I think Songkran is the happiest cat in the world. He is not a purebred cat, he has the tip of his tail twisted in an indescribable way and the color of his fur is very common. In other words, he is the typical gray striped cat.
However, his story is something special because it is not that of a pet that lives in an apartment, nor even that of an “outdoor” explorer cat that goes out for walks on the neighborhood rooftops.
Songkran’s adventures go even further than that and by the end of his first year of life he had already been to three countries: he went on a motorbike trip through Laos, he traveled by train through Thailand, and during his first months he lived on a paradise island in Malaysia.
You guessed it, Songkran is our cat. How does someone who lives on the road end up sharing their journeys with a cute little cat? Well, by chance.
The truth is that, despite being great cat lovers, you can imagine that carrying one on our backs while we wander aimlessly through Southeast Asia had never been in our plans.
However, fate decided that arriving at a place I should never have been would not only give me the worst blow I’ve ever received while volunteering, but also the most entertaining travel companion in the world.
I’m not going to tell you in detail what happened for Songkran to end up in our care because it’s too sad a story. However, it can be summed up by saying that we went to Langkawi because I was going to volunteer in a wrongly named “shelter”, which in Spain we know as an animal rescue center.
I went there with the best of intentions, but that place had a stupid protocol, which I found out about a few days later, that stated that any dog or cat under 700 grams that arrived there had to be euthanized.
I found out the hard way and after some arguments, tears and anger, Songkran, who weighed 300 grams and was next on Lassie ‘s list, came with us. And of course I left there forever.
Although euthanizing healthy animals is a common practice in most kennels (it still happens in Spain), I was not willing to be in a place that called itself a sanctuary/protector and ended up doing the same thing. Of the 4 weeks I was supposed to be there, I only stayed for 8 days.
So there we were, in Langkawi, in a cabin we had rented for a whole month where they didn’t even allow animals, and with the Songkran tadpole.
At first we tried to find him a home, as taking him with us had never even crossed our minds. We arranged the porch of the cabin as best we could so that he could stay there and we spread the word about him among the Malaysian people we knew, but it was no use. Songkran’s destiny seemed to be written and in less than 48 hours he had won us over. We were taking him with us.
But to what extent would a cat affect us when we travel? At that time, it seemed impossible, but we quickly adapted to the circumstances and realized that if he was going to be a traveling cat, we had to start getting him used to it from a young age.
During the first few weeks we gave him his vaccinations, got him used to the harness, took him on the motorbike, took him on the bus, and introduced him to more cats. When he was a few months old he was already a real “cat with a backpack”.
Even in Kanchanaburi he became good friends with our writer Nando Baba, who publishes the cosmic chronicle every Friday on the website.
To be honest, we’ve been moving much slower than usual lately, but it hasn’t been due to Songkran as we haven’t had any problems crossing from one country to another with him. Surprisingly, at the borders in this area they don’t give a damn about what you carry in your carrier, whether it’s a cat or a pangolin…
So at this point in the film our cat already knows what beach sand and mountain soil are, he has become the protagonist outside a school in Luam Nam Tha and is the king of the neighborhood where we were living in Chiang Mai.
Now he’s already preparing for his next trip. Is he or isn’t he an all-terrain cat?
His birthday is in April, and when we adopted him I calculated that he was about five weeks old, just when they were celebrating the New Year in Thailand, Songkran. So Toni christened him with that name and I thought it was perfect (those of you who have read Songkran, the last breath of a rescued elephant, already know why).
So after a few years with us and some of you asking us questions, we officially introduce you to the fiera (or Songkri, depending on the mood he’s in).
Do you believe me now if I say that Songkran is the happiest cat in the world?
