Category Archives: Sangkhlaburi

Leaving Sangkhla

2015-04-13 ramblintraveler Leave a comment

The time had finally come to say goodbye to Sangkhlaburi and the animal shelter. I say ‘had’ because I’ve now been away from there for the past 10 days (how time flies!!). The hardest part was leaving all the animals behind. Worrying whether the disabled dogs were getting their night-time blankets, whether dogs were getting their proper daily meds, whether laundry had been done and dogs had been walked occupied my mind for several days after having left. But as we all know, the world doesn’t stop turning because one has moved on to something else. Volunteers will always be there to care for the dogs.

Nipper

Balua

NuNu

Jim

USA

Henry

I left for a couple of reasons, the first being that I had been in Thailand at that point for almost four months and yet still had only seen a tiny fraction of the Country. Second, as it was early on during my time at the sanctuary, personality clashes arose again. High School cliques started forming again creating a huge divide between people who cared for the sanctuary dogs and those who cared for the clinic dogs. Personally I think that the two would go hand in hand, but alas it wasn’t the reality.

Bang & Goose

Nikita with Clover, Storm, Goose

Wilma & Mike

Gizmo, Eleanor, Gordon & Emmitt

Gizmo & Wilma

Eleanor, Oreo & Daisy

Thankfully though my last two weeks there, just as the first week or so of first arriving, were my absolute favorite. Not because it was the beginning and end of my stay, but again because of the organic nature and vibe of the workers during those times. That ridiculous line between shelter and clinic was erased. No cliques, no favoritism, no inclusion of only certain people and not others. No more bull essentially. Just everyone working together, learning and aiding where needed. It’s amazing how some people can naturally lead others in working together as a team while others create divides so they can pump up their egos where necessary.

Gizmo, Mabel & Gordon

Mike

Mabel & Emmitt

Wilma

Mike_2

Eleanor, Gordon, Crash, Wilma

I still think of the faces of each animal daily. I will never forget them and though I wish I could take each one with me, I know the chilling reality is that there are animals all over the world that need equal love, care and shelter. For now I’m simply traveling and just as I organically happened to find the sanctuary in Sangkhlaburi, I’m keeping my ears and eyes peeled for the next opportunity. But until then, I’ve headed South to check out the mystery and beauty of the Thai Islands.

Mike_3

Storm

Pino

Clover

Rita

Piglet

On to Unexpected Company

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Sangkhlaburi, Thailand

“Ticklet”

2015-02-03 ramblintraveler 2 Comments

This is the story of Piglet, who I lovingly also call “Ticklet”. Since I’ve been here she has been one of the four (now five) porch dogs who live on the porch of the volunteer house, just across the street from the Thai Animal Sanctuary in Sangkhlaburi. Piglet used to live in the sanctuary, as the rest of the porch dogs did, but once better chose to live outside of the gates of the sanctuary, on the street and porch, free to roam around as they choose.

What makes Piglet more interesting however is how fearful she is of humans. She loves being around us, but won’t let anyone touch her. There have been a few occasions however where she has allowed myself and other volunteers to scratch and pet her, but the events are VERY few and far between as she skitters away after a pat or two. When we are away for a bit we are always greeted by her with a friendly face and tail wagging, and she always approaches us as if she wants a pat, but then retreats when we get too close. She even accompanies us to the market or other destinations we walk to but again always just far enough away from us so we can’t touch her.

Piglet came to the sanctuary as a puppy, the sole survivor of her entire family. The woman who opened the sanctuary here got word of a family of dogs (a mother and several puppies) who were going to be poisoned by their human owners because they didn’t want to care for them… She rushed to the site where they were to find the mother dog killed by a machete, and all the puppies except piglet dead by poison. Piglet herself was attacked by a machete in an attempt to kill her but thankfully was rescued. Knowing her past, it’s no wonder she doesn’t trust people.

When I first came here she was absolutely covered along her back, between her toes and on her chest with ticks (hence why I nicknamed her Ticklet). The nasty and huge blood suckers were so prevalent that you could see them sticking off of her from a distance and every time she sat on the porch and scratched, at least one or two would fall off her. Since no one could touch her, the continuous debate on what to do about her tick situation went on. We tried several times to catch her with a net with no success. I once was able to slightly distract her with treats in one hand, and as she ate I brought my other hand around with Spot-On and was able to get a drop on her before she figured out the scheme and went running away, spilling the rest of the Spot-On in the street.

It was obvious that we had to sedate her fully in order to really get in and pick all the ticks off. We even joked about how, when she was finally under, we would each take turns cuddling her and taking pictures with her since we knew we would never get the chance again, lol! Trouble was, I think she heard us… You see, Ticklet is also tremendously smart. So while we sat on the porch in the evenings discussing various things to do, I’m sure she heard when we came up with the plan to put Diazepam (sleeping pills) in some food to make her drowsy, then stab her with a syringe of Xylazine to put her completely out so we could pick off the ticks.

The day finally came when our plan was to come into action! Several five milligram Diazepam pills were purchased to do the trick and she readily took the bait. The pills (about 4 in the first try) were hidden in a bowl of wet dog food that was consumed at a very fast pace. We sat and waited for her to sleep, but while she did doze a bit, she never fully lost her vigilance. Another bowl was offered with three more pills, but still nothing happened. Yet another bowl was offered as we thought to ourselves how ridiculous and amazing it was that she still wasn’t sleepy enough to approach! After a total of about ten pills, she still didn’t show any signs of drowsiness!! She did however decide to take a walk…

Figuring she was finally feeling drowsy, but being smart enough not to fall asleep in front of us, she was probably trying to move elsewhere so she could actually fall asleep without threat of us stabbing her with a full dose of sleeping aid. So of course we had to follow. She walked down the block and into a large area of pure jungle where she sniffed and walked leisurely to find the right spot. She never did actually lay down however, just sniffed here and there as if she was interested in doing so. Frankly I think she was really just having a laugh at us!

It started to look promising however as she looked a bit drowsy at one point, but the second we went to make a move toward her through the jungle she was off again running in and out of various jungle in the yards of the neighbors down the street. We continued to follow at a distance, determined not to lose her! The whole event ended with her walking (quite alert) right back onto the property of the volunteer house. She never did fall asleep even once during the whole ordeal! Funnily enough however, (and maybe it was just that the temperature at night began to drop) after that day Ticklet turned back into Piglet as the ticks began to fall off her body on their own… Personally I think that the ten milligrams of Diazepam, which seemingly had no effect on Piglet, actually worked to put all the ticks on her body to sleep thereby making them drop off on their own, lol!!

It’s been several weeks since the event at this point, and Piglet is still tick-free (at least as far as we can see from the distance she allows). Such a clever dog she is… I’m sure she heard us talking of taking pictures and cuddling with her while she was out that she simply funneled all the sleeping pills to the ticks instead just so she wouldn’t have to endure such torture of cuddling from us, lol!!

On to Thankful

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Sangkhlaburi, Thailand

How Silver Saved Shadow

2015-02-03 ramblintraveler Leave a comment

This post has been a long time coming since the events I’m about to write about happened about five weeks ago, in the early days of volunteering at the Thai Animal Sanctuary in Sangkhlaburi. When I first arrived, among all the other puppies at the Sanctuary, there were three especially tiny ones: Luna, Sky and Shadow who came in with their very sick and skeletal mom, Xena. Xena, trying to simply survive herself never really took to the puppies and rarely fed nor bonded with them herself. Lacking the very necessary antibodies that help puppies and human babies to build strong immune systems through mothers milk, the three puppies were very susceptible to illness.

Sadly, Luna succumbed to her weakened immune system one morning. Sky and Shadow began to grow and seemed relatively healthy. One day however, we woke to Sky looking suddenly terrible. Her face blew up to twice her normal size and her breathing was very labored. Thinking it at first an allergy, she was given antihistamines to try to revert the allergy. But they didn’t work. Several days went by with no improvement as the vets debated what to do to try to help. She passed away one evening and a necropsy was performed by the vets and some vet techs the next day. What they discovered was that her lungs were shot. She had developed infectious pneumonia that led to her demise.

Even though once she became symptomatic, she was separated from Shadow, a few days after her death Shadow’s bark, normally strong and at times annoying, became gruff and sounded like a bark from a dog that had developed emphysema. One vet thought it was just because he had been barking non-stop the night before and had given himself a sore throat. But upon further investigation Shadow’s head, just as Sky, began to swell. Since he showed the same symptoms as Sky, and since we learned that Sky suffered from infectious pneumonia, appropriate courses of action were taken to properly treat Shadow.

Within a couple of days however, yet again nothing seemed to help. Shadow became worse and worse struggling with each breath for tiny bits of oxygen. Normally plump to the point of looking like a dog with a gopher belly, his belly shrunk inward with every breath, collapsing on his body, revealing each rib and bony hips. His eyes told the story of his struggle most of all. Round and dark they gazed up at us with his head extended straight forward in an effort to breath better, pleading to us for help.

On the third or fourth day after no signs of improvement and his health continuing to spiral toward death, as Jo and I sat on the porch discussing what else could possibly help, I thought of the bottle of Colloidal Silver my mom had given me for my travels to stave off any potential illness. Colloidal Silver kills over 650 viruses and bacteria. At the point we were at, nothing else was helping and it certainly wouldn’t hurt him to try the Silver. I first researched whether it was safe to give to pets and found out it was. While my bottle of Silver was a bit more concentrated than the recommended dosage for dogs, again at that point it was worth a shot.

As Jo held him, I squirt several drops in his mouth, then prepared a little pillow with lavender oil sprinkled on it (another thing I read about that helps with breathing as I researched the Silver) to put in his little carrier crate where he slept.

The next day, Shadow was alert and breathing better. Though not 100%, every day after the morning I gave him Silver he continued to improve. Within the week, he began to bark again; rough and course at first, then strong and healthy with bite 🙂

Hanging in the Hammock

Hanging in the Hammock_2

Today, Shadow is alive and well turning into a beautiful young dog full of energy and spark! Some here don’t believe the Silver had anything to do with his turn around in health, but I do. Traditional Western medicines did nothing over several days of treatment to get him feeling better, rather he got worse. But after one dose of Silver, he began to improve. Again some could argue it was complete coincidence. I’m a believer however and in my opinion, Shadow is the proof!

On to “Ticklet”

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Sangkhlaburi, Thailand

More Muay Thai

2015-01-27 ramblintraveler Leave a comment

Simply more pictures from Muay Thai boxing matches January 2nd 2558 (that’s the year that Thailand is currently in:)) Enjoy!

On to How Silver Saved Shadow

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Sangkhlaburi, Thailand

Spay Camp and Elephants

2015-01-27 ramblintraveler Leave a comment

Part of what the Animal Shelter does here, aside from the everyday free care and treatment of animals, is to go to neighboring villages and monasteries to spay and neuter dogs and cats of the area. These spay camps (as we call them) are great opportunities not only to get a day out and away from the everyday tasks of running a shelter, but also to better the community so animal populations don’t run amok and also provides a way for surrounding villages to get to know who we (the animal shelter) are so they can feel more confident about coming to us if ever needed.

Dr. Mays set up several camps for us, two running on consecutive days and then two more for the following week. Though I have had experience in basic horse care/vet skills, dogs and cats are a different beast. I had no experience in giving shots, IVs, prepping animals for surgery, etc. The spay camp I attended quickly changed all that very quickly for me however 🙂

Jo Driving

We set off around 10 to a nearby monastery about 30 or so kilometers away (myself, Jo, Nyzil and J. (the vets)) and arrived about a half hour later to an absolutely serene and beautifully peaceful monastery nestled off the road among gentle slopes and lush vegetation. We were greeted by residents of the monastery and were shown to a large covered car port where we began to set up two tables for surgery. Since this was my first go round with spays, I was mainly just taking instruction on how to set up the table and basically aped Jo (who is well seasoned with spay camps) asking about a trillion questions along the way.

Monastery Grounds

Monastery Grounds_2

Monastery Grounds_3

Monastery Grounds_4

Monastery Grounds_5

Monastery Grounds_6

I was paired with J., the newest vet on the team, and Jo was with Nyzil. I will admit I was at first a bit reluctant about how J. and I would work as a team because we had several miscommunications that led to many frustrations in times before. I don’t know what it was exactly that happened however in the first few minutes of setting up the camp. To this day I still can’t pin it exactly. But what I do know is that as the table was set and the first two cats were starting to doze into a deep sleep in preparation for the surgery, something just clicked with J. and I. It wasn’t spoken, it just happened and suddenly I began to understand how she thought and worked.

Hard at Work

Spayed Cat Line-up

Shaving the Cat

Shaving the Cat_2

Shaving the Cat_3

She taught me how to shave the cats, how to give injections, tricks on how to tell whether the animal was starting to come out of their slumber, how to check the heart rate and much more. We worked fabulously together and by the end of the day, after a lovely lunch provided to us by the monastery residents, we had banged out 8 cat spays. Well, in all honesty one of the cats whom we tagged as being female turned out to be male after failing to find the uterus! Hey now, we all make mistakes! No judging!! 😉

We finished about 3pm, packed up and headed out. Since it was still relatively early and we had not received any news from the shelter about needing to return immediately, we decided to check out the Khao Laem National Park, just a few kilometers down the road. The park boasts a nature trail several kilometers long with 9 different waterfalls and a rather impressively large tree. We all set off for the hike and crossed the river about 250 meters in to see the tree, but when we crossed back over, Jo broke one of her flip-flops making it basically impossible for us to hike any further. We instead opted to swim in the river for a bit then made our way back to the car. The day was still young however so we decided to head off to a village Nyzil knew about that had elephants!

Kratengjeng Waterfall Walk

Kratengjeng Waterfall Walk_2

Kratengjeng Waterfall Walk_3

Kratengjeng Waterfall Walk_4

Kratengjeng Waterfall Tree

Kratengjeng Waterfall Tree_2

The turning for the village was only about 10km from Sangkhlaburi, but getting to the village required quite a bit of off-roading and a few minutes of scary grounds to drive across. The dirt road kept splitting and though Nyzil was navigating, every now and again he’d say out loud “I’m not sure this is the right way because we are supposed to be heading toward the mountains”, lol!!

Off Road

Off Road_2

Luckily he did get us to the right place and my oh my, what a beautiful little village it was!! Nestled at the base of a mountain, across the river on a rather shady yet sturdy bamboo bridge lay a magnificent quiet little community full of life of all kinds. Nyzil had been there before on a previous spay camp and even recognized several of the dogs he’d operated on by the little notches left in their ears. No one in the village spoke even a word of english and of course none of us knew the word for elephant in Thai, so we were left to a game of charades. Correction: we actually left the game of charades to Nyzil who proceeded to try to act out what an elephant looked like to the locals all while repeating the word “elephant?”. It was seriously quite amusing to watch and I’m sure the villagers were probably playing dumb for a bit just to keep watching him make impressions, lol!!

Elephant Village

Elephant Village_2

Elephant Village_3

Elephant Village_4

Elephant Village_5

Elephant Village_6

We finally found one villager who acquiesced to knowing what we were trying to get to and he led us the way. We walked through a rubber plantation… Here I have to stop because I had no idea that rubber is made from tree sap!!! There were hundreds of trees lined and tapped with a little collection basket for the sap and when I was told it was a rubber plantation, I just kept repeating “rubber??? As in rubber tires??” because I’d just no idea that’s where rubber came from. I just assumed it was all a petrochemical production! Just goes to show you learn something new every day:)

Moving on, we walked past the rubber plantation following the sound of a distant bell along a wee path. Our guide then started off the path through the field to which Jo wasn’t able to walk on (no shoes) so she headed on the path just to explore while myself, Nyzil and J. followed our guide.

The sound of the bell grew louder and louder and a few minutes later, up ahead in the bushes enjoying a meal of various natural vegetation stood Moosa!! What an absolutely BEAUTIFUL creature!!! She wasn’t scared of humans as she worked in the village but when not working she had the run of the land, going where she pleased and had only a rope with a bell around he neck so she could be found when needed.

Elephant Village_7

Guide to Elephant

Moosa

Moosa_2

Moosa_3

Moosa_4

I had never touched an elephant before. Had only fed them cucumbers and other veggies when in Ayutthaya. This was how I’d wanted to experience them though. In the wild, free from cages and tourists, no forced tricks or contraptions on her back to give tourists rides, no sticks with sharp hooks at the end to make her go one way or another, simply living free. I couldn’t stop petting her and telling her how beautiful she was!! We spent probably a good half hour with her as she continued to nibble then said our goodbyes and headed back to the path. Interestingly enough our timing was just right as Jo was also returning from her walk along the path and she too had spotted the other elephant of the village down the way.

Moosa_5

Moosa_6

Moosa_7

Rubber Plantation

Walk out of Village

Elephant Village_8

The sun was starting to set at this point and we were all getting hungry, so we set off for another spot along the way back to Sangkhlaburi for some dinner. The Nature Club, a hotel and activities center only about 5km from the town was where we chose to stop. It too is set in a beautiful location surrounded by mountains and a rather large lake. We had a few drinks and food, then headed home. The days activities and bonding that occurred throughout the day between the four of us was unexpected but absolutely amazing. That day is now one of my fondest memories of Thailand. It was truely a day I think we all came away feeling absolutely blessed and thankful.

Elephant Village Sunset

Elephant Village Sunset_2

Elephant Village Sunset_3

Nature Club

Nature Club_2

Nature Club_4

On to The “Bum Gun”

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Sangkhlaburi, Thailand

Power of a Howl

2015-01-19 ramblintraveler Leave a comment

There is something so magical about the sound of dogs howling in unison. I don’t know the exact reason for why a howl begins or the exact purpose of a howl but I do know it must have a hand somewhere in bonding dogs. Whatever the reason, the power of it is undeniable.

Usually it begins with sounds of a scuffle. One dog having overstepped their boundaries or another simply having a bad day. The fight breaks out and the thought goes through my mind every time whether to rush to the enclosure where the scuffle broke out and try to intervene. Somehow like magic however the sounds of thrashing and growling slowly turn into a howl. Not from either of the fight participants, but from a nearby dog. The sound of one howl turns into three, then seven, then eleven until within just a few seconds every dog (including those who were previously fighting) stops what they are doing to join in.

It reminds me of 101 Dalmatians where the dogs are sending messages across the town because it begins in our shelter and all the dogs join in for the song, it then starts to spread across the shelter like a gentle wind eventually infecting the neighboring street dogs to join in as well. Where the howl began turns silent as peace settles back into each dog and the echo of howls continues on away from the origin until finally silence descends all around. The after howl silence is so serene.

Fights I’ve witnessed in person are often broken up by us throwing water on the animals just to get them snapped out of what they were doing for a split second. It only works for that split second however and you have to get in between them before they jump right back into their fight. They hold grudges for a while even when separated. Though my instinct always works toward reaching for the nearest water bowl, I often wonder if instead I should simply start howling myself to see if it catches on to break up the fight peacefully. Fights never restart after a good howl.

The community dog howl is a sound I’ve come to absolutely adore. I must admit I’ve joined in myself on full moon nights just for the heck of it, probably freaking out passersby, but I’m not much of one to care what others think of me anyway:) I will admit it is annoying when they break out in song at 3am, first thing in the morning, just before bed when you are trying your hardest to sleep, or any other random time when you are simply praying for silence, yet it’s still one of my favorite sounds. Or maybe it’s just the peaceful silence that comes after the howl…

On to Modern Bangkok

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Sangkhlaburi, Thailand

One for the Dogs

2015-01-06 ramblintraveler 2 Comments

For this post, I just wanted to put up some pictures of a few of the wonderful dogs at the sanctuary. Enjoy the pictures:)

Noodles sleeping in his favorite position:

Piglet eyeballing me nervously (she won’t let anyone touch her but loves being a porch dog).

Puppy playtime with Shadow, Sky, Bo, Bella and Serena

Bo pinning down Sky… Notice Bo is pinning another down with only 3 legs:)

Shadow having a lick

Bella with her cone

Bo seeking attention

Bo_2

Sky getting the big bad shade

Blind, old Wiley with his tiger print wrapped tail

Xena relaxing

Everyone wanting attention

Bang having a stretch

Wilma (lost the use of her back legs in a car crash)

Wilma

Wilma_2

Bang and Blaze chilling

Crash (who also lost use of his back legs during… well, a crash)

Crash

Crash_2

Crash_3

Gizmo (can actually use his back legs, but chooses not to. He bit me once just above the knee and took out a large chunk. He really didn’t mean to though, he was aiming for the dog I was carrying but since he can’t jump just ended up getting me instead, lol!)

Gizmo

Gizmo Looking for Imaginary Frog

Gizmo_2

On to Power of a Howl

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Sangkhlaburi, Thailand

Sangkhlaburi

2015-01-06 ramblintraveler Leave a comment

Once again I opted for the ‘bit more expensive but will get you there faster’ mini-bus from Kanchanaburi to Sangkhlaburi. It took about 4 harrowing hours to get there, and boy, I’d never been so happy to finally get anywhere before!! Reason being was because of our absolutely lunatic mini-bus driver!! It was one of those times I just had to breathe and trust that he knew what he was doing. Why you may ask? Well, basically because every car or truck or motorbike we came behind was swiftly passed at a very rapid speed. And for a good percentage of these passes, we were doing so while going around blind corners!! Interestingly I later heard from a fellow traveler that there is an accident involving a mini-bus every day because of how crazy they drive! And even more scary, one of the volunteers said her driver FELL ASLEEP at the wheel in the mini-bus she took!! Lovely…

Sangkhlaburi in Town

Floating Village

Mon Bridge

Hillside Homes

I must admit though that through much of the driving (that is while we weren’t driving like a bat out of hell around blind corners in the WRONG LANE) I was thankfully distracted by the absolutely stunning national parks around us. I tried so many different times to take some decent pictures, but failed each time. Again because of the warp speed we were driving, it was just impossible to take a picture that wasn’t blurry!

Floating Village_2

Lake View

Lake View_2

The road to Sangkhlaburi is one to take your time on. And if you are able to rent a car and don’t mind driving on the “wrong” side of the road (in Thailand they drive on the left like in the UK) then do it! Between the Erawan National Park, Sai Yok National Park and the Khao Laem National Park, just about the entire trip was breathtaking! The last half hour or so was a bit rough because the road turned unkempt with lots of sharp uphill turns, but other than that (and the crazy driving) it was beautiful.

Bamboo Bridge

Mon Bridge_2

Parallel Bridges

I arrived mid-afternoon and started wandering the little town. It was boiling hot and I had no idea where I was really going. All I knew was that the gentlemen I’d spoken to in Kanchanaburi who turned my mind around about going to Sangkhlaburi told me of a lovely hostel called J’s Family Homestay that he’d really enjoyed. So in my mind, I was set on finding that place to stay as well. There were a couple hostels in town but no one wanted to help me find J’s place, they were only set on getting me to stay there. So I wandered town aimlessly for a bit and spotted a little place to eat on the corner. As it was mid-afternoon, I was starving and sweating profusely and my bag was really starting to bother me, so I figured I’d stop for lunch and maybe Google where the J’s place was.

Mon Bridge_3

Lake View_3

Lake View_4

Across the street there was a spa that advertised WiFi, so I thought maybe they had it everywhere. I asked the woman at the eatery whether they had WiFi (basically I just said WiFi?? as she didn’t speak any English) and she immediately busted out laughing. She said something to the ladies behind her with the word ‘WiFi’ in there and they too suddenly busted out laughing. I’m talking full on hearty belly laughs as if I’d told a hilarious joke! So well, yea, I figured the several minutes of laughter meant that no, they didn’t have any WiFi there, lol!!

Mon Village

View from Mon Village

View from Mon Village_2

After filling up on some fried rice, I headed on down the road leading away from the main town. I walked for what felt like forever in the heat, just feeling the sweat drip down my back and moisture soak into my backpack. My instincts were not on my side on that day because every side road I took “feeling” like it may be down that way was in fact not correct. I backtracked so many times that I almost just gave up and went back to town for a hostel there. Thankfully I came across a place where the woman knew where the J’s place was! YAY!!! Sad news was I was going the wrong way and had to turn back up the street, make a right and walk about a kilometer down the main road… BOO!!!

Mon Village_2

Mon Village_3

Mon Bridge_4

The heat of the day was really wearing on me and the several glasses of water I had with lunch were just being sweat out faster than I’d absorbed them. I was once again just about to give up when I spotted a little sign across from the Temple grounds that said “J’s Family Homestay”… HOORAY!!!!

View From Mon Village_3

Mon Bridge_5

Bamboo Bridge Entrance

A left turn and a block later I found the place and just as I walked up the drive, a woman stood at the top. Her face went from a smile to neutral. She shook her head left to right solemnly and lifted her right hand out to her side pointing to a wee tent on the grass. “That’s all I have” she said. Sold!! At that point I couldn’t have cared less what kind of accommodation I actually had, I only cared that I no longer had to carry my bag around!! I paid for a few nights and settled into my tent, happy as a clam:)

Walking the Bamboo Bridge

Mon Bridge from Bamboo

Walking the Bamboo Bridge_2

As the sun set, I went for a stroll to see the famous Mon Bridge. Sangkhlaburi is a richly diverse area consisting of several ethnic groups to include Mon, Burmese, and of course Thai people. Several decades ago the valley of Sangkhlaburi was home to the Mon community. However the village was destroyed after a flood following the construction of the Khao Laem Dam. Now a lake separates the area with the Mon village on one side and Thai/Burmese people on the other. The two sides are connected by the famous Mon Bridge which is a very tall wooden bridge that from afar looks to be constructed in a VERY sketchy way, but walking across it feels completely secure! Believe it or not, children actually jump off this bridge!! Brave souls!! There is even a second bridge made of bamboo that parallels the Mon Bridge. Walking across it however feels completely sketchy as the bamboo is basically floating on the surface of the water and sways left and right like a slithering snake as you walk across. Definitely NOT recommended to walk after a few drinks, lol!!!

Cooling Off

Bridge for Boats

Mon Bridge Sunset

The lake is dotted with several homes constructed out of bamboo that also simply float on the lake. It was so lovely to see such impressive simplicity. I must admit I’m curious as to whether the homes have bathrooms… Do they use the lake as their toilet or go elsewhere? I’ve been harassed by my fellow volunteers as to why I don’t go swimming in the lake like the locals and they do… Let’s just say that just in case those floating house residents DO use the lake as their bathroom, well that’s why I’m choosing not to swim in the lake, lol!

That evening I went to town for the Saturday market. Streets normally open to car traffic were completely blocked off and lined with hundreds of street food and shop vendors selling again every imaginable food or physical item one might need. I dined on street food and wandered the shops listening to local boys jamming on guitars and drum sets then wandered back to my hostel for rest.

Saturday Market

Saturday Market_2

Saturday Market_3

Saturday Market_4

The next day I wandered the neighborhood, back to the bridge for another viewing then over to a little animal sanctuary I had spotted earlier in the day. I spoke to a guy hanging out there who turned out to be the vet and inquired about volunteering there. Unlike volunteering in the States and even in Costa Rica, they didn’t require copious amounts of information, insurance, etc, etc to vounteer. Simply show up and work. My kinda place! The next day I arrived there at 9am ready to work. I planned to only stay a few days and help out where needed. That was almost a month ago…

I’m still here loving each day with the animals and learning something new. I stayed in J’s Homestay for about 2 weeks, then moved into the volunteer house with the rest of the gang. Honestly, how can I possibly leave a face like this???

One for the Dogs

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Sangkhlaburi, Thailand

Sangkhlaburi New Year’s: Dog Version

2015-01-06 ramblintraveler Leave a comment

I figured it was only fair that since I gave my own version of how things went on New Year’s for us humans, that I should also give an account of how New Year’s went for the dogs.

I can say right now that it wasn’t at all pleasant for them… And honestly in hindsight, we probably should have given them all a Valium New Year’s Eve. We all know how sensitive dogs ears are and even though the festivities were going on in town, about a kilometer from where we are, it didn’t make any sort of difference to them as they still heard all the activity as if it was going on in their enclosures. And they made sure to let us know the following day how upset they had been… But I’m getting ahead.

The day started as normal, wake, drink water, eat some kibble, nap time, bark at some people walking by, nap time, get up and stretch, nap time, potty break, nap time, join in on a walk with the sanctuary dogs, nap time, play time, water, nap, dinner.

For the dogs in the sanctuary, that was the end of their day. For the four porch dogs, they joined us for our walk over to Sai and Charlie’s place. They had to stay outside however since they have their own dogs. When we finished dinner, none of the dogs were waiting for us which was very unusual. As we walked past our house on the way to town only two dogs, Noodles and Balua were on the porch. Balua already looked freaked out by the distant booms going on around town so we put him in my room, which I share with a long-term volunteer. We left the door open a bit to give Noodles the option to go in if he chose to later and headed to town. Piglet and Nipper were nowhere to be found.

They are street dogs after all, so while there was concern for them, especially with it being New Year’s, we figured they would make their way back. Once myself and the other volunteer came back to the house after the town festivities, we found Balua still in my room curled in a corner. He had somehow managed to wedge himself under my backpack and even stranger had clothes piled on him too… No idea how he did that! Noodles had also let himself in and was standing in the center of the room waiting to be let out. Piglet and Nipper were still MIA. About an hour later Piglet showed back up. Then the rest of the volunteers showed up to continue to party at the house.

The next day Nipper was still missing. The dogs in the sanctuary had clearly not had a good and restful night sleep as fight after fight broke out with just about every dog involved in one and another. Preparing and serving breakfast was the hardest task of the day since most of the time was spent breaking up one fight or another. To try to settle the dogs, kibble was given in grand mass. We probably overfed every dog, but it at least calmed them down and distracted them enough to stop their fights for a half hour or so.

As the day progressed, the tensions were still high. You could literally just feel it in the air and practically cut it with a knife. I can’t say I blame the dogs for their behaviors. But I will say it was one of the toughest days working in the sanctuary! It’s literally taken about 3 days to get the dogs back into a regular routine and feeling calm again. Poor puppies!!!

Nipper didn’t even come back on New Year’s Day. He returned the 2nd with a bit of a limp in his right front leg… Lord knows what he got into or where he was for almost 36 hours. I’m just glad he made it back with only a minor limp!!

On to Sangkhlaburi

Back to Thailand

Sangkhlaburi, Thailand

Sangkhlaburi New Year’s: Human Version

2015-01-06 ramblintraveler Leave a comment

New Year’s Eve day started as it normally does as a volunteer at the Thai Animal Sanctuary: feed dogs, clean enclosures, medicate/change bandages, walks, play time, shuffle dogs around, lunch, finish whatever daily project that was scheduled, night feeding, workout, shower, dinner time!

Instead of having to prepare our own meal for dinner however, we were invited to Sai and Charlie’s place to dine for New Year’s. Sai and Charlie, a Thai-British couple, are one of the many gems in Sangkhlaburi. Just about every morning they drop off a dish of rice and chicken, with bits of egg in a chicken broth so we can mix a bit into the morning bowls for each dog. For Christmas they made a huge vat of a similar soup with the added bonus of veggies for all 60 dogs in the shelter. They made so much that each dog had their own large bowl of Christmas breakfast, instead of just a bit mixed in with their normal kibble.

We were all looking forward to the dinner and even planned to eat less during the day to save room for what we knew would be a feast. But as we all know, getting there is half the battle! In our defense, there were 7 of us and only one bathroom in the volunteer house, so needless to say trying to organize that part alone became a bit of a task. We arrived about a half hour late with all 4 porch dogs (Noodles, Nipper, Balua and Piglet) who weren’t actually invited but just thought they were. 😉 The dinner spread was a delicious and impressive display of Thai cuisine. From the soup, fresh baked WHEAT bread (if you’ve been to Thailand you know how hard it is to find anything other than plain white bread, especially in small towns!!) fried egg with veggies, and a spicy pork on rice dish to dessert. We dined like Kings and Queens over great conversation and lots and lots of laughter. We even learned how to say Happy New Year in Thai (Suk San Wan Be Man Ka) after about a hundred failed attempts, but finally got it down:)

We stayed a couple hours then headed into town to the school soccer stadium for the muay thai kickboxing competition. All I had anticipated was just that: a ring set up for Muay Thai. What we walked into was so much more! It was seriously like a full on carnival or circus (minus the animals)! Neon lights lit up the stadium in every direction along with tent after tent selling food, clothing, fried insects, flip-flops, underwear… You name it, they just about had it!

Field from Above

Market

Field Decorations

As we had arrived a bit late for the start of the muay thai kickboxing we were only able to see a couple of fight rounds. The competition was going on for 5 nights (New Year’s Eve being the second night) and each night featured a different age group. New Year’s Eve night was for the youngsters (they looked only about 6 years old!!) to the teens. I can’t tell you how impressive the fights were! First were the teen boys who wailed and kicked and punched eachother until a brow was split open and after only 2 rounds the fight was called. Next up were the little kids whose heads didn’t even make it up to the top portion of the ring!!

In the Ring

Face Off

A Walk Around the Ring

“Dance” Time

Before each fight the competitors walk around the ring with a little hop in their step, kinda like a little dance, to each corner and bow. Next they go to their corner and have their headdress removed and are rubbed down with deep heat oil, which is sort of a liniment oil to slick their skin making it harder for their opponent to get a good grip. Then the fight is on! Those little kids wailed and kicked and fought their little hearts out! When the bell rang to signify the end of the round, their coaches would come in and sweep them up into a bear hug and gently shake them up and down. It seriously looked like they were getting a nice cuddle after each round, but really what the “hug” was all about was to help stretch their spines. Then they got a very thourough rub down with cold water, had their arms and legs stretched out a bit, then off again to fight. The boys lasted through 5 full rounds until a winner was called. So impressive!

“Dance” Time_2

Prayer before Fight

Game on!

Swinging Away

Ouch!

Bear “Hug”

Rub Down Between Round

The kids fight was the last for the night, so we wandered the rest of the field checking out the various tents and their goods for sale, then headed to the other stage set up on the field. We hung out watching traditional lanterns light up and float into the sky, decorating the night with extra stars, and the various traditional Thai dancers up on stage. The hours passed with drinks in hand, the company of good friends and the entertainment all around. Then about 10 minutes to midnight the Mayor of the town got on stage to give a speech. Of course it was lost on all of us, but it sounded like it could have been interesting.

Market_2

Stage

Lantern Lighting

Lantern Stars

About 7 minutes to midnight a bottle rocket from the stage shot straight over our heads directly to another stage area where it struck and lit up a huge firework display! I’m not going to lie, I was kinda freaked out by the bottle rocket launching above us because at first I thought it was rogue. But once I realized it was actually a planned launch, all was well. The first firework display went on and on showering the earth with white sparks. In the center glittered what I assume to be “Happy New Year” in Thai.

Show Begins

Happy New Year!

Fireworks

Once the first display started to peter out, the next display was shot off. Hundreds of brilliant fireworks shot into the sky with every color possible! I was mesmorized by the show of lights and the glitter of the lanterns still dotting the night sky behind them. We were so close to where the action was that the ash from the fireworks rained down on us, sometimes even getting in our eyes and gawking mouths, lol!! I was just in absolute awe. It was one of the most impressive New Years displays I’ve seen in a while. Especially considering how small this town really is, it was just awesome!

Fireworks_2

Fireworks_3

Fireworks_4

Knowing we had 60 dogs to feed the next day, I opted to head home to sleep (after a brief impromptu game of football using a balled up jacket as a football much to the amusement of the Thais) while the rest of the gang (minus one volunteer) proceeded to get hammered once we got back to the volunteer house. Needless to say myself and the volunteer who didn’t drink were up bright and early while the other 5 volunteers weren’t even able to get out of bed until about 3pm New Year’s Day, and even then were useless because of their hangovers, lol!! For once I was actually glad I wasn’t the one who was drinking, lol!!