Everyone needs a change of scenery once in a while, after a long period of hard work.
So is the same in Minecraft!
After all the mining, I decided to explore new biomes: any biomes will do, as long as they have greenery. That's because all that I see are fifty shades of stones (and lava) back in the mineshaft!
With that, I decided to find a jungle biome.
I found a jungle biome 2000 blocks away from my base. You cannot miss the jungle's boundary, simply because of how lush green the foliages are:
But one thing caught my eye: a cobblestone structure sitting in the midst of thick bushes?
Yes, that's the Jungle Temple. I can't believe my luck: a structure right at the border!
After carefully disabling the traps, it awarded me with:
Golden horse armour!! Maybe Mojang is insinuating it's time to befriend a pet horse?
However, my primary objective of visiting jungle biomes are not its loots. Rather, it's this fruit:
Minecraft cocoa, the unique vegetation of the jungle-variant biomes.
Why am I after cocoa beans? They are the ONLY ingredient to produce brown dyes. I have produced dyes of all colours except for brown, given how unique its source is.
Minecraft tip:
cocoa pods only grow on jungle logs (they don't have to be a tree) so make sure to bring some jungle logs back home if you're planning to farm cocoa seeds.
While harvesting cocoa seeds and jungle logs, I heard beautiful chirps. Sure enough...
Parrots, another unique species of the Minecraft jungle-variant biomes.
You know what's next: Tame them.
I used some of my cocoa seeds and wow, these parrots played the HARD-TO-GET game. I resort to normal seeds.
P/S I should have brought my stacks and stacks of seeds back in my farm's chests, ugh!
It took me a good 2 minutes to get this IKEA bird (bro fist if you get my reference) to love me. Geez, you spoiled mob!
All the tedious effort is (slightly) sweetened when it perched by my shoulder. How cute!
Now that I've achieved my mission (of obtaining cocoa seeds) and befriending a pet parrot as the cherry on the cake, it's time to go home.
Here is when I realise the "cherry" isn't exactly sweet.
Parrots are SLOW.
Yes, they fly extremely slow. I thought I can have it on my shoulder as I sprint and row my boat back home, but parrots will dismount if the player drops lower than 0.75 of block height.
What a joke; almost every block in Minecraft jungle is at 1.0 block height and it's the jungle is not a flat biome, to begin with.
Bringing this parrot back home now triples my travelling time. And even more time is wasted running back and forth because the parrot couldn't catch up with me.
P/S I do know parrots teleport, but it didn't work all the time.
Therefore, here is my Minecraft Tip for travelling with parrots:
1. Use a lead.
Funny as it seems, you can actually attach a lead to parrots in Minecraft. After leashing them, you can now sprint and therefore dragging your parrot after a certain distance.
Not the best option, but pulling them is quicker than waiting for them to fly to you.
Yes, it does feel like you're strangling your parrot and it's animal cruelty *even in Minecraft*. An alternative method would be:
2. Use a boat.
Place a boat and push your parrot until it sits in it. Then row to your heart's content.
Evidently, this is only efficient if you have to cross a large water body, such as the ocean. You can "boat" your parrot on land, though it's even slower and tedious than the bird following you organically.
3. Travel via the Nether portal.
We all know travelling through the Nether is the quickest way for any long-distance travel, given how the distance is shortened by eightfold in this other dimension.
Thence, use either two methods above to force your parrot entering the Nether. Then travel to your desired destination's portal with your new pet tagging behind you. Preferably leashed, because rowing a boat in the Nether is a hazard.
Trust me; the Nether journey saves up so much time and should be used whenever you're transporting mobs from faraway land to your base.
Last but not least, the final tip:
4. All three above.
Seriously, just do all of them if applicable.
...
Now, at this point in my Minecraft journey, I am yet to collect obsidian blocks let alone going to the Nether. I don't have a lead and there's no ocean to cross!
No choice but to travel by foot... What a tedious grind!
Persistence paid off; I finally arrived at my house and introduced my new pet to my pet dog*s*. I don't have a name for it yet... Regardless, welcome to the friendly herd, Mr Parrot!
Or, should I say...
Pesky birds.
Another reference, I just can't help it haha! Welcome to the bread club if you do!
Actually, the family photo above reminded me of a meme that goes something along the lines:
Day 918...
Parrot: they still don't know I'm not one of them...
Self-sufficiency always begins with farming.
Parrots settled, now it's cocoa time. Here's my simplest cocoa farm next to my crops... I may come up with a more intricate design in the near future... who knows?
Oh hi there, Loki!
Why do I need brown dyes? Well, that's another project to come. Stay tuned and follow my Minecraft journey here on my blog; alternatively, on my Instagram.
Thank you so much for still reading and I'll see you next time. Bye!
Signing out,
mypassion.mythoughts
Disclaimer:
mypassion.mythoughts owns all of the published media as watermarked. These media are in-game screenshots. Kindly seek permission and credit for reposting
Cover photo information:
"Minecraft #007" by mypassion.mythoughts
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