In the Andaman Sea

After a day of rest I was back at Soi Dogs in Phuket, where along with Katie, I was working with Mikel, a Spanish vet, and Thai vets Drs Max and Mint.

The Soi Dogs shelter set up was pretty similar to the mobile clinic, although with around 200 dogs permanently housed at the shelter there are always cases to see and plenty of howling in the background. The dog catchers depart early to collect their daily crop, whilst the inpatients are treated and dogs that were neutered the day before are checked. Around midday a take-away lunch - usually fried rice - mysteriously appears from somewhere, then the main part of the day - the neutering - begins.

Working in Phuket does have some advantages - primarily an air conditioned theatre with lots of fans, but also more equipment and drugs for sick animals.

Having worked most of the previous 2 weeks I felt the need to see a bit more of Thailand than it's stray dogs, so Katie and I decided to go to the Similan Islands for a couple of days on a snorkeling tour. The Similans have the reputation of having some of the finest diving/ snorkeling anywhere in the Andaman Sea, and the group of 9 islands is a National Park. We headed out on a tour there - independent travel there being just about impossible - in a huge speedboat filled with weekend tourists, about half Western and half Thai.

After a couple of snorkeling stops over beautiful coral reefs, we landed on an equally idyllic beach for lunch and to check in to our basic tented accommodation. After a couple of lazy hours we were back on a larger, slower boat which would be our floating restaurant and dive boat until the end of the trip.


Landing on Donald Duck beach

The afternoon consisted of more of the same - snorkeling over fantastic coral reefs with a myriad of brightly coloured tropical fish, plus a green turtle. Later on we landed at Donald Duck beach, named after a rock that looked unsurprisingly nothing like it's namesake. Here the clear blue sea lapped gently against a white sand beach and a gentle breeze stirred the jungle behind.... it was lovely.



Dinner was back on the boat, watching a disappointing sunset and the gathering storm clouds. We landed as night fell, and had a brief and incredibly unsatisfying visit to look at some land crabs - swiftly aborted as the rain started to gently fall. After beating a hasty a retreat to the tent, the skies opened and an hour long deluge ensued, which despite my best Boy Scout efforts left us with several small lakes inside the tent - the dampness permeated everything.





Morning was clear and beautiful. After having the beach to myself for sunrise we were back on board and enjoying the snorkeling again under blue skies and on calm seas. In no time we were back on the speedboat, and a few hours later back in Phuket, enjoying the deliciously cool aircon in my room at my guesthouse on NaiYang beach.




Monday was back to work at Soi Dogs. Katie was heading off to northern Thailand to another neutering project, Mikel had left on Saturday which left myself and a newly arrived volunteer vet, Jo.

After rounds with Dr Mint or Dr Max (usually with ourselves as slightly bemused onlookers), there would be a break before lunch then a few hours of rapid surgery. On average I managed 5 or 6 surgeries a day in 2-3 hours - the production line efficiency of the setup means that once you take a dog off the table, another one is lying in place when you get back.



As well as the surgery, Jo and I would see Westerners who would bring in their sick animals for a consult. Although there are 6 vets on Phuket, often the language barrier would mean expats would visit SoiDogs first - but if my consult with a Russian lady and her little Westie (with itchy skin, some things never change!) was anything to go by, sometimes not a lot could be gained!!

After work Jo and I quickly adopted a routine involving the beach/swimming/eating/beer in no particular order. Friday evening and Jo left for her return to the UK, and I met up with some Canadians from Koh Lanta who were on a heroic mission to sort out homes for 12 puppies, as well as spaying the mother. That evening we decided to head into Patong for a taste of the overdeveloped Thai resort.

For those not in the know, Patong has become a byword for sex tourism in Thailand. The gaudy strip is lit by endless neon lights advertising KFC, McDonalds and "massage parlours", ladyboys try to entice you into their bars and hawkers tempt you with pingpong shows (if you don't know, you should be relieved!). It was awful - after a few beers and an overpriced meal, we headed back to the hotel, past lines of girls and ladyboys waiting to be picked up for the rest of the night. An experience best not repeated - and I couldn't bring myself to take photos!

On Saturday I headed back to Koh Lanta with the Canadians and a dozen puppies crawling around my feet - fine until they need the toilet. Junie welcomed me back to Time for Lime where I reinstalled myself as Lanta's resident vet - hopefully until the 12/13th April when there will be another neutering clinic.

In the meantime, as well as tending to the needs of the local animal populace, I've been learning to dive and making friends with the local expat diver set - a very welcoming bunch who have been very kind. Fortunately for me sick animals seem to be a bit thin on the ground, and my treatments so far usually relate to flea and tick problems.




The diving has been something else. My instructor, a large friendly Frenchman called Ben (whose cat I castrated!) has seen me through my PADI Open Water certificate, and today I passed my Advanced Open Water. Tomorrow I'm starting the FreeDiving, which promises to be a different kind of fun - there's physics to learn and everything.




The dive days so far - there have been 5 - have been to islands west of Koh Lanta, often Koh Haa and once to Koh Bida. Here there are gorgeous coral reefs, loads of tropical fish, a few sharks, turtles and eels, and water as warm as a bath.







In the evenings I have my little moped to take me to where the action is at, and a hammock in front of my bungalow which is just lovely as long as the mosquitos aren' t biting and the sunburn that day hasn't been too bad......

In at the Deep End

Welcome back and thanks for reading! Though you're here for the photos, right? You'll be glad to hear that my aspirations as a writer have decreased. No more deep and meaningful soul searching (I was never very good at that anyway) and no history lessons... well, maybe just a few.

Two weeks after getting back from snowboarding in Colorado - another solo trip, but that's a different story - I had moved home, put my belongings in storage, said goodbye to my old job and practice, sold my beloved pimp car, found new tenants for my house and generally packed up my life into a rucksack. I had my one-way ticket to Thailand, a visa for Australia, no local currency and only the vaguest of plans (that bit hasn't changed).

Fortunately for me Singapore airport is one of the easiest and nicest airports for the dazed and confused traveler wanting a connection. My flight to Phuket, Thailand was smooth, and soon enough I found myself in the tropical sunshine of Monday morning waiting for a lift to my first destination.

After Central America in 2007 I came to the conclusion that volunteer tourism has a lot to offer - there's the veterinary experience for me, working with local people, and the feeling that maybe this holiday isn't entirely selfish - I'm still struggling to justify that one!

In Phuket, the place I was going to work was the Soi Dog Foundation. The Foundation runs a clinic dealing mainly with neutering street dogs, but also treating sick and injured animals, and feeding starving dogs all over the island. As well as the full time Thai staff (including 2 vets), there are usually a few Westerners volunteering. The charity was set up in 2003 and expanded to it's present size on the back of donations for tsunami relief. I had arranged to stay for a while, and was told that on my day of arrival I was to be thrown in at the deep end, sent off on a mobile clinic to Koh Lanta, an island to the southwest of Phuket.

Dog catching at a temple

After almost no sleep and a quick tour of the main Soi Dog clinic with it's bewildering array of permanently housed street dogs, hospital cases and pet strays, I folded myself into the back of a pick up and we headed to Koh Lanta with 2 dog catchers and one Thai vet, Dr Max.

Dr Max doing his thing

We arrived on Koh Lanta, eyelids drooping, and slept for hours after some great food. The next morning I understood the full set-up; a Westerner who lived on Lanta called Junie had taken it upon herself to establish Lanta Animal Welfare some 7 years ago, and the Soi Dog Foundation ran clinics every 6 months or so in conjunction with her. We stayed at her guesthouse, ate in her restaurant and drank her beer, and were looked after very well.

Stray dogs in the dog catching van

I got the measure of the veterinary procedures after setting up the first morning in the back of a dive centre. Along with Dr Max and myself, one other English vet called Katie was coming, and together we would neuter as many dogs and cats as the dog catchers could lay their hands on - or blow dart.

Dog catching on the beach

The operating started as soon as we got the first dogs in, and the first afternoon saw 20-something dogs and cats spayed or castrated. Dr Max's operating speed was amazingly quick; with no gas to keep an animal asleep once under anaesthetic, I was concerned a few of mine might wake up because I wasn't so fast - as it turned out sometimes dogs (not just mine) would start coming around but a top-up anaesthetic dose would usually sort them out.

Starting to operate

The rest of the week passed in a flash - a 7am breakfast on the beach at Junies restaurant, Time for Lime (and very tasty is was too!), followed by arrival at the clinic/dive shop at 8am and then work until 6pm. The nature of the dog catching usually made for a quiet morning with a few cats and owned-dogs to operate on, then once the dog catchers arrived around lunch with a van full of stray the real surgery would start. By Friday evening at 6.30pm, in failing light, I was closing up about my 15th op of the day, I was exhausted. Dinner at Time for Lime, a beer then bed at 9pm - what a life!

The view from Time for Lime

On Saturday after knocking out 20 quick spays/castrates in the morning, we were packed up and left by 1pm. I had promised to return - the guys where we were working at Blue Planet Divers had said they would teach me my PADI thing, and Junie was already lining up sick animals for me to see when I came back.

Too many spays can drive you crazy...

Back in Phuket, I had a day off before another early start heading to Khao Lak, up the coast from Phuket, on another mobile clinic. This time we ended up operating in a temple, with the Buddhist monks providing an effective dog catching service for us.

The temple setup

Handy blokes in orange robes

One night we were invited back for dinner to the house of a local who dog and cat we had neutered, so after equipping ourselves with some drink with made our way across fields full of water buffalo to a typical Thai house - the kind you don't see on the tourist adverts. After meeting the head of the family and paying the appropriate respects, we feasted on an array of food unavailable in most Thai restaurants. As the light dimmed so the numbers of beetles attracted to the fluorescent tube above us grew, until all of us and all of our food was literally crawling. Shortly after it started raining so we all moved inside, where the head of the family encouraged me to drink some Thai whiskey and attempted to marry me off to his daughter. Although that was a fate preferable to beetles, I breathed a sigh of relief when the dog catchers and Dr Max decided to leave to our accommodation in a local school house.

Friendly family dinner

After 3 days operating at the wat we were just starting to get busy, but it was time to pack up and head back to Phuket and the Soi Dog shelter. I was given another day off by Jon, the Englishman in charge of the charity, and vegetated with alternate hot showers and aircon for the rest of the night.

My willpower not being up to much, I have now promised to return to Koh Lanta in mid-April for another clinic run by Junie and a Thai vet from the mainland. In the meantime I'm off on a snorkelling trip to Koh Similan at the weekend, and then a week more at Soi Doigs afterwards. Then I need something to fill my time - maybe a trip to Burma?

Sorry, I promised I wouldn't write much..... but I think I now know how to post better photos.... here goes nothing!