Settling In and Starting Work

---

By the way - we are in Thong Sala, near to Baan Tai.................cheers Richard, we have indeed discovered the evil brew, but alas, we will be going to the Full Moon party this FRIDAY! bring it on.........


Monday 22nd, Subai met us and showed us round Thong Sala, where the shops, banks, etc and night market for food is. Its been monsoon raining and there are floods all over the place. weather is heavy rain and thunderstorms.

We have met up with a lady called Patsy, she's 58 and staying in our bungalow park. She is brilliant, loads of fun and could be straight from the cast of Ab Fab - she's a real hippy and really up for a laugh. She's travelling for a few weeks, seeing some of Thailand and catching up with an old friend, on her way to visit her daughter in Oz. We went out Monday night and ate pad thai at the night market in Thong Sala - a 15 min walk from our bungalows. Altho we had an apperitif at Balcony Bar Sheena first, as me and sheena have stocked up on vodka and tequila from the super duper market. When we came back we stayed up and had some drinks at our Coco Beach Bar, and some other people had arrived on hols. We talked to some people, and met an Irish bloke called David, and a couple of gay friends who are on hols together. Sheena and Patsy went to bed at 1am (I think) and i stayed up and got trolleyed, i got in around 3. Patsy was kipping over in my room as someone had tried her door to her bungalow the night before and she got spooked. Opportunist thieves are always trying bungalows apparently, we keep our valuables in the safe but our bungalows are much better and more secure. Anyway, i woke her up at 3am and then found a procession of ants in the room which i insisted on slaying there and then with insect repellant, not sure she wouldnt have got more sleep with the intruder!

Tues, 23rd oct

Me and Pats slept in, woke up at 2pm!!! blimey. Still raining hard but very warm. Lazed about and then in the evening, 4 of us got a Thongsaw (taxi type thing) - thats us, Patsy and David, to Haad Rin, its the resort about 20 or so mins drive up the road where all the partying goes on. Loads of bars, shops and bars on the beach, its where the Full Moon Parties are held on the beach. You get all sorts there, fire jugglers and skipping on a big rope on fire where hapless tourists try their luck and generally are not that good and trip over the burning rope. Most amusing.

Me and Sheena were due to start our first day at work and being picked up by Subai at 8.30am the next morning. However, once on the beach at Haad Rin, (after eating and drinking in a restaurant), we decided to start on the buckets of vodka and coke. This results in the four of us dancing like lunatics to music on the beach and generally having a very merry old time. It got fairly busy and then lightening started - brilliant - there are lights from the bars and whatnot too, and all sorts of stuff going on and we were all stood round dancing and watching the fire antics. So, midnight comes and we have to decide whether to get a thongsaw and go home ready for our first work day, or what. Instead i got us another bucket of vodka and 4 straws and that was the end of that. Next thing i know, after a good suck on the bucket, im running off with patsy to paddle and dance in the sea, all the lights and whatnot look pretty cool from in the water. I got all excited cus there were waves and our beach is fairly calm at CoCo. So, before i know it, paddling has turned into swimming, and i'm in the water for ages, it was really warm and i didnt want to get out! there was lightening too and then it started raining - was brilliant! I think an hour or more later i arose from the sea like some sort of beast in a wet frock - we decided we'd better get back altho we were still having a brilliant time, all giggling and dancing. i walked though the streets sopping wet and my dress was just dripping sea water. We also watched a man having a bamboo tattoo in the tat shop while Patsy bought a new nose ring! We put some angel wings on her too, dont ask.

got back very late again............had to shower and wash hair before i could go to bed........

Weds 24th - Subai picked us up, at 9.30 as she was late - bah, and we went to the clinic for first time. The manager is called Avril and the 2 vet nurses are called Pong and Por. The dogs and cats there are brilliant, all really lovely and most are disabled! There is a pup called Harvey (found outside Harveys bar) with a smashed up leg, which had to be amputated last night. He was hopping around today with his trumpet hat on to stop him licking, and he even jumped over the baby gate and kept escaping!! he is a lovely pup - i gave him his tablets, i learned to pop them down the back of the dogs throats today and stroke their throats to get them down. you have to shove them right in the back or they spit em back out. The dogs are called; Bogli, Ploy, Mouldy, Dave (the pup) and Soo-Eye. Bogly and Soo-Eye only have 3 legs, and 2 cats called Chang and Peggy. Chang jumps on your lap every 5 mins and meows like a banshee, he is great. They are all lovely animals and 4 of them live at the vets where they have nobody to look after them. They operate on a shoe string - the cages are all held together by bits of string and they are bent and old, and the bedding is just old clothes and newspaper and everything is knackered - if anyone wants to help or donate (instead of sending xmas cards??) get onto www.pacthailand.org and donate! they work for nothing here and there is no other help on the island.

another dog there, was bought in last night and had been poisoned, his name was Stupid, but they had saved him and me and Avril took him back to his owner today.

I helped hold a poodle while Pong was shoving something up its bum and the owner was meant to be holding the head, but she wasnt very good and he nipped me! he was just scared and it didnt hurt - poor thing. james, another sort of helper from earlier times, bought in a mangy dog and gave him a mange bath. its a course of treatments so he will have to bring him back again. They dont have any transport except a (donated) clapped out motorcycle and little trailer type thing on wheels that attaches to the back to transport animals. its heartbreaking as they are trying so hard to help the animals but have no decent equipment and struggle on with rags and worn out stuff.

pong taught me how to clean a wound too with swabs and iodine. Dave the pup has an open wound on his back and he had rolled in the grit so we had to clean it, all under the skin at the edges too. it was maggot infested when he came in and you could see the bone apparently so its halfway healed already. they do an amazing job. the surgery is just a stainless steel trolley in the one room downstairs - its surgery day tomorrow and i can help! we will be trained up on all sorts of stuff, and should be able to tattoo and maybe give injections and monitor the animals in recovery, heart rates and all sorts. What an opportunity. Really looking forward to that.

me and sheena fed the dogs and cats and swept and mopped, they crap in the bushes and surrounding land so we dont have to pick it up.

we start work proper tomorrow, me on first 3 days, then sheena on next 3 days, and alternate sat mornings.

I might add that Avril warned us about snakes, large spiders, poisonous centipedes that creep about everywhere (saw 2 in the kennels today, and one at our bungalow garden - they're the size of a big fat worm with red legs!) and can lay you up with a nasty bite, oh and dont forget the scorpions. You should shake any clothes that you have left lying around on the balcony before you put em on! eeek. and the spores in the sea from dead coral is not good if you have any cuts. neither is the tap water - you should wash it in drinking water.

anyway, tonight we went to the night market again for dinner, and now having a blog. off to bed in a mo.......

will get some pics of clinic and animals............

---

Photos

Night market at Thong Sala
dinner for 40 baats