Chiang Mai ..... Street Cats, Street Art, and Doors...
This post is dedicated to my morning walk and is mostly made up of photos. At 6:15 every morning, Diane is off to the gym and I’m out the door to take advantage of the coolness of that time of day and I find the streets pretty much vacant. Chiang Mai as a city, gets up late and goes to bed before midnight. I have a general route that varies from day to day. My walk takes about 40 minutes or so.
From what I gather these cats are taken care of by … everyone. Or at least that is what I would like to think. I think semi-feral describes them best. Though there are a few house cats that roam outside and it’s obvious by their looks they are well taken care of. Collars, shiny coats and a tad more friendly. A rat or mouse sighting is super rare, and I now understand why. Spaying and neutering may not be as accepted as one would like. I’m guessing this may be because of Buddhism in Thailand. Honestly, I don’t know a lot of the doings of cats and dogs of Chiang Mai, but I do have a soft spot for the little guys.
This was my first customer. I had purchased some dry cat food in a resealable pouch that I carry around in my in my murse. Man-purse. Satchel. Whatever you want to call it.
I suppose this is apropos. Normally this has a street food stall in front of it. But I was here early enough before they set up for the day. Around lunch time the stall is super busy with a long line.
A few weeks after this shot, on my morning walk, I saw the cat slave walking him around. The cat seems very healthy. I now stop to say ‘hi’ only. I save the treats for the ‘mayo-johns‘ แมวจร which is wandering cats in the Thai language.
She was having a little trouble with the harder dry cat food. So at this point, I switched to a softer dry food. All the cats rejoiced.
Obviously, she is feline royalty. Holding court in a coffee shop before opening hours.
What would you do if you saw this while driving by? Call the police, donate cat food, or just shake your head. “Cat-Man-Do” of Chiang Mai.
A little too shy for food today, I’ll catch her on another day.
I tend not to touch the cats. I just let them be. There is a ‘Cat Cafe‘ close by for that kind of thing. For a few dollars you can spend time with 30 or so well taken care of cats in an air-conditioned cafe and have a cup of joe. I did this last week and hung out with a clowder of cats. It was kitty overload.
“Benny“
Yep, creepy and ghost-like. Both of us! It looks like the cat can see right through me into my future and into my soul. Or am I the cat? Then this is some ‘time-warp-interdimensional‘ stuff…
She was super affectionate. One happy cat. I’ll call her ‘Sugar‘ from now on
I walk by this pretty much every day. It is at the beginning of my route which rarely changes.
These two, and a third I could not capture on film, guarded Pizza My Heart restaurant. The gray one was having nothing to do with me entering the building. I tried to pull on the door and he was just not gonna move…
Later, in the pic on the right, as I sat on my swing set, I enticed them with a little beer and cat food. The beer was for me. I was…. enticed
The owner of the restaurant let me know that she had fed them fresh fish not too long ago.
This was his second helping.
This is the second time for this cat being aloof. So, now I call him 2-Shy
This is part of a larger wall around a property. Private and slightly mysterious with an aura of magic.
Everyone likes a white paw’d tuxedo cat!
It was the closest I could get to him.
Yep, one of my favorite colors. Turquoise.
I have learned once you give a kitty some food they just start eating and become not very photogenic. This was taken left-handed after I threw the treat pouch down and approached with my right hand.
Along with looking for stray cats to feed I keep an eye out for people to say ‘hi’ to. This is a way to practice my Thai language skills. Most, if not all, conversations with native Thai speakers are failures in linguistics, but something I must keep at.
I understand once I start speaking Thai they know I have limited skill and they are used to it. Very few people who look like me can speak any significant amount of Thai. Some of the trouble comes when I do speak well, they actually talk to me with words I don’t know. I know 500 words, they know one billion.
Each month it gets better.
These two greeted me just outside the doors to the condo. I think the word has gone out about ‘Cat Man Do‘ and the cat treats.
Sleepy and waiting for the coffee shop to open for a fresh cup of joe.
There is a spectrum of cats from house cats to semi-feral. But I get the impression that even the alley cats get along ok.
Notice the collar. Well taken care of. There is not much of a necessity for ”Cat Man Do“
Yes, thats my toe in the picture. He was doing the swirl-around-the-legs cat thing they are apt to do.
He genuinely seemed to want to be photographed. I obliged.
I hope you enjoyed the photos. Thanks for reading, or in the case of this post, thanks for just looking at the pics!