We arrived in Thailand caked in dust and mud, with Robin half blind. The Thai border post was the smartest building we had seen in ages, covered in portraits of the Thai King and the Red, White and Blue flag. We would soon learn these are omnipresent. Everything was just so much cleaner and tidier than Cambodia, something we felt highly conscious of as we stood stinking and covered mud in a queue of smart, clean, and perfumed backpackers to clear immigration. Our bikes looked little better than us and about 2km into the country Erika's chain broke in protest. We [View Full Entry]

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Well, as you may remember, I had my backpack taken along with all of my precious photo's. You may also remember that some 3 months ago, when I first arrived at Kaeng Krachan, I was invited to the local schools end of term celebrations & prize giving evening. Well....... the headmaster there had asked me if he could copy the pictures from my camera so that he could use some of them for teaching. So Bill phoned him & he said that he still had some on his PC. OK it's only a small part of what I lost, but some [View Full Entry]

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You may remember my previous visit to this remote Karien Village on the border of Mynamar (Burma). Last time, I was only there for a few hours. This time I had permission to stay for 5 days, in order to find out more about what is needed here, & to write up a volunteer specification for future volunteers. I also had the chance to get involved with a lesson at the local school. The WWF are working with the local population to educate them about conservation. There is a big problem here as they slash & burn the rain forest to [View Full Entry]

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Ok...... It's a while since I added an entry to my blog, so this is my catch up with lots of pictures. It's now less than a week untill I return home to the UK. [View Full Entry]

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We got up early today after sampling Tongbai's herbal whisky last night. It's market day in 1 of the local villages. Have a look at the pictures & soak up the atomosphere. [View Full Entry]

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OK! Now you can see some of the things that I have been up to this week! [View Full Entry]

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Yesterday I returned to the WWF office to start where I finished up last time. There are 2 new members of staff here, Pom & Bill. They will be a big asset to the great work carried out here by the WWF Team. The plan for this week is to go to Pala-u to work with the WCS (World Conservation Society) to look at the man Elephant conflict there; (2 weeks ago the Elephants raided the villagers pineapple crops). My main objectives here are to draw up a specification for future volunteers here, and to see all aspects of the conflict [View Full Entry]

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I arrived back in Kaeng Krachan National park late last night to finish off my volunteer work here. Since seeing Sharon off at the airport on Sunday, I have had my back pack & all contents taken - A taxi driver drove off with them in the boot! I'm not sure if this was intentional or not, but the upshot is that I am not very likely to see it again. Everythig has gone including my Laptop Computor. I've managed to put some basic kit together to allow me to finish off my trip, but it will make things a lot [View Full Entry]

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I have just returned from a 2 day expedition, deep into the rain forest, which proved to be both exiting & very frightening! [View Full Entry]

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Today I was stopped by the police….. again, for not wearing a crash helmet. There were 6 of them, so I though that I was in for a rough time. The conversation went like this…….. “Hello Sir, you must wear a crash helmet”. “Ok, no problem, I will put it on now”. (Thinking - S**t, there are 6 of them standing around me, they will throw the book at me for sure). "Where are you staying?" "I am staying at Kaeng Krachan National Park Headquarters." "What do you do there?" "I am a volunteer, teaching English." "Who do you teach?" "The [View Full Entry]

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