Asia

The Pied Pipers of Patong Beach

One travel encounter that I’ve learnt from is an experience I had while holidaying with my family in Thailand – I can look back on it now and chuckle, but it wasn’t quite so amusing at the time.

A bit of background: My mum is a complete animal-lover so it goes without saying that she was quite distressed by some of the emaciated cats and dogs that were roaming the streets of Phuket.

So much so, she took it upon herself to sneak them the odd bit of food left over from breakfast/lunch/dinner under her sun-lounger.

Before long, we were like the pied pipers of Patong Beach – we had a loyal following of furry creatures wherever we roamed.

This didn’t bother me too much until one of the dogs suddenly had an issue with a tiny kitten outside our chalet – scratching, yelping and screaming ensued, followed by the panicked pleas of my mum: “Carly! Do SOMETHING!”.

Out of instinct, I reached down to pluck the skinny kitten to safety, my hand obviously getting caught-up in the bloody conflict.

The next thing I knew was me and my life-long-phobia-of-needles were in the local doctors’ surgery having a tetanus vaccination, the doctor warning I may need a shot for rabies.

The moral of the story: Don’t listen to your mum.

Or maybe it should be: As hard as it is, try not to mess with the local animals – it’s not the same as western society. You would probably be better off giving some money to an animal charity or trying to do something more constructive than getting your daughter’s hand bitten off.

© Carly Crummey

June 23, 2009 at 1:16 am | Asia | 5 comments