Mummy tells me there are many dogs (su nak) on the streets of Ko Samui, Thailand. Whether they belong to someone or not, they wander freely during the day. They are on the streets looking for food or just finding shade, somewhere cool to lie down.
Or they just hang around with their owners when they go to work like these two on a building site.
And so did Mulan who came to stay with Khun Nok at Little Tyke’s house.
This little poodle mix is at Little Tyke’s school yard where they are doing construction during the summer.
Sometimes they hang around the shops … 
Or stay in cages so they don’t get dirty.
Others like Ton-ton who lives nearby but chooses to hang out at the Italian restaurant, Antica Locanda where the floors are clean and it’s cooler for her. He probably knows there’s food as well.
Some others follow tourists who feed them. Who knows whether they have homes to go to or not, but at least some people are considerate enough to give them some food.
And when they walk past, some of the other dogs who have homes would check out what these ones are up to – like this white poodle. She chased after the one who followed the tourist down a little while …
And then decided to go home.
It seems like next door to her is a little doggy and he looks like a poodle mix. Mummy thinks he’s cute.
And across the road, Mummy saw these two doggies following their owner to a store
They were happy doggies. 
They are usually out and about in the mornings when it is cooler, lying around, just waking up to the morning and looking for their breakfasts.
You can usually find them around the 7-11s, as often customers leave them some food
Sometimes they come too close to the cars for comfort.
These are just only a few photos of dogs Mummy saw driving around the island.
Little Tyke’s Daddy drives too fast for Mummy to take photos of all the dogs they’ve seen on the streets of Ko Samui! 🙂
May’s comment: Every time I’m in Ko Samui, I seem to see these dogs differently. The first few times I felt so sorry for them because they were wandering the streets. A few visits later, I realised that this is how they live. It’s a different culture to how we treat our pets in the U.K.
I realised that they co-exist with humans and they are survivors. Their dogs are not locked up – they wander freely, sometimes crossing streets precariously, sometimes finding a cool place to lie or sheltering from heavy downpours. They go about their ways and at the end of the day, most of them have a place to go to. They are fed and welcomed back home.
Of course there are strays amongst them. But regardless if they are strays or pets, they are roaming the streets constantly looking for food or hanging around 7-11’s for scraps of food. I am very aware of their presence and wonder what each of their lives are about.
Do I wish to give them a bath and comb out their mats? Yes, of course I do. But one can’t expect to always be the way we want them to be. I look sadly at some of them and wish I can do something. But at least they are loved even though not properly cared for. And as for the strays, at least they are not captured and taken to the pound. They co-exist … at least one can take comfort from that.
One observation – a lot of poodle crosses – and they tend to be the ones that belong to a home.
