In the States I was used to getting called to the playground to chase away a rambunctious dog or two every year. Once had a parrot, escaped from a nearby home, landed in one of the trees. Lots of earthworms and occasional garter snakes…but never too much beyond that. Imagine my surprise when I get a call Saturday evening saying an 8 foot Malaysian Reticulated Python had been captured outside my office door. The guards and maintenance crew were pretty stoked upon catching it and promised to save it for me to view. I have to say, it is a pretty beautiful creature but definitely not something we want crawling around our little three year old preschoolers!!!
This little fella weighed in at 9 lbs. Doing a little research I found they are the longest snakes in the world…the record stretching a whopping 33 feet long. And besides the Anaconda, they are about the heaviest of all snakes. At a resort this year near the Thai border, a maintenance worker found a 20 footer near some of the rooms. He attempted to remove it himself and wound up being squeezed to death. This was just another little reminder that we live right in the middle of a jungle!!!
We are pleased say our water rationing is over. We had an extended drought and the entire city was put on water rationing….two days with water, two days without. Imagine going to take a shower and no water comes out? Or you forgot to fill up your water dispenser and you have no water for drinking or cooking? Or worse yet, you didn’t fill up buckets in order to flush the toilet? Makes you realize how precious and necessary water is in our lives. We were lucky to have a large water tank at our building that sustained us through the ration days. We only lost water twice in the two to three months of rationing. Others were not so lucky. Water will definitely be the next great resource battle.
This weekend we are heading to Singapore. Heidi is attending a math conference and I am visiting United World College (a world class international school) to see what they do for service learning. We hope to tour around town a bit….as always I hope to take a few pictures to share with you later.
Our Adventures 
There is no rationing here–welcome home!
Three more weeks!!!! Looking forward to firing up that bar-b-que of ours, going to McGlinn’s, lounging by the pool, and above all, seeing family and friends.
Oh my! Be careful not to get too “wrapped up” in your work ,Bob!
Ohhhh, nice one!!
YUUUUCK! Snakes are something I cannot handle. I once babysat my cousins. My aunt gave me the rundown of the day, which consisted of the typical easy tasks and schedule. However, as she began to exit, she told me Jake was missing somewhere in the house. Jake was their pet snake. Needless to say, we sat on the couch reading and watching TV those two LONG hours. I was terrified I’d find him. I think I would pass the viewing process you were offered. Hugs you two!
Hi Angie,
Snakes have never been on my favorite pet list…as big as I am, I have to admit I have a fear of those critters. The Python was HUGE…never have I seen one of these in the wild. And guess what…there are cobras here. That is right, cobras. Extremely poisonous. One of our teachers was getting her mail and noticed the leaves moving about the mailbox. She looked up and came face to face with a cobra. Luckily it slithers away. When I went scuba diving, one of my instructors surfaced after a dive with three High School students in inside of her snorkel was a sea snake. It crawled out right in front of her face and swam away. She stayed perfectly still even though she is deathly afraid of snakes. These sea snakes are also very poisonous.
Snakes should stay away from school !!!
Okay, Bob, that gives me the creeps. I cannot even watch the things on TV. I literally have to stop watching and often remove myself from the living room, as the sound they make gives the hair on the back of my neck a spiked feeling. I am deathly afraid of them. Nothing compares to them in my level of fear factor. YIKES!!! Be careful.