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Published: December 9th 2007
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crane-like birds
wish i could remember what they're called..... but they're very pretty! hmmm, still in phnom penh.
i've been a bit discouraged about writing, particularly as i haven't done anything of interest (with one notable example). mainly i've been getting angry about prices of flights to various places in the asia pacific. i was thinking about exploring cambodia for a while and then flying from phnom penh back to kunming, in china, but at roughly $400 AU it's a bit out of my price range! so i've been looking into other options.
the best option at the moment seems to be to travel here for another week, and then fly to hanoi, in vietnam, perhaps meet my friend lane there for a day or two, and have a look around in the north before making my way across the border into china. it seems to be the most painless way to get there, as well as quite probably the least expensive. and i did originally want to see vietnam. so.
ok, now that that's out of the way.......
two days ago, i got myself together and out of bed, and at 10am was sitting in the back of a jeep with four other aussie women, on the way to
check out the wild aid wildlife centre. i'd been assured a "close encounter with seven tigers", and that i could "play with the elephants". generally i'm not so into that kind of thing, but because i was waiting for my visa application to come through, i was stuck here til tuesday and needed to fill in a day.
our guide, barb, (another aussie, who also runs the lazy gecko cafe here in boeng kak, the lakeside district where i and nearly every other backpacker in town, is staying), was really great; very down-to-earth and seemed really interested in all the animals. she took us first through the bird areas, where we saw all sorts of rare birds, some like storks or cranes, some with iridescent blue plumage, all very lovely and amazing. we looked at some of the smaller mammals too, such as squirrels and a mongoose. we saw a binturong (bear cat) poking its head out of a blue chemical drum (similar to those used by junkadelic).
a bit further on were the deer, most of whom were walking about freely in the park. at this time of year, the males are getting ready to lose the
bloodflow to their antlers, which means they will start fighting the other males for a mate, and eventually lose the antlers, which grow back. we were warned to stay away from the males for the most part (although they were very curious and came right up to us), but that it was quite ok to pat the females.
we also had a look at some crocodiles, which are really amazing creatures. saw some scary reptilian eyes poking out of the pond. we walked around to the other side to watch one sunning itself, and looking barely alive except for a slight movement of its chest, and looked over to see that the guy in the pond had followed us over. he was just floating there, like a log, watching us, and i was really glad that there was a fence between us, even if these siamese crocs were meant to be the least aggressive in the world.
we met some gibbons, too, one of whom had a tiny newborn baby clinging to her, and a very protective and naughty husband ready to grab anyone who came too close.
after this, it was time for lunch (with a special vegan
crocodile in the sun
the camera kept focussing on the wire, but if you look carefully, there he is! meal prepared for me, i happily noted), a shot of "muscle wine" (which barb insisted was so that the elephants would recognise us) - made from ginseng and smelling like cough medicine - and then we got to try the betel nut. there was a large green leaf, smeared with bright pink paste (nobody was exactly sure what was in it), and the betel nut itself. this is wrapped up in a little bundle which you put in your mouth and chew. and chew. but don't swallow! pretty soon we were all spitting out lots of scarlet spit, as the betel nut makes you produce a lot of saliva. you chew the little package until it's in a sort of paste, and then tuck it into a corner of your mouth and chew occasionally. it makes your gums a little numb. after fifteen minutes or so you're supposed to get a bit of a high from it, but i don't think we really felt the effects. we had to spit it out after about 12 minutes because it was time to see the elephants. betel nut is traditionally chewed by old women in cambodia, as well as many other southeast
angry peacock
it kept trying to peck us through the wire! asian cultures (and china too). it stains the teeth red, but chewing the nut strengthens them. ironically, it also rots the gums, and is highly addictive - it's the 4th most used drug in the world, all of which are legal (caffeine, nicotine and alcohol all come in before it, but it's up there!).
we met the elephants. being asian elephants, they were smaller than african elephants, but still bloody huge. there are three of them that are taken out to play with guests, with the leader (and youngest) of the group being called lucky. i can't remember the names of the other two. they were all very friendly, and constantly shoving their trunks in our faces for kisses. we learnt how to kiss an elephant - take its trunk in both hands, and blow into it. if you do it really well, you'll get a kiss back. after some frolicing in the lake, the elephants stormed off to wait for us later. we were off to see the leopards, tigers and bears.
i think this was my favourite part. the elephants were very friendly and affectionate, but i really loved the tigers. we had a look at
owl, looking startled
i don't think it liked my flash the leopards first. the two young males were mounting each other out of sexual frustration, which was a shame for them i guess, as their father turned away in disgust.
we got to go right into the tiger enclosure. there was a bare two metres between us and the tigers in their cages, it was incredible. some were pacing and some were tearing into huge bones and slabs of meat. the two up the end got quite upset and started roaring and hissing when we got near them, but the ones nearer the entrance seemed happy enough. one was making a weird rumbly growl in his throat, which barb explained was a "happy tiger sound". they were amazing, huge beautiful creatures. one of them nearly sprayed on me, but luckily i wasn't close enough to get hit. we left pretty soon afterwards.
i'd been looking forward to seeing the bears, but actually, there wasn't much to see. the sun bears were off hiding away, and the only bear that got close was called brandy, who i think was a golden bear...? i took in so many facts that day it's hard to remember.
later, we met the elephants again.
lucky gave us a demonstration of her skills in painting and dancing, and we met baby elephant chhouk, whose front foot was severed in a snare, but who seemed quite friendly, and very happy to be fed bananas. after a while, we were told to say our last goodbyes to the elephants, as it was time to go home. much elephant snot was distributed, trunks were waved hopefully, but finally we couldn't give any more kisses, and piled back into the jeep with goodbyes and thank yous to the staff and animals.
we all had some dinner at the lazy gecko and exchanged blog addresses (girls, if you're reading this, i had a look at your blog and it's pretty cool. nicer page layout than mine!), then went our separate ways. what a great day.
so, apart from that i've been faffing around phnom penh in an aimless fashion, cursing over exorbitant airfares and wondering what the hell i'm doing with myself. there's so much more i could see in cambodia, but there's also vietnam. and i'm getting really tired. i think i'm a bit burnt out from seeing amazing things all the time. i feel like
betel nut tongue
me, after chewing the betel nut just heading back to china and hanging out with mickey and playing music. i'm trying to plan ahead a bit better, but i've really got no clue what i'm doing.
maybe tonight i'll go to the cushion bar ("over 120 cushions!") for another black russian.
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