Isaan Rice Harvest - 14 and 15 November 2009

Undaunted by the previous, Friday 13th, day's adventures and motivated by the opportunity to spend some more time with 9 month old Peelawat, we returned to Tahsang Village on Saturday and Sunday to contribute to the harvesting of the family's rice crop.

On Saturday and Sunday the crop that was planted in July just outside of Tahsang Village was being cut. This field does not have red ants so I was looking forward to spending a great deal of time documenting and observing the activities there.

Duang splits her time between caring for Peelawat and cutting rice. Duang's daughter and Duang's mother have been sick so extra help is required to look after the nine month old baby. Saturday ended up being a "baby care" day. Duang's daughter was feeling well enough so she spent the day cutting rice. However, Duang's mother was still not feeling well. She had been to the hospital two days earlier with gastro-intestinal distress. On Saturday she was still rather weak. No problem - her youngest son came over to take care of her.

"Number 4", as he is referred to as since he is the youngest of four children arrived in Tahasang Village with an IV bottle and assorted items related to infusion. He is not a doctor. He is not a EMT. He is not a nurse. He is an entertainer. Apparently anyone with the money can buy IV materials for home personal use or on willing subjects. I was astounded. The IV bottle was made out of glass and contained a yellow liquid. I tried to read the ingredients but the writing was all in Thai. The bottle as well as contents looked identical to what I had seen being used on patients in the hospital.

A saht, a woven reed mat, was placed on the tile floor of the family market for Duang's mother to lay on. Polyethylene packaging twine was used to suspend the IV bottle from a wire that ran from a column to the exterior wall of the room. Duang's brother declined to use my belt as a tourniquet on his mother's arm to help bring up a vein (I had seen a belt used in many films where people were shooting up - wrapping around the upper arm and using their teeth to maintain tension around the arm). Instead he used several rubber bands to create an elastic band to tie around her arm. I was impressed with his knowledge and skill up to this point. He had flooded the IV tubing, installed a vent in the IV bottle, evacuated the air out of the tubing and run some liquid out of the needle. Now it was time to insert the needle into a vein. Finding the vein and inserting the needle proved to be more difficult. Eventually the process was successfully completed. Momma layed quietly on the saht for the afternoon.

Once Momma was settled in with her IV, our attention focused upon Peelawat. He had been sleeping in his hammock on the opposite side of the room and woke up as the set up of Momma's IV was completed. After he woke up completely and got accustomed to everyone, Duang decided that it was time for his bath. Since it was a hot and sunny day, Duang took a small plastic tub outside to the backyard to bathe Peelawat. She filled the tub with water from a hose and used the hose to rinse him off. Peelawat enjoyed his bath even though the water was not heated.

The remainder of the afternoon was spent working on the computer to edit photographs and playing with Peelawat.

On Sunday we spent most of our time out in the rice fields. I shot photographs in the morning and then the late afternoon to take advantage of the better light.

It was hot and humid all day long. I had left Duang back in the village to take care of Peelawat. After photographing the family at work in the fields, I took a walk towards the sun. I walked towards the sun for two reasons - I wanted the setting sun at my back to photograph the workers and there several groups of other workers in that direction. Walking over towards the other workers was rather difficult. The recessed paddies were filled with dry stalks of rice either vertical or laying almost flat. Out of respect for the farmers I did not want to trample over the unharvested rice. That left me the option of walking along the tops of the berms around the perimeters of the paddy. The raised area along the paddies are now overgrown with 4 months of unabated weeds. To make matters even more difficult, the berms are periodically cut by narrow trenches - perfect ankle twisters and ankle busters. The overgrown vegetation pretty much camouflages them. I had also watched a program the previous night about people getting bitten by cobras. I pretty much convinced myself that no snake would hang around the dry rice paddies so I cautiously plodded along.

I spent about 2 hours on this trek, stopping to photograph interesting scenes and stopping to rest as well as await the sun to get lower on the horizon. It was extremely hot and I sweated a great deal. I sweated so profusely that my fingertips became wrinkled as if I had stayed in a bath too long. Midway into my solo journey, I thought that I heard Duang's voice. I was too far to see her even if the rice had not hidden her. After deciding to return to the family, I had some good fortune - I found a piece of aged bamboo - a perfect walking stick. With the use of my walking stick, my walk back was much easier and less intimidating. When I got back to the starting point, Duang was there cutting rice. She had correctly surmised that I was going to be thirsty and had a can of Pepsi along with a glass of ice awaiting me. I have to admit that it was the best Pepsi that I have had in my life. The best Coke is a fountain drink at O Sanctuario outside the entrance to Machu Picchu but the best Pepsi is in a can out in an Isaan parched rice paddy.

Rice Harvest Season - 2009

The rains have ceased for about a month now. The rainy season is over and will return in late May.

The rice that was planted in Late July is now ready to be harvested from the parched paddies. A month without rain has converted the muddy paddies into hard compacted deeply cracked plots of land - the legacy of the clay composition of the soil. With the continued heat and humidity along with the brilliant sunshine the rice crop has matured quite well. Unfortunately for some people, there have been a couple of windy days recently. The effect of the wind on the heavily headed stalks of rice in many areas was to lay the rice over. Instead of standing about 3.5 feet high above the cracked soil, the rice has been laid over to be only about 1-1/2 feet off and roughly parallel to the ground. The lower height requires the workers to bend over further every time to pick up the stalks prior to cutting them.

The free market is in effect here in Isaan. In July, the cost to hire a worker to plant the rice was 150 baht a day - $4.53 USD. This was higher than the garlic harvesters were making near the Burma border in April. They made 100 baht of a day. Well now the price for rice harvesters from a nearby village to Tahsang Village is 250 baht a day - $7.55 USD. This was more than Duang's daughter wanted or could afford to pay to harvest the family rice. It had been decided that the family would harvest the crop themselves.

Everyone in the family had their duties and responsibilities related to the harvest. Duang's mother would remain at home and care for Peelawat who is 9 months old now while Duang's daughter and son-in-law harvested rice. Duang would cut rice. I was to photograph the harvest and help care for Peelawat. One condition of my retirement visa in Thailand is that I can not work. Helping the family harvest could be viewed as working so I was not going to be cutting rice. I did try it out for about 10 minutes but ran into problems. Duang's son and his girlfriend would cut rice after finishing their school for the day. Duang's youngest brother could not cut on Friday but he would come out on Saturday to do his part.

The weather had gotten a little cooler here until Friday when it was back to a high of 90 to 95F. We ended up driving out to a paddy that I was not familiar with. It turned out to be Duang's brother's paddy. We arrived about 8:30 in the morning and the workers set out cutting the rice immediately. I set up my camera bag on a raised platform along side of the paddy and next to a tethered water buffalo. I noticed that there were quite a few large red ants on the platform. These were the same type of ants that people added to their fish to eat on New Year's Eve - the ants with an aggressive attitude and strong bite.

After about 2-1/2 hours, the sun had gotten to me along with the red ants. Even when I was in amongst the rice stalks the ants were able to find me. Out in the bright sun in 95F heat with sweat running all over my body, I would get a sharp bite typically in a wet crease in my body. It wasn't long before I was fairly miserable. Duang told me to go back home and she would have her son bring her home later.

She was going to ride the motorbike out of the field to lead me to the main road back to Udonthani. She didn't move fast enough so I drove off om my own, determined to get home as quickly as possible. I surprised myself by using the Sun and dead reckoning to get back to the main road in Kumphawapi with no problem at all. I decided to take an alternative route to travel from Kumphawapi to Udonthani. I had traveled that route several times previously and believed that it would be more scenic than the customary route.

After awhile the alternative route turned into a construction zone - the road was being reconstructed. In Isaan, roadwork is a much more informal process than in the USA. Warning signs are usually set up right at the work sight - No, I have not misspelled the word, you sight the work site as you sight the sign. There is very little advance warning. There are no formal or as I suspect "trained" flagmen. Sometimes one of the workers will take a little time from his primary duties and wave cars along. In general, opposing traffic is left to themselves to sort out who proceeds and who waits. It all seems to work out but it is stressful.

I managed to navigate through the construction maze without incident when I noticed some opposing vehicles flashing their headlights - the warning signal for a police roadblock up ahead. Police roadblocks are quite common in Isaan. Police often stop cars to check for registration, proof of insurance, driver's license, and alleged violations. I have been waiting to be stopped for awhile. The new truck does not have registration plates yet. Sure enough I was flagged over to the side and approached by a policeman. I rolled down the window and he introduced himself and said a whole bunch of things that I had no idea what he was saying. I suspected that it had something to do with no plates so I told him in Thai "Loat Mai" (New Truck). I gave him the paper from the dealer and that seemed to work. He said some more so I figured it had to to do with insurance, so I pulled the paperwork out for the insurance coverage. He seemed satisfied with that but said some more. I figured that it had to do with my driver's license so I gave him that. Another higher ranking officer came by and looked at the front of the truck. The officer dealing with me told him "Loat mai" so I figured there was no problem with that. He then kept talking to me but I had no idea what it was about. I was at a loss. I pulled out my cellphone and called Duang for help. I told her what was going on and handed the policeman the phone. They had a casual friendly conversation so I figured that I was not headed to jail. He gave me back the phone and Duang was laughing. She said that the Policeman was hot and thirsty so give him 100 baht ($3.00 USD). I gladly helped him out, shook his hand for the third or fourth time and went on my way.

When Duang got home later in the day, she told me that Buddha had complained about me. I had not waited for her, so Buddha punished me for not listening to her. I have been with her long enough and have had enough experiences with her that I would not categorically deny or argue with her assertion.

That was how I spent Friday 13th here in Isaan.

"Doctor" Feel Good and the Wheels of God

Remembering back to English class in Groton Connecticut many years ago, I have always fondly remembered a essay or a short story by John Galsworthy the theme of which was "The wheels of God grind slowly but exceedingly small" The premise is that you may get away with something bad for awhile, perhaps even a long while, but eventually God or Justice will catch up to you and you will receive what you deserve. The quote is actually from a German named "Von Logau" and was translated into a poem written by Longfellow. I guess that stands pretty well as testament to the power of Von Logau's original words that two well known authors would later use them in their own works.

It is also interesting how these undoubtedly Christian inspired words and thought so closely parallel as well as reflect the Buddhist concept of "Kharma" - What goes around , comes around.

So what does this have to do with living in Isaan? Actually it has a great deal to do with something that I had previously written about in Mid-October - "Doctor" Feel Good. On October 14th I had written about "Doctor" Feel Good - the man who was performing wondrous things for the health of Lao Loum peasants from his home out in the middle of the rice paddies. He was giving injections to everyone who came to his home. I had gone with a sprained or bruised foot and had great difficulty walking. When he gave an injection of Valium to Duang's cousin who has epilepsy but he had diagnosed with a "bad heart" after listening to her chest and neck, I decided that this was not the "Doctor" for me or for my wife.

The villagers and family members that we had taken with us to see the "Doctor" all had a good laugh at the "Falang", foreigner who was afraid of the "Doctor" who had made them all "better". They all had a good laugh until they all nodded off to sleep on the way back to the village. Over the past month my foot finally got better on its own but I still got teased about how long it took because I didn't let the "Doctor" take care of it. Along with the teasing we heard additional stories of all the people he had helped to "feel better".

This morning we got a phone call from Duang's daughter. She had gone to see the "Doctor" this morning but he was gone. The police had come to complain (charge? arrest? him for what he was doing). The man fled and is apparently hiding out and but still "helping" people from some house further out in the rice paddies. According to Duang's daughter, he will stay hidden for about 7 to 10 days before returning home to resume his "good work". I guess he figures that the police will have forgotten about him during that period of time.

Duang's daughter was laughing and jokingly insinuated that I had called the police about him. That is not true. I am a guest in Thailand and do not want to cause or create problems for anyone.

Just as the wheels of God had finally ground small enough to get to "Doctor" Feel Good or perhaps Kharma had done in the "Doctor", I do not want to bring or create any cause for me to be in the same situation.

Tomorrow, we are off to harvest rice - the family rice that was planted back in July. It should be interesting. Just in time for the harvest the temperatures are up again to 95F (35C).

We had passed on the road trip last week with Duang's brother and his band to Chiang Rai, so tomorrow's harvest will be my first photography effort in awhile.

A Hidden Treasure - "Museum of the Plains Indian"

In 2002, I had the privilege and great fortune of working in Calgary, Alberta for a project that was being engineered and procured in Canada. Calgary is a beautiful and vibrant city. I thoroughly enjoyed the months that was there during the first engineering phase of the project. Later in 2003, I would spend several just as enjoyable extended business trips there as engineering was completed.

Besides the attractions in Calgary itself, Calgary is a great starting point to access other areas such as Banff National Park, Jasper National Park, Waterton Peace Park, and with reentry back into the USA - Glacier National Park.

I took full advantage of the Canadian holidays to take trips to all of the aforementioned attractions. As I was alone most of the time, I first visited them by myself and later once or twice again when my wife, at the time, visited me.

It was during a visit to Glacier National Park that we discovered a hidden treasure - Museum of the Plains Indian in Browning, Montana.



It has been written and said that "You can judge a society by ... " "the way it treats its young", "by the way it treats its prisoners", "by the way it treats its less fortunate", and "by the way it treats its elderly" It is my belief and I would like to add "You can judge a society by its art".

Nowhere that I have traveled throughout the world is this more apparent and appropriate than at the "Museum of the Plains Indian". The museum is located at the intersection of Highway 2 and Highway 89 on the Blackfeet Reservation in Browning, Montana. Browning Montana is east of Glacier National Park. We had come upon it when we were traveling south from Waterton, Alberta on our way to East Glacier Park Village. We had been traveling for a while and the weather was not all that conducive to photography when I saw a rather nondescript simple two story brick building. The building looked very much like a small High School for the 1940s but had a large sign identifying it as a museum.

It turns out the the museum had been created in 1941. Inside there are permanent displays of native American art and handicrafts. Works from the Blackfeet,Sioux, Cree, Crow, Shoshone, Nez Perce, Northern Cheyenne, and Chippewa peoples are represented in the displays. Displayed items include clothing, toys, weapons, horse gear, and household items. In addition the permanent articles on display there temporary arts and crafts by Native Americans.





The articles are fantastic examples of the art and culture of the Plains Indian societies. The bead work is meticulous and very colorful undoubtedly reflecting the complexity and structure of its associated society. The artwork even in common mundane articles of daily life give testament to the sophistication of the Plains peoples. Upon viewing the exhibits all preconceived notions regarding the Native American culture are quickly and forever dispelled. Any society that is able and willing to invest the time as well as resources into such sophisticated expressions of beauty can not be considered savage. In the 1800's, as it is today, it seems "de rigeur" to characterise your adversaries as sub-human and simplify their culture to be no more than brutal savagery. Quite often the reaality is that the adversary's culture is as sophisticated and valid as the proponent's.

We thoroughly enjoyed the Museum of the Plains Indian for many reasons. Besides the numerous works of art and handicrafts, the museum has not been updated to be politically correct. The works speak for themselves and the open minded visitor is left to draw their own conclusions regarding the work and the artisans that created the works. Browning Montana is off the beaten path so the museum was not crowded whats so ever during our visit. We may have encountered 6 other visitors during our one hour stay at the museum. The museum is also very cheap to visit - current prices are $4.00 per adult and $1.00 per child during June to September. However, admission is free from October to May.

I would enjoy returning to the museum given the opportunity - I have a digital camera now so the photographs of the glass encased articles would be better than these scanned slides. Sounds like a good enough reason to return ...

The "Blue Mosque" of Malaysia

While working in Malaysia, I took advantage of local holidays, along with Sundays to get and about to see the country. One memorable trip was to visit the capital city of Kuala Lumpur. In addition to visiting the sights in the city, we made excursions to the surrounding areas.

We drove south west of KL to the Malaysian state of Selangor Darul Ehasan. In the capital city of Selangor, Shah Alam, is the magnificent Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah Mosque commonly and widely referred to as "The Blue Mosque"


The Blue Mosque is a modern structure which was completed on March 11, 1988 after 6 years of construction. The minarets of the mosque are 460 feet tall making them the second tallest in the world. They had been the tallest in the world for a period of time, but a mosque in Morocco has now eclipsed them for the title as well as national glory.



The dome is 170 feet in diameter and 350 feet tall at its apex. The dome is built using ceramic glazed aluminum panels. The use of paintings and pictures for decoration is not allowed so the dome is covered and decorated with geometric patterns and Arabic calligraphy of the verses from the Holy Quran (Koran). I have read that the mosque has the capacity for 16,000 and 24,000 worshippers. I don't know. At the time that we went there, there were no worshippers. Because we were not Muslims we were not allowed inside so that I could have made a personal estimate of the capacity. There are some days when non-Muslims are allowed inside but our day was not one of them.



The mosque complex also has a park called the Garden of Islamic Arts which is inspired by the Quran's Garden of Paradise. It was a very peaceful and beautiful park with many flowers and plants. In the park we encountered many families with small children.



Although the weather was very hot as well as humid, our visit to the Blue Mosque was a very good experience as well as inspiring and well worth any temporary discomfort.

Snack Time In Tahsang Village

Yesterday, Tuesday, we drove out to Tahsang Village to visit with the family.

The day before I had baked a pineapple upside down cake for Duang's son's birthday so we were bringing some of it to the village to share with some of the village children - especially Peelawat and Kwan.

Duang drove the new truck part of the way and did very well - much to my relief.
We arrived in Tahsang Village to find life going on just as it does every day. Various women and children were sitting on the raised wood platform with a thatched roof. While the women were busy talking and tending to the children, the children were busy playing with whatever they could get their hands on - empty plastic bottles, containers of powder, and plastic bags. There are not many toys available to village children.

We broke out the cake and the children including 8 month old Peelawat quickly devoured it. At about that time, Duang's oldest brother came by with his food cart.

Throughout Isaan, you will see food carts. Some food carts are pushcarts. Many of the food carts are side cars attached to motorcycles. Duang's brother has a typical side car food cart. He has a cart that has a small propane gas bottle and burner, unrefrigerated food case, a small ice chest, and a tray of various soda bottles along with plastic bags along with bamboo skewers. Sometimes he will also have a pot of soup or some other prepared food.


In the food case he had hot dogs, along with various meat based dumplings and turnovers. In Isaan the hot dogs are deep fried rather than boiled or grilled. The meat snacks are put on bamboo skewers placed in small plastic bags along with shredded raw cabbage to be eaten with chili sauce. To wash down the food, he sells small plastic cups of soda with ice from his ice chest. Duang bought food and drinks for everyone - 80 baht - $2.14 USD - a small price to pay to be able to photograph some of my favorite "models" - Fheng, Kwan, Mai, and Peelawat.

Most people in Isaan do not have photographs of themselves as children or photographs of their children. They have not been able to afford the luxury of photographs. This is quite different from my personal experience. I have many fond memories of going through my family album and listening to the stories from my parents related to the photographs. The album was filled with pictures from my parent's childhoods as well as my and my sister's early days. Duang does not have any photographs of her childhood and I have a sense of loss for her.



I know that I can not change the past but I believe that I can make the present a little better for some people in that regard. I enjoy taking photographs of the village children and then giving some prints to their parents.

It is not my intention to change Isaan to be like the America of my childhood. I only want to provide some joy in a small way to some people in thanks for all the joy that I have experienced here.

New Truck Blessing

We were up at 5:30 A.M. this morning in order to get out to the Wat near Tahsang Village in time to offer food to the Monks. After making merit, our truck was going to be blessed by one of the senior Monks.

On our way out to the village we stopped in Kumphawapi to buy some ready made food from the morning market. We then stopped at Duang's mother's house so that she could join us. Today was a holiday so the roads were not very crowded. Despite it being a holiday, the fields were busy. Farmers were busy harvesting sugar cane, preparing the harvested fields, and planting cassava in the former sugar cane fields. The sugar cane harvest has just started and is limited to small trucks - so far. Later in the harvest which will run well into the new year, large tandem trucks will take over hauling the harvested cane to the large sugar refineries.

Today we drove out to a Wat that I had not been to before. This Wat was set out in the middle of the sugar cane fields towards the flood plain. Duang said that it was very old and had been there for 100 years. As we drove along the dusty dirt road towards the Wat, we came upon a road crew. Local villagers - men, women and children were busy trimming the heavy vegetation from the side of the road and were busy - very busy filling in some of the many ruts in the road. Later men were in the trees cutting off branches. Some red, white and blue pennant flagging nothing to do with any delayed 4th of July celebration, they are also Thailand's national colors)lined parts of the narrow road to the Wat. Later I found out from Duang that the next day, representatives from one of the local bus companies were going out to the Wat to present a check to the Abbot to help support the Wat.

The Wat was very primitive but very impressive. It's beauty was in its simplicity. The grounds were very well maintained and filled with trees, flowers, and plants. The buildings were plain wood and cement block. Situated throughout the grounds were wood cages with various types of birds in them. Some of the birds may have been talking birds but I couldn't really tell - they may have been speaking Lao but don't know it well enough to distinguish it from normal bird squawking.

The entire grounds had been swept with brooms. It was more of a nature preserve than a Wat. It was very peaceful.

Some women were preparing the offerings of food for the Monks. Duang gave them our offerings and she went to a smaller building where there a senior Monk. he appeared to be the Abbot. Two other women were there to make merit. The elderly Monk was quite a sociable person. He talked and talked. It was obvious to me that it was small talk rather than any spiritual lecture or dissertation. Later it all made sense to me - the Monk's last name was Veeboonkul - Duang's family name. The Abbot was one of her many uncles! I often tease her about how many relatives that she has around here - today she had the joke on me! This also explained why her mother accompanied us out to the Wat.



















After the Monk finally finished with the normal merit making ritual, he started the ritual to bless our new truck. Once again the ritual was more of an incorporation of Animist beliefs and practices than a true Buddhist ceremony. After having me open the truck front doors, the Monk walked around the truck counter clockwise while carrying a small plate with thin yellow candles on it, an amulet that we had received before from another Monk, and a small statue of some sacred religious person, a Buddhist ornament that we had purchased at a "special" Wat in anticipation of having a vehicle, small laurel type leaves, and some money on it. He also had a hunk of cotton rope with him. As he walked around the truck he was very carefully checking out the vehicle almost to the point of giving the truck the "evil eye".



Upon completing his circumambulation of the truck, Duang's Uncle climbed in and sat behind the wheel. He seemed to be imitating driving the truck as he was chanting so softly that I could not hear him. Upon completing his incantations, the Monk took the cotton rope and wrapped it around the steering column at the bas where it penetrates the firewall. At this point, the ritual hit a technical snag. The cotton rope was not long enough to tie around the steering column. As much as he tried, he could not bind the strings together. He called out to one of his lay assistants who rummaged through the small building before he finally came to the truck with some colored cotton strings that are used for Bai Saii rituals (binding the 32 spirits inside a person's body to ensure good luck and health). These strings did the job just fine - completing the loop and binding the spirits of the truck. I was busy photographing and filming the ritual.

The Monk then honked the horn of the truck three sets of three distinct and LOUD honks - completely taking me by surprise - much to Duang's amusement. Having scared the bajeepers out of me and most likely the spirits, the Monk pulled out a magic marker and drew three symbols on the steering wheel hub. He then focused on the headliner above the driver's seat. He seemed to be either praying or meditating as he drew a complex graphic on the roof above the driver's seat. I had seen this done before but the Monks had used a chalk paste. I surmise that Magic Marker is a concession to modern times and an effort at greater permanence. The Monk hung the two flower garlands that Duang had purchased from the Kumphawapi Market from the truck's rear view mirror. Having completed with the vehicle's interior, the Monk exited the truck and had Duang, Duang's mother, and me kneel on the ground in front of the truck. He grabbed a fairly large bucket of water along with a coarse reed brush. He circumambulated the truck three times sprinkling the truck as well as us with the water from the bucket using the coarse brush.

The ritual was now completed and the truck had been properly prepared for our use.

Back at Duang's mother's home, Duang glued the statue, amulet, and Buddhist ornament to the dashboard to ensure that the protection continues.