Homecoming in Isaan

On Saturday, baby Peelawat, also known as "Pee-a Lot" by me, was released from the hospital along with his mother. He had become a little jaundiced and stayed in the hospital an extra day for treatment.

Because it was a Saturday, Duang's son did not have school so he drove. We arrived at the hospital and found Duang's daughter ready to go. We all climbed into the truck and headed to her home. All as in - Duang's son, his girlfriend, Duang, Duang's daughter, her husband, Peelawat, and I. I got the honor of holding the baby in my arms in the front seat for the trip back home. We drove by the park with the marauding monkeys and passed a young elephant with its mawhut (handler and trainer) without incident. Duang's son did drive more conservatively - he was warned by his mother!

People in Isaan do not use car seats. Everyday you will see motor bikes running along the road with a small child standing or sitting on the bike. Mothers sitting behind the driver will hold a baby in their arms. Sometimes a toddler will be sandwiched on the seat between the driver and passenger on the bike. I have just started to see some motorbikes with a small booster seat mounted on the bike in front of the driver with a strap for the toddler. Kwan, Duang's one year old relative, likes to ride her grandfather's motorbike in her seat . Sometimes you will see two small children riding unsecured on a motorbike with their parents. It is pretty scary but so common that after awhile you become accustomed to the sight. Thank God I have never come upon the scene of a motorbike accident involving children.

Since Peelawat arrived home in the afternoon on Saturday, his official welcoming was postponed to the following day.

We went out to his new home yesterday morning, Sunday. Peelawat lives on a small plot of slightly elevated land in the middle of the rice paddies along a dirt road. There are two small concrete and brick houses on the property. With Peelawat, there are now four generations of the family living on the land.

We went into the house were Peelawat is staying. An elevated wood platform, very much like the one outside had been placed in the kitchen of the house. The platform is built out of recycled wood and has a floor made out of wood slats covered by sahts (woven reed mats) which in turn are covered with a coarsely woven cotton blanket. Duang's daughter was laying on one side of the platform - resting. We had called earlier and found out that she had not gotten much sleep the night before - the baby had cried most of the night. On the other side of the platform, Peelawat was asleep in his cradle.

In Isaan there is not much formal furniture in the homes. Typically it is just a couple of cabinets to store blankets and sahts. People eat, drink, socialize, and watch TV sitting atop sahts placed on the tile floor. There are also less territorial boundaries with the Isaan people - everyone seemed to have no problem with sitting on the hospital bed with the new born baby and mother. I couldn't bring myself to it and sat on either the floor or couch in the hospital room. Isaan people are adept at packing a motor vehicle well beyond what would be accepted in the US - without any objections. I have seen pick up trucks carrying 18 people - paying for ride.

Since this was a large platform, I sat on it to visit. I got an immediate surprise. The platform was hot - uncomfortably hot. I got up and looked beneath the platform. One of the wood stoves, refractory lined 2 gallon sized bucket, used to cook food was underneath the bed with a charcoal fire blazing away!

I then became concerned about the fire hazard but I was assured that this was not a problem. This was the way that it is done in Thailand. Later I saw Duang's daughter moderate the heat by sprinkling some water on to the cotton blanket out of a bowl she that kept atop the bed. Definitely different!

I was also concerned about carbon monoxide poisoning and carbon dioxide levels from the charcoal fire inside of a room. My concerns were somewhat allayed when I noticed that there were no glass windows in the room. The window openings had poorly fitted and constructed wood shutters. These closures as well as the exterior door most likely will provide adequate ventilation. I cautioned Duang's daughter about the concern but she assured me through Duang that there is no problem - "This is how we do it in Thailand - no problem"


Peelawat's cradle is hand made. Calling it "handcrafted" would be to give it more compliment than is merited. It is made out of recycled wood and an assortment of various size as well as types of nails. It very well may have been his father's or even his grandfather's cradle. A pakama (strip of colorful plaid cotton cloth) with a piece of bamboo at each end has been suspended from the frame to create a comfortable baby bed. A string from the side of the pakama goes to the side of the platform where the baby's mother stays. A few gentle tugs of the string sets the cradle to rocking and keeps it rocking with little effort.

Most of the afternoon was spent watching and tending to the little guy. Around 2:00 PM we had some lunch. The food was typical "Kao Lao" - Lao Food. I ate the grilled beef and sticky rice. There were some other foods that looked interesting and not too exotic. One dish was boiled stalks of a green plant. It smelled like boiled corn on the cob. The stalks were about 12 inches long and about 3/4 of an inch in diameter. I expected the food to taste like the husk of newly picked baby corn sort of like the baby corn in stir fry dishes. Duang took a stalk and started to peel it. She removed several layers to expose a very limp central core. It turned out that this was sugar cane sprouts. Now I was fully prepared for a treat - boiled sugar cane sprouts - had to be good - right? No! It was bitter - very bitter! I ate the stalk. I ate a second one just in case I had gotten a "bad" one the first time. It was the same. I had enough. I could eat it if I had to. I didn't have to so I saw no need to.

The second dish was clumps of fine green plant stems with very small buds as well as very small flowers. It reminded me a little of dill. Duang told me that it was "pock-a-dow". I grabbed a bunch and like everyone else, I stripped the buds and flowers from the fine stems. Like my current experience with the Dow Jones Average in the US Stock market, this "dow" was also a bitter experience. This was even more bitter than the sugar cane sprouts and tasted like I was eating dirt.

In Pattaya I had eaten some Lao food with Duang and her friend. Those plants were also very bitter so I now suspect that whereas Thai food is along the lines of spicy and sweet, Lao food is bitter and more bitter.

While we were visiting, I got some photographs of Peelawat's great grandmother. She is Lao Loum and 76 years old. She has a medical condition where she is permanently stooped over. When she walks she is bent over about 45 degrees or more from the waist. This does not stop her. She is a working machine. I have never seen her when she wasn't doing something - cooking, preparing food, feeding the two year old that the family takes care of, weeding the garden, harvesting things from the garden, weaving a saht, or preparing betel nut for chewing.
She also has a great sense of humor or maybe she is just amused by me.

Yesterday I photographed her weeding the garden. She was using a long pointed stick to weed the garlic. The garden is a large source of food for the family. Many familiar vegetables are grown in the plot along with stuff that I have no idea what it is except that it is "Kao Lao". I also photographed her preparing the ingredients for chewing betel nuts. She was a good sport about it all.

She gave her grandson some instructions. He grabbed a hatchet and climbed barefooted a tall tree in the backyard. He then proceeded to chop down three branches about 8 inches in diameter. It turned out that this was a "pock- a- dow" tree - the source of the earlier vegetable dish that I had tried. The leave/flower clusters were cut from the limbs and brought to the outside platform where everyone was sitting. The women, lead by the great grandmother sorted the clusters, removed excess leaves and tied them into bundles.


Around 6:00 PM, we found out that the Baii Sii ceremony for little Peelawat would not start until 10:00 or 11:00. Since we had already been there for 8 hours, we decided to return home. We had our own little ceremony where Duang's family tied strings on his wrist to bind the good spirits into his body for health and protection. They had also bought some gold and placed his gold bracelets on his wrists and ankles. The wearing of gold no matter how small is also believed to be good for babies.

Before we could graciously depart, we had to eat some more food. Peelawat's great grandmother motioned to me to stay and eat before leaving. A large pot filled with meat had been placed over a wood fire earlier. I had a pretty good idea what was in the pot but asked Duang anyhow. She told me "Inside carabao" (Cow Internals). My suspicion was confirmed. From my junior high school biology classes, I had identified, stomach, heart, lungs, liver, spleen, as well as veins. Assuming this was a bull, I asked Duang about other organs in the pot. She said "No, can not".

Duang got a bowl of the "insides carabao" and we ate it along with some more sticky rice. The insides were not that bad but I prefer them to be grilled rather than boiled. Duang said that they had not finished cooking yet. They had been boiling for about an hour so I guess they have to be cooked until maybe you are drunk enough to think they are great. It might be like they say about the girls all look better at closing time or viewing the girls through beer filled glasses - "The food always tastes better at the end of the night"

Peelawat was officially welcomed home. Our work for the day was done and we returned to our "falang" (foreigner) home - happy.