From Khao Lak we headed South in a monsoon to a small Muslim village on the island of Phuket, right by the entrance to the National Park and the forest. We settled into very basic accomodation with lots of animals everywhere and met our fellow volunteers. The Gibbon Rehab Project takes gibbons who have been taken from their mothers shot out of the upper canopy as babies, and sold as pets or tourist attractions, though it usually takes 4 or 5 dead mothers and babies to get an alive one. Some of the gibbons at the project have been abused, and one sweeet one was abused so badly she had 2 limbs amputated. The project aims to rehabiliate the gibbons, and they go through a spell in quarantine checking for diseased, and then into the rehab site where they are cared for but dont interact with humans, and they learn to swing, drink with their hands, and sing with other gibbons. If they can sing they can hopefully 'bond' with a mate, and eventually have a baby, and be released into the rainforest as a family. Its a long but very rewarding process. On our first day we woke up at dawn and trekked 2 hours uphill into the rainforest, getting very sweaty along the way, and it rained intermitttently. Eventually we came to the area where the most recently released family live, and we posted a kilo of fruit, which they continue to get one year after release, up into the canopy. After a while we felt a pattering of raindrops falling as the leaves moved high above and looking up we saw the male adult gibbon swinging from tree to tree and over to the food, followed by the 2 children and the MOther. It was amazing to see them in their natural environment again, havbing been made totally extinct in the rainforest by hunters. It gave us the motivation we needed for the next week, which involved early starts, feeding and cleaning, health checks and givving tourists information at the tour desk and shop. We went out with the Thai staff and fellow volunteers, and made curries and fried rice from ingredients from the local market, and visited Phuket town too. It was a wonderful experience and we were really sad to leave. I can recommend it to anyone wishing to do this type of volunteer work. http://www.gibbonproject.org/content/content.htm
We headed back to Bangkok for a day before our flight, and had some more crazy tuk tuk driving, Wats, good food and the fun of staying on the Khao San road, replete with touts for Ping Pong shows, deep fried locusts and very cheap and strong cocktails! From there we flew to Dubai, where it was about 38 degrees and incredibly humid, basically impossible to be outside for more than 10 minutes. The building going on there, the 7 star hotel, the Palm Island (not yet finshied and 2 more AND the World being built) are just incredible feats. We did a wondeful trip into the desert one evening, went dune bashing which was exciting and pretty scary, the drivers were mentalists! They tehn took us to a wonderful camp in the desert dunes, with little lanterns, and 3 camels who we rode on! There we smoked some shisha, got Henna tattoos, and had a HUGE wonderful meal of BBQed meat, houmous and chapattis, rice, veggies, curried lentils, etc, and watched the stars come out, pure magic 
Yesterday we flew home and now Paul is back in Herts and Anna in sunny Devon, and we cant wait to catch up with friends and family asap. Thanks for following this blog and our adventure! Love A&P XXX
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Anyways, thats where were going next, should be very rewarding. The political situation in Thailand is causing problems too with flights and buses, as the Thais try to make the prime minister resign. But noone should worry we're safe and sound 
SA WA DI KA everyone! Hello from Ko Tao, island near Panang off East coast of southern Thailand. Quite an everntful journey trying to find the bus in a real Monsoon and a long overnight journey where we were forced to watch 2 hoprrific films - The Kingdom and the Last King of Scotland, great films but not really appropriate late at night and on a coach full of children! We were dropped at a stop in the middle of nowhere at 3:30 am and then collected by a minubus and taken to the port, where we got a boat for a few hours and arrived on the Island in the morning - it was already very hot, but the views of the beahces were breathtaking, perfect turquoise and blue clear waters, as warm as a hot bath, and lots of coconut trees, rising green hills and little huts along the main beach. We are staying at a diving school, Paul is starting his PADI Openwater tonight and I may start in the day after, still enjoying relaxing a bit for the moment, and theres lots of cheap massage and yoga places tempting me! We went snorkelling yeserday and saw amazing beautiful different types of coral, brain coral, ones that looked like autumn leaves, schools of parrot fish, bigger red and black fish, all beautiful colours, lots of urchins and HUGE sea cucumbers! SO beautiful. There are also whale sharks and blacktipped reef shark you xcan see here apparently (NOT dangerous!) The food is cheap and delicious, green curries, pad thai, we have been eating from street vendors where we can see it cooked, very amusing when we have no idea whats been ordered! The fruit too is gorgeous, lots of fresh coconuts, mangoes, bananas, etc. 
Last few days spent sadly leaving the South Island and making our way up north ready to get the plane to Thailand on Thursday. Ferry crossing was very rough and I just kept control luckily, despite the sick bags that were placed ALL around the boat which didnt help! Anyways, we made our way from the Glaciers, Franz Josef and also Fox, to Lake Matheson, known for its gorgeous reflections, and from there down South to Queenstown. The first day we went skiing at Treble Cone, where the snow was great, though the slopes challenging, many sneakily becoming black halfway down and not pisted in the main. A great day, with some lovely sunshine, and stunning views over the Southern Lakes. The weather got colder and icier as the day went on and we eventually stopped and hit the town for some 'apres-ski'. The next day was cloudy, so we headed south to the 'Milford Sound', inappropriately named as it is actually a Fjord, being carved from a glacier and incredibly deep. It was a long round trip, despite the short distance, as the mountains make the shortest route impassable except on foot as a 5 day walk, open in Summer. The drive was windy, icy, cloudy, but our Campervan did well and we made it by dusk. The Sound is beautiful, really still and silent, mist lurking up in the mountians, and the odd bird diving into its dark depths. We took a nature boat trip and within minutes spotted New zealand fur seals, a penguin, and many birds. The highlight was on the return when a pod of bottlenose dolphins joined us and swam alongside us, pulled along with the boat, and jumped up and around, clearly watching us and showing off, a truly magical moment 
Hey ALL! Anna and Paul writing from the Fox glacier village, in a national park forgotten name of. WE arrived in the stunning South Island at Picton, a pretty little port town. Had an early start and were lucky to get the ferry as not many were running and they werent taking bookings until last minute. Journey was pretty rolley due to the storms and wind (which have cost NZ an estimated 50 m dollars....) but great to arrive and head off. Oh dear time running out! Will try to cpntinue soon, today climbed Franz Josef huge glacier in sun then freezing conditions, very satisfying, amazing seeing ice caverns and how it is advancing and retreating over the ages. 
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GDAY all! 
