Hi Everyone,

Well it has taken me long enough but finally here is the first installment of all my adventureso far! It's been a very eventful first few months here. First of all the journey, well that was very sad saying goodbye to everyone, and also i sat next to really boring miserable people with the exception of 1 Indian guy who took an interest when i was reading about gibbons, and then spent the next 2 hours showing me slideshows on his laptop of his friends in England! On arival at Phuket you have to walk along a row of people, all holding up signs with different names on some of the writing so small you have to squint. I looked for ages but there was no sign of anyone with my name, then I saw a man in a gibbon t-shirt so went over with my backpack and he understood no English at all and thought that i wanted to buy his t-shirt he started to take it off so i had to try and explain that i thought he was picking me up and was from the gibbon project with his gibbon t-shirt. Anyway 10 mins later i actually saw a sign with my name on so all was good. So then after 3 flights and no sleep i was finally taken to my destination, the guy that picked me up didn't say a word, and he played such depressing music the first song was "I want to go home" Not really the sort of music i was anticipating.So finally arrived at the Gibbon Rehabilitation Poject GRP, i was shown to my room, i am sharing my room with a really nice German girl called Catherina, so Cat showed me round the project and then we went for some food accross the road, my meal and drink came to a grand total of 40p.There are a number of duties that being a volunteer includes, there is a weekly rota that you check, the different duties are, Office: helping to package things for the shop, or in my case i am on the international team, the team being just me, i have to help re-write things, i have done a powerpoint presentation, Februarys newsletter(check it out on the website) and am now working on a new handbook!Forest: this is 1 of my favourate days, you spend the day in the forest doing behavioural observations, you will be with 1 member of Thai staff so you take it in turns to observe the gibbons and when you're not observing you simply set up your hamock and sleep, read and eat. There are 3 families of gibbons that have been released by the project so far, both all at least an hours walk into the forest. On your waytheres the possibility you will see lots of other amazing things, i have alreeady seen 5 snakes, including a very colourful Pit viper and a King Cobra. The other snakes i have seen were both outside my bungalow, one was eating a live toad, and the other i discovered because the dog appeared to be playing with something, it was a dangerous speices so i rescued the dog!Rehab: This is where you look after 30 gibbons at the moment, there are 7 that will never be able to be released because of the consequences of their previous owners and having been part of the tourist industry, but the rest stand a good chance of being re-released into the forest as there is enough space in the forest for 60 families. At rehab its a bit like life back at Drusillas, you clean and feed and also do enrichment, and we also make gibbon balls, these are balls made from rice, beans, crushed up dog food and strawbery syrup, the gibbons love them and are very protective over their gibbons balls, so much so that some require separating when eating their ball so that their cage mate isn't more dominant and doesn't steal both balls. Some of the gibbons in rehab are pretty nasty and especially like to grab new volunteers there is 1 in particular, a black female called Tom, she got my hair in my 2nd week, i must have been a milimeter to close and then her long gibbon arm came out and snatched a small chunk of hair it hurt but was kind of funny as she was so proud she sat in the top of her cage stringing it between her fingers.Observations: there are 2 pairs of gibbons that have recently been introduced, so on alternate days a volunteer or staff member will sit and observe the behaviours between the 2. Sometimes this can be reeally boring, other days very interseting as the pairs initially were divided and so interested in each other that they were mating through the bars! A pregnant gibbon would mean another release in 2009 as when the gibbons have a baby and form a family the GRP can release them as the mother and father become more territorial with the presence of the baby.Quarentine: this section contains 15 gibbons at the moment, and is located just behind the bungalows, it's a lovely section you work alone, and all the gibbons are so sweet. Again most of them were pets, but a few also used in the toursit industry, being made to have their photos with the toursits.Education: this is where you work in pairs and spend the day selling gibbon merchandise and talking to visiotrs trying to educate them and discourage everyone from ever having their picture with a gibbon, which is happening all the time. I saw it for myself in Patong last week, a 6 month old baby gibbon having its picture with toursits, the guy makes about 300 pound an hour, so even though its ilegal i am sure that often the police are just given money to prevent an arrest. 1 of our newest arrivals Sylvia was used as a toursit attraction, but its so sad she came to us and all her teeth have been filed down to prevent her biting anyone! New arrivals in my first month,Week 1 Jane, on my 2nd day on the tour desk i couldn't believe my eyes when a Thai couple walked up the stairs holding a tiny little gibbon in their arms. The husband had brought the gibbon at a market as he thought it would make a lovely present for his wife. However the wife knew that it is illegal so she had brought the gibbon to us, the lady was quite protective over the gibbon but after about 15 mins she walked over to me and put the gibbon in my arms, i think it was becuase i was the only female staff or volunteer present, Jane was so sweet she clung to me so tightly as she could hear the other gibbons singing and was very frightened. She is now housed in quarantine and is being bottle fed twice a day, i think she is craving human attention though as she often rocks, i have put a big red heart cushion in and she now will often just hug the pillow which is really sweet.Week 2 Gibby, a Golden-cheeked gibbon, has been living like a princess with a family in Bangkok for the last 7 years, the owners decided though that they want what is best for Gibby so they have given her to the GRP in hope that she will socialise with other gibbons. She is a very strange gibbon and doesn't know how to act like a gibbon when she moves she is like a robot!Week 3 Epson, its estimated that he is about 2 years old, he was in poor condition when he came to us his coat is dry and matted and he has 1 front tooth missing. He was rescued by a couple who had been worried about his welfare as he was being kept as a pet by a Russian guy.Week 4: 2 Malayan flying lemurs, Again i happened to be on the tourdesk the day we recieved the lemurs, it was awful 2 Thai guys handed us a bag and inside, upside down were 2 flying lemurs, mother and baby both with their hands and feet tied together. The 2 guys had rescued them from a nearby consturction site in the forest where the workers were planning to eat them. This was 1 of the worst cases of animal cruelty i had ever witnessed for myself. Later that day when i returned to the GRP i helped to syringe feed the mother, but sadly she died in my arms, being left with such a tiny baby meant that we would all have to help hand rear the lemur which we named Bamboo. We got in contact with an expert from Singapore zoo who said that it would be a very difficult task and that she probably wouldn't last more then 3 days. We took it in turns to do night duties feeding her every 3 hours. On the first night i layed on the bed and had her in my t-shirt like a little pouch so she just slept on my tummy was very sweet. After 7 days we decided to construct a bigger cage for her, i helped 2 of the Thai staff, we spent ages making it but sadly Bamboo died 3 days later so only spent 3 days in her new home .General,Thailand is sooooooooooo beautifiul every beach is like paradise, food is amazing, i am proud to say that i have learnt how to cook thai green curry, we have a local market on Tuesdays and Saturdays it's good fun i can buy the ingredients for a curry to feed 12 people for 1.40. I have 1 day off a week, so far seen quite a few of the beaches been snorkelling, been to an island and went jet skiing which was amazing it was so fast your bum barely touches the seat. I've been to the cinema 3 times before the film starts there is an advert about the King and everone in Thailand loves the king so much that when the advert comes on you are expected to stand, also most Thais people will wear yellow on a Monday, that's also linked to the king, I myself have purchased a nice yellow t-shirt which I will occasionally sport on a Monday. Every Monday we all go to tesco it's great i can get cheap clothes, alcohol and yummy banana cakes. There is also however the temptation of pizza, Mc Donalds and KFC which is hard to resist at times when you are all riced out.I had my first masage 1 hour for 4.80, i opted for an oil masage which was relaxing, although very intersting, I won't be going into detail on the blog though as I think the whole world could if they wanted read this blog.Also been out for meals and to a Thai club a few times, that's all very intersting, 1 night they even played 'Who let the dogs out' so funny like walking back in time.Well i have rambled on for ages now, the reason being i am not very well today and have spent the last 8 hours in bed so finally thought would do the travel blog. Anyway i am having the most amazing time and getting to do so many intersting things, but i am missing you all loads!!!!!!! I hope everybody is ok and the storms aren't getting you all down, did I mention it's in the 30's here and thats just at night ; ) well i will write again soonBig HugsAll my love Emxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx