Kwan

Today, I spent part of my day, fulfilling a family request and promise. I was asked by Duang's Aunt to make a "movie" of her granddaughter, "Kwan". I promised awhile ago that I would do it but did not get around to it until today.

Kwan is 12 months old and lives in the house next door to Duang's parents in Tahsang Village. I have written about her before, referring to her as "Duang's Cousin's Baby".

I have been photographing Kwan fairly steadily since April when she was four months old. She is one of my favorite models and always a sure bet to spend some good time with.

Kwan has lived a short life unlike many if not all babies in the USA. She was born in the local community hospital in Kumphawapi. She left the hospital to live with her grandparents, and parents along with several chickens, two dogs and 3 water buffaloes in Tahsang Village.

Kwan's grandfather is a subsistence farmer who also raises the water buffaloes to supplement the family income. Her mother is partially paralyzed on her left side. She suffers from seizures and I suspect that she has epilepsy. I have not witnessed any seizures but Duang has described them to me and they seem to be grand mal seizures. She has medicine to prevent the seizures but sometimes does not have money or desire to take the medicine.

It always amazes me to know people who have chronic medical conditions and choose to not take their medication. Sometimes people are ashamed to have to take medicine everyday for the rest of their life. In other cases the medicine makes people feel better so they convince themselves that they no longer need to take the medication. These self delusions embark the person on a roller coaster ride of health and debilitation. So it is with Duang's cousin.

Kwan was breast fed like the vast majority of Isaan babies.

Kwan, like all babies spent most of her time sleeping. She slept in small wooden cradle suspended from an overhead wooden frame. During the day she slept outside on the elevated wooden platform in front of her house under the watchful eye of her mother, grandmother, aunts, uncles, cousins, neighbors and the two male lost souls who wander around the village.

I suspect that after a visit to Isaan, if she ever made one, Hillary Clinton came up with her book title "It Takes A Village to raise A Child". I won't debate or argue whether or not raising a child requires a village. I will attest to the fact that in Tahsang, the village does raise Kwan.

As a baby I never saw Kwan alone or unattended. She was always being held by someone or in her cradle surrounded by caring people. In Thailand, people are very free in letting other people hold their babies. A have gotten to hold many babies of strangers that we happened to come upon on the streets or in the stores. I even was offered to hold new borns in the Maternity Ward of the hospital.

Kwan has never worn a modern diaper. Pampers and their Thai equivalents are too expensive for the farmers of Isaan. As a baby, Kwan would have a thin small towel between her legs to capture waste. As she got older, she graduated to wearing cotton shorts without underwear - this always made holding her to be like a game of Russian roulette. On several occasions she wet on me. I have been fortunate so far unlike Duang and have not gotten anything worse than a little "water" on me. When nature and Kwan did their business, the grandmother would take the baby remove the soiled clothing, carry the baby to one of the large ceramic urns that captured rain water off of the house roof, clean the baby's bottom, put a new towel or clean shorts on, and returned Kwan to someones willing lap. I was always more willing to hold her shortly after a mop up operation believing that the chances of getting messed on to be much lower.

Kwan has always had a great deal of personal attention. As she got older she graduated to a hammock suspended from two supporting columns of the thatched roof platform outside of the house. Someone was always taking their turn keeping the hammock swinging. Neighborhood children always stopped by to watch and talk to the baby. Mothers with their babies always stopped by to socialize.

Kwan's first solid food was rice - no real surprise there. The rice would be mixed with boxed milk into a loose puree to feed the baby. Baby foods are not widely used in Isaan villages. Babies become weaned and move on to food off the plates and out of the bowls of the adults.

Unlike American babies, Kwan's world is bereft of toys and other objects that we consider essential for intellectual development. When she was in her cradle and hammock, there was a string across the width with a couple pieces of ribbon hanging down. Kwan does have a great deal of hands on intellectual stimulation - people play with her constantly, Lao music is often playing throughout the village, children come and sing to her and talk to her, chickens and dogs are constantly wandering around making noise. Duang, Duang's son, and I always made sure to carry Kwan to Duang's mother's market to look at the Disney character decals on the window. She loved them!

Duang and I have given Kwan a couple stuffed toys to play with. Now that she is a year old she has many more things to play with - empty plastic bottles, plastic jars, plastic lids, newspapers, calendars, pieces of cloth, and anything else that she can get her hands on.

Now that I am using a flash to photograph her - she gets quite entertained. The flash of light gets her all excited and she breaks our into laughter and looks eagerly for the next flash.

In this photo she is quite happy drinking sweet fermented milk - it really does taste good! On this day, a week ago, she realized ow entertaining she could be by laughing. For some reason when she laughed or wanted to show how happy she was, she would throw her head back and laugh. That only encouraged us to laugh which encouraged her to laugh. She is starting to try to talk so she is making some pretty entertaining noises. In truth, Kwan and I are in a fierce competition to learn to speak Thai. At the moment I have a slight lead on her!

Well I made the promised movie today. I used Microsoft Picture Story 3 to combine still photos and music into a Ken Burns type montage. I ended up with three songs - one English and two Lao and many photographs for a 14 minute DVD production. Word has already been sent to Tahsang Village so I expect that we will deliver it tomorrow.

Something Walks Amongst Us

On my last trip to Duang's home village, Tahsang Village, on January 2oth, I took some pictures of the younger and older villagers. As we stopped by her cousin's restaurant, I noticed and photographed a talisman hung on a pole at the entrance into the restaurant.

Many times in my life I have said or done things that at the time did not make much sense - haven't we all at some time. However, shortly after I had said or done that were seemingly illogical, events justified my actions and I as well as others have wondered how or if I knew all along.

So it seems with my decision a week ago to photograph the Tahsang Village Talisman.

I have written about the superstitions of the Lao Loum people before and of their methods for dealing with the spirit world.

Baii Sii rituals are conducted to bind the good spirits within a person's body to prevent illness and bring good luck. I attended a special Baii Sii ritual to expel an evil spirit that had taken possession of a young woman. I believe that the ritual was quite successful - at its conclusion people gave her money - her fortune had obviously improved.

Talismen are prominently displayed at the gates of people's property. The spirits, also called ghosts ("Phii" in Thai) are afraid of the stuffed talismen and will not cross their path. The Isaan villages are populated by many gate guardians.

More affluent Isaan households such as households with a falang (foreign) husband, and Thai businesses utilize spirit houses in defense and protection of the property or household. I wrote about Spirit Houses in September of last year. Offerings of food, flowers, beverages, and incense are made at the Spirit Houses to ensure protection of the property and home.

Thai people, especially Thai women, are obsessed with Thailand's answer to American soap operas. Thai television is dominated by productions that are like American soap operas except that the Thai versions run three nights a week for no more than 3 or 4 weeks. Upon conclusion of each series, a new one starts. A vast majority of the Thai series deal with two issues - gangsters and Phii. Some series deal with both at the same time.

Phii or ghosts are portrayed as zombie like people. You know that they are Phii because they have black heavy eye makeup that outlines their eyes and runs down their cheeks - more like a KISS band member than Tammy Faye Baker. Another sure tip off that someone is a Phii or ghost is that they have light coming out of their eyes. Often these lights are quite powerful and laser like. The light beams can disarm people such as young thug gangsters. The light beams can also make beautiful women pass out - a possible photon ruffinol (date rape drug). Most of the Phii are evil and cause a lot of trouble and problems.

Tonight Duang came back from Tahsang Village after tending to family business. The big news from Tahsang Village is that Phii are walking about the village at night and in the early morning. The people are all very concerned and frightened. She was advised by her relatives to get out of the village before it got too dark.

Villagers have seen lights in the sky. They are not apparently concerned about aliens, UFOs, or even alien abductions. They are convinced that the cause of these lights are Phii. It interests me how man is quick and so adept at explaining unknown events or occurrences within their cultural comfort zone.

The incidents started last night. One of her cousins, who is 23 years old, had left his house early in the morning to go to going fishing and collect snails for the family's upcoming breakfast. No need for cereal - we have snails. Because it was still dark, he was wearing a flashlight on his head. He came upon some people also walking towards the water who did not live in the village. He asked them where they were going and they didn't answer him. He repeated it a couple times and they continued to ignore him.

He walked over to where they were and shined his light on them. The mysterious people noticed that he had a light. When his light shined on them, they grimaced and had blood coming out of their eyes and mouth - JUST LIKE ON TV! Phii!

Terrified Duang's cousin raced home exhausted with his heart pounding. He told his mother of what happened and she performed a Baii Saii ritual to protect him. Her cousin saw the Phii again - this time they were walking near the school.

Since there were no fish or snails available for breakfast, he decided to go to the next village to get some "Noo" ("Rats"). Great - another Isaan delicacy that I have to watch out for - though I believe that I am more likely to eat a nicely barbecued rat than fish with ants or ant eggs. Along the way to the next village he and the three other people with him saw lights in the sugar cane field. They looked closer and there were actually bloody eyes in the sugar cane.

Villagers in both villages have been warned and are afraid. They are not going outside of their houses at night.

I offered to go out to the village tomorrow night to photograph these ghosts but Duang insists that it would not be a good idea.

There is some good news though - because these ghosts have been spotted before they could eat anyone they apparently will not be eating anyone - this time. I guess that's one of the rules. Now that they have been disclosed, the Phii will apparently be limited to playing jokes and causing problems for the local people.

The more that I write about this the more motivated I am to delve deeper into this problem. I might be able to turn it into a Wes Craven horror movie script. There was a horror movie called "Children of the Corn". What about a new film - "Creatures of the Cane"?

Cooking and Heating in Northern Vietnam

One of the interesting aspects of traveling, working, or living in different lands is the opportunity to see and observe how mundane activities are handled by different cultures.

A common activity for all cultures is cooking food and heating the home.

In America, many people take great pride in the technology and opulence exhibited in their kitchens for cooking their food.

The ability to cook food in electric ovens, convection ovens, gas stoves, bottled gas appliances, or whatever the latest technology is a luxury that is not shared with most of the people in the outside world.

Here in Isaan many people, especially falang households, have bottled LPG cook tops. The bottles range from 7 Kg (15 pound) to 10 Kg cylinders and are stored indoors. We have a 10 Kg bottle underneath the kitchen sink just as we had in Pattaya. Some western style kitchens have one or two electric burners for a stove top. Very few Thai people or for that matter falang have ovens. We have an electric oven which we seldom use.

Isaan people in the villages may have a single bottled gas burner but more typically they cook their food over an open wood fire. To me a more appropriate terminology would be "stick" fire rather than "wood" fire. The stoves are small, approximately 2 gallon sized metal cylinders lined with refractory material. About 6 to 10 small sticks, 1/2 inch to 3/4" diameter by 12 inches to 18 inches long, are burned inside the container. The insulated cylindrical container concentrates and retains the heat of the burning sticks. It is more efficient and more economical than open fires.

Along side of the road, "restaurants" grill their chicken and pork over charcoal fires just like Americans do.

When we lived in northern Vietnam, the people had a different means for cooking and heating their homes. In Quang Ninh Province, there are many coal mines. Just like in Appalachia, the people are very poor. Everyday on my way to and from work, I saw people gathering coal off of the roads to us in their homes. Their homes were one room brick structures without running water or indoor plumbing. People would wash along side of the road where springs came out of the hillside. The men would strip down to their boxer shorts and wash themselves. Women would wash themselves underneath their wrap around shifts The community bathing area is also where the clothes were washed and drinking water gathered in plastic recycled vegetable oil containers.

Northern Vietnam gets a great amount of rain in addition to the water that is put on the dirt road to keep SOME of the coal dust down. This creates large puddles of slippery and slimy coal - dirt - water slop. People spend a great deal of time diking and containing these puddles. There is a reason for all this attention. Coal and dirt, more specifically clay, are utilize for cooking and heating.

In Northern Vietnam, especially the coal producing regions, the people cook and heat with coal briquettes. The use of bees nest coal briquettes came to Vietnam from China. The coal briquettes are a combination of coal fines, clay, and water. The 1 Kg (2-1/4 pound) to 1.3 Kg (2-1/2 pound) cylinders of compressed material have a series of small diameter holes running through them. The series of holes in the cylinder assist in the combustion of the coal fines and along with the moisture content help moderate the temperature of the fire.

A single cylinder is placed in a metal container that is lined with refractory cement. The cylinder is initially set on fire using a small amount of wood. Once the cylinder is set on fire it burns continuously without any way to stop or control the heat. Once all the coal has been consumed, a shell of brown semi stiff clay remains to be discarded. Sides of houses, alleyways, and road sides are littered with the remnants of coal briquettes.

The burning briquettes are also used to heat the small houses. Because the homes do not have storm windows, or even glass on the windows and have loose fitting doors, the dangers of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide are somewhat reduced.

The production of coal briquettes is a cottage industry. The people along the coal transportation routes gather the coal fines that fall off of the trucks. The puddles that occur along and in the road are "farmed" to produce the mix to form the bees nest briquettes.

While visiting Quan Lan Island, I watched and photographed young boys molding the mixture into briquettes. Prior to my arrival, a truck had dumped about 1 cubic meters (9 cubic yards - a little over a cement truck load) of premixed coal-clay-water on the street in front of their house. This is SE Asia and the differentiation between private property and public property is very loosely defined and seldom enforced. It is a common sight to see sidewalks blocked and streets blocked or partially blocked by defacto restaurants, building materials, canopies for celebrations, stages for entertainment, or parked motorcycles. Things are much different in the western lands of the "free".

I watched for a good amount of time as the boys converted the large amount of stiff coal mud into bees nest briquettes - one briquette at a time. I must have observed them for 45 minutes and they had made no noticeable dent into the pile.

They gathered the stiff coal mixture in their hands and dumped it into a homemade molding machine. It took about two or three handfuls, depending upon the size of the boy, of mixture to fill the mold. The molding "machine" was made out of rebar, pipe, and steel plate.

A handful of dry sawdust is sprinkled around the inside of the mold to break the bond between the eventual briquette and mold walls. The coal mixture is then set into the cylindrical mold top section, a perforated plate cover was swung over the top and secured. A second boy manning a long wood lever then pushed the lever down. The action of the lever going down causes the bottom section of the machine, a plate with a series of long slender rods, to compress the coal mixture into a bees nest briquette. The upper mold is opened up and the completed briquette is carefully removed and placed on a piece of wood in the street to set. When the wood is filled with completed briquettes, two boys carefully pick it up and more the assemblage to a flat area to offload the briquettes for curing in the sun.

Throughout northern Vietnam, you can see people handling these briquettes - gathering the fines, forming the briquettes, transporting them, selling them, using the briquettes and disposing of the spent ones.

Transportation of the briquettes, is just as interesting as photographing the making of them. Some briquettes are transported by motorbike. Two metal frames are mounted on each side of the rear tire of the motorbike. At the bottom of each frame is a 3 foot by 3 foot wood floor. Briquettes are set and stacked to about 3 feet high on each side of the rear wheel. Because the product is made out of coal fines, the motorbike as well as the bike driver are covered in black dust. As awkward as the combination looks, the drivers skillfully weave about the crowded and rutted roads selling and delivering their important cargo.

Some vendors are too poor to have a motorbike so they haul the briquettes by bicycle. Just about as many briquettes can be hauled by bicycle as by motorbike but slower. The Vietnamese are masters in the art of hauling things by bicycle and motorbike. I have seen small refrigerators being transported on the back of motorbikes. The Vietnamese can carry as much on the back of their bicycle as most American choose to carry in the back of their pickup truck.

In the coastal region where we lived, there were many boats that brought the briquettes out to the islands and floating communities where people live. This is a photo of a man with his boat with briquettes to be shipped out into the bay.

Hill Tribe People - Lahu

The Lahu Hill Tribe people, like most of the other Hill Tribes originated in the mountainous regions of Yunnan Province, China. They rebelled against central government control in the 1700s. This lead to a southward migration.

Today the Lahu people are found in China, Vietnam, Laos, Burma, and Thailand. They first entered into Thailand in the 1800s starting with the Chiang Mai - Chiang Rai area. There are around 30,000 Lahu in Thailand today.

In Thailand the Lahu people are also known as the "Mussur".

One of the subgroups of the Lahu people are the Lahu Shehleh (Black Lahu). Shehleh Lahu women wear black clothing with white trim. They wear wide pants that go down to their knees. The bottom of their legs are wrapped in black cloth with white trim. Their black robe is split at the sides from the waist down and opens in the front. Horizontal bands of white, blue, red. sometimes yellow decorate the sleeves and shoulders of the robe.

Whoops - just had to take a break from this literary endeavor. Duang just called me upstairs to see the local television broadcast of the second night's Chinese New Years Celebration. last night there were drumming demonstrations and little children dancing. The little dancers were very cute - 3 to 5 years old. They were very intense and focused with their dancing. Some were so focused that they continued to dance even when the music stopped! "Music? Music? We don't need no stinking music to dance!" Tonight the special treat (treatment?) was a Chinese matron singing a song. She had a 1950s highly teased hairdo with sparkles in it. She and her husband own the largest and most numbers of gold shops here in Udonthani. I suspect that they paid some gold for her opportunity to entertain us tonight. The highlight of her performance were the dancers accompanying her on stage. They were all Thai Kathoeys (lady boys). The dancers were resplendent in their pink spaghetti strapped sequined formal gowns. It was quite a sight to see and hear. As they used to say "That's entertainment". I am certain that I missed or did not understand their intent but I did find it all quite entertaining.

Anyhow - back to the Lahu.

Shehleh women cover their head with a large Turkish towel wrapped up into a turban. Many of the woman shave their hair high up on their forehead to be more comfortable carrying things on their back with a strap across their forehead. This is definitely not a style that I believe will catch on in the USA. It makes everyday a truly bad hair day.

In addition to some Lahu women having a bad hair day everyday, some Lahu women, typically elderly women, have bad teeth days. Their teeth may actually be fine but they look absolutely horrible. An old tradition that is still practised today by older people is "betel nut chewing".

Betel nut chewing goes back about 4,000 years. It involves chewing a slice of the Areca nut, along with lime wrapped up in a betel leave. The concoction stains the lips and gums. It also produces copious amounts of saliva - spit. It is just as disgusting to watch as watching someone chewing tobacco. In fact in a symbiosis of cultures, many people now include loose tobacco in their betel nut chewing.

The chewing initially stains the gums and lips a distinctive red, red orange. It seems to me that over time this red, red orange stain evolves into a black stain. It is very unappealing.

Betel nut chewing was not limited to the poorer classes of people in SE Asia. In museums, there are displays of fancy and expensive containers that were used by Royalty to store the various components required for their betel nut chewing pleasure.

Chewing betel nut supposedly provides a mild pick me up similar to a cup or two of coffee. This pick me up allegedly makes it easier to cope with work and hunger.

The market in Khumphawapi sells bundles of the betel leave, as well as the other necessary ingredients. Rather than keeping the components in silver, or gold containers, the Lahu and Tahsang Villagers store the items in recycled screw lid plastic jars.

The Lahu are the most Christianized of the Hill Tribe peoples. Those who are not Christians are Animist like the other Hill Tribe groups.

Yao Hill Tribe Textile Art - Part II

During our visit to Chiang Rai in the Golden Triangle Area of Thailand, we stopped and visited many Hill Tribe villages. Most of the villages had textiles for sale.

The sale of tribal handicrafts is a big component of the minority people's income.

We have a deep appreciation for the art and culture demonstrated in the tribal textiles. We seldom return from the Hill Tribe areas without some new piece or pieces of textile art. Fortunately the fabrics are very affordable.

This photograph is of the second large piece of Yao Hill Tribe textile art that we purchased in June of 2007. The stitching of this piece is not as fine as the previous Yao piece that I identified as my favorite. This second piece is not as elaborate as the piece that the elderly woman spend 15 months creating.

However this piece has its own points. The design is more simple and I tend to appreciate the beauty of simplicity more than complex or elaborate designs.

For more photographs of Hill Tribe textiles, I am including the following link to my photography web site.

http://hale-worldphotography.smugmug.com/gallery/7175083_HXbgH/1/460637309_Pbpcz

Yao Textile Art - Needlepoint

Earlier today I wrote about my favorite piece of Yao textile art. I took a photograph of it to share the artistry of the piece.

The amount of work in creating the piece is incredible. The detail is very exact.

The quality is very good. There are a few pieces of thread hanging off of it which, for me, adds to the hand crafted nature of the piece.

The piece is made out of cotton - a needlepoint type backing fabric that colorful threads are inserted through with a needle to create the pictures and geometric design. After completion of the needle work, three pieces of navy blue cotton were sewn horizontally across the back of the piece to finish it.

The Yao people also known as the Mien, Iu Man, or Man are well known for their skill at embroidery. This is an example of their skill and prowess.

Hmong Textile Art - Sapa Vietnam

Yesterday I wrote a little about Hmong textiles. I attempted to do some research over the Internet to provide some specific details on it but I had no success.

There are many sites that are selling Hmong textiles but little information is available regarding the symbolism, techniques, or history of the handicraft.

Without any background or facts to cite or to justify my appreciation of Hmong and other Hill Tribe Textile art, I find my situation to be be like that of Justice Potter Stewart in 1964 when he was dealing with a obscenity (pornography) United States Supreme Court case. He stated that he could not define it "But I know it when I see it".

So it is for me with Hill Tribe Textile art. I can not define it but what I see I like and know it to be art.

We have seen and purchased Hill Tribe textile art in Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. In our home we have 7 pieces decorating the wall and furniture. We have two large Yao pieces stored away that we have to figure out how to most effectively display. My favorite Yao piece is 4 feet wide by 6 feet long and is completely covered in very fine and detailed colorful needlepoint. We purchased the piece one and one-half years ago from the Yao Grandmother who had worked on it for a year and three months. We paid 3,000 baht ($100 USD) for it. A piece of art for $100 - another reason why I enjoy being in Thailand so much.

As you travel the Hill Tribe regions of Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam, you will encounter many women and girls sewing, weaving, embroidering, and needlepointing. The results of their efforts are often for sale at very reasonable prices. If you prefer not to buy anything, you can photograph the walking art galleries that pass you by on the village roads or the works of art on display in the booths along the road.

Hill Tribe clothing in itself are works of art. They contain many artistic elements - embroidery, needlepoint, profusion of colors, batik, applique, metalwork, cross stitching, and beadwork. The only other clothing that I have found that approaches the uniqueness of Hill Tribe traditional clothing is on display at the Museum of the Plains Indians in Browning , Montana on the Blackfoot Indian reservation.

However examples of the Indian handicrafts and artistic skills are not available for sale.