Tag Archives: animal sanctuary

Ko Lantaaaah

2015-09-15 ramblintraveler Leave a comment

Ko Lanta or rather Lantaaaah, which is how all the locals say “Lanta” is a 300 sq. km island just off mainland Thailand, only a short ferry ride from Phi Phi. Thailand is known as the “land of a thousand smiles” and though people throughout my travels in Thailand had been very nice and friendly, none were as smiley, friendly and good-natured as those we met on Ko Lantaaaah. That island alone could be called the land of a thousand smiles! 🙂

Patio Chillin

Lanta Long Beach

JUST a book!!

Originally, Anna and I were only planning on using Ko Lantaaaah as a brief stopping point, a jump off to get to Ko Ngai (aka Hai) or Ko Mook (aka Muk). However, things always change when traveling. Mind you, both Anna and myself are very easy going travellers. Whenever we asked locals about getting to one place or another, if they said “no, you should go here instead, or do this instead” well, we just about always followed that.

Anna on the Beach

Beach at Sunset

Beach at Sunset_2

It all started as we were waiting to board our ferry to Lantaaaah. We were down by the pier hanging out when we were approached by Win, one of the locals. He showed us a brochure for Lanta New Beach, a hotel just along Long Beach on Ko Lanta. At first we brushed it off, but then started to think that maybe it would be better to stay one night in Lantaaaah, just so we didn’t have to have such a long travel day in getting to the other islands.

Beach at Sunset_3

Beach at Sunset_4

So for 500 baht, we booked one night at Lanta New Beach at the Phi Phi pier. Funnily enough, we almost ended up missing the ferry because though we were right there, Win kept saying to wait for him and he’d let us know when to board, but then suddenly he was gone and we were running to the ferry. When we arrived at the ferry, all the locals were laughing at us and signaling us to calm down and just walk. They had been waiting for us apparently but they also didn’t seem in any rush to get going on time.

Ready to Ride

A Local

Gassing Up

Once we boarded, the real salesmanship games began! Win, along with other gentlemen Toom and Mark (and at least 3 others) were circulating around the boat selling people accommodations and tours. Toom was standing nearby speaking to some guys sitting behind us about various tours. They kept asking questions about getting to Ko Tao and other destinations, and even though they kept arguing with him about the prices, everything Toom was saying about each destination (costs, etc) was directly on point. So I knew (as did Anna) that he wasn’t full of it or just trying to hike prices for no reason. I wanted to tell the boys behind us that they were idiots for not listening, but it wasn’t my business to do so.

Anna with Shelter Cats

Anna with Shelter Cats_2

Anyway, once Toom finished up with the boys, he moved onto Anna and I. We had already booked Lanta New Beach for the night, so he began asking us whether we wanted any tours. Out came a brochure on an elephant trekking adventure that his father owned. I should mention at this point that one of Anna’s objectives while visiting me in Thailand was to ride on an elephant. Personally, while I like the idea of it, how they treat the animals and whether the animals are really happy about taking people on rides was my primary concern. But talking with Toom put my mind to rest and Anna and I signed up for an elephant trekking tour, which also included a hike to a waterfall and bat cave.

Ready to Ride_2

Ready to Ride_3

We arrived at Ko Lanta, loaded into a truck and were dropped off at Lanta New Beach. We thought we had died and gone to heaven!!! After spending the past 4 nights in the ‘Kamikaze Cockbox’, we had now arrived to a beautiful hotel which basically offered anything and everything one might want! They had 2 pools (one of which was just outside our door) the structures were all solid, they were located directly on the beach, they offered a large variety of massages right on the beach, they had a restaurant and bar (which offered Happy Shakes!) and a tour office on site as well! We were so awe-struck, especially considering it was only 500 baht per night!

Long Beach

Overdressed for the Beach

A Motorbike Taxi!

Needless to say, we ended up staying there 4 or 5 nights living it up with almost daily massages, dining like queens, swimming in the lovely pools, enjoying cocktails with the setting sun nightly and having our first taste of Lao Cow (Whiskey made in Thailand!!). Our days were filled with relaxing, the elephant trekking tour, wandering around town shopping, riding around the island on a motorbike we rented for only 200 baht a day to the Sea Gypsy village and Old Town, and a short visit to the Animal Sanctuary. Though Lantaaaah was a bit of a ghost town (being low-season and all), it was such a breath of fresh air compared to Phi Phi and definitely worth the visit!!

On to Elephant Trekking

Back to Thailand

Kanchanaburi, Thailand

Unexpected Company

2015-04-13 ramblintraveler Leave a comment

I left Sangkhla with a vet volunteer who popped in the sanctuary during the last few weeks I was there. Bettina, from Denmark is seriously a star vet and reminded me quite a bit of Nyzil, the vet who worked at the sanctuary when I first arrived. She was amazing with the animals, the other volunteers and had a ridiculous amount of knowledge in her craft. Her calming aura during times of stress was unbelievable and inspirational!

Full Moon_3

Full Moon_2

Full Moon

Mon Side Street

Mon Side Temple_2

Mon Side Temple

I recall one particular time when we insisted she take the day off (she had been working without rest for quite some time and needed it). Only a few hours after she left to enjoy her day, a cat was brought in that had been bitten by a dog. At first glance I couldn’t see any immediate damage. But when I lifted the cat out of its carrier and a line of blood spurt out from its side, I knew this was more serious than it looked like. Now I’m not queasy about blood or guts or animal bodily functions, and I tend to stay calm where others panic… But when I saw that, I got a little panicked. It was evident that poor Bettina’s day off would be cut short.

Mon Side Worker

Mon Side_3

Mon Side_2

Mon Side

Monks Receiving Alms_5

Monks Receiving Alms_4

I hopped on the motorbike and started into town in search of her, luckily finding her only about 10 minutes later. As I pulled up, I could feel my sense of urgency creeping up. I almost ran her over with the bike trying to get to her and immediately started rattling away that there was a cat bitten by a dog, blood spurting, will need stitches, fluid building up in the belly, yada, yada. Her reaction? “Ok, not a problem. Let me just pay for this real quick and we will get going.” Her confidence immediately soothed me. Snapped me back into a state of calm that I had let go of before. We headed back, she took care of business and the cat is doing very well.

Monks Receiving Alms_3

Monks Receiving Alms_2

Monks Receiving Alms

Shoe Store

Household goods

Market LIVE Fish

In any event, Bettina had planned to go to a horse facility in Nepal and had plans to do so around the time I was planning to leave. Since our plans coincided nicely, we thought it would be great to leave together and spend a couple of days in Kanchanaburi before parting ways. Those few days spent with her were among some of the most relaxing I’d had in a long while. We walked to the Death Railway at night, which is beautifully lit up by changing colored lights (though unfortunately my camera takes crap photos at night!!), visited probably every coffee shop in town and dined on delicious food. Oddly, time seemed to just absolutely dissipate anytime we started talking. We would arrive at a coffee shop at 10am and the next thing we knew it was 3pm! We stayed up until 2am one night just talking, sharing experiences, things we want for ourselves, discussing politics and ideas, etc. I think in the 48 hours that we spent in Kanchanaburi, probably about 36 of them were spent talking, lol!! (555!!)

Market Fish

Market

Veggie Fest

Ducks!

Dyed Chicks

Market Electronics

Market Meat

Market Entrance

Funnily enough, the last night we were there, two volunteers from the sanctuary surprised us while we were hanging out for some dinner. They had two dogs that required more medical attention than they were able to give at the sanctuary (X-ray and major surgery for a dog hit by a car) so they brought them down to the vet in Kanchanaburi. Needless to say that night turned into a late one, at least for me! Bettina sadly was still feeling under the weather so didn’t join in drinks till 5, but as I thought it would be the last time seeing the other two volunteers (Jo & Oli) I couldn’t resist a few drinks.

The next day Bettina and I said our goodbyes and as she headed out I opted to stay in Kanchanaburi a couple more days so I could actually plan where and how I Was getting to my next destination. It was about a couple of days later that I got an email from Jo (who at this point was back in Sangkhla) saying she too was leaving the sanctuary and wondered if we could travel together for a couple weeks. Though I have traveled a lot, I’ve never really traveled with people. I’ve met people along the way and we’ve kept each others company for several days or just shy of a week, but I’ve never really traveled with people. I’ve always enjoyed traveling alone because of the fact that I never have to answer to anyone else: what do you want to do? I don’t know, what do you want to do??… I hate those conversations!! But seeing as she and I got along well at the sanctuary, I thought why not? It would be nice to have some company for a couple of weeks. So a few days later we met at the bus station in Kanchanaburi and headed South to Hua Hin on the Thai bay coast.

Oh and I should probably state, the images in this section are kinda random- just several I found that I’ve taken from the Sangkhla area and didn’t fit in other posts:)

On to Arriving in Hua Hin

Back to Thailand

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

Back to Thailand

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”

Back to Thailand

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

Back to Thailand

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!!