Hello from Chiang Mai

M

Martin Smith

Member
Hi all, Martin here. I worked at Royal Windsor Safari Park 1977 - 1980, Ganserndorf Safari Park 1980 and Port Lympne Wildlife Park 1980 - 1990.

Love to hook up with some colleagues from the golden oldie days and join in with some discussions here.

I now work offshore anywhere in the world on a month on month off basis, and home is Chiang Mai Thailand.
 
Welcome Martin

A little bit of a life change from wild animals to wild seas, I hope you can fill in the blanks some zoochatters have on species etc in the places you worked, also any photos of the zoo's in your day would be very welcome too.
If it's not being nosey, What made you move to Chiang Mai the climate,wildlife, other?
 
Hi Dean,

Not nosey at all..... and I would love one day to be able to write it all down in a humorous autobiography (that maybe only my dear ol' mum would buy!) because there have been literally hundreds of "off the wall" experiences and crazy jobs that have filled my 54 years (bloody hell, I started as a wet-behind-the-ears teenager at Windsor, all those years ago!).

I lived in Singapore as a kid (early 60's) and adored it... my next time to SE Asia was in 1988 when Aspinall sent me to the WWF & Asian Elephant Specialist Group meeting in Chiang Mai, Thailand...... and as soon as I stepped onto the tarmac I knew I was "home"....... I was hooked, all over again!

Cutting a long story short I moved to Thailand in 1990..... unfortunately it meant the end of my zoo career..... lived in Bangkok & Pattaya for 2 years working voluntarily at the original Pattaya Elephant Village...... then returned to Blighty and settled in London, working for Garrard the Crown Jewellers as Events Coordinator, then Premises & Facilities Manager.

I then found another excuse to return to Thailand in 1998..... and haven't been back to England since! I had a guesthouse and a cafe/bar for a number of years in Pattaya but when the World economy doo doo hit the fan a few years ago I sold everything, got a job offshore and moved up to Chiang Mai.

I now work as a Remote Sites Offshore Campboss (similar to a hotel manager, but on a working oil rig or ship) anywhere my firm sends me to..... and in my downtime I enjoy living in one of the nicest areas in the world!

Cheers!
 
Welcome to the site Martin, do you get to the Chiang mai zoo?
 
Thanks for answering my Nosey questions Martin you sound as if you have life all worked out! my partner and I visited Thailand in 2001 on route to Oz. One day we want to go back and look around more than just Bangkok. Richards uncle has a brother -in -law who lived out there for years running car dealerships, and married a local girl who is wonderful company, unfortunately for us, they now live back here in the UK.
I hope you enjoy our group.
 
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