Butterflies

Oh, allright then. Here, as promised, are some pictures of the butterflies.

The photos don't even begin to do justice to the amazing butterflies that are everywhere in the jungle here.



All shapes, all sizes, the most astonishing colours and, most of all, the sheer numbers.



But the most incredible thing about them is their uncanny ability to take off and disappear just as you think you've got them in the viewfinder.



Sometimes, though, you strike lucky and capture just a glimpse of their real colours.



More from the Attenborough team soon. In the meantime, please don't forget the need to keep supporting VSO through our Justgiving page at www.justgiving.com/jagoteers.

Beasts

Following on from the last posting, Cambodia also has its share of larger animals. Some are domesticated, some are wild, and some are... well, just wait for the last photo.

Starting off, here's a picture of the pig that came to school with us when we were doing our language training at Western University in Kampong Cham. It just walked in, ate everything out of the rubbish bins, and then walked off. Not quite a typical student - it didn't crash out on the sofa at any point. Still, it makes a change from dealing with students who are pigs to meeting a pig who's a student.



We've seen quite a few wild monkeys in a number of places but this one was a real character. We were taking in the stunning view from a Wat on top of a hill overlooking the Mekong when this gibbon just ran along the railing in front of us and swung himself up into the rafters.



He had a laze, a groom and then another laze (that's the life for me!), then swung off into a tree and started looking for fruit. Even then, he was only about ten feet away from us and continued to find us apparently quite as fascinating as we found him.



The next fellows were quite clearly domesticated and made up a rather splendid formation barking team as we walked past their home - a buddhist nunnery at the top of a small mountain. Like most Cambodian dogs, they weren't aggressive, just interested and noisy.



And now for afters. Some are cooked. Anyone fancy a deep fried spider? No? How about a crispy cockroach then?

More soon. In the meantime, please don't forget the need to keep supporting VSO through our Justgiving page at www.justgiving.com/jagoteers.

Bugs

Those of a nervous disposition, look away now.

We thought it was time to show you some of the more creepy little friends we have met so far. First is this millipede that we found wandering across the path on a jungle trek in Kep.



He was about a foot long (we've seen bigger) and just one of many that appear to aimlessly criss-cross the paths through the jungle. In the photo, Sarah is training him to walk up and down a stick (if you really want it, we also have a video of the event). The next view is one of his cousins, but in a more natural pose.



Next is something a little harder to make out but really fascinating: a Weaver Ants' nest. These ants fold and sew leaves to make their nests in the trees. This one was about 10 feet up and about two feet in length. We resisted the temptation to climb up for a closer look.



The Praying Mantis in the photo below simply decided to join us for breakfast one day in Kampong Cham. She was a good 6 inches long, which we think you'll agree is big for a bug. Beautiful, though.



And now for the piece de resistance. The lady below was stretched out across a path that we wanted to use. The bottom of her web was about 5 feet up and, when we arrived, she was at the top of it. As Sarah snuck underneath, the vibrations attracted her interest and she came down to have a look. If you enlarge the picture, that's about a third of the size she actually was. Yes, that's quite big.



This left Perry with a small dilemma. A well-known arachnophile, he had one or two qualms about trying to sneak under the web, especially since he was wearing a back pack and leaning forward just made him taller. Eventually, he hit upon the solution: poke it with a stick! The idea was to see how the spider would react to the web being twitched more than she might like. It worked, and she withdrew back up to the top without any damage being done to web, spider or planet Earth's dominant species and top predator.

Eventually, the top predator snuck through underneath without even crying.

We might put some pictures of the beautiful butterflies we've also seen on here at some point, just to balance things up a bit. In the meantime, please don't forget the need to keep supporting VSO through our Justgiving page at www.justgiving.com/jagoteers.