I'm way to lazy to get up and out from my mosquitonet to turn the fan off.

Tomorrow we're going out for dinner, which I'm really looking forward to. Most days dinner is a couple of pieces of toast with peanut butter or nutella, and some real food is going to be just perfect!

I was going to put some pictures in this blog, but because of the slightly moody internet connection that will have to wait for next time.

mandag 6. juni 2011

Dead computer....

And on my third day here no less!

Well, I guess this is a chance for me to learn how to live without it for a little bit. A lesson I'm not too keen on learning to tell you the truth.

Anyhow. Today is my day off, and I'm currently in Kanchanaburi where I'm enjoying different kinds of food (like chicken wings, mmmm), a nice bed and a shower that works properly. The only thing missing down here is the tigers really. And for my next day off there is a good chance I'll just stay at the temple and play tourist for the day. Get some tiger time, some good photos and just enjoy.

Up to now the experience of the tiger temple has been pretty much the same as last year, the biggest difference being some new people. And they all seem like nice people so all the better.

The cubs we walk to the sala this year are 4-6 months, while last year we had 2 month olds. These guys are a little bit more action, a little easier to walk and of course a little bigger. And I'm enjoying it alot!!

The tourists are mostly the same as last year as well. A lot of nice people, some stupid people and some people who never should have been there in the first place. But it's their choice I guess, so I'll just try to focus on the nice ones.

This blog will probably be updated whenever I have internet access, which might be at random times from now on. Fingers crossed for getting the computer to work again!

fredag 3. juni 2011

The night it rained....

So at 6.15 this evening we were al starting to think that we might not be going to meditation tonight, due to some unusually heavy rain. About fem minutes later we had that pretty solidly confirmed as the girls house started to flood.

No kidding.

The water had allready fillet the lowered part of the floor in front of the bathrooms, and started to run over the edge onto the floor of the commonroom. Fast. And from the commonroom..? Into our bedrooms of course!

I did go up to the boys house to see if I could find another squiggy, and ended up wading through water up to my knees. I had to hold on to the railing as I climed the stairs, the flow was so strong! And for this effort I didn't even get a squiggy-thingy...

So, with one squiggy-thingy, two brooms and eight hands we started trying to divert the water from our bedrooms an onto the other side of the kuti so that it could flow out. Now, almost three hours later, we're finally ready to go to bed! Our backpacks were on the floor and are of course wet on the bottom. As is pretty much everything else that we're on the floor in our room, but so far it seems that nothing is ruined.

I am now finally tucked into my mosquito net, and very ready for some well deserved sleep! Crossing my fingers for no more rain during the night....!

First day (again)

So, today was my first real day back. And it does feel like I never even left, and I LOVE it! The tigers from last year are a lot bigger of course, and I don't yet know the ones that are small now, but except from that this could just as easily have been July 2010.

The breakfast this morning consisted of rice and chili sauce, with a small bag of vegetables and pork on the side. And of course - the mandatory watermelon for dessert. The chili sauce was just as good as last year, and my stomach was just as angry at me afterwards as it was last year. At breakfast I got to spend a lot of time with a real cutie, Way Ha II. Not sure how old he is, but he is a real sweet little guy, so hoping to get to know him a little better.

My job today after breakfast was cleaning behind the cages. All though it's kinda messy and smelly, I actually quite like it. It gives you a lot of face time with the bigger tigers, which I definetly need after being away for so long. Hard to remember names as faces!

I spent enrichment watching some of the bigger tigers playing outside (among others, Happy and Money from "our" babies last year), and then cuddling the month olds before having some lunch at noodle town.

This afternoon was also my first time back in the canyon, and even though crowd control can be a bitch I loved it! It is soo good to be back.

Right now it's about 5.30pm, which means I've allready had a shower, changed into clean clothes and just waiting for it to be time to go to meditation. Last night me and Tine didn't have to do meditation because of all the organizing and unpacking we had to do, so that will be another seconds first today. And I'm actually looking forward to it. :)

Finishing off with some pics of our bathroom/shower. Enjoy!

torsdag 2. juni 2011

Getting there

So... Finally, we're here! It definetly took a while.

First, I had to finish my exam of course. Forty-something questions about marine ecology - not fun, but I did finish it. And had time left over to say goodbye to some friends and run around like beheaded chicken at home. Good for me!

I allmost fell asleep on the bus to the airport, and pretty much died of boredom when I finally got there. As always, I had around two hours of waiting before I could get on my flight. I need to learn about getting there just in time some time soon....

Flight to Amsterdam was good, and the run through Schiphol wasn't too bad either. I got to the gate just as it changed from Boarding to Gate Closing, which at least meant less waiting time in this particular airport.

The flight started out pretty good, but as we got to around Afganhistan we hit an area with some awful turbulence! I do have this dream about travelling to Afganhistan, but travelling over it was definetly not that nice this time. Luckily, the plane had no problem handling this turbulence - like always - and I got to Bangkok with time to spare.

Afte a short wait for Tine at the airport, we finally got in a taxi headed for Kanchanaburi. Both of us pretty tired, so we ended up falling asleep on the way. Finding a room at the Jolly Frog was no problem, and we even got one with AC. Luxury! Exept from getting a room, we spent our nuight in Kanchan by doing some shopping at Tesco, getting some food at One More Bar and a peeerfectly relaxing foot massage at one of the massage places.

Which brings us to today. We got up around 7 am, headed out for some breakfast, phone cards and other neccecities. We also booked a ride to the temple - which ended up being a scooter with a side cart. That was definetly an interesting ride - approximately an hour in this little cart, with two huge backpacks, two small ones, a matress and a variety of other small bags. But again - we did get here, and so did all our stuff!

And now I'm done with another first day at the temple, and I'm allready enjoying it soo much! More about that later. :)