Tay Ho Silhouette

a public holiday today in Vietnam (thank you King Hung...) so streets were madder than usual - plus tourist season has officially begun and they are out in anxious little packs, clutching their back packs to their chests and hovering nervously at road edges armed with their Lonely Planets and cameras like they are magical talismans.....

I had to buy what seemed like a truck load of supplies for the next few weeks and am now in the peace and quiet - too quiet really thanks to losing Max - of Tam Dao

Doris the house gecko has been sloughing her skin and i occasionally find her sitting in a little puddle of water in my wet room - I left my wet room light on by accident and have come home to zillions of dead insects everywhere - methinks Doris has had a bit of a feast - she's been very quiet since I got home - maybe shes in a corner somewhere groaning and promising to herself not to eat so much next time :)

We have tomorrow to prepare and then on weds we have 4 visiting opthamology (er eye ) specialists from the UK and two cambodian vets - (coming to learn) and we plan to knock out about 30 bears during the following 7 days - some will be able to have specialist surgery which will restore or partially restore their eyesight - it's going to be pretty intense so forgive me if all you get are quick phone shots from a very tired bear nurse!

thank you all for your support about Max - I had a very hard time today driving past the dog meat shops and then coming home to an empty porch. I suspect i will be blubbering for quite some time - and also very angry. To answer some questions yes my organisation does have a huge cat and dog welfare programme in Hong Kong and China - but we don't have the funding to spread it here to North Vietnam yet. So we are trying to make little changes here from Tam Dao.