Re: Loved your blog Thank you :-) It was amazing to see all these animals. The experience also comes with a grain of salt, though - it is saddening to see that all the effort would not be necessary if humans were a bit more mindful of how they treat the environment.
House made of plastic bottles What a wonderful project for using plastic bottles that wash up on the beach. Does anyone live inside? Are the walls sealed as it looks somewhat draughty?
Re: House made of plastic bottles A wonderful project indeed, especially because it is combined with educating children in school and creating awareness of the negative impact of littering on the environment. The walls are not sealed and there is nobody living inside. The owner of the camp we stayed in built it.
Wow! Wow! Wow! So envious of your time at the rehabilitation centre. I had no idea that it wasn't fenced and the animals can come and go as they pleased. We visited a sunbear and moonbear sanctuary in Laos recently (just starting to write about it) and I don't think it was as well organised as this one seems to be. I love visiting and supporting these sort of sanctuaries, but they raise such a mixed bag of emotions too :(
Re: Wow! Wow! Wow! It was an amazing place to visit and it was great to see how many thoughts and how much effort people put into rehabilitating the apes and sunbears and releasing them into the wild. However, it also makes me sad because we humans are the reason why the animals are taken to these rehabilitaiton centres in the first place. I saw that you just published your blog entry, so I will read it now :-)
Nice Blog https://lionalert.org/lion-release-program/release/
Enjoyed reading it, it reminded me of my recent trip to Thailand. Please check out the link above about something similar to what to you saw, but with regards to Lions.
So you made it to Borneo... I await your next blog to see if you made it back! By the way, as a statistician, do you think that the governments of this world have overreacted to Covid-19? Do you think the Swedish model to react was better?
Re: So you made it to Borneo... Thank you for following my trip and sorry the next story is taking so long. Work kept me busy last weekend. I will post it soon. Regarding the response to the Covid-19: I think once the virus started spreading the response was the best that governments could do. With it spreading exponentially our health systems would not have been able to cope. I found the pictures from Northern Italy and New York City shocking and absolutely horrifying. I am glad that we went into lockdown.
Little did we know..... The world changed in a blink. It still seems surreal and we are learning new information daily. In the U.S. we think leaders had information they didn't share or act on. There is a balance between chatting with someone near you and pestering you. Obviously, she was not picking up on your vibe. Thanks for taking us on a trip of Singapore with you. Always interesting to go back and see changes and connect with friends.
Re: Little did we know..... Thank you for commenting and following my journey :-) When I posted the story it felt almost like it had been another life. How quickly things can change...
The statistician in me found the worry completely ridiculous... On your step by step through Singapore you had heard the coronavirus was in China...avoided blocked paths where testing was being done...was this 13 February 2020 being your date of your blog? Kinda bizarre to know in hindsight that they had their first case on 23 January, 7th on 4 February and Stay Home Notices for Singaporean residents and returners from China came into effect on 18 February 2020. Then the success story for control of Covid-19 for the World...now subject to a second wave that is very troubling. Looking forward to your next blog to find out if the virus continued to follow or disrupt your trip.
RE: The statistician in me found the worry completely ridiculous... I was in Singapore from 11 till 13 February. Yes, I think Singapore did a great job taking the right measures at an early stage. At the time I was pretty sure the virus would not make it to Europe or the US. The rest of the trip was "positively" affected by the virus because there were less tourists in Borneo, but we were still allowed into the country, we could go everywhere and do everything. We were lucky because we flew home one week before the lockdown in Germany started. Next posts will follow. Thanks for following and commenting :-)
St Petersburg You certainly saw a plethora of sights in St Petersburg, Katha. An amazing city indeed. If you are interested in more history you should check out my current Russian blogs as I gotta say Russian history is not only fascinating but so important to Russian psyche.
Re: St Petersburg I did and the city is definitely amazing. Thanks for the hint, I will check your Russian blogs on the weekend. There is so much to learn and I am sure understanding their history will help understand their psyche.
I started this blog in late 2007, before heading off to Australia for a hang gliding adventure. After my first solo flight in a hang glider all I wanted to do was fly as much as possible. I gave up my job as a human resources consultant and headed to Australia to live my dream of hang gliding. When I returned after four months, I wanted to build my life around the sport I loved so much, and I did. I was also determined to make it into the national hang gliding team and started flying competitions with only one year of flying experience.
My dream was shattered in earl... full info
D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Monkey Business
It does sound like you were off the beaten path.