Crocodile Rock

I apologize for not writing in a while.

Well a lot has happened since I last wrote, but I'll start with last Thursday. I went to the boat just to visit with my buddy Sey and hopefully go down river to see some crocodiles. My real intent was to find a baby crocodile that I could hold. I had been watching a lot of Animal Planet and watching old Steve Irwin documentaries. Not many know this, but the crocodile hunter was one of my childhood heroes. This motivated me to go and find a baby croc, just for fun. We arranged for a boat to take us down river. We went to a store where they keep crocs in a hole. I had been there already with the American teams twice. Once there, I asked them I they had any baby crocs. Unfortunately they didn't. So then I asked them if I could get a picture holding one of their giant catfish. Their reply was "if you can catch it". So I layed face down on the dock with the catfish pit below me. There were fish in this hole that were so big they could eat a chihuahua. The biggest one I saw looked to be about 4 feet long. Just about as long as my leg. I slowly placed my hands in the water and waited for the fish to swim in between them. The water was murky and I couldn't see what was lying below. I kept expecting a whopper to jump after me and take me under. Fish kept swimming between my hand and I kept grabbing at them, but their slick skin allowed them to slip right out of my hand. I managed to pull one out of the water, but it was kicking like crazy. It kicked so much that it slipped it's way back into the water. I gave up on this endeavor and decided to keep pursuing after my baby crocodile.

Some of the locals recommended a place where I could find a croc. It was not too far from the Common Grounds restaurant. Other things happened there at that store, but that story is for another time.

I ventured back to Siem Reap in search of this crocodile farm that they referred to me. When I arrived at the crocodile farm they let me look at their crocs. They had crocs of all ages and sizes. It was insane how many crocodiles they had. I don't think it would be far fetched to say they had 200 - 300 crocodiles here. Some of the crocs were massive! I was amazed how many crocodiles they had. Although, this would be a crocodile enthusiasts nightmare. This farm's habitat conditions were extremely poor. The crocs looked miserable. They were all scarred up. I found the baby crocs and asked the lady behind the counter if I could hold one. She looked at me like I had just asked her if could pour mayonnaise on her head. 

"No, because the crocodile might bite you and we don't want you to get hurt."

"It's okay if I get bitten. In fact, it would be a really good picture." (Believe me, I didn't want to get bitten. I just needed to communicate that I wasn't concerned with getting bitten.)

She reluctantly let me hold it. I grabbed the ferocious beast (aka the little baby crocodile) by the back of the neck so it wouldn't turn and bite me. With my other hand I grabbed the tail so that it wouldn't be wiggling around trying to get away.

Here is the result! Proof that half of my childhood dream is complete, to hold a baby crocodile. Now I just have to complete the other half, jump on and be involved in capturing a full grown crocodile. Yippee!

Tomorrow I'll have another post, so be looking out for it.