Do You Live In A Thai Village Full Time

[macb]

Well I was in Krasang mkt last night looking for a BB gun shoots little plastic balls my mate hgas got one and works well on unwanted guests on your land (I better clarify guests animals and birds I mean ops I better clarify birds I mean the feathered kind

Hmm, this could also solve the shitting chicken problem. My acuracy with a slingshot is not what it used to be any more

I am the same with the sling shot : History would have changed if I had to defeat Goliath with a sling shot

[Martin]

History would also have changed had Goliath been able to get up and say: "You do know that it is best of three, don't you?".

I once had occasion to feel exactly how David would have felt if that had happened!!!

[macb]

Well its now time to expand my Topic and report on village life in Petchabun:

There is a great divide in the Khmer culture and Central Thai culture: (This is my personal observation)

Now that I am living in Petchabun wife my friends for the time being, immediately I have found that the people are more friendly and the culture is softer. I get the impression of a more genuine friendliness when people greet you and there is more social caring, this view is only my view and based on living in my village in Issan for nearly three years : This does not mean this is a blanket statement ;

Let me clarify my comments : There are Issan people that although born in a Khmer village move away and work elsewhere for a long time then they experience the Thai Culture as apposed to Khmer culture:

My view now is Khmer culture very abrasive and hard where as the Thai Culture is much softer and cleaner for want of a better expression , certainly up here in Petchabun I have experienced.

You can walk through the village here and local folks greet you and immediately ask you to there house and the welcome is very warm and genuine, and you don't get people asking for beer immediately.

But then this part of Thailand is more prosperous than Issan and local folks are more enterprising when it comes to farming of course bearing in mind the climate here is different

[rockyysdt]

But then this part of Thailand is more prosperous than Issan and local folks are more enterprising when it comes to farming of course bearing in mind the climate here is different

Hi Mac

I'm interested to know.

What is the climate like generally in the Udon Thani or Sakhon Prakhon region of Thailand compared to southern places like Bangkok & Phuket?

Is it more temperate or does it get very hot and humid?

Also what's it like around April - May?

danny

[Bicko]

Well its now time to expand my Topic and report on village life in Petchabun:

There is a great divide in the Khmer culture and Central Thai culture: (This is my personal observation)

Now that I am living in Petchabun wife my friends for the time being, immediately I have found that the people are more friendly and the culture is softer. I get the impression of a more genuine friendliness when people greet you and there is more social caring, this view is only my view and based on living in my village in Issan for nearly three years : This does not mean this is a blanket statement ;

Let me clarify my comments : There are Issan people that although born in a Khmer village move away and work elsewhere for a long time then they experience the Thai Culture as apposed to Khmer culture:

My view now is Khmer culture very abrasive and hard where as the Thai Culture is much softer and cleaner for want of a better expression , certainly up here in Petchabun I have experienced.

You can walk through the village here and local folks greet you and immediately ask you to there house and the welcome is very warm and genuine, and you don't get people asking for beer immediately.

But then this part of Thailand is more prosperous than Issan and local folks are more enterprising when it comes to farming of course bearing in mind the climate here is different

Hey Mac. Good to see you posting again and we sincerely hope that things work out for you in Petchabun. It certainly looks like all is well.

Your observations about sub cultures within Thailand are interesting. Until you talked about this i had no idea that we had Khmer people in our province but of course it makes perfect sense as we are so close to the Cambodian border and of course some will be the descendants of the original population of Phanom Rung, Muang tam and Phimai.

You've met my wife and will be aware that she is a smart, switched on lady and also very caring and gentle and yet we live just 30 or 40 kms from your previous abode. The people in our village are not Khmer and I experience life in pretty much the same way that you have described where you are now. I am treated with the greatest of respect and often invited into peoples homes for a drink or to share food when i am out walking or riding my bike. If people see me mowing the lawn they will come in and start cutting or raking and so on without asking and have no expectations of a handout when we are finished.

Sawai tells me that she is of Lao descent but a long time ago and she does speak Lao, as well as Thai, English and Indonesian.

However to add some reality to the story i am pleased that her old man had passed away before i came along. Apparently he spent a large part of his life in the Buri Ram lockup. One brother-in-law who lives close to us has a huge scar on his midriff where the old bloke shot him with a shotgun for belting up his missus and one of my wife's suitors from many years ago when she was a teenager has a scar across the back of his head where the old fella hit him with a bush knife for similar reasons!!!!!

So he didn't muck around when it came to protecting his daughters not that i ever have or ever will put a hand on my wife in anger but it certainly would have been a threat to have the old bloke lurking in the background.

Sawai and I and my 22 year old grandson Nathan will be in your area early in the NY so will contact you and catch up for a beer or two.I plan to take him up your way and also to look at Sukothai. It must be pretty cool in the highlands near Petchabun this time of year.

Cheers mate and have a good Christmas and New Year. We have booked in to Martins for Xmas lunch.

[OurManinSamui2008]

First thanks to you guys so far for your very interesting input I want to praise you for intrigrating with the family:

Now having started the Topic I will tell you about my village life. I purposely waited for some input before adding mine.

Here goes then.

First here is a pic of me with the wife

Hi well not totally villaged up near damit

Well moved into the village full time February 2005 when our house was completed. Then a lot of time was spent adding more fill and preparing for planting etc, To-date about 60 trees have been planted different varieties of Mango, coconuts, Tamarind. papaya and fruits I cant remember them all. THen we built a Gazebo, and a seperate car-port, and had the drive laid.

So now its general pottering around. Morning starts at about 5-30 am we both get up, Bee gets the rice on for Buddha and sometimes cooks a dish for the monks and takes some to here mum and dads , there house is about 200 metres away, yes they shout to each other.

I have my coffee first and wonder round the garden with my dog (German Shepherd). Any bits I want to do in the garden before it gets hot I get on with it, the house stands in just over 1 Rai walled in. I have turfed around the house then let the rest grow green naturally around the garden area, so I bought a 4 stroke strimmer and at the moment in the wet season the whole area needs strimming and I like to do this myself, I may do it over 2 days. Here is a pic of some of the area to strim

I also go to the farm and strim the grass that the cows cannot eat because it is course with irritating sharp bits on the top. In the morning after Bee has cooked and eaten she will clean the house. If I have nothing to do much we work together I clean the bathrooms or put the laundry on.

After all these choral things she will sleep I hit the 2nd Coffee then check emails etc. Sometimes the wife will be off seeing other cousins in the village for a chit chat, then I chill on here.

We go to the night market in Burriram whenever we need stuff and get supplies for us and her parents (At her parents house there is mum & dad grandad and two nieces) We also buy there meat for them and I pay there electric each month. My wife has a big family So i tel the wife that they must help as well financially and they do.

This year we aquired 13 Rai at the rear of our house so there has been that to sort this year.

I dont have many Farang friends, ( not by choice I might add) I have an american guy who has married into the family so we reckon somewhere along the line we might be distant cousins however many times removed lol.

Twikits a Supermkt in Burriram is very good for Farang bits and pieces and I am quite happy getting stuff there, again we go when we feel the need. Sometimes I dont go out the gate there is always something to do.

The other night we went to the Night Mkt then took her dad and a niece for BBQ very nice love it washed down with a bottle or two of leo.

Surin is only 25 clicks from our village and takes me about 30 mins, there we have Big 'C' Makro and Tesco Lotus, next Monday we are going and I will make my first visit to the Farang Connection.

Evenings well I might eat Thai food or Farang food, I have a Euroapean style kitchen so Shepherds pie or Roast dinner or Spagbol. What more could one want.

In the afternoon I might come on here then look some TV. In the evening I let Bee look Thai TV and I come back on here it keeps me in contact with the outside world.

Bedtime is normally about 9-30 pm thereabouts my wife wont go to bed untill I do bless her, she normally falls asleep on the settee.

Well I have not planned this write or scenario just typed things as I think of them.

To-Date This morning up normal time I cleaned the pick up in and out, Bee's dad came to borrow the m/c we ran into Huairat for bits and bobs then Bee got me Grapo moo Kai dow, aroi then I cam on here.

macb

..........................................................

Mac Broadbridge

55 Moo 6

Banthago Sub-District

Huairat

Burriram

Thailand

31000

Hi, well not totally villaged up, yet, near damit, ok I work in Muang thai now 4 years, but as this part of the forum I will give my Issan life style, which I may add I enjoy!

This happens twice a year but within a few years when I retire it will be total here.

Well it goes without saying, Cockerels giving a large vocal support about 5.30am, then I raise my body from my my ample, nice bedroom, get the tea on the go, mum in law is already up, dad is up with the buffalo and out with the tuk tuk,

Wife up taking care of Laan Sow, we have no kids, but she is brill with all her neices nephews etc..

Then I stick my sim card, from my mobile, in my lap top, we are 10 k from the nearest land line we have applied but, needs a few more applications, before I get high speed internet, or some sort of 20 century connection, so my sim does ok.

Log on, check emails, bit of rice fish, spicy salad great stuff.

Shower check the land which keep the family rice, just finished, rubber doing ok.

Then as we were picking the rice I got my wellies on covered up, and three days with my Thai hat on,

sweated like Jill Dando getting the key in the door, (that is an English story).And Tam Kaow

But brilliant experience and love getting my hands dirty, the Thai's look on in a smile and wonder why, I tell them, they clap and shout, love it, seeing them, makes you realise how hard they work.

So back from the rice fields, kin kaow, then off to finish.

Evening...

Shower cuppa, KIN SOM TAM, Kin Pla ... and check emails.

Read, bed 7.30pm .....

Every three days we go shopping to Prasat, 25 k away.

Lovely drive on straight roads, on our rot mocy, motorbike, get the fish, tea bags, need them..

Veggies, fruit ....and any large emails I take my memory stick, to transfer if needed by internet shop.

Then back to our village, and chill

The locals know me, there are about 4/5 around, but in local Tambon myself, yep condial!

So I wonder round they talk to me we check if the lotto win, we sit at bits and peices.

As you said Mac Iam writing as it is happening.....

Then after 10 days or so back to the hussle and bussle of Bangkok, then back to work.

Life aint bad, just sometimes sucks.....

Si Thai

[OurManinSamui2008]

But then this part of Thailand is more prosperous than Issan and local folks are more enterprising when it comes to farming of course bearing in mind the climate here is different

Hi Mac

I'm interested to know.

What is the climate like generally in the Udon Thani or Sakhon Prakhon region of Thailand compared to southern places like Bangkok & Phuket?

Is it more temperate or does it get very hot and humid?

Also what's it like around April - May?

danny

Hi Danny ok generally it is hotter,but colder in the evenings, April god, you need aircon, if you can get it, it is like this, you stick the put lum on, (FAN) and it is like a hairdryer!

Jesus I was sweating and drinking water like a Muay Thai boxer!

Sithai

[chuckd]

Hi Tony

We turfed around the house and gardens at the same time which looks good now but if you could have seen how the lads do this compared to back in UK you would think the grass would last a week if that. They literally throw down small squares of turf which look "thread bare" with little or no soil attached. But after days and days of watering on my part they soon grew and even the patches which were very loose did take after a few weeks with fast root growth. Can't remember how much it cost in total as it was included in our costs for all the garden a couple of years ago when we decided to tidy up everything inside our wall.

Jay

Just finished the yard up-country. We got the turf from a Nursery on the highway in Udorn.

The lady started at 37 baht per meter but came down to 35 due to the volume we bought.

We ended up grassing 630 square meters around the house, plus a delivery charge of 1,000 baht to deliver some 85 kilometers away.

Total cost came to 23,050, including delivery.

[prakhonchai nick]

We got the turf from a Nursery on the highway in Udorn.

The lady started at 37 baht per meter but came down to 35 due to the volume we bought.

I may be a bit further south than you in lower Isaan, but last week I paid 25bt a square metre

[Gary A]

My little Yanmar 4 wheel drive tractor has been getting a workout since the rainy season has ended. My wife bought about a half rai lot beside our house. It was grown up in genuine jungle. A cat couldn't have gotten through it. The worst was the vines that are full of little thorns. I also dozed out bamboo clumps that would be worth thousands in the US. I have already burned three huge piles of brush. I am about 90 percent finished. We have another 10 rai plot a half mile or so from the house. It is a scenic little piece of land with mountains off in the distance with lots of fruit trees and a small pond. I decided to make the pond bigger and use the dirt to make a road to the pond. They should finish tomorrow. I want to put a little cottage there. My wife calls it a hut. There is no electricity so it will be a simple little structure for now. It is very near the village so I think in the next couple of years they will have electricity there.

[chuckd]

We got the turf from a Nursery on the highway in Udorn.

The lady started at 37 baht per meter but came down to 35 due to the volume we bought.

I may be a bit further south than you in lower Isaan, but last week I paid 25bt a square metre

That price would have saved me 6,300 baht. Alas, the price we paid was the best we could find in Udorn.

[Gimbo]

My wife calls it a hut. There is no electricity so it will be a simple little structure for now. It is very near the village so I think in the next couple of years they will have electricity there.

The wife calls our house "The Hut", it's from when she wanted to tell me she owned a small house in the village. And aparantly "Hut" was the definition in her dictionary that fit the bill

[billd766]

The last 5 nights have been the annual fair in Klong Lan and it seems to me it is getting smaller every year. Last Friday while taking my 3 1/4 son to playschool we came across the band and the lion and dragon dancers going around the village shops to the accompaniament of chinese fire crackers. He saw them last year but I don't think he remembered but this year you could have parked the pickup truck in his mouth as it was so wide open in amazement.

Friday night we went around for a couple of hours and he was enjoying it and last night being the last night we went again. He went on the big wheel (the London Eye it isn't) for a while until he got bored and then he went on the bouncy castle.

He started out a bit slowly but after a while he was just flinging himself all over and jumping 1/2 waty down the slide for the first bounce. We had a lot of trouble dragging him off afetr about 1/2 an hour so to calm him down we found somewhere you could buy plaster casts and paint them. That was fun but a bit messy and the washing machine got a hammering today.

Before we left he went on the bouncer for another 1/2 hour and wandered over to the side for bigger kids a couple of times until the guy moved him back.

We got home around 10.30 and it took a while to get him to bed and he cried a bit until his battery finally went dead just like the last burst from a duracell.

He was grumpy this morning and didn't want to go to school but Daddy used charm and tact (and threats when that didn't work) and he finally went.

Now is peaceful for me as he is at school, the wife is in the fields gathering corn and the fair has packed up and gone away.

I dread next year as he will be another year older and wanting to do more.

:D

[Gary A]

The pond and road leading to it are finished. We did have a little excitement. The excavator apparently dug a snake out of his hole and dumped him in the truck. It was one of the last loads needed to finish the road. This snake comes out of the pile of dirt and the Thais scattered. It was in a hurry to find a place to hide. I had never seen one like it before but didn't think much about it. When I got home I looked it up on the Internet. It was quite easy to identify. Slate colored with white rings. Turns out it was a Blue Krait. More poisonous that cobras. Of course my wife thought nothing about it. She says you leave it alone and it will leave you alone. She also catches Tokays with her bare hand and throws them out of the house.

[ThailandTony]

Nice 3 week break back in Thailand after my toils in the Gulf since July. We're having a week up in Ubon before returning home to Chaiyaphum for the remaining 2 weeks. Beautiful up here near the Sirindhorn Dam, rellies place is about 300m from the reservoir cross country and the Vigo eats it for breakfast. Then its just me and the grazing water buffalos down by the water. I set up my go-anywhere hammock between 2 suitably distanced trees in a large clump of them so that you’re shaded for most of the day. Then its grass mat down, ice-bucket and Leo expertly positioned and book in hand, work feels like a lifetime ago, instead of just a few days. I did my 1st 300 page book in 24 hours and now realise I need to visit a decent book shop on the way back to Chaiyaphum before reading matter gets critically low. Staying in a new hotel in Phibun Mangsahan this trip as the bungalows we normally stay in on the bank of the Sirindhorn reservoir were fully booked. Nice and clean for 850 Baht per night.

Some of the family live up in the mountains on the Laos border and I heard they were harvesting rubber, so always looking to learn something new we jumped in the pickup and scooted past Chong Mek (Thai-Laos border post) and up into the hills. This was the first time I had visited this family's home, even though I had met them previously at another relatives place. Even so, they made me feel like a visiting prince and I reciprocated with goodies for all the kids. Not a soul asked for a beer or a sniff of rubbing alcohol which was very refreshing. The Vigo then got to work getting us up to where the rubber tree's were planted and the whole way up I was getting all the economics of rubber farming from "papa" in my usual Q&A session, from someone who has more knowledge than me on a subject. He showed me through the whole process from shaving the tree bark, collecting the sap, drying it in the sun and running it through a mangle into 1Kg blankets. Gave me alot of ideas for our farm in Chaiyaphum and we ended our trip with a run round gathering a couple of hundred seed pods and saplings to take back with us. If you've never seen a rubber tree plantation it reminds me of how the army plant trees, in straight lines, shoulder to shoulder, equal distances apart. The trunk grows about 5 metres before it branches and the spacing ensures the canopy is dense enough so that when you are under the trees you are completely shaded with a nice breeze running between the trunks it was idyllic!....perfect hammock slinging territory!

Just before we set-off, papa (ubiquitous term for any male who is older than me) set about a 3-inch thick bamboo stem on a 20+ foot bamboo, cutting it down and then into about 4 foot sections, basically cutting after every second knuckle that you get on bamboo. This was slung in the back of the pickup (did I say how much I love my Vigo....lol) with the explanation from the missus that it was for papa.

After, we negotiated our way back off the mountain we got back to the family home where numbers had tripled and another visit to the local shop was required to stock up on more goodies for the kiddies. My new best friend who runs the shop now knew what was on my shopping list and promptly filled up 3 carrier bags with the required treasures. Back at the family home another cottage industry was in full flow with all of the women weaving the baskets they use to steam sticky rice over the aluminium cauldrons that are everywhere in this part of the world. 5 Baht per basket and 10 baskets per day is the norm! This explained the bamboo in the back of the pickup but when I asked Tae if I should unload it she looked at me as if I had grown a 3rd head and when I reminded her that she said it was for papa, she said yes, more golden silence then the penny dropped, "not this papa, papa!", this was code for the kids grandfather who we were visiting, if only the Germans had let the Thai's programme the Enigma device, we would all be speaking German and Bangkok would have a bullet train link direct to Tokyo! I digress. I had a go at the weaving and it was fun, it must have been coz all the women were wetting themselves! I love being the fool in this part of the world, at 6ft and 280lbs I can be a bit scarry to the average rural Isaanite, but I always let Tae shove me around and tell me off for joking about as this never fails to break the ice, she's 5ft in heels and 100lbs in a soaking wet duffle-coat.

Later we saw the people who buy the baskets visiting most of the houses in this village and driving off with probably a 1000 or so in the back of their pickup. We later saw the pickup at the market in Chong Mek so that was the whole cycle, I felt like i'd just lived a Discovery Channel "How its made" programme from cut bamboo to re-sale.

Anyway that’s about it for my 1st day back. Lots of snakes about at the moment, saw 4 yesterday alone, a python and 3 nasty looking buggers who were all at least 5ft long.

It's great to be back, cheers....TT.

[joeuk1]

Nice 3 week break back in Thailand after my toils in the Gulf since July. We're having a week up in Ubon before returning home to Chaiyaphum for the remaining 2 weeks. Beautiful up here near the Sirindhorn Dam, rellies place is about 300m from the reservoir cross country and the Vigo eats it for breakfast. Then its just me and the grazing water buffalos down by the water. I set up my go-anywhere hammock between 2 suitably distanced trees in a large clump of them so that you're shaded for most of the day. Then its grass mat down, ice-bucket and Leo expertly positioned and book in hand, work feels like a lifetime ago, instead of just a few days. I did my 1st 300 page book in 24 hours and now realise I need to visit a decent book shop on the way back to Chaiyaphum before reading matter gets critically low. Staying in a new hotel in Phibun Mangsahan this trip as the bungalows we normally stay in on the bank of the Sirindhorn reservoir were fully booked. Nice and clean for 850 Baht per night.

Some of the family live up in the mountains on the Laos border and I heard they were harvesting rubber, so always looking to learn something new we jumped in the pickup and scooted past Chong Mek (Thai-Laos border post) and up into the hills. This was the first time I had visited this family's home, even though I had met them previously at another relatives place. Even so, they made me feel like a visiting prince and I reciprocated with goodies for all the kids. Not a soul asked for a beer or a sniff of rubbing alcohol which was very refreshing. The Vigo then got to work getting us up to where the rubber tree's were planted and the whole way up I was getting all the economics of rubber farming from "papa" in my usual Q&A session, from someone who has more knowledge than me on a subject. He showed me through the whole process from shaving the tree bark, collecting the sap, drying it in the sun and running it through a mangle into 1Kg blankets. Gave me alot of ideas for our farm in Chaiyaphum and we ended our trip with a run round gathering a couple of hundred seed pods and saplings to take back with us. If you've never seen a rubber tree plantation it reminds me of how the army plant trees, in straight lines, shoulder to shoulder, equal distances apart. The trunk grows about 5 metres before it branches and the spacing ensures the canopy is dense enough so that when you are under the trees you are completely shaded with a nice breeze running between the trunks it was idyllic!....perfect hammock slinging territory!

Just before we set-off, papa (ubiquitous term for any male who is older than me) set about a 3-inch thick bamboo stem on a 20+ foot bamboo, cutting it down and then into about 4 foot sections, basically cutting after every second knuckle that you get on bamboo. This was slung in the back of the pickup (did I say how much I love my Vigo....lol) with the explanation from the missus that it was for papa.

After, we negotiated our way back off the mountain we got back to the family home where numbers had tripled and another visit to the local shop was required to stock up on more goodies for the kiddies. My new best friend who runs the shop now knew what was on my shopping list and promptly filled up 3 carrier bags with the required treasures. Back at the family home another cottage industry was in full flow with all of the women weaving the baskets they use to steam sticky rice over the aluminium cauldrons that are everywhere in this part of the world. 5 Baht per basket and 10 baskets per day is the norm! This explained the bamboo in the back of the pickup but when I asked Tae if I should unload it she looked at me as if I had grown a 3rd head and when I reminded her that she said it was for papa, she said yes, more golden silence then the penny dropped, "not this papa, papa!", this was code for the kids grandfather who we were visiting, if only the Germans had let the Thai's programme the Enigma device, we would all be speaking German and Bangkok would have a bullet train link direct to Tokyo! I digress. I had a go at the weaving and it was fun, it must have been coz all the women were wetting themselves! I love being the fool in this part of the world, at 6ft and 280lbs I can be a bit scarry to the average rural Isaanite, but I always let Tae shove me around and tell me off for joking about as this never fails to break the ice, she's 5ft in heels and 100lbs in a soaking wet duffle-coat.

Later we saw the people who buy the baskets visiting most of the houses in this village and driving off with probably a 1000 or so in the back of their pickup. We later saw the pickup at the market in Chong Mek so that was the whole cycle, I felt like i'd just lived a Discovery Channel "How its made" programme from cut bamboo to re-sale.

Anyway that's about it for my 1st day back. Lots of snakes about at the moment, saw 4 yesterday alone, a python and 3 nasty looking buggers who were all at least 5ft long.

It's great to be back, cheers....TT.

Best post i have ever read on TV ........Enjoy the rest of your trip .

JB

[ThailandTony]

Joe, praise indeed, unsought but most welcome...

[ThailandTony]

Today was another great day in Isaan! It all started with me getting larey with the long-haired general before being reminded of my position as the bread-winner, travel agent, tour guide and taxi driver, ie....i'm the doer and she's the thinker. Apology accepted (mine to her) and we could finish breakfast and I get away lightly with a few camel bites to the area formerly known as "triceps".

Now when I say breakfast of course I mean the boonie hotel special, fried eggs with oil, untoasted toast, hot dogs who have the ends cut to resemble the inside of that fly eating plant and of course tea with coffee mate, mate. The food is predictably cold and the tea, well lets just say that a battalion of gnats were out on the raz last night and decided to relieve themselves next to the coffee cups. So after we had skipped repeating yesterdays lesson today it was down the market for some proper food, fish on a stick and sticky rice....yum!

Our first stop was at the school, my wife loves this bit, the kids break up from school in Bahrain for their Christmas or summer holidays and then we come to Thailand, guess what, they get to go back to school! All of their cousins are at school so they want to be there, what great kids! Suitably relieved of their luxuries like iPods and GameBoys, they blend right back in. Back doors shut and were off to the grandparents house round the corner.

Now anyone who knows me knows I love my hammock, in fact I love any hammock! I always have one or more in the pick-up but have been known to selfishly dive in an empty one given half a chance. Anyway, for 2 days I have coveted a particular hammock that I am familiar with after several visits to this locale this year. It is in the centre of the covered porch right next to the water buffalo pen. Why would anybody want to jump in a hammock next to, literally, a shed full of bullshit?.....because its the centre of the household. Nobody comes or goes and nothing is missed from this vantage point. This morning most of the senior family members were going into Ubon to do a bit of bizness and with the kids at school I was in like Flynn.

Peeboo the dog was the first to catch my attention. I've been watching him the last couple of days and he's got it made. I'm partial to a few chicken drummers at tea time and he's partial to anything I don't eat, so the 1st night he's there patiently waiting as I finish one he gets to crunch on the bone. As he eats 4 times faster than I do, there is alot of downtime for him where he's trying to look casual whilst I gnaw at another one. Anyway, 2nd night, chicken drummers come out and theres no sign of Peeboo. Dirty bastard I thought, not only is he into my chicken legs he's out giving some bitch the good news. Well he is a handsome little sod so when he comes trotting in with a "wheres my chicken legs" look on his face and grass hanging from his foreskin I knew he was living la vida loca. Anyway, this morning, i've just gotten horizontal when I see him make an uncharacteristic bolt across the neighbouring field and immediately mount the subject of his affections. It must have been a little to public for her coz she led him round the back of the chicken shed and let him give her a good seeing to.

Next to come in under my radar was yai (another ubiquitous term for any woman old enough to be your grandmother...caution, to be used very carefully, when meeting a woman for the first time who is borderline granny, stick with mer (mother) until her indoors has qualified the right terminology). Yai was sporting her regular polyester/nylon mix camisole, the type that all the old ladies wear when they hit 35, but this one had a particular low cut arm pit so that given the right view (read anything instead of immediately head on) and angle (head bowed or lower), you were immediately transported into the 1960's National geographic special where David Attenborough is trying to look suave whilst a whole village of women crowd around him somewhere in the Amazon basin with the longest tits know to man, until now that is. Unfazed, I had a quiet word with Mrs T along the lines that Yai might want to put on her no. 1 camisole to go into Ubon, the red one with the slightly tighter sleeves.

Fashion disaster averted and pickup to Ubon departed, it was me, granddad and Tae, and as granddad kept giving me the evil eye I decided to relinquish the hammock to him and decamp down to the reservoir edge as per my previous post. Polishing off another few hundred pages and checking my watch, it would be lunch time at the school soon which was more than enough reason to load up on ice creams and head down to the school gates and embarrass the kids.

I noticed on the way that the potholes in the main road from the village to the highway were getting some TLC. It reminded me of our own village road a few years ago. You spend 2 years winding your way around cavernous potholes during the day and axle breaking events by night, only for the district governor to fill in all the holes a week before the election!....only for the shit that they put in there to have all come out by the time the ink on the ballot paper is dry and he's in office for another few years. This is obviously a well rehearsed tactic as that was exactly what they were doing here.

The day closed with us all getting the blessings of the old ladies with lots of string round the wrists and us promising to come back and visit soon, as we head home to Chaiyaphum tomorrow.

Happy days....TT

[ThailandTony]

Shamelessly off topic....Seperated at birth, our own Prince Charles & Prince Vaji'?

see headline pic at http://www.pattayamail.com/

....go on, tell me i'm wrong!

[chiliwasabi]

Great posts ThailandTony. Keep them coming. With the wife and I stuck in Oz working away I have to live vicariously through posts such as yours.

[utapaortnab]

Gee, little did I think many months ago when I started up this thread that it would last "forever".

Sure is interesting to me still.

I lived in Ban Sakanam, Gudtum, 12 km from downtown Chiayaphum for 20 mo. B4 finally deciding

to get an apartment in Bangkok and only "visit" Chiayaphum frequently (about once every two mo.)

My wife still visits our paid for home there every month as one sister of hers lives there now until her

house is built later this or next year with her two wonderful daughters, ages one and three. Her husband

is from England and visits twice a year, once for 5 weeks, once for 7 weeks.

Lat's mom still lives in our home as well, on the second floor and another sister/bro-in-law live in a separate

home on our land as well. The land can hold yet another six homes or so if all Lat's family (sisters and brothers)

ever decide to return to their "roots" and there is a chance that some of the nieces/nephews may also build

on the land sometime in the future.

We welcome all the family to live/build there as the family is so close (much closer than any family I've ever

met in the 39 countries I've lived in or visited). A great plus to be sure.

Anyhow, while living "up-country" I'd treasure the twice monthly trips to Bangkok or Pattaya just for the change

but now that Bangkok is my prime "hang-out", I really enjoy my trips back to Chiayaphum.

I guess just having both options is the one great solution to really loving Thailand so much.

Ken Bower

Thailand (on and off) since 1971

Full time in retirement since 2005

[Gary A]

We have three hen turkeys and three tom turkeys. One of the turkeys started laying eggs under a tree. Every day there was another egg. Then once in a while there were two extra eggs. Eventually there were about 25 eggs. One hen turkey started setting on the eggs. No way could she sit on all the eggs. The next time I looked there were two hen turkeys sitting side by side on the eggs. Yesterday there were about 25 baby turkeys. I guess they knew what they were doing. That has been my major excitement for this week. We also have two ducks sitting on eggs. My wife claims she can hear sounds from the duck eggs. Maybe we will soon have some ducklings. The last time 9 duck eggs hatched.

[Gimbo]

We have three hen turkeys and three tom turkeys. One of the turkeys started laying eggs under a tree. Every day there was another egg. Then once in a while there were two extra eggs. Eventually there were about 25 eggs. One hen turkey started setting on the eggs. No way could she sit on all the eggs. The next time I looked there were two hen turkeys sitting side by side on the eggs. Yesterday there were about 25 baby turkeys. I guess they knew what they were doing. That has been my major excitement for this week. We also have two ducks sitting on eggs. My wife claims she can hear sounds from the duck eggs. Maybe we will soon have some ducklings. The last time 9 duck eggs hatched.

You must be the bravest man allive. Married with an Isaan girl and keeping ducks!

Mi wife always says that if I stray, she will feed certain parts of my anatomy to the ducks... the sight of one have me scared stiff!

[yorkman]

Mi wife always says that if I stray, she will feed certain parts of my anatomy to the ducks... the sight of one have me scared stiff!

I have never quite worked that one out. Ducks are vegetarians, yes? Feed to the dogs yes (In fact I recall a report about that) but ducks??

[Gary A]

Mi wife always says that if I stray, she will feed certain parts of my anatomy to the ducks... the sight of one have me scared stiff!

I have never quite worked that one out. Ducks are vegetarians, yes? Feed to the dogs yes (In fact I recall a report about that) but ducks??

NO! Ducks will try to eat anything. If they can't swallow it they will slap it around and try to get a bite size piece. When the other ducks see one has something interesting, they all want a piece of it. If ducks scare you then you should be petrified of helium balloons.

[Gimbo]

Mi wife always says that if I stray, she will feed certain parts of my anatomy to the ducks... the sight of one have me scared stiff!

I have never quite worked that one out. Ducks are vegetarians, yes? Feed to the dogs yes (In fact I recall a report about that) but ducks??

NO! Ducks will try to eat anything. If they can't swallow it they will slap it around and try to get a bite size piece. When the other ducks see one has something interesting, they all want a piece of it. If ducks scare you then you should be petrified of helium balloons.

The Disney Channel will never be subscribed to in this house I tell you!!

[ThailandTony]

Back at home in Chaiyaphum again, I get to spend only my second night in our new house since the house blessing ceremony on 1st March this year. The plan was to unpack everthing that we moved in and set up home but that proved to be a little to warm for me to do without any a/c. So I quickly went to see a shopkeeper I'd met earlier in the year who has one of those sell anything electronic shops. The plan was to move 2 big a/c units from mama's house to the new house so armed with a few photos on my iPhone I went about explaining what I wanted and got an immediate result. The installation crew weren't installing anything yesterday so they came straight round took a look and set to work. By the end of the day both units (24k & 18k BTU) had been installed in our living/kitchen/dining room (= big room). The cost was 3200 Baht each plus 600 Baht for re-gassing, total cost 7000 Baht, fantastic!

So last night was very comfortable, all doors apart from our en-suite lead off of the main room so by leaving them all open the whole house was suitably chilled this morning and we could set-about the tasks in hand. First job was the cleaning, god those little gecko lizards shit all over the place, and after 8 months there was plently to clean up. Also, all of the sanitary ware still had stickers on, drips from painting had to be razored off of tiles, and general dusting is still going on. We emptied a 4 bedroom house in Dubai a couple of years ago and one of the main reasons to build this house was to have somewhere to store it as the furnishing are worth about the same cost as it was to build the house.

Tomorrow it will be putting curtains, blinds and an outside awning up and I reckon by Sunday we should be ship shape, or the land lubbers equivalent of, as I get sea sick to easy.....I digress.

So, todays news was that next year will not be a good year for my wife Tae, as foretold in many a magazine and reinforced by her mother so it must be true. So I was advised today that our oldest son Ked (11) will be going into the buddhist order from 9 days starting tomorrow. Of course as the last to know I must now be ready to do 101 things over the next 12-18 hours to ensure all goes well or it will of course be my fault. I only started off by saying that I thought he needed a hair cut and he gets 9 days inside our village temple, the "thanks papa" look on his face said it all. I am also informed that Tae will have to go on a strict diet for the same 9 days, certain vegetables, garlic, onions, beef and pork are all off the menu, as is any "hows your father" for yours truly, so I am also on a diet of sorts for 9 days!

Talking of diets, I have decided to take a run down to the Farang Connection on Christmas Day and have a blow out at Martin & Sunee's place. Last year they had 150 so hopefully it will be as busy as ever. I plan to stay overnight so I hope I can catch up with some of my fellow Isaanites from Thai Visa during the course of the day and evening.

Happy days.....TT

[Disting]

I have never quite worked that one out. Ducks are vegetarians, yes? Feed to the dogs yes (In fact I recall a report about that) but ducks??

NO! Ducks will try to eat anything. If they can't swallow it they will slap it around and try to get a bite size piece. When the other ducks see one has something interesting, they all want a piece of it. If ducks scare you then you should be petrified of helium balloons.

On this subject. A few years back I worked at a place in Germany that had a mouse problem. The boss also had a load of chickens around so when we would be working on his aircraft there would be all these bloody chickens running around crapping everywhere. We set traps for the mice and would then throw them to the chickens. They would fight like hel_l over them. The winner would slap them around for a while, I guess to break the bones up and then swallow them head first. Now when you have seen a chicken with the back feet and tail of a mouse hanging out of its mouth, you have seen everything. From then on, we would feed all our leftovers to them including cooked chicken so they are cannibals aswell.

[Gary A]

I think when the turkeys hatched, there were a total of 26. Now there are 17 left. They are now big and strong enough that I doubt we will lose anymore. My wife claims that the ducks drowned some of the little turkeys because they were trying to eat them. In any case most of the little dead guys were floating in the small duck pond. When ducks hatch we lose very few. I guess ducks are smarter than turkeys. My wife hates chickens because she says they are stupid and eat her plants. I told her that I thought turkeys are way more stupid than chickens. She says the turkeys have personality and chickens don't.

[Lourens]

Talking about chickens: Soon after our house was built, it had to get the spirit house erected in an auspicious place on the property. The place deemed fit for such an important structure was in one corner of our property next to a nice tree that carried some significance for the family. The spirit house was built and duly blessed and inaugurated with the obligatory scented waters, powders, flowers and incense. It was a beautiful site to behold. All colorful and cheery and everyone was in good spirits.

The only problem was that the free ranging chickens who used the tree, for several generations, as their perch every night, now had a very convenient stepping stone up to bed. And you know what chickens do with all those worms and seeds they had for lunch. They defecate – profusely. This all went onto the spirit house. But not only that, the chickens also had to check out their new convenience which caused them to bump around and break some of the small statuettes and trinkets dedicated to the spirits. Very bad karma indeed.

The first order of business was to try and persuade the chickens not to use the tree as their perch. So every evening at sunset, the kids, armed with catapults, rattling cans and sticks went out to chase them birds away. But the chickens would have none of this. They were here first and that’s the way its gonna stay. I found it quite amazing to observe their perseverance. The chickens that is, not the kids. The kids would give up after dark. But those chickens would walk around clucking indignantly until they would find a gap and wham! They’d be up on the spirit house and on to the tree.

This went on for about a week when my wife couldn’t take it anymore. Every day she had to go out and clean chicken poo off the spirit house and try to repair broken artifacts. And every day she would tell her brother Noi to take care of his chickens or else. . . But he would just say those are not his chickens. The plot was thickening. My wife grew more agitated with every chicken dropping she had to clean. Something drastic was going to happen. It was now just a matter of time before she snapped.

I was sitting on the porch one evening having my sunset beer when the kids came to do the chicken chase. My wife came storming out to do a children chase instead. She told them to leave the chickens and let them enjoy their last night. I thought this was a bit sinister but didn’t think much about it as the cool brown liquid soothed my parched throat. The sun set. All was calm. Only the odd gecko did its mating call. The wife appeared again but this time with a determined look on her face. She walked straight to the tree followed by two kids. Still silent, the kids got into the tree and started picking chickens as if they were the fruits of some weird genetically engineered plant. Slumbering chickens don’t move much and this made the task of collecting all of them easily accomplished. They got them all. Eleven chickens was bound and bagged and left for the next morning.

Brother-in-law Joy came by just after breakfast and did the deed. All the chickens, a whole generation, was wiped out and plucked and frozen by lunchtime. When Noi came around in the evening with his mates armed with a bottle of Lao Kao, the conversation naturally turned to the chickens. Or the lack of chickens in the yard. My wife had no problem explaining to him the dilemma that she had. Needless to say, Noi was upset and started to throw one of his tantrums. But not enough rice spirit was consumed at that early stage to let him explode into violence. My wife’s timing was perfect. When Noi looked like he was going to do something radical, Mai produced a couple of bottles of beer (my beer) and all turned to smiles. A confrontation was averted. Anyway, Noi had his prize cocks safely stashed away in a coup at a friends house and all he wanted was a chicken to share with his mates for dinner.

All of this and not a word about bird flu!