Feed, Spay, Love.

Part (the love part) of the movie 'eat, pray, love' is set and filmed in Ubud. It might be a film to puke at but the scenery in it is gorgeous, so I knew we were in for a treat - it was in fact absolutely stunning. It was very touristy like Kuta but in a completely different way. Cute restaurants, organic cafes, craft shops, and a few bars all of which wouldn't have looked out of place in Shoreditch, and in some cases a kind of unique style you wouldn't even find there.  Finding a place to stay wasn't easy. There were hundreds of places but either too expensive or too cheap and shitty. After literally looking at about 20 places, eventually I found a brand new little homestay owned by a young family within a compound with aunts uncles, siblings and grandparents. I have never felt so good to say 'I'll take it' to a place, he literally threw his arms in the air and let out an unrestrained 'yes!' I think we may have been their first customers. He later told us he had owned a shop before and had gone bankrupt, so he had borrowed the money to build the 4 bedroom guesthouse in his family's compound. They must have built it over their own living area as the couple and their two young children were having to live in one of the guest rooms. Despite the lack of a mirror, and no acclaimed hot water, the place was pristine and the family so welcoming, we stayed there for an unplanned 2 week stint. As well as it's unique arts and craft scene Ubud is also known for it's beautiful walks through the rice paddies. Although strangely the locals just don't understand the concept of walking. Every day our family asked us if we wanted to hire bikes or mopeds and when we declined in preference of walking they looked at us like we were bonkers. On one such walk we discovered the most luscious scenery I think I have seen on this trip. The rice fields were the epitome of green, fringed with pretty frangipani trees and other colorful seemingly perfect flowers. In the distance the moody contrast of Bali's huge volcano. There were numerous little paths between the fields, where we stumbled on hidden warungs and cafes. It sounds kitsch but it wasn't at all. Wherever we went, the locals, whether they spoke English and worked in tourism or elderly rice paddy farmers, all gave us sincere greetings and smiles.  Everywhere around the town you had to watch your step not to accidentally step on one of the hundreds of Hindu offerings left to the deities and demons, which adorned the pavement outside every single shop, cafe and compound. Making these little offerings took up several hours of the womens time everyday without fail. Whether they were working in shops or in the compound looking after children, you would see them working together to prepare the materials and create the offerings. They would intricately make little boxes from woven palm leaves and fill them with petals, biscuits, and sweets. Twice a day they would dress in a sarong and using a frangipani flower dipped in water they would ceremoniously flick water and burn incense sticks as they placed the offering, muttering prayers under their breath. It was sweet, but I couldn't help but feel that they were wasting a whole lot of time making them. But who am I to judge, they might be right and I could be totally wrong, after all they were all extremely happy and contented from what I could see. They didn't seem to mind any of the many bedraggled stray dogs nibbling the painstakingly made offerings though! Talking of dogs we decided to partake in some more volunteering while we were in such a great place. We passed a dog refuge/clinic when we came in on the bus so decided to take a look and find out if they needed a hand. We signed up for a week to help at the Bali Animal Welfare Association in their clinic about an hour's walk outside of Ubud. With a 24hr ambulance it's job was to answer calls from concerned residents about sick looking dogs, dumped puppies or mistreatment - plus free vaccination and spading. There were about 130 dogs and 30 cats in the clinic whilst we were there, with new arrivals every day. Most of these were puppies.  We ended up spending 10 days there as we found they were short of volunteers on weekends. Our job was to clean, feed, walk, assist the vet in treating and give our love and attention to all the animals. Some of the puppies were adorable and in perfect condition, winding up at the centre because of being dumped by unloving owners or the survivors of an attempted drowning. Others were nearly bald with ringworm and scabies. We helped a couple of 4 week old puppies suffering from the later plus malnourishmebnt and dehydration. We fed them every few hours, bathed them and played with them and I believe we brought them back from the dehydrated, listless, near death state they arrived in. By the time we left they had been adopted. This was unfortunately only half the story. Two tiny puppies that arrived at the same time, and who I coxed back to life and seemed to be improving, got diagnosed with distemper. They were put to sleep immediately to avoid the risk of it contagion. Distemper and parvovirus are two diseases we don't worry about in the uk because all dogs are vaccinated, but in Bali it's too expensive to vaccinate so unfortunately it is rife. 30 puppies were put down the week before we arrived because of a parvovirus outbreak in the clinic.  Two poor puppies were also put down while we were there with possible rabies. As rabies is so common in Bali, if a dog or puppy bites someone it its taken to the clinic where it's put on observation for a week. If it has rabies it will start to show signs in this time, this exact thing happened while we were there. The dog started to salivate and have strange fits. Gruesomely the head of the dog had to be cut off and sent away to test, this is the only way to clinically confirm the diagnosis. We also witnessed these symptoms in a dog which wasn't under observation. It was horrific seeing it become completely disorientated, then it's eyes rolled back as it dropped to the floor in spasms. It continued this way for about 10 minutes, after which it started to bark uncontrollably. The vet said it was likely to be epilepsy, and in a caring home in the Uk this could potentially be maintained, however in Bali it's a lost cause. People who own dogs in Bali let them live independently like a cat, and they are never leashed, allowed in the house, played with, hugged or in some cases, fed. It sounds strange to us westerners, but the dogs who are at least fed a decent meal daily and not tormented actually seem pretty happy with their lot. Unfortunately many are neglected once they grown out of their cute puppy looks and end up with all these deceases, not to mention allowed to mate whenever they like, amplifying the problem! A large part of what the 24hr ambulance did in down time was to visit villages and locals educating them and spading their dogs. It was quite poignant that we happened to be volunteering at the clinic when I received a message from Mum saying they had to say goodbye to our dog Millie, The last of our 3 Border terriers. I think I was most upset about what my dad must be feeling, as despite being against getting even one dog in the first place, Millie had become his loyal companion. She was 18, which is pretty much unheard of, and she had had a great life. I felt good being able to help keep some misfortunate puppies alive in honor of Millie. There were too many rescue cases, positive and sad stories to tell you about, plus if you don't like dogs or this isnt your bag you may not have got this far, but if you want to read about them go to: www.bawabali.com Most of the other volunteers were vet students, totting up their practice hours, and there for a few months. I felt with our mere 10 days there we hadn't even scratched the surface, this job more than the others on our trip. I wondered whether our short time there had helped at all. But at least I hope we can say we perhaps saved a few puppies' lives, gave them some of the love they had never experienced, and also learnt a bit about the problem ourselves, and can raise awareness about it.  Every evening after washing away the germs of all the nasty doggy diseases we would make our way to our favorite little restaurant overlooking the rice field, to sink a few beers and eat some great food for pennies. Even writing this (5 weeks after leaving Ubud) and I just think what a great place it is. And I really do feel that we got under the skin of it a little bit and saw something different from what perhaps holidaymakers do, by living with the locals, and working for the community. When we decided it was time to move on we were very sad.  It did help though that we had luscious beaches to look forward to and what felt like was going to be a holiday within our trip...