No, not what you are thinking...

I recently visited my wife's Moobahn in deepest Issan, just near the border with Laos. On a visit to the local market, it was apparent that westerners were not all that common in the area.

'Farang, farang' shouted the excited traders to their friends, and some ran out of the market to tell their friends outside about this strange sight in the market.

I'm convinced that If I had sat down with a sign in Thai offering to have my photo taken with them for 100 baht each time, I could have finished the day a rich man

Simon

No, not what you are thinking...

I recently visited my wife's Moobahn in deepest Issan, just near the border with Laos. On a visit to the local market, it was apparent that westerners were not all that common in the area.

'Farang, farang' shouted the excited traders to their friends, and some ran out of the market to tell their friends outside about this strange sight in the market.

I'm convinced that If I had sat down with a sign in Thai offering to have my photo taken with them for 100 baht each time, I could have finished the day a rich man

Simon

You better be a superman then.

Would the locals give their daily wage after a back-breaking 12 hours shift in the rice paddies to take a picture with a foreigner? Assuming there was 1 camera in the village or you lend yours?

Judging by the wads of cash that the market traders were handling, I don't think 100 baht would be missed....

Simon

No, no. It is impossible people in Issaan have money. Please refrain from telling lies. They are all poor, and uneducated. Nobody makes money there, only backbreaking work in the rice paddies.

No, no. It is impossible people in Issaan have money. Please refrain from telling lies. They are all poor, and uneducated. Nobody makes money there, only backbreaking work in the rice paddies.

Say it quietly....otherwise, if BKK city girls learn about the wealth in Isaan ready to be skimmed, they may leave their universities or office jobs, offer themselves to Isaan men and stuff bank accounts of their BKK families with the money from North East.