What's that you say? 2012 Is Here?

Did I hear you correctly? I thought I heard you say something about the New Year coming -- is it 2012?

Anyway, my name is Chuckie. I'm a three year old Labrador mix who used to live on the streets near Chatuchak market, but recently got adopted by a noodle vendor.

I'm not sure what the coming year will hold, but I do know that the one that just passed hasn't been all that great, for humans or for Bangkok street dogs. We've gone through a lot, but you know what? We survived it!

Thailand has had plenty of political storm clouds hanging over it this past year. We've also had literal storm clouds hanging over us and dumping epochal amounts of rain in our hinterland, which led to floods in Bangkok that the city's residents are still recovering from. For many, it was a disaster -- some people lost their homes, and other lost so much more. For these people, I pause a moment in remembrance, and to offer my condolences. After all, we dogs are your humans best friends.

We all hope the coming year is going to be better. Of course, we have no idea if that will be the case. But all we can do is keeping putting each foot, each paw in front of the other, marching together into 2012. I hope it's full of very good things for the people of Thailand, and for my street dog brethren.

Introducing Sea Lion

This is my buddy Sea Lion. I gave him that nickname because out of all my friends, he's by far the one who most closely resembles an actual sea lion. As you can see from his collar, he's not a homeless dog. In fact, he could probably use a good extended diet. He lives in the market area around the Victory Monument and his owner is a noodle vendor.

This proximity is why Sea Lion is so fat -- he gobbles down people's leftover noodles all day long. His owner is usually busy, so it's easy for Sea Lion to shuffle around and do it without being noticed. When he's not doing that, he kind of just sits around and stares into space, thinking about the next food mission. And then he goes home every night, and comes back early the next morning.

OK, so I realize that Sea Lion looks pretty shiftless. Maybe even lazy. But he's a good listener, and while he doesn't talk much, what he does say has valuable insight about what's important to life. He's 4 years old, but wise way beyond his years.