I have finally caught up with this thread. My phone has an annoying habit of logging me out of Zoochat every time it feels like it. So, where you at in my lovely city? Please tell me you are not staying at the backpackers lodge just off Elizabeth Street? The smokers on the sidewalk annoy me.... Zooboy lives in Melbourne too. We should all meet for lunch in the city - your treat.
I was wondering where you had got to. Zooboy is in America now.... Do you work on Elizabeth Street? I have been looking out for a non-Egyptian guy with Egyptian tattoos, possibly carrying a well-crafted cake, but no luck so far. I am staying at the King St Backpackers which is near there. I can't remember the street it is on, starts with K I think. I don't think you would like my lunch options -- I have been in the city for four days so far and only spent $11.90 on food.
It's too cold for tattoos to be visible, but keep your eyes out for the cake! I often pass Elizabeth Street to go to the market to get my fix of second-hand smoke. I'll take you out for lunch, if you're in the city around lunch time. I already know the answer to this, but do you have a mobile phone?
The first in a series of trip round-up type posts. This one is the updated and final stats for the trip (money spent, countries visited, etc): up to the sixteenth of May, the end of the Asia trip, when I flew to Melbourne, Australia. *10 countries (not counting Hong Kong, but counting Sabah as separate from Peninsular Malaysia): South Korea, Russia, Mongolia, China, Peninsular Malaysia, Burma, Thailand, India, Singapore, Sabah *285 days; 41 weeks; 9.5 months *654 species of birds, 340 of them lifers (almost half) *an average of 2.3 species per day; and an average of 1.2 lifers per day *105 species of mammals, 67 of them lifers (almost two-thirds) *an average of 1 species every 2.5 days; and a rough average of 1 lifer every 4 days *32 zoos and aquariums *216 hours on trains *fifteen flights (with seven airline companies) *four pairs of shoes! *69 different hotels, hostels, guesthouses, homestays, yurts and tents. MONEY: The values are estimates because of currency exchange rates changing and banks using different rates when taking money out of ATMs. I have used conversion rates of 1000 Korean Won to one NZ Dollar; 25 Russian Roubles to one NZ Dollar; 1100 Mongolian Tughrik to one NZ Dollar; 0.78 US Dollars to one NZ Dollar; 5 Chinese Yuan to one NZ Dollar; and 2.6 Ringgit to one NZ Dollar; 51 Indian Rupees to one NZ Dollar; 26 Thai Baht to one NZ Dollar. There are some discrepancies because of rounding. The foreign currency totals at the end (AU$, US$, UK Pounds, Euros) are straight from an online Currency Converter, converted from the NZ$ total for each line. *25,176 Thai Baht [Thailand part one] = roughly NZ$ 968 in 30 days [AU$ 891 ; US$ 834 ; UK 496 ; Euro 609] ; average NZ$ 32.20 per day [AU$ 29.60 ; US$ 27.85 ; UK 16.55 ; Euro 20.30] *92,000 Indian rupees = roughly NZ$ 1800 in 28 days [AU$ 1656 ; US$ 1552 ; UK 922 ; Euro 1133] ; average NZ$ 64.30 per day [AU$ 59.20 ; US$ 55.35 ; UK 32.95 ; Euro 40.50] *21,954 Thai Baht [Thailand part two] = roughly NZ$ 844 in 29 days [AU$ 777 ; US$ 727 ; UK 432 ; Euro 531] ; average NZ$ 29.10 per day [AU$ 26.80 ; US$ 25 ; UK 14.90 ; Euro 18.30] *697.70 Malaysian Ringgit [Malaysia part two] = roughly NZ$ 268 in 10 days [AU$ 246 ; US$ 231 ; UK 137 ; Euro 168] ; average NZ$ 26.80 per day [AU$ 24.70 ; US$ 23.10 ; UK 13.70 ; Euro 16.90] *445.30 Singapore Dollars = roughly NZ$ 412 in 4.5 days [AU$ 379 ; US$ 355 ; UK 211 ; Euro 259] ; average NZ$ 91.50 per day [AU$ 84.20 ; US$ 78.90 ; UK 46.90 ; Euro 57.60] *459.20 Malaysian Ringgit [Malaysia part three] = roughly NZ$ 176 in 5.5 days [AU$ 162 ; US$ 151 ; UK 90 ; Euro 110] ; average NZ$ 32 per day [AU$ 29.50 ; US$ 27.60 ; UK 16.40 ; Euro 20.15] *897 Malaysian Ringgit [Sabah] = roughly NZ$ 345 in 9 days [AU$ 317 ; US$ 297 ; UK 176 ; Euro 217] ; average NZ$ 38.30 per day [AU$ 35.30 ; US$ 33 ; UK 19.60 ; Euro 24.10] *209.50 Malaysian Ringgit [Malaysia part four] = roughly NZ$ 80 in 2 days [AU$ 73 ; US$ 69 ; UK 41 ; Euro 50] ; average NZ$ 40 per day [AU$ 36.80 ; US$ 34.50 ; UK 20.50 ; Euro 25.20] *Additional: four flights for India: NZ$ 476.30 [AU$ 438.40 ; US$ 410.70 ; UK 244.20 ; Euro 300] return flights for Borneo: NZ$ 129.90 [AU$ 119.60 ; US$ 112 ; UK 66.60 ; Euro 81.80] flight to Melbourne: NZ$ 217.50 [AU$ 200.20 ; US$ 187.50 ; UK 111.50 ; Euro 136.90] TOTAL: NZ$ 16,343 [AU$ 15,043 ; US$ 14,091 ; UK 8378 ; Euro 10,289] Average per day: NZ$ 57.30 [AU$ 52.75 ; US$ 49.40 ; UK 29.35 ; Euro 36] (The total includes all flights paid for after the trip started (i.e. not including NZ-HK, HK-Seoul, Seoul-Russia, or Mongolia-China; the total does not include the Trans-Siberian train (paid for in advance for visa reasons); also does not include costs involved with pre-trip visa applications and documents [for Russia, Mongolia and China])
no. I haven't been to either before, but I will probably just be going to Moonlit and Healesville (already been to the Melbourne Zoo, Aquarium and Museum this week).
Even if you are claiming your trip is over and you try to support that by creating a new tread, for most of us working people it seems you are still have a great holiday.
LIST OF CAPTIVE ANIMAL FACILITIES VISITED: SOUTH KOREA: COEX Aquarium (Seoul) Seoul Zoo RUSSIA: Vladivostok Aquarium CHINA: Beijing Zoo Beijing Aquarium (in the Beijing Zoo) Suzhou Zoo Shanghai Zoo Shanghai Ocean Aquarium Shanghai Natural Wild-Insect Kingdom Chengdu Zoo MALAYSIA: Zoo Negara (Kuala Lumpur) Penang Bird Park Melaka Zoo Melaka Bird Park Melaka Crocodile Park Melaka Butterfly and Reptile Sanctuary Lok Kawi Wildlife Park (Kota Kinabalu, Sabah) BURMA: Yangon Zoo Kandawgyi Fresh Water Fish Garden (Yangon) Hlawga Park (Yangon) Yadanabon Zoo (Mandalay) Naypyitaw Zoo THAILAND: Dusit Zoo (Bangkok) Chiang Mai Zoo INDIA: Alipore Zoo (Kolkata) Kolkata Aquarium (opposite the Alipore Zoo) Pigmy Hog Conservation Centre at Nameri National Park (in Assam) Assam State Zoo (Guwahati) SINGAPORE: Singapore Night Safari River Safari SEA Aquarium Jurong Bird Park
Melbourne is a costly city, but there are many jobs for Kiwis. I wonder if he plans to get a job or settle down here?
WILD MAMMALS SEEN ON THIS TRIP: Photos of many of these are in the respective countries' wildlife galleries (or sometimes in the thread itself). Where I have put "Malaysia" as the locality, that means Peninsular Malaysia (as opposed to Sabah in Malaysian Borneo). Short-tailed Gymnure Hylomys suillus (Thailand) Chinese Mole-shrew Anourosorex squamipes (China) Asian House Shrew Suncus murinus (India) Colugo Cynocephalus variegatus (Malaysia; Singapore) Indian Flying Fox Pteropus giganteus (India) Greater Short-nosed Fruit Bat Cynopterus sphinx (Thailand) Long-tongued Fruit Bat Eonycteris spelaea (Malaysia) [lots of other bats unidentified] Siamang Symphalangus syndactylus (Malaysia) White-handed Gibbon Hylobates lar (Thailand) Western Hoolock Gibbon Hylobates [Hoolock] hoolock (India) Yunnan (Black) Snub-nosed Monkey Rhinopithecus bieti (China) White-thighed Langur Presbytis siamensis (Malaysia) Banded Leaf Monkey Presbytis femoralis (Thailand) Dusky Langur Trachypithecus obscurus (Malaysia, Thailand) Silvered Leaf Monkey Trachypithecus cristatus (Malaysia) Capped Langur Trachypithecus pileatus (India) Golden Langur Trachypithecus geei (India) Rhesus Macaque Macaca mulatta (Burma, India) Crab-eating (Long-tailed) Macaque Macaca fascicularis (Malaysia, Thailand) Southern Pig-tailed Macaque Macaca nemestrina (Malaysia) Northern Pig-tailed Macaque Macaca leonina (Thailand, India) Stump-tailed Macaque Macaca arctoides (India) Tibetan Macaque Macaca thibetanus (China) Bornean slow loris Nycticebus menagensis (Sabah) Horsfield's tarsier Tarsius bancanus (Sabah) Common Tree-shrew Tupaia glis (Malaysia) Northern Tree-shrew Tupaia belangeri (Thailand) Mountain Tree-shrew Tupaia montana (Sabah) Tolai Hare Lepus tolai (Mongolia) Pallas' Pika Ochotona pallasii (Mongolia) Black-lipped (Plateau) Pika Ochotona curzoniae (China) Moupin Pika Ochotona thibetanus (China) Gansu Pika Ochotona cansus (China) [may have been Moupin Pika – I have had two conflicting opinions on ID] Black Rat Rattus rattus (Malaysia, Burma, Thailand) Brown Rat Rattus norvegicus (Thailand) Polynesian Rat Rattus exulans (Thailand) Long-tailed Giant Rat Leopoldamys sabanus (Sabah) House Mouse Mus musculus (India, Malaysia) Muskrat Ondatra zibethicus (Russia) Mongolian Five-toed Jerboa Allactaga sibirica (Mongolia) Mongolian Three-toed Jerboa Dipus sagitta (Mongolia) Malayan Crested Porcupine Hystrix brachyura (Thailand) Asian Brush-tailed Porcupine Atherurus macrourus (Thailand) Eurasian Red Squirrel Sciurus vulgaris (Russia, Mongolia, China) Plantain Squirrel Callosciurus notatus (Malaysia; Singapore; Sabah) Ear-spot squirrel Callosciurus adamsi (Sabah) Prevost's squirrel Callosciurus prevostii (Sabah) Bornean Black-banded Squirrel Callosciurus orestes (Sabah) Variable Squirrel Callosciurus finlaysonii (Thailand) Grey-bellied Squirrel Callosciurus caniceps (Malaysia, Thailand) Pallas' (Red-bellied) Squirrel Callosciurus erythraeus (China, Malaysia, Burma, Thailand, India) Phayre's Squirrel Callosciurus phayrei (Burma) Irrawaddy (Hoary-bellied) Squirrel Callosciurus pygerythrus (Burma, India) Red-cheeked Ground Squirrel Dremomys rufigenis (Thailand) Bornean Mountain Ground Squirrel Dremomys everettii (Sabah) Bicoloured (Black/Malayan) Giant Squirrel Ratufa bicolor (India, Thailand) Plain pigmy squirrel Exilisciurus exilis (Sabah) Slender Squirrel Sundasciurus tenuis (Malaysia) Jentink's Squirrel Sundasciurus jentinki (Sabah) Himalayan Striped Squirrel Tamiops macclellandii (Malaysia, Burma, India, Thailand) Swinhoe's Striped Squirrel Tamiops swinhoei (China) Maritime Striped Squirrel Tamiops maritimus (China) Three-striped Ground Squirrel Lariscus insignis (Malaysia) Five-striped Palm Squirrel Funambulus pennantii (India) Pere David's Rock Squirrel Sciurotamias davidianus (China) Siberian Chipmunk Tamias sibiricus (South Korea, Russia, China) Long-tailed Ground Squirrel Spermophilus undulatus (Mongolia) Siberian Marmot Marmota sibirica (Mongolia) Red giant flying squirrel Petaurista petaurista (Sabah) Irrawaddy Dolphin Orcaella brevirostris (Burma) Gangetic dolphin Platanista gangetica (India) Mountain Weasel Mustela altaica (China) Yellow-throated Marten Martes flavigula (Thailand) Hog Badger Arctonyx collaris (China) Smooth-coated Otter Lutrogale perspicillata (Malaysia, India) [probably Small-clawed Otter Aonyx cinerea at Kaziranga (India) but not sure enough to count] Large Indian Civet Viverra zibetha (Thailand) Small-toothed Palm Civet Arctogalidia trivirgata (Sabah) Small Indian Mongoose Herpestes auropunctatus (India) Red Panda Ailurus fulgens styani (China) Bengal Tiger Panthera tigris tigris (India) Leopard Cat Prionailurus benglensis (China) Pallas' Cat Otocolobus manul (Mongolia – eye-shine only) Red Fox Vulpes vulpes (Mongolia, China) Tibetan Fox Vulpes ferrilata (China) Raccoon Dog Nyctereutes procyonoides (China) [Wolves Canis lupus howling in the night – too cool to leave off this list (although they aren't on my actual life list) (Mongolia)] [Baikal Seal Pusa sibirica – dead only, but I'll put it on this list anyway! (Russia)] Asian elephant Elephas maximus (Thailand, India) Indian rhinoceros Rhinoceros unicornis (India) Przewalski's horse Equus ferus przewalskii (Mongolia) Mongolian red deer Cervus canadensis sibiricus (Mongolia) Sambar Cervus unicolor (China, Thailand, India) Sika Cervus nippon (China) Eld's deer (Thamin) Cervus eldi thamin (Burma) Barasingha Cervus duvaucelii (India) Pere David's deer Elaphurus davidianus (China) Hog deer Axis porcinus (India) Reeves' muntjac Muntiacus reevesi (China) Common muntjac Muntiacus muntjak (Thailand, India) Tibetan gazelle Procapra picticauda (China) Argali Ovis ammon (Mongolia) Bharal (Blue sheep) Pseudois nayaur (China) Siberian ibex Capra sibirica (Mongolia) Chinese goral Naemorhedus griseus (Thailand) Takin Budorcus taxicolor (China) Gaur Bos gaurus (India) Wild water buffalo Bubalus arnee (India) Wild Pig Sus scrofa (China, India)
REMEMBRANCES OF TIMES PAST: None of this is exhaustive. It is simply the things which stick in my head. COUNTRY HIGHLIGHTS: Mongolia: the best of all that I visited on this trip. I have always wanted to go there, but never thought I would. Sometimes places you really want to go simply do not live up to your expectations but Mongolia was fantastic. I really want to go back there. China: in second-place. I didn't actually think I would enjoy China as much as I did. Sichuan was brilliant, I loved being up in the mountains and on the plateau. An incredibly difficult country in which to travel the way I do, in so many ways, but perhaps that is why I liked it so much. COUNTRY LOWLIGHTS: Russia: bleearggh! If I ever see Russia again I'm going to punch it in the face. South Korea: mid-summer, unfriendly people, no birds.... South Korea is definitely not on my list of countries to return to any time soon! MOST DISGUSTING COUNTRY: India: most specifically Kolkata. Really just nasty. China: a good distance behind India, although China does top my “most polluted country” rank. A lot of China was great, some of it was not. Probably the worst toilet conditions overall (although I saw individually worse toilets in India and, surprisingly, Malaysia). PEOPLE HIGHLIGHTS: Almost everybody in China and Mongolia! Some of the friendliest, most helpful and (in China) most honest people I've ever met – and I'm from New Zealand!! PEOPLE LOWLIGHTS: Alexander Beketov at Lake Baikal. Russian people in general. COUNTRY WITH THE MOST MONEY-GRABBING THIEVING SCUM: India MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMEN: In order: Mongolia, Burma, China. Two of the most beautiful women I have ever seen were in Ulaan Baatar (Mongolia) and Mandalay (Burma). WORST FOOD: China: I did have some good food there, but most of it was just gross. Three months of things like soup made of little else but big lumps of congealed fat; pork that was the texture of slime; everything swimming in pools of disgusting grease or oil. I can eat most things, but in China a lot of things on my plates got left where they were. BEST FOOD: India: probably because I was mostly staying at resort-type places. Thailand in second place. ZOO HIGHLIGHTS: *Totally unexpectedly, Naypyitaw Zoo in Burma! Out of all the zoos I visited this had the best all-round standards, and was almost entirely consistent in having spacious generally-well-designed enclosures. For species it was “boring” but as a zoo it was great. *Melaka Butterfly and Reptile Park – a very nice surprise in its overall quality and presentation. *The manatee aquarium at the Singapore River Safari. ZOO LOWLIGHTS: *Every other major zoo in Burma *Also the nasty little Shanghai Natural Wild-Insect Kingdom. GENERAL ZOO DISAPPOINTMENTS: *The boat ride at the Singapore River Safari. *The tram ride at the Singapore Night Safari. *Melaka Zoo's sad decline. CAPTIVE ANIMAL HIGHLIGHTS: South Korea: African manatee. Armadillo. Giant anteater. China: Beluga (whale....also sturgeon). Snub-nosed monkeys; Yangtze softshell turtle. Cone shells. Malaysia: Horned lizard. Drongo cuckoo. Burma: Shortridge's langur. Jungle cat. Bumese ferret-badgers. Thailand: Philippine giant flying squirrel. Viper boa (just weird!). Blue-rumped parrots. India: Pigmy hog!! Singapore: Malayan pangolin. Tarsiers. Giant flying squirrels. Luzon cloud rat. Andean cock-of-the-rock. Borneo: Malayan pangolin again!! Thick-spined porcupine. WILD ANIMAL HIGHLIGHTS: Far too many to choose, so these are just the ones that stick in my mind. It is mammal-heavy simply because there were so many birds that the mammals became more memorable. (And by virtue of being less commonly-seen, mammals become highlights easier than birds anyway). South Korea: Black-faced spoonbill top amongst the birds. Oriental fire-bellied toad was probably the best animal overall, very cool. Russia: were there any? If there were they were overshadowed by the disappointment of no Baikal seals. Muskrats were cool. Some nice birds including Spotted nutcrackers. Mongolia: Pallas' cat eye-shine – it wasn't the sighting I wanted but exciting none-the-less. Jerboas: bouncy bouncy. Cinereous vultures the size of aeroplanes. China: Red panda, Red panda, Red panda. Crested ibis. Yunnan snub-nosed monkey. Tibetan fox. Hog badger. Raccoon dog. Mountain weasel. All the pheasants! Hume's groundpecker. Hoopoe. Wallcreeper. Grandala. Malaysia: nothing really stands out, but I think that's probably just because I've been there a lot. Burma: Phayre's squirrel. Irrawaddy dolphin. Thailand: finally a porcupine (which quickly became two species of porcupines). Short-tailed gymnure. Blue pitta. India: Ibisbill. Golden langur. Ganges dolphin. Blind snake (albeit dead). Singapore: Colugo I guess – I didn't see a lot of animals in Singapore. Borneo: Slow loris without question! Also Horsfield's tarsier and Whitehead's broadbill. Trilobite larvae are always worth mentioning. WILD ANIMAL LOWLIGHTS: *Absolutely top of the list: missing out on Baikal seal due to the cost of the boat – and having to stand on the very shores of Lake Baikal knowing they were right there and I couldn't get to them. It still pains me even now, almost a year later... *Indian rock python killed by a train in India when I may have been able to save it *Not being able to get into any golden snub-nosed monkey sites in China. *Still no pangolins! *Khao Yai: such a disappointment.
Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I just read an article on insults in different cultures, and two of them I thought would be of interest, as you travelled through both these countries, and might have explained some behaviour of the locals. Hix
hmm, I do tend to smile at strangers. I understand in America that means you are about to rob or kill them (depending on how widely one is smiling), so there I would never smile at anyone. But it is news to me for Korea and may well explain why nobody liked me there!! I don't use the OK sign; I sometimes use the thumb-up sign; and sometimes the middle-finger sign but that's for other reasons.
oh, also I came across this on the IUCN site about Bornean slow loris and it made me feel not so useless about having taken so very long to finally find one:
Considering how dissatisfied you were around Lake Baikal, I thought you would have liked to have known how to communicate your dissatisfaction in the local sign language. But I guess a middle finger is pretty universal (although in some parts of the world it might mean something completely different, or nothing at all). Hix
that's a good point. Should I ever find myself back in Russia I will be sure to remember that, and I will assuredly make good use of it!
I have just uploaded some wildlife photos to the Burma and India galleries: India - Wildlife Gallery Myanmar - Wildlife Gallery
Given how exceptionally long this thread is, and considering the fact I have to read through the whole thing *anyhow* in order to provide an accurate summary for the travel thread directory, I reckon that I will do an index post for this thread for the easy reference of anyone reading it in the future, much as I did for my Berlin trip report.
