Thanks. Many do know. I've written it on my member profile page, and I think there's an interesting thread for professions which I'll post it in if I haven't already. As many people as are willing should try and contribute to that thread. (For anyone else who might be intrigued, I'm now a doctor.)
According to the 'what do you do for a living?' thread, he is an MD. Where he did his studies in the UK, I believe they offer an MBBS/BSc 6 year degree. Or I could be wrong.
Things are getting busy these days so I've decided that because there's so much to go through, I won't be writing any full reviews unless they are specifically requested. I'm very happy to write them though - I'll just build on my entries in this thread where possible. Going through my photos, it seems that almost all of my SD cards had suffered to some extent. I have lost all or almost all of my River Safari, Singapore Zoo, Night Safari and Zurich photos, and most other collections have suffered losses of up to 20% of the photos, which sucks but I'm still desperately trying to get them back. Suggestions appreciated. I've also lost all my videos for the duration of the trip. I'll still try to upload photos from a few more collections where possible, but I'm not sure how far I'll get so let me know if there's anything specific you'd like to see.
There's not too much unusual left to upload, but I'll see what I can do. I had a fair bit of trouble with technology this trip, with my phone and camera both dying. I had a number of SD cards with me (for my photos), but it wasn't enough, and so I stored many photos on a portable hard drive. Coming back here, it seems that a number of photos are just missing from the sequence (and irretrievable), some videos just didn't get copied (I'm not sure why), and worst of all, some folders have had their entire contents corrupted, so the JPEGS are now all small .exe files which cannot be opened. Any ideas how I might go about trying to fix this? I've run recovery software on my cards, which has replaced most of the photos missing elsewhere, but my Singapore photos in particular have still suffered very heavily.
Damn that's a shame. I am not a techie so I have no idea how to help other than googling it. Don't you have any friends from the IT department back at uni that could help? Oh wait, medics only hung out with other medics.
This is a worry. I bought a Microsoft Surface and a small portable hard-drive for exactly that reason - to download my photos from the SD Cards. I'll have to carefully check each download to ensure they've transferred OK. Hix
What about flash drives as well? And after a day of tours, you could delete a few of the obvious blurred pics from your camera before even copying them across to your Surface. A 128GB flash drive and SD card seem to cost about the same ($100) and might be perfect to back-up your favourites.
Wow, that sucks, very sorry to hear about this. Try going onto a forum like Talk Photography and post your problem there, it's very good for all things photographic and very helpful members. Personally I always take my laptop when I'm travelling and download all images to it as soon as I get back to my room. I also back everything up to a separate hard drive although I don't do that anywhere like as often as I should.
Ive taken my laptop in the past, but with my cameras and lenses my carryon bag is at it's limit. The lens I've got is much heavier than the old one, so I decided to leave the heavy laptop and get a Surface. But the Surface Pro with a 128GB SSD hard-drive still only has 87GB of free space on it - ans as I take photos in RAW, I usually take about 16GB a day. Hence the need for the 500GB external drive. Hix
Actually I've got a few (2 ) non-medic friends. My IT friends don't have any suggestions. Hix: I had taken my ipod with me to back things up on as well, but for some reason most computers wouldn't recognise it. I would definitely recommend storing your photos on more than one hdd if you can. Jackwow: Thanks, I'll post to that forum now.
Having reread this thread in the course of updating the Trip Report Directory, I came across this rather incorrect prediction and laughed little did nanoboy know that Devilfish would be undertaking an even bigger adventure less than three years later!
Could you write some more on Bangkok Snake Farm and Pattaya Monster World? I'm trying to decide whether to go... Do Pattaya Underwater World and Siam Ocean World have different species? Or are they basically the same?
Bangkok snake farm: I re-visited in 2016 and loved it again. An excellent collection with the right degree of quirkiness (like a huge enclosure for several king cobras and the unusual but excellent show - which seemed smoother than I remembered). There are lots of interesting species on display here, as well as the possibility of seeing the sea snakes (from a distance) which are periodically held within public view but in an off-show space. You should visit. It's easy to spend a relatively short time here and combine it with a visit to another zoo/aquarium - just beware the awkward opening times. [Pattaya] Monster World: Don't bother unless you're already in the complex. Given the standards of enclosures I'd be surprised if much of the collection was still the same as it was when I visited in 2013. There were only a few animals worth going out of your way for, and I'd be surprised if they're still alive. Underwater World Pattaya is a very good but ageing aquarium which I visited in the hope of seeing the well-known Thai freshwater giants. I only found Mekong giant catfish - ultimately the difference between the two collections is that Pattaya's is mostly local species, and has the catfish, whereas Siam Ocean World is an aquarium much more like the other Sea Life Aquariums around the world, with more of an international species line-up. I think Siam Ocean World is worth a visit, as it's quite easy to match up with another day in Bangkok, and you'll still find several species which are uncommon in other collections. Although less so now, you'll still be able to see a few features within the aquarium which contrast with the rest of the Sea Life Chain. Over UW Pattaya I'd suggest Bang Saen or Phuket aquarium. I preferred both.
Re: Snake Farm: Do you remember if they have Pipe Snakes (any family), Flying Snakes or Blind Snakes?
Sorry for the delay in replying, I've been hopping between the UK and the Iberian peninsula over the last couple of weeks. A red-tailed pipe snake was actually on display last year, although it was trying to evade being photographed. Ornate flying snakes (Chrysopelea ornata) were also displayed. I've yet to see a live blind snake anywhere.
