There are many benefits to living within a merit based society...people are not quite so quick to be total asses to one another, while you will get cheated occasionally, its not nearly as frequent as if you were in a place that is NOT merit based.  For example, most foreigners will get roughly the same price for cab fares and ferry tickets as the local Thai populace will.  Some drivers will try to cheat you, but overall its pretty even.

People are often kinder to one another, smiling and thinking that its better to live in a society in which everything seems happy than one which they don’t.  The Thai people are often very helpful and if it looks like you are in a spot that you can’t quite communicate your needs to someone, another who can help will intervene and help arrange things without being asked, and will often not ask anything for it.

However, there are points at which a Buddhist merit based mentality is something of a roadblock, and this is in the department of animal control.  It is against Buddhist morality to kill needlessly...a belief that I often hold as well, i.e. don’t shoot a bluejay for the sake of shooting a bluejay.  However, when there are so many dogs that they are actually a credible danger to all passers by, something should be done about it.

The first few days I didn’t notice the dogs, you would see them here and there, but it wasn’t a huge deal.  99% of them are just fine, doing whatever it is that they feel they should be doing and living side by side with their human neighbors.  One, Scout as he has been named, sits on the first step of the market in Ban Phe, but doesn’t bother anyone.  Sometimes he will look balefully at you, but he never bothers you.  Other dogs however, do not have the same good behaviour as Scout does.  Riding my bike in the morning I often get scampered after half-heartedly by one dog or another...I have been outright chased once...but its not a big deal...I can see them on the side of the road and avoid them by crossing in another area. 

On the island of Koh Samet though, it is a different story.  

Perhaps I should explain Koh Samet and the situation surrounding it before I continue with the dogs.  

Koh Samet is an island on the eastern seaboard of the Gulf of Thailand...it is a beautiful mass of trees, rocks, and white sand dropped into the ocean.  It is possible to take a ferry from Ban Phe to Koh Samet for just over a dollar...a good price for a 40 minute ferry ride.  To get to the ferry you must walk far out on this long pier that seems to have been assembled by the rejected toothpicks from the toothpick factory.  The two girls I was with, both travelers from the states, didn’t feel quite secure on the pier...I was reasonably sure I was going to end up swimming in the harbor.  

We made it to Koh Samet, walked through the national part security checkpoint like we belonged on the island and without looking around and gawking like a tourist, and thus avoided the 200 baht entry fee (about $6.50).  They are used to having teachers around, so if you don’t LOOK like a tourist, they will usually just assume you are a teacher and living in the city...they were too busy dealing with the three boatloads of Chinese tourists who REALLY looked like tourists...I think the sign that indicates whether a Chinese citizen is a tourist or not is a fanny pack...there were plenty of those to go around. We walked through the line of beach bars and dinner houses to the far end of Silver Sands Beach to a beach called Saikaew, where we met up with a few other people and began absorbing sunlight and drinking the impossibly large bottles of thai beer that can be had for about a dollar.  

Scattered about in the sand, either flopped out on one side or dragging their asses through the side like they were trying to excavate a channel, are dogs....dogs of every shape and size.  There was no portion of the canine family was neglected in this gathering.  There was not much commonality between each of them other than the fact that they were all manged to the point they had no hair...just weird wrinkled skin.  

Most of them were not a nuisance, they would just sit in the sand or follow you around, not looking the least bit interested or threatening.  They were simply EVERYWHERE.  As the day began to wind down, and people moved from the beach to the bars, they dogs began to congregate nearer to those of us who were still on the beach...namely my group.  By the time we got off the beach, there was a good 30 dogs following us around...they, as all dogs do, decided it was time to start fighting.  Nothing like a dog fight going on around your legs.  Makes me wish I had gotten my rabies course before I left.  

The other thing that plays into this is that it is storm season in Thailand, and we had been watching a storm brewing out in the gulf all day.  As we arrived at the pier is began to rain...first a sprinkle, then a full on tropical deluge.  We hopped in a convenient speedboat and were bound for the mainland, cutting arcs storm chop, being drenched by sea spray and rain, and generally having a bad time of it.  I wasn't too worried about it until the speedboat driver started grunting and feeling around for his life vest under the seat... we made it without incident, but it was a journey.

So exhausted was I upon returning, that I collapsed into bed after rinsing the sand off me, had a very brief moment to wish my very good friend a happy birthday (HAPPY STILL BIRTHDAY!!!  I wish I was there to share it!), and then literally passed out.  Today should be a bit more low key...I want to get some writing done.