Tong Tong Discovers the Pool at Our Villa

I never thought I would be writing this, but Tong Tong, our Khao Manee girl, has finally gone swimming. For five and a half years she has treated water like something that personally offended her, so when we moved into the villa outside Lamai with its little plunge pool, I didn't expect much. Khao Manee cats are famously sporty and curious, and she has always been the one jumping onto the bathroom sink to bat at the tap, so maybe that was a clue I missed.

We started with the steps. Each morning before the sun got too hot, I sat on the edge with my feet in the water and let her climb onto my knee. On the third day she put one white paw on the first step, looked at me with total betrayal, and then, quite deliberately, walked down into the shallow end. She paddled in a tight circle, chirped at a gecko on the tiles, and tried to climb out again before I could cheer.

By the end of the week she was swimming a little lap from the steps to the wall and back, ears flat, very serious about it. Koh Samui in October is hot and the water is warm, which helped enormously. I'm not sure she would call it a hobby yet, but I am absolutely calling it a win.