I've just spent the last 2 and half hours trying to put my photos up. Safe to say they'll have to wait until another day!

I've spent my last 2 weeks volunteering at the Wildlife Friends Foundation of Thailand Centre in the Petchaburi Province, about 3 hours south of Bangkok. The centre itself is located in the grounds of the Kao Look Chang Temple, and there's a little village where we go and buy food or go on the internet.

So, I had an email before I arrived in Bangkok to say a taxi from the Centre would be picking me up at 10am, and that I should be waiting in reception. At 11am there was still no sign so I gave them a call and was told there'd been a delay at the airport and the driver would be with me in about 20 minutes. At 12:30 he arrived! Good start. I was the only person in the taxi so I had to endure a 3 hour ride with a Thai man who couldn't speak English and no air con!

When I arrived at the centre, nobody was around so I just sat and waited. Eventually a guy came over and introduced himself as Simon, the person I spoke to on the phone. I was then shown to my room, given a couple of folders to read through and that was that. Introduction over with. Obviously having been at Harnas, I couldn't help but compare it and I have to say, Harnas is a lot better organised than this place!

I didn't realise that there would be 2 projects running side by side. There are elephants, and then there's wildlife. There can only be a maximum of 12 people on elephants at any one time so the wildlife people significantly outnumber us, but they have to look after all the gibbons, bears, macaques (that's probably not spelt right) and loads of other animals. Unlike Harnas though you can't touch them or sit in with them or anything.

The next day, Monday, was my first day of work. The routine was quite easy to get into as it doesn't change from one day to the next. Work begins at 6:30am just as the sun's coming up. We go and wait for the Mahouts (the Thai men in charge of the elephants) and go with them to bring the elephants back from the forest. There are only 4 big ones and 2 babies, but the babies don't stay in the forest at night. When I saw that they were chained up I thought that was a bit cruel, but it's because the forest isn't owned by the Centre, so they can't have the elephants wandering onto nearby farmland. Once they're back in their enclosure we feed them. This just involves throwing some pineapple leaves or bananas in with them, then it's time for our breakfast at 8am. At 9 there's usually a special project. We've been painting fence posts, and watering new plants but we could also have had to do some muck spreading or other farmwork. At 10am it's feeding again and clearing away of the waste food from earlier, and any poo lying around. The good thing being that elephant poo doesn't smell! At 11am we water them with a hosepipe, then 12noon is lunch. 1pm is watering again, 2 is clearing out and 2:30 is bathing.

Of the 4 elephants, Pailin is the oldest at 65, but I can't remember the ages of the others. Kyoto was born blind in one eye, Somboon was hit by a car while on the streets in Bangkok so she now walks with a limp and has a dodgy hip. Nom Phen is the most "normal" of the younger ones, but they've all been rescued off the streets so have all been subject to abuse. When it's bathing time the volunteers can ride Kyoto ad Nom Phen into the water and scrub them clean with little brushes. The centre doesn't encourage riding the elephants unless it's in the water to clean them, but apparently it's still a bit controversial. Once they've been bathed the Mahouts take them back to the forest.

We have less contact with the babies as they spend the majority of the day in the forest, then come back to the Centre at night. We can't bathe them for health and safety reasons, as they're very playful and could easily hurt someone. There's a boy and a girl. The girl is 4 and she's called Soy Thong. The boy is 2 and I can't pronounce his name let alone spell it. He was taken away from his mother too young and is still learning how to use his trunk. They've recently found out how to escape from their enclosure in the middle of the night so that's been fun for those who's rooms are nearby!

As well as these day to day duties, we also have to go harvesting occasionally. I did banana picking for the first time this week and it wasn't too bad. We were only out for about 30 minutes and it just involved carrying banana trunks over to the truck and loading them on. It was quite hard work but because it was only for a short amount of time it was fine. There were loads of giant red ants though. I've so far avoided being bitten by one, but apparently it really hurts. We had to sit on the bananas on the way back to the Centre, and were constantly slapping ants off each other. Pineapple picking is a different story. The first time wasn't too horrendous as we were back well before 12noon, but we went again yesterday and didn't get back until 1:30. We were out nearly 5 hours in the heat, with no shade, picking pineapple leaves then loading them onto 2 trucks that were so packed full you wouldn't believe. After the initial picking, I gave up as I felt like I was going to faint and kept going dizzy. It was 11:30am at this point, and I didn't want to make myself ill by staying out in the sun. I think yesterday was my worst day so far which was a shame seeing as it was my last proper work day!

I booked today off so I could sort out my packing and come on the internet. I've been on for nearly 3 hours now! Tomorrow it's an early start as I need to be in Hua Hin to get the bus down to Chumphon for the ferry to Ko Tao. I'm really looking forward to just getting to an island and relaxing!

I was feeling quite homesick when I first arrived here but after my first week, I settled in pretty well and started enjoying it more. I don't think I could be here for more than 2 weeks though, but it's been a great experience and I'm glad I've done it!

EDIT: How could I have missed out 2 important things?! Firstly the White Face Man. This guy was usually sat on the corner just as you got into the village, with a bottle of beer and half his face painted white. He'd shout at you and some people got chased by him although I doubt he would have got very far given the state he was in. We think he was just the village drunk but he was quite amusing!

Secondly, my burn. The Thai staff from the centre were always back and forth from the village on their motorbikes and would often give volunteers lifts. I took one guy up on his offer as it was hot and I was feeling lazy. When I came to get off I stumbled and caught my leg on the exhaust. Thought I'd give an explanation as there will soon be some pictures.