It's Entertainment

Yesterday we were off to Tahsang Village on family business after completing our grocery shopping. We got there at a good time - the lighting was good and the children were coming home from school.

It was nice to see some of our local friends excitingly headed back to their homes from their day in the class room. The younger school girls wear red school uniforms and the older school girls wear blue uniforms. The boys wear either brown or blue uniforms. The blue uniform is the most prevalent including university students. On certain days of the week the students wear military type uniforms - boy scouts, girl scouts, sea scouts type organization. But that may all be a topic for a future blog not today's which is about "Entertainment"

I stopped the truck to photograph some of the houses in the village to use in a future blog and to add to my photography portfolio. At one of the houses there were some young children who do not go to school. They were curious about the foreigner taking pictures. So curious that they quickly overcame any reservations or shyness that they had.

They had a couple puppies that they had been playing with and were eager to show them off to me so that I could photograph all of them. The little boy and his two sisters posed for several pictures with their puppies. They enjoyed seeing their pictures on the camera's screen. It was entertaining for me to be able to share with them something that they had never seen before. Cameras and photography are luxuries well beyond their family's or village's means.










Children in Isaan do not have the sophisticated toys or quality toys that clutter the homes and yards in the USA. They pretty much make do with what is available to them. This often involves plastic containers, old bicycles, sticks, pieces of cloth or string, and often dogs. The children use their imaginations to entertain themselves and seem no worse for wear. They are always active, happy and apparently never bored.

We stopped by to see Kwan, Duang's cousin's 14 month baby but she was not home. Fortunately Tahsang Village is very small and we found Kwan with little difficulty. She was sitting in on a small but hot card game in some one's backyard. The temperature was in the high 90's and six adults along with Kwan and Fern were sitting in a circle on sahts. Gambling is not allowed in Thailand other than the daily national lottery. I did not see any paper so I guess the coins that I saw on the ground were being used to keep track of the "points". Gambling is illegal in Thailand. But then again not everything is always what it appears to be in Thailand. But it was certain that everyone was having a good time on a hot and sunny afternoon in Isaan.




















As we got into car I saw some of the school children, that we had seen earlier, either playing or working a little further down the street. We drove down and stopped to photograph them. They were hard at it - either playing or working on a large pile of sand. Three little girls, two plastic buckets, a shovel, and a hoe in the golden glow of the late afternoon of a hot Isaan afternoon - that's entertainment for me. The adults watching over the scene got into the spirit of the moment. They liked seeing the results of the photography efforts. They also posed for their pictures. In no time at all we had spent 30 minutes at this rest stop along our way.

There are many photographs here with us in Thailand of my life going back to when I was a baby. There are many more back home as well as photos of my parents when they were young in the USA that we will view during our stay. Duang, on the other hand, does not have any photos older than 5 years ago. Even at that there are only 8 pictures.

I enjoy being able to give a little something back to the villagers even if it just a small print. It is something that I know that they most likely would not have had if not for sharing their time with me. I still remember the expressions of the Hill Tribe people around Maehongson when I presented them with prints of their photographs that I had taken on a previous trip to the region.

Last night we went out to dinner and take in one of the newest movies - "Valkyrie". We enjoyed our night out a great deal. We had dinner at a small restaurant owned,and run by a German expat. The pork at the restaurant is from his local pig farm. I had my favorite Cordon Bleu - not Chicken Cordon Bleu but "Pork Cordon Bleu". I never had or even heard of "Pork Cordon Bleu" until I came to Nobi's. Duang had Thai food which was also very good - not unexpectedly since Nobi's wife is Thai.

After dinner we walked to the mall and went to the Cinaplex to see the movie. It was our first time at the Cinaplex. The theater is very big and modern. It is comparable to anything in home town USA including Los Angeles. The only difference is the price of the ticket - last night was bargain night 70 Baht ($2.00 USD) rather than the normal 90 Baht ($2.57 USD) price. The movie was a first run feature. Tom Cruise was in it but the film did not have much character development or reveal anything enlightening about the failed plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. It was entertaining and the price was definitely right. Our entire night out cost a total of $13.52 USD.