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Published: February 17th 2009
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This is a story about a dog and a mountain…
8 am Friday morning, I headed to the base of Khao Ra, the tallest peak on the island. After passing the turn off twice, I found the way. Following behind me on a scooter was a very drunk, older Thai man. He pulled up next to me, nearly running me off the road, and started talking to me in a perfect mixture of Thai and English with the words all slurring together to form one very incomprehensible language.
I made the decision that while he may have an important message for me, it was not worth my time to encode his speech. I parked my motorbike while the man started yelling an unidentifiable word at the top of his lungs with his eyes closed as though he was sleeping. I turned back to see what he was doing and apparently he forgot to hold the break of his bike and was rolling backwards down the hill and into the buffalo field, all the while still yelling with his eyes comfortably closed.
Drunken Thais are usually a friendly type so I didn’t worry too much about what he was
doing.
I started my walk up the hill and moments later was joined by a dog that was biting my hands and jumping up on me. Annoyed, I told her to get down and go away! Although I found myself longing for my own crazy dogs (I don’t know if I have ever hiked alone!), I was not interested in the company of a dog with NO manners and was looking forward to a quiet few hours in the jungle. This dog was un-phased by my attempt to discipline her and trotted happily in front of me.
I reached a large house with a woman outside working in the garden. I was quite surprised as I thought I would only find a trail and a few other hikers. I asked, in my best Thai, if I was going the right direction to climb Khao Ra and she waved me off and said that the dog would take me to the top. To myself I thought, “You mean this rambunctious dog that is jumping on me and is probably a product of the drunken Thai man’s yelling and inability to handle his liquor, now sitting in the buffalo field,
unsure of how he got there.”
I asked for directions one more time and her response was the same, though slightly irritated that I didn’t trust her words or the dogs’ ability. By now, the dog was about 15 feet from where I was standing and looking at me very impatiently, tongue lolling and all. Okay fine, I will find the trail myself!
The next hour and 15 minutes was unlike anything I have ever experience. Not only did the dog take me all the way to the top, waiting for me at each junction where I could possibly take a wrong turn, she stayed at the top with me while I ate rice and fish and read my book, enjoying the peace and serenity of being 650 meters high. The climb is estimated to take between 2 and 3 hours and we managed it in 1 hour and 15 minutes, not because I am such a fantastic climber but because each time I would stop for water, she would sit in front of me, panting, and passing judgment that I needed so many water breaks!
The view, as you can see was worth the scaling up
on hands and knees AND the skinned knees endured on the way down.
I stayed at the top for a couple of hours and exchanged half of my fish for a photo with my Thai tour guide. One the way up, I noticed a very enticing waterfall and planned to reward myself with a swim after the climb. As nobody was around and the waterfall was off the beaten track, I jumped in wearing nothing but my birthday suit buy only stayed in for a short while as something was diligently nibbling at my butt.
I figured the dog had headed back home as we were only about a 10 minute walk from the base, but after an hour of so soaking my wounds in betadine and eating my chocolate, I got dressed and headed back to the trail. The dog was sitting patiently on the trail, giving me the privacy that even a dog could see was needed. I have no doubt that if someone were to approach the falls, she would have alerted me, giving me ample time to cover up.
From the drunken man rolling down the hill (who I now realized was trying
to tell me to follow the dog, drunkenly slurring her name to call her to action) to the very end, I was looked after and promised my safety by this creature that I terribly misjudged. She was not trying to annoy me by biting my hands and jumping on me in the beginning, she was just trying to tell me, “Duh, just follow me!” For the reminder of the trip, she had no interest in being petted or any other form of affection outside of her fair share of my fish and peanuts.
Thai dogs are funny. I spoke to mom a day ago and while my lab-mix, American style dog has adjusted to life without his alpha (that’s me) Roo, the Thai dog that made the journey to live with me in the USA nearly five years ago, still sits by the widow, waiting for me to come home to her.
I plan to climb the mountain one more time, not for the scenery, but to share another journey with my favorite Thai tour guide. As I have run into trouble getting a visa for India, I am ‘stuck’ here on the island for yet another week. Whoa is me! I will now have 2.5 weeks in India, just enough to get a taste! Admittedly this island is like a second home to me and I was secretly smiling about having to stay here!
Hope all is well, wherever you are.
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Carl
non-member comment
Exciting
this is probably my favorite entry so far. very cool dog!