Elephrend

Had my Dutch friend Nora over last week. Hence the somewhat silence on this blog, I hardly had time.

Was fun to see her outside of her normal environment.

We actually never met up a lot in The Netherlands, it was more of a phone relationship. She's a colleague from one of my former jobs and after I left there we had become friends. I visited her when I was back in The Netherlands during the last two years, but this year she decided to come this way. I showed her around a bit, and she wandered the city by herself a few days when I still had to work, having lunch and dinner with her.

She very much enjoyed KL, but not so much the climate :-)

Highlight (well, for her anyway, I very much dislike organised tours) was a trip to Kuala Gandah, the elephant orphanage in Malaysia, where Nora turned into an elephrend...

Took some ok shots there, which I will show soon.

As far as I understood the orphanage takes in elephants that can't be set free in the wild anymore. Their habitats over here get smaller and smaller and when they get too close to civilisation they become a threat to humans and the oil plantations. It's the classic tale of human development making it impossible for wild life to sustain itself.

You can feed the elephants there, ride an elephant for a short round around a tree, and they even take you into the river to be dropped by these huge creatures into the water. All voluntary mind you...

I skipped all that, busy taking pictures. I'm not afraid of animals (well, all in moderation, it's unwise not to be afraid of venomous snakes or a growling tiger ready to jump you) but I sat on a horse once and I felt it for a week. Besides, I'm very much a 'better safe than sorry' kind of person, and I decided early on in life that it is best to keep some distance when it comes to trained wild animals. No matter how gentle they might seem and act, they still can trample you with one kick if they have a moody day. I know I would if I were an elephant... And since riding an elephant was never very high on my secret wish list, I just took pictures.

The bus driver of the small mini van to Kuala Gandah was a bit of a bore and kinda racist, telling his little story about how KL came about, and that set the tone for the rest of the trip... Think these outings are better done with just friends in a private car, or in a really big bus with lots of people where you can escape the guide, and wander off unnoticed...

Into the river... click on the photo for the bigger version...