If You Want To Sleep... Bring Ear Plugs

[IanForbes]

I recently returned from a trip into one of the many mountain villages in Thailand. I recommend the trip to everyone who wants to see some of the real Thailand.

We slept on air mattresses at night in small, teak buildings. Thais can sleep through anything including cold, hard pavement. The local people are generous and lovely. Nights were cool, so I recommend bringing extra bedding and a thin piece of foam to put on top of the air mattress. But, if you want to sleep at night I recommend you bring ear plugs. These guys kept me awake all night...

I thought roosters were only supposed to crow in the morning. These roosters squalked at midnight, 2AM, 4AM and continuously starting at 5:30AM. In retaliation we had one killed and ate it for supper, but a tougher, stringiest peice of meat I've never eaten.

The little children were a delight though, and a few loved to have their photos take.

At this time of year most of the rice paddies were dry, but they made a lovely mosaic patchwork scenery.

[sbk]

Nice photos Ian, kids do love to have their photos taken. A very kind gesture would be to print them up and mail them to the village as I doubt many of these kids have photos of themselves beyond the school pictures.

Roosters crow at midnight, and at least according to my husband with his years of living next to the ocean, they crow when the tide changes. Go figure.

[IanForbes]

Nice photos Ian, kids do love to have their photos taken. A very kind gesture would be to print them up and mail them to the village as I doubt many of these kids have photos of themselves beyond the school pictures.

Roosters crow at midnight, and at least according to my husband with his years of living next to the ocean, they crow when the tide changes. Go figure.

I'm in the process of doing just that, sbk. I intend to return to the village in the new year and hope to have a bunch of photos printed and a CD for the school master.

[jubby]

Noisy Roosters ! . Just normal Country sounds Ian Its all relative I suppose ............. You should here the Dogs in our village the last few nights Rutting Season or something

[Maizefarmer]

......... just wait till you have to tolerate a couple hundred dairy cows "mooo......ing" at 3:00am each morning to get their udders relieved - and half a dozen geese (who'll go off at the slightest unusual noise any time of the night).

........ah, yes - the pleasure(s) of rural/farming life. Mind you far better than Bangkok traffic!!

Nice pic's Ian.

Edited December 12, 2009 by Maizefarmer

[BSJ]

I am sure it's very interesting, but for me it's way to rural.

If I can't smell salt air I am too far from the ocean!

[PeaceBlondie]

We lived for weeks in Mayan villages that were so remote - no phones, electricity - running water only in cold streams. No fotos allowed until they believed you'd sacrifice your life with them. Lots of roosters, and women making fresh tortillas at 5 AM.

[londonthai]

cocks don't crow all night, those in the village were scared of snakes or other predators

[Birdman]

The gamecocks of the owner of the next piece of land did not only crow all night, but also all day. Maybe a special breed, which were that energetic that they crow during sleep?

Edited December 12, 2009 by Birdman

[tutsiwarrior]

Ian, where you were in the hills was cock fighting a popular activity? if so their owners like to encourage the birds to screech as loudly and as often as possible...helps the training...

I lived in an upmarket neighborhood in Managua and all the neighbors had 'pet' roosters...I'd see these grinning idiots petting their huge birds and when they would screech it was 'que es muy macho'...I was seriously thinking about poisoned bird feed but moved to other accommodation where it was quieter...

and, it was never 'cock-a-doodle-do'...it was SCREECH, SCREECH, SCREECH...

que macho...

[WinnieTheKhwai]

In retaliation we had one killed and ate it for supper, but a tougher, stringiest peice of meat I've never eaten.

The little children were a delight though,

They were less stringy?

[IanForbes]

In retaliation we had one killed and ate it for supper, but a tougher, stringiest peice of meat I've never eaten.

The little children were a delight though,

They were less stringy?

Good one, Winnie, nice retort.

I saw no evidence of fighting roosters raised for sport, but all roosters will fight when competing for the attention of a hen.

Last year the villages in that valley had no electricity other than truck batteries. Some time in the past 7 months the government supplied the villages with solar panels and now they even have internet. It's very slow, but at least they can communicate with the outside world instead of driving for 4 hours on a narrow track. There is no cel phone coverage. Everything is built by hand including marvelous teak planked river boats.

[simon43]

Roosters only crow if they can stretch their head and necks up. So the trick is to put a low roof over them so that when they try to stretch, their head hits the roof! It works!

Another alternative is to wring their necks which also works quite well....

Simon