So Many Birds: Mini World and Eggs World

The different sections at Safari World are all named things like "Arctic World" and "Marine World" and things like that. Most of them are pretty self-explanatory, but Min World and Eggs World really stood out. I figured that we had to go check them out!

Mini World, it turns out, is a large caged-off area full of colorful birds. You can buy a small paper packet of seed for 60 baht to feed them. They were hilarious, and really started to swarm when they saw that you had food! I guess that's the fastest way to make friends with a bird!

feeding the birds

The birds didn't really respect personal space so much.

a lot of birds!

And one of them was really interested in trying to eat Pinky's hair!

too many birds!

Mini World was a lot of fun!

But Eggs World? How interesting can a bunch of eggs be?

Very interesting, it turns out!

Eggs World had a bird nursery and incubation area behind big glass windows where you could watch the eggs hatching and the baby birds being cared for.

baby birds

It also had a ton of exhibitions about eggs and how birds grow. It's a lot more interesting than its name suggested! And outside was the "Immature Parrot Cage", a name that made me laugh. It sounds like a place I would have liked to have sent my brother when he was a teenager.

And immature they were! Super noisy and curious!

more birds

On Safari in Bangkok

On Saturday, I took a safari right here in Bangkok!

Safari World's Safari Park is an open zoo, where visitors can drive their cars around a path and watch animals roaming freely. If you don't have a car, there is a bus every half-hour.

At first, we saw lots of  buffalo, gazelles, and all sorts of savanna animals.

But then, our bus drove through a huge gate like from the film Jurassic Park into a large area guarded by zookeepers in zebra-striped cars. And we began to see signs like this:

warning sign

Tigers are one of the most dangerous animals in the world, and one of the few animals that will actually go out of their way to hunt humans.

The ones we saw though weren't interested in our bus at all. It was a hot afternoon, and they looked just like lazy house cats lounging in the shade.

Bengal tigers

It brought back a lot of memories of my first safari in South Africa. I've got to go back there someday to see Stellenbosch again and visit some of my friends, including Kevin the Zebra! (There's an old reference to the early days of my blog...)

Safari World claims to have the world's largest herd of giraffes (over 200). You can purchase food and feed them from the viewing deck. It's a lot like another open zoo in Texas called Fossil Rim, which I've been to many many times with my family. It's one of my favorite excursions in north Texas!

giraffe smile

Look at that smile! Have you ever seen such a happy giraffe?

Safari World!

On Saturday for my birthday, my girlfriend took me to Safari World, an animal park and open zoo in the north of Bangkok.

Safari World

There are two parts to Safari World: Marine Park, a large zoo and animal park with shows and animal exhibits, and Safari Park, an open zoo that you can drive around in your car to see animals roaming freely. We started the day in Marine Park, just in time for a few of the morning shows!

parrots!

At the elephant show, the stars were given canvasses and paint brushes. As part of my birthday present, I got to pick one of the elephant paintings!

the artist

Since we bought a painting, we also got to take a picture with one of the elephants! Touristy, I know, but it was fun. I haven't had much experience with elephants in Thailand, even though I've been here for so many years now. My family got to help out at an elephant conservation center a few years ago, and we have plans to visit a different one in Chiang Mai in a few weeks!

I love elephants!

We also watched a sealion show. I've decided that sealions are the labradors of the sea! They are hilarious!

sea lions: the labradors of the sea

Dolphins are awesome of course! Safari World has tons of cool shows to watch! We spent the entire day at the park, and we got to see nearly all of them.

dolphin show

One of my favorite animals to see were the walruses. In the evening before closing, when the park was almost empty, Pinky and I got lucky to walk past the walrus pool at feeding time! We got to watch the zookeepers toss them their fish dinner. Walruses make really funny sounds!

Walruses!

The last show we watched was the orangutan show, which once again reminded me how badly I want to visit Borneo! Orangutans are such incredibly smart animals. And let me tell you, if you've never seen an orangutan on a zipline, you are missing out!

orangutan on a zip line!!!!

If you know me, or have followed my Stamp Quest blog posts, you'll know that I'm a sucker for collecting things. Pinky and I each picked up a Safari World passport at the entrance, and we were determined to try to fill it up with the unique stamps at each exhibit. We didn't quite fill the whole thing; there were a few we missed or couldn't find, but it was a lot of fun trying to run around the park looking for stamp stations!

park passport

The (Fourth) Last Week of School

Well...

That's it!

Another year gone by!

 
The other day the M5 (Junior) class surprised their seniors with a farewell party. While the M6 class was taking a university entrance exam class, the M5 students set up a big banner and balloons in the courtyard. When the students came out, their juniors blindfolded them and led them out for their surprise, where they sang and gave them farewell gifts and notes.

Of course, there were lots of tears. For these students who have studied together for fifteen years, it's hard to say goodbye to their classmates.

senior class surprise

Last week was the final week of class before exams. I still have some work to do over the next month, but teaching-wise I'm finished. I'm so tired these days! I'll be very ready for a break!

My fourth year in Thailand is at a close. Soon final exams will be over! I am very excited about a visit from my family very soon, and before I know it, I'll be back in Texas! Looking forward to some delicious tex-mex, barbecue, and family time.

The Marble Temple

We had a three-day holiday weekend for Maka Bucha Day, so I didn't have to work this Monday. I just stayed in Bangkok this time though. I had a bunch of chores to do and I really just felt like being lazy and getting some rest.

But on Monday we woke up to some nice cool weather in Bangkok! It was a perfect day for a walk outside, so I decided to go visit the famous Wat Benchamabophit, the "Marble Temple".

Marble Temple

To me, it's the quintessential Thai-style temple. It's definitely one of Bangkok's better-known temples, and even appears on the reverse of the five-Baht coin. Tourists coming to Bangkok might not be familiar with the name of this temple, like they might be with Wat Pho or Wat Arun, but most everyone will recognize its iconic design.

statues on the canal

A lot of tours visit the Marble Temple, but it's never that crowded. The grounds are large and spacious, and there are vendors selling ice cream or bread to feed the fish in the canals running between the temple buildings.

Wat Bencha might be a bit out of the way for tourists staying downtown, but it's just down the road from where I live, and not so far from the Skytrain and Airport Rail Link either.

stained glass inside the temple building

The temple was built in 1899, and is a royal-grade Thai temple. It was built for King Chulalongkorn the beloved fifth king of the current dynasty. The temple is built of Italian marble, with beautiful stained-glass windows inside the main building.

inside the main sanctuary

So I got a nice long walk outside in the cool weather and got to enjoy my relaxing day off.

It's that time of year right before final exams when I never really have very much to write about. My last two months were really prolific, and I don't want to lose my blogging momentum! If I haven't done anything super exciting, I'll try to post more of my daily life stuff which may seem normal to me now, but friends and family back home might still be interested in seeing, like this post. I realized even though I live just down the road from the Marble Temple, I've never written a post about it. My brother mentioned it in his travelogue a while back, but I think it might be interesting to post a few pictures from my walk today.

But I have a few adventures coming up, and a very exciting visit to Bangkok from my family that I'm really looking forward to!