A Walk in the Park

Last weekend Faye and I decided to do a little exploring.  Faye had seen a park on a trip to the market so we set out to find it.  It didn't take long for our left turn, right turn, GPS Lucy talking to us and then there it was.  From the street it looked great...lots of green space, a playground for kids, a gazebo or 4. 

We had to circle around before we finally found the entrance.  Once parked, we headed out into this park.  It was deserted. It didn't take us long before we both commented that it sure did need some TLC.  The grass was overgrown, electrical boxes were open and exposed wires sticking out at a 4 year old's level.  Faye had gone to a sort of zoo that was gorgeous when it opened and now, a couple of years later, it too was overgrown and appeared no one was taking care of it.  It was really a shame because it is such a large beautiful area and has so much potential.

He's down there somewhere...

We both heard a sound that I thought was go carts in the distance.  Something caught my eye and I saw a speed boat flying across the water of the river that ran alongside the park.  We walked toward the walled border of the park.  I saw an opening and as I approached it I noticed that it was several very wide steps that disappeared into the water.  Just then, I saw it.....a giant Komodo Dragon!!  He saw me at the same time, our eyes met and my feet left the ground as I screamed and tried to turn to my left to run.  I ran smack into Faye who heard me scream but didn't know why!  The instant before I turned to run/jump/scream, I saw this giant animal look like he was heading up the steps toward me but at the last second, he dove in the water and disappeared. 

Not the guy I saw but he looked JUST like this!

Faye was saying "WHAT WHAT WHAT?????"  I told her and then we both realized how we must have looked and we both cracked up.   We walked along the wall for a few more minutes until we were sure that the dragon had left for good.  The Komodo Dragon is common in this area and this guy was probably 4-5 feet long....the biggest damn lizard I've even seen!  Of course, now we can laugh at ourselves, which we've done many times since last weekend, but at the time it was no laughing matter.  

Here's a link to an article in the Brunei Times, the local English language paper.

Komodo Dragons in Brunei


So much for a leisurely walk in the park.