27 July 2008 - Rice Planting continued

27 July 2008 Sunday - Rice continued

Saturday's journey to Nongwha was so interesting and stimulating that we decided to return on Sunday to witness the next step in cultivating rice.
Sunday's activities were to take the sheaves of rice seedlings and transplant them in groups of 3 or 4 into holes made with the worker's hand into the freshly prepared flooded ground.

Today I took up Duang on her offer to photograph her working in the rice paddy. Earlier in her life she had worked in the rice paddies for 70 baht ($2 USD) A DAY. She did quite well perhaps attributable to her short wide feet that I often tease her about! She replied back that with my narrow feet, I wouldn't be able to move through the mud! That is as good an excuse for me to avoid embarrassing myself attempting to do that back breaking labor! Just walking around, stooping, and squatting to take different photographs drenched me in perspiration.

The workers that I have photographed the past two days are subsistance farmers. The rice that they are cultivating is for their personal use.

After 1-1/2 hours of shooting photos in the hot and humid Thai air, we walked back to Duang's house in the village. I had shot 275 pictures the previous day and followed up on Sunday with 383 photos. Once the shots have been shot, they are downloaded to my computer to be edited, organized and cataloged. The entire process keeps me very busy.

Walking along the road to Duang's took awhile. People, most of them her relatives, had to ask us what we were doing and express their pleasantries with us. There are not many secrets in the villages of Isaan.

Once we got to the village, we had lunch at her cousin's outdoor restaurant (a thatched roofed open-sided structure with three table and benches). Food is cooked over an open charcoal fire. Two bowls of kweteeow (noodle soup with pork, vegetables) and two slurpies - $2.00 USD TOTAL - no tax or tip required.

A strong thunderstorm dumped a great deal of rain over the area - good for the rice and only an inconvenience for people.