Here Comes the Sun Bear Mon 17/03 - 18/03/08 Hi-ho motherfuckers, back to work. Again, getting to the zoo on time doesn't go so well. We line up for our second, final, assembly. Prayers are said, words spoken and old school tunes played loud. Today, I'm working with Sun Bears. Jenny volunteers to help out and we meet our keeper, Jhotti, a 30-something Indian guy. Depressingly, the scenario is as it was with the big cats - many bears, only one enclosure. One family unit is released at a time, meaning at least six or seven bears have to spend their [View Full Entry]

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Short and Fat and Tall and Thin in Penang Fri 14/03 - 16/03/08 We take our seats at the rear of the coach, like all naughty school children. Amy, Jenny and Toby are drinking vodka - I'm on the beer. Compared to the cramped buses I've been used to in Asia, this is a different world. The seats are soft, comfortable and spacious, and recline right back. In order to get to Penang from the mainland, you have to cross the Penang Bridge - at 13.5km, one of the longest bridges in Asia. We settle in and get going on the [View Full Entry]

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Lions and Tigers but not Bears, Oh My! Thurs 13/03 - 14/03/08 Today, I'm away from the Great Apes, and I get to play with the big guns - the kings and queens of the jungle. Tim is still unfit for work, so Tom is standing in for him today. We begin with the usual stuff - sweeping the road clear of leaves and cleaning out the main enclosure. Then, we step inside the night dens, beginning with the lions. This is a daunting experience. The keeper opens the iron door, and we walk down a long, dark corridor. On either [View Full Entry]

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OOOO-OOOO-OOOOOO Monday 10/03 - 12/03/08 Our first day at the zoo, and we all struggle out of bed in a daze. So much for being on time. So much for being professional. Everyone leaves in dribs and drabs. I stay behind to wait for Tim, and then we move out. We are supposed to be there for assembly at 7.50am, but it's gone eight by the time we all arrive. Thankfully, everyone else seems to be running late as well, and as we get there, all the zoo keepers line up and assembly begins. First, the Malaysian flag is raised. This [View Full Entry]

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Zoo Taiping Wed 05/03 - 10/03/08 Another day, another country. Another airport. I've arrived in Kuala Lumpa for the second time, only now I'm not just passing through. It's night time, around 9pm. I get met by my transport, and driven to my accomodation, the Number 8 Guest House in central KL. Straight away, it's obvious things are different here. My retina's smoke as the bright lights of the city blaze through the darkness, and my neck strains as I look up, following the tall buildings as they reach deep into the pockets of the sky. [View Full Entry]

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The End Sat 01/03 - 05/03/08 "This is the end." Cat Ba Island, Sapa, Tam Dao, Yen Bai; they melt away and fade. We creep back through the jungle, back, on our bellies, to where it all began. Hanoi. The Youth Hotel. Reception. Trung and Ly drop us off. The mission is over, and they're heading back to HQ to make reports [View Full Entry]

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Graveyards, Toy Soldiers,Violation and the Psychopath Thurs 28/02 - 29/02/08 Craig wakes us up the next morning, bright and early. We have decided to go trekking up the hill I saw yesterday, in search of the temple, and some relief from the boredom of Cat Ba. We walk down the high street and around the lake. The main drag of Cat Ba is sandwiched between the sea and a row of steep, rocky hill tops, one of which we are now about to ascend. We look for a way up. We're in a poorer part of town, set apart from [View Full Entry]

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Oh Captain, My Captain Wed 27/02-28/02/08 Free time. Too much free time. Ca Ba Island is a graveyard - off season, out of action, waiting around for the summer to come. The day starts with more internet frustration - two minutes, and I've had enough. I leave the guys, and go for a wander around the streets. The main strip is just one long road. I get to the end, and around the corner where the street curls back on itself, heading away from hotels and bars and towards the local's end of town. I do some scout [View Full Entry]

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Cat-Man F*cking-Do Sun 24/02-26/02/08 All aboard, back to Yen Bai. Last night, I managed to get as drunk as I've been for several years. I drank 8 or 9 beers, 5 or 6 whiskey's, at least 7 tequila's and shared two bottles of Hanoi vodka, and yet there was no vomiting, and no hang-over to speak of; no consequences, no lesson learned. Just keep on trucking. We take a public bus from Hanoi back to Yen Bai. The guy on the bus is a fucking dick - he tries to rip us off, charging us 100,000 instead of 60 [View Full Entry]

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Messing About in Boats Sat 23/02-Sun 24/02/08 *please note, due to heavy alcohol consumption at the time of events described below, parts of this account my be vague and unclear, and may differ widely from the recollection of others. We stumble into the Youth Hotel in the early hours of the morning. We need a room, and after a bit of messing around, we get a three bed for the boys, and a twin for Zoe and Marianne. We go straight to bed. The train journey from Sapa was not pleasant. My body is weak and tir [View Full Entry]

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