Planting Rice, Listening to Gossip

Yesterday we drove out to Tahsang Village. WE drove out.

While I was away in the USA, Duang went to school and obtained her driver's licence ("ID Card Drive Car"). The previous day she drove the truck for the first time with me as a passenger.

Two days ago, we went out to Tahsang Village and Duang drove part of the way. She drove well - slow and carefully. However it seemed that she was not totally familiar or comfortable with down shifting. Since the country road from Kumphawapi is in such a poor state, down shifting is often required in navigating the bumps, ruts, holes and other road obstacles. The area headman had promised to have the road repaired in 5 months last December. It is now 8 months later and the only change that we have experienced is that the roads are worse. Sound familiar? I spoke with Duang about down shifting and when it was necessary to change gears. She said that she now understood.

On yesterday's trip, it was obvious that Duang now understood down shifting. She did very well. I got to enjoy looking over the countryside as we drove along the country road. We get rain just about everyday and due to micro-climate conditions, Tahsang Village area gets more frequent and greater rains than we do back at our home. The fields are flooded and the farmers have been busy planting this year's rice crop. The return of the monsoon rains have worked wonders with the sugar cane. The sugar cane has grown at least 3 to 4 feet in the past month with the return of nourishing rains.

Fortunately yesterday's rains did not come until late at night. We had a partly cloudy day - hot and humid. People were busy taking advantage of the dry spell. Along one stretch of the road farmers were busy harvesting peanuts. The men were occupied in pulling the plants out of the ground and bringing them to where the women had placed some sahts on the higher ground near the road. The women removed the peanuts from the bottom of the plants and placed them into plastic bags to sell to passing motorists. A bag of peanuts sells for $0.30 USD for 2.2 pounds. Duang is fond of them so we have had fresh boiled peanuts the past week. When she gets home, Duang empties the plastic bag into a sink of cold water and cleans them before boiling them in salted water. Being from New England I had not had the Southern delicacy of boiled peanuts prior to relocating to Isaan. Boiled peanuts are one of the few items of "Kao Lao" (Lao food) that I eat and enjoy. Perhaps it's a start.


Along the road past the peanut farmers we passed some people working in their rice field. Duang pulled over and I got out to take some photographs. The three people were not relatives of hers but it did not seem to matter. In no time at all they were filling her in on the local gossip.

The Tahi man that lived in the house next to the field had died. We saw the truck with the rental refrigerated casket headed back to Kumphawapi as we drove towards Tahsang. That was news but the gossip involved the "falang" who lived in the local "big fancy house".

The house and its associated compound is very nice and was an inspiration to Duang and I when we did not have a home. Recently the place was declining in appearance and Duang had told me awhile ago that a Thai man had bought it. Two days ago she told me that the foreign man had gone back to his homeland when he found out that his Thai wife had been sleeping with a Thai man. Worse than that, the little baby that she gave birth to was not his but was fathered by the Thai boyfriend. This seemed to make sense as to why and how the property was declining. The Thai boy friend had not "bought" the property. He was only using it - kind of like he was doing with the Thai woman. He didn't have the money to keep the place up. Duang said that the Thai woman was trying to sell the property so that she could send one-half of the money back to her foreign husband. I am not sure but this could be a "first".

It now turns out that the 68 year old foreigner has returned to Isaan and is once again living in the house with his 32 year old wife. The Thai boy friend has returned to "Wife #1" in Khumphawapi and the baby remains with its mother in the fancy house. Now the foreigner is sick and the neighbors don't expect him to live much longer. Being able to gather in and participate in the local gossip makes the wait while I take pictures easier on Duang. She later fills me in on the details so that I am informed.

I enjoyed myself for about an hour and a half photographing the people. As much as I found them interesting and fascinating subjects, I suspect that they were amused with me. Many passing motorists and motorcyclists drove by and shouted out hello to the "Falang" (foreigner) taking "Tai-loop" (photographs) - some were relatives or neighbors in Tahsang. It was all good natured. I have found the people of Isaan to be very fun loving and very good natured. There is never a problem in stopping along the road and photographing people as they work.

Work in the fields yesterday involved harvesting the rice sprouts from on field and transplanting them into another larger flooded field about 50 meters away. One woman pulled the sprouts, washed off the roots, and bundled the sprouts into sheaves which she bound together using some rice sprouts as a string. A man and another woman were in the other field planting the sprouts in clusters of three throughout the field. A community water cooler and battery operated transistor radio were located on one of the nearby raised dikes bording the fields. Mahlam Lao and Mahlam Sing music blared out from the radio as the workers went about their stoop labor in the fields. The workers were dressed in mostly red clothing which made for some interesting photographs. After awhile the man put a brightly colored pakama on his head for protection from the sun.

We continued on to Tahsang Village only to realize that we had developed a flat tire. I spent the next 30 minutes changing the tire. I had help. Kwan, Duang's 18 month old cousin, came over to watch me. She didn't say anything but constantly remained about 3 feet from where ever I was working. I appreciated her morale support. It was refreshing every once in awhile to see that cute face and large dark eyes watching over me. Duang helped out by crawling under the truck to help connect the rod to lower the spare tire from underneath the pick up bed. We had apparently picked up a metal screw in the tire when we pulled off the road to photograph the field workers.


Just as I was finishing, one of Duang's older uncles came by on his three wheeled bicycle and wanted to know how I was doing. I told him that I was going to pay him 1,000 baht (equivalent to one week's wages for farm worker) to change the tire for me but I got tired of waiting for him to show up so I changed it myself. He got my joke and we had a good laugh as I tightened the last of the nuts on the wheel. I asked Duang's mother why she didn't help me and she pointed out that it was she that sent me the ice cold Pepsi from the market - another good laugh.

On the way home, we stopped and had the tire repaired and remounted - $3.00 USD!

It was another great day full of surprises.

Word arrived today that Duang's cousin who lives two hours northeast of here will be going out catfishing this weekend, dependent upon water levels. We went to his wedding last year and he had said that he would let us know when they would be going out fishing. Last year I put my foot through his fishing boat - more like a big very old bamboo raft with an "A" frame on the back for set and raising big nets. Hopefully some of the bamboo has been replaced.

If the fields are not too flooded and it doesn't rain, Duang's daughter and other relatives will be working in the rice fields too.

It is a busy time in Isaan - I'll need to be sure that all my batteries - camera as well as my internal ones are fully charged for the upcoming busy weekend.