The Dock On The River

On Monday while Duang was off in the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR) taking care of my passport, I spent 6-1/2 hours along the waterfront of the Mekong River in Nong Khai, Thailand. It is hard to believe that it was 6-1/2 hours but time always seems to go by quickly along bodies of water. There appears to be something interesting happening around water.

In Nong Khai there is a large market along, or rather more accurately above the Mekong River. We are into the rainy season now so the Mekong River has greatly recovered from its historic lows of three months ago. Later this year there could be flooding. As I walked past the market, I came upon a place where steps led down to the river itself. I would estimate that the river was about 45 feet below the street level. There were three permanent flood stage markers close to the street level to monitor the water as it rises significantly in the flood season. It is quite impressive at times to see evidence of the variability of Nature in a single location.

After watching the people clean outside their hotels, stalls, or hotels, I wandered down to the dock on the river. Boats from Laos and Thailand crossed the swiftly flowing Mekong carrying passengers and cargo between the two countries. I spent several hours at the Thai Customs Station watching goods being offloaded by hand from somlaws (three wheeled motorcycles), pick up trucks, and lorries. Since it was Monday, there was a great deal of activity - especially exporting of bicycles to Laos. I must have witnessed the offloading of 500 bicycles each in its own individual cardboard box.

The offloading of the cargo in Thailand is performed by stevedores. I learned from them that they make around 200 baht a day ($6.00 USD) a day. The men dress just the same as the men working out in the fields. There are no hard hats, gloves, sturdy boots, or back braces. There is no personal safety equipment at all. Down at the wharf, some 45 feet lower than the street level, there are no life vests, life rings, or rescue equipment.

From what I could see across the river to Laos, about 1/2 mile away, the same was true - offloading by hand. From the sounds coming from Laos, it appeared that the stevedores over there were having a good time. It sounded more like a party than work. On the Thai side it was not all work. During lulls in the arrival of goods to be offloaded, the men played checkers. Their board was a thin square piece of sheet metal that once had blue squares spray painted as required to produced a grid of blue and bare metal squares. Their board had been heavily used for a long period of time reducing many of the blue squares to very faint smudges of color. The game pieces were a combination of beer, soft drink, and Kao Lao (whiskey) bottle caps. One player's pieces were smooth side down and the other player's pieces were rough side down, After watching a while, the men invited me to play. I had not played since a long night in a bar in Malaysia 10 years ago and then it was against my wife of that time. These guys appeared to be a much higher level of competition. I agreed and started to play. The first game was a tie. They changed my opponent and I won the next match. During the third match, we or rather my opponent started getting "comments from the peanut gallery" and advice from several kibitzers. Since I had made sure that we weren't playing for money (gambling is not legal here in Thailand ;-) ), I pretended to be upset and told the men in Thai that it was one man against one man and not 2 men, 3 men, or 4 men against one falang (foreigner). We all had a good laugh. As the match continued, my chastisement did not deter some of the guys, they were giving advise to my opponent - they were reminded of my words by their coworkers. Again we had a good laugh. I ended up losing this match but won my next three matches. It was all good natured fun and amusement. It was an easy way to burn up some time along the river and I enjoyed the time.

Unfortunately, I had not brought my camera with me on Monday. When I met Duang at the border, I told her of my adventure and we decided to return to Nong Khai the next day before going to visit family in Tahsang Village.

Tuesday we drove back to Nong Khai so that I could photograph the activity at the dock. Even better, Duang could translate for me to ensure that I understood what was going on especially the details that were not readily apparent. I want to be reasonably sure of what I write about. Sometimes I suspect that I might understand just enough to get confused. Having Duang to confirm and verify what I believe that I understand is very assuring. We arrived around 8:00 A.M. for the start of the work day on the river. Many of the workers from the day before were in place awaiting the arrival of the day's cargo. Some were finishing their breakfast on the steps of the Custom's House. Breakfast consisted of the Isaan main staple of "sticky rice" brought to the job site in a woven bamboo container called a "gong kao" - a sort of Lao Loum workman's lunch box. We have three in our kitchen. Balls of sticky rice are dipped into a sauce or into fish or sometimes vegetables by hand. Typically plain water is consumed with their meals.

Soon after 8:00 A.M. the cargo started to arrive. Somlaws, three wheeled motorcycles, arrived stuffed with all kinds of cargo destined for Lao People's Democratic Republic. Over the two days of observing work at the wharf, I saw just about everything - well I didn't see a kitchen sink but I did see two pick up truck canopies being exported to the LPDR. Over the two days I saw LG 29 inch televisions, small refrigerators, stuffed toys, hoses, plastic baskets, baby formula, motorcycle tires, truck tires, snack food, Coca Cola, Fanta Orange soft drink, Thailand's version of Red Bull, welding machines, bicycles, candy, motorcycle parts, car parts, washing machines, feminine hygiene products, plant seeds, and canned goods off loaded by hand from pick up trucks, somlaws and 10 wheel trucks. Trucks larger than 10 wheelers are too large to access the Customs House using the narrow city streets. I found it very ironic that some goods were originally manufactured in China were being exported from Thailand into a Communist state that actually shares a border with The People's Republic of China. I suspect that a contributing factor to this situation is the distribution networks available in all three countries. Here in Thailand there are not big distributors or wholesalers of goods. In general, goods are available to you, the consumer, through a series of small distributors and wholesalers with each adding a mark up. My Mother-in-law has a small market in Tahsang Village. One of her biggest selling items is Kao Lao (whiskey). She purchases about one case a week from small ethnic Chinese markets in Kumphawapi or Udonthani. I looked into the possibility of dealing with me for a greater volume perhaps 10 case purchase to get a volume discount. There was no volume discount. I looked into dealing with a larger distributor for either a volume discount or lower unit price and found that the alternative was not available. It is the system of distribution that makes Japanese cameras more expensive in Japan than in the United States. I suspect that a similar situation exists in Laos. It is most likely easier to import Chinese goods through Thailand than to deal with China directly for the small Lao businessman.

As soon as a vehicle pulls up to the curb to be off loaded, the stevedores quickly line up and off load the cargo. The cargo is staged on the sidewalk and entry way to the Customs House. The stevedores are heavily laden with the various pieces of cargo. I saw one man carrying 5 cases of powdered baby formula. Typically one case is placed on edge upon the stevedore's shoulder with 2 more cases added flatly upon this on edge case and the stevedore's head. When a stevedore gets tired and work slows down he can go across the street and lay down on a saht placed upon the sidewalk under the shade of a large tree. Some stevedores choose to play a game or two of checkers. The workers are paid by the "Boss" (Lead Stevedore"). The Boss collects 50 baht to offload a somlaw of cargo and 50 to 100 baht to offload a pick up. The big money is earned for loading the boat. The Boss is paid 10,000 baht for a full boat of cargo. He then divides the money up amongst his crew. Each member of the crew then pays him a fee for allowing them to work. If you is satisfied with their "contribution" he invites them to work the next day. If he is not satisfied, they can not work the next day. Typically the average stevedore will take home 200 baht for the day.

An agent for the exporter verifies the weigh bills and marks up the packages with a blue magic marker - a series of Thai symbols and numbers. Once in a while a Customs Agent will walk out and look over the goods. Once all the goods in a shipment are off loaded, consolidated, verified, the stevedores haul the cargo through the doors into the Customs House, through the building, and place it on a concrete pad high above the Mekong River (about 45 feet).

A crew of stevedores on the vessel moored to the wharf awaits the cargo. A stevedore up on the Custom House concrete pad slides the cargo down a long wood chute down to the vessel. Larger cargo items and hopefully delicate items are hand carried down concrete steps and place aboard the boat. A stevedore on board the floating wharf deftly uses his foot, soccer style, to direct and stop the sliding cargo arriving fro high above. To maintain his balance and perhaps to avoid an accident he uses a rope tied off to a railing to steady himself. I am reasonably certain this is a matter of personal choice rather than compliance with any regulation.

There are two wood slides down to the wharf but on Tuesday one of the slides was being reconstructed. Three men were busy replacing some of the boards on the chute.


After watching the two truck canopies being loaded on to the boat, we left to continue our trip to Tahsang Village.

We Did It - We Beat the Fee!

I started a new blog the other day but I had to stop. Duang was telling me about ghost monkeys returning to Tahsang Village and how, according to her daughter, I needed to wear my Buddhist amulets when I next visit the village. Apparently from what I gathered, the monkey ghosts are kind of like vampires but are afraid of Buddha but not of Christians. This has the makings, I believe, of a very good story but pulling it all together is complicated and too much is getting lost in the translation. I have sought the assistance of our good friend Prawnee in Bangkok to help me understand the story so I am optimistic about sorting it all out - eventually.

In the meantime, we managed to use up today, Monday 12 July, quite easily. Once again it was time to deal with the American Embassy. Late last week I found out that fees for certain transactions were increasing effective 13 July (Tuesday). For me the most significant impact was a new fee for adding blank pages to a US Passport.

Three years ago, I remind you it was post 9-11, adding blank pages to my passport was no big deal. Periodically the US Embassy in Bangkok conducts "Outreach" to Americans living in Thailand. They travel to some of the larger cities in the country to perform "American Citizen Services" for Americans in the area. This gives the local Americans an opportunity to avoid a long trip to Bangkok as well as most likely an overnight stay in Bangkok. Three years ago the Embassy had an outreach at a hotel in the city where I was living. I needed additional pages in my passport so I went to the hotel, filled out a form, waited for my name to be called, sat down submitted my form, and watched a US representative place a pre-printed and pre-adhesive package of 24 pages into my passport. I believe the entire process required 15 minutes total. There was no charge for the SERVICE.

That was three years ago, recently the "Outreach" program can no longer add pages to US Passports. However US Embassy representatives will accept US Passports for return to Bangkok for processing. Once the passports are delivered to the Embassy the augmented passports will be available for pick up at the American Citizen's Services Office in Bangkok the next business day. The US citizen can pick up the passport personally or have someone else pick it up with a letter of authorization from the citizen to the Embassy. Supposedly this is due to increased security measures. This sort of reminds me of small children's behavior as well as unfortunately too many adults who believe that all bad behaviors are forgiven and consequences of bad behavior are to be avoided simply by parroting the phrase "I'm sorry". In this case and many other issues in the USA in the past 10 years all abuses of power and infringements of personal liberty are justified and made acceptable by referring to them as "Increased Security Measures". However up until tomorrow this reduced level of SERVICE has no charge.

As of tomorrow, additional pages will incur a fee of $82 USD. The following is a copy of an official US Consular website:

Q: Why is the Government charging me such a high fee to add
passport pages, something previously provided for free?

A: The cost of service study found that adding visa pages to
an existing passport book requires nearly the same resources
as producing a new passport book. The study found that the
cost of producing the pages, placing them in the book in a
secure manner by trained personnel, and completing the
required security checks costs the U.S. Government $82.48.
The Department will charge $82 for this service. Please note
that frequent travelers can request a 52-page passport book at
no additional cost when they renew, potentially saving them
from the additional cost of visa pages.

I and many other US expats have a great deal of difficulty accepting this official statement as truthful. First of all, recent US Passports are able to be read by machines. The passport has an embedded chip which contains the vital information. I am certain that verifying the validity of a passport takes no more than 30 seconds. Secondly the additional pages are prepackaged prepared packets ready for insertion. Thirdly there is not a great deal of training required to scan a passport on a machine and once given the "OK" to place a pre-glued 24 page packet into the passport. Thank God or Buddha that Obama did not use the same group that determined that the cost of adding pages to a passport is $82.48 to also determine the cost of implementing his Healthcare legislation or even he would not have been able to get it passed by any means. Comparing this determined cost of "$82.48" for adding pages to an existing passport as opposed to the determined cost of $103.49 for a first time passport application requires the suspension of reality to believe.

After doing some research a la Internet, I determined that the US Consular Services in Vientiane would be able to add pages to a passport and do it in about 30 minutes. I have to pay $35 to obtain a Visa on arrival for the Lao People's Democratic Republic however Duang can enter for no fee. I asked her last night if she would be willing to go to Lao today and handle the task of getting new pages for me. She agreed and I reconfirmed twice that she was willing to do it. I downloaded the required form, filled it out, and signed it. I wrote a letter identifying Duang and authorizing Duang to submit as well as to return my passport to me.

Last night I knew that she had a restless sleep and that she had gotten out of bed three times. Only after returning home this afternoon did she admit to being worried about going to Laos alone to deal with the American Embassy.

We got up at 5:30 A.M. this morning and left for Laos at 6:15 A.M. I drove up to the border, and filled out the paperwork for Duang to leave Thailand as well as to enter Laos. The documentation for both countries must be filled out in ENGLISH. Duang speaks Thai, English, and Lao but she can only read as well as write in Thai. At the border we were approached by a man, basically a tout. He offered to help her to cross the border, take her to the US Embassy, and return her to the Thai border for a fixed price. The price was what I know to be the typical charge to take a taxi one way from the Thai border to Vientiane. Most guide books caution tourists about using touts. Duang and I typically trust our instincts and on a case by case basis use touts. Our experience has been that approximately 95% of the touts are just regular people trying to make a living and are a great deal of help. This man was no different. He got Duang to the US Consular Office for the 8:00 A.M. opening for business. He even went inside the office with Duang to reassure her. Duang was one of the first people to enter and everything went fine until the officials discovered that the computer was "down". She called me on the man's phone (her Thai phone would not allow her to call from Laos to Thailand and my phone could not call her in Laos) to inform me that she had to return to the Consular office at 1:00 P.M. to get the passport. She was very fortunate the people who arrived later were instructed to return tomorrow to pick up their passports. The man stayed with her the entire time and returned her to the border at 1:45 P.M. - for the agreed upon price. I told Duang to buy the man lunch and to give him a tip for his help as well as kindness.

While Duang was off in Laos I stayed in Nong Khai. I wandered around the Mekong River and ended up spending a great deal of time watching goods being exported from Thailand to Lao by river boats. We will return tomorrow to take photographs and for Duang to translate for me.

We entered our home at 3:00 P.M. Duang was hot and exhausted from her full day. I was happy that we had avoided the $82 fee - $82 that will pay for one day for our hotel and food during our upcoming next trip here in Thailand.

Rice Planting Continues

Yesterday was a very sunny, hot (35C, 95F), and humid day. No matter the conditions, the month long rice planting, or more appropriately "rice transplanting" season continued.

Duang had gone out to the village the previous day while I remained at home refinishing rattan outdoor furniture and she had witnessed a great deal of activities out in the fields along the country roads out to Tahsang Village. I decided that we would go back out to Tahsang Village to visit family and for me to photograph the field activities.

Where just a month ago the landscape was dotted with rectangular patches of dried weeds and rice stubble, the scenery around Isaan is being transformed into patches of neat and orderly paddies of 12 to 18 inch long rice seedlings set out in a grid. The land is now magically green once again thanks to the frequent rains.

Rice cultivation here in Isaan is all about the water - the availability of water. Rice cultivation here is wet farming technique. The rice grows in flooded paddies. The water that is used to grow the rice comes from frequent local thunderstorms, local impounded water, and to a much lesser extent local streams. The key is the rain from local thunderstorms with the emphasis on L-O-C-A-L.

The local fields around Tahsang Village were either filled with thick carpets of rice sprouts, filled with transplanted rice seedlings in organized grids or were in the process of being transformed from flat flooded mud bogs into the neat grids of transplanted seedlings.

Further down the road from Tahsang Village, the fields around Nong Daeng Village, no more than 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) distant were a stark contrast. Those fields showed a distinct lack of rain and closely resembled the Tahsang fields of last month. In Pattaya, I had witnessed rain falling heavily on one side of the road and completely dry on the other side of the road - 7 meters (21 feet) away. In a metropolitan tourist center such as Pattaya, this micro climate condition is interesting. But in rural and agrarian Isaan, such differences in micro climates is a serious concern and can adversely impact the local inhabitants.

One might expect that one day of rice planting is just like any other day of planting with each season being just like all the previous seasons. I resist that temptation to generalize and bring my camera gear along anticipating the unexpected. I am often rewarded with surprising opportunities to document as well as to share unique events and aspects of Isaan life. Just as the old adage states 'If you go looking for trouble you will find it", my philosophy is "If you are prepared and go looking for something interesting, you will find it."



When we arrived at the first planting site, the farmers had just started a break. They had retreated from the open exposed paddies to the relative shade of a single short tree amongst the paddies. The tree provided about 10 feet by 10 feet of shade where the workers could get a drink of water, smoke a cigarette, remove their head coverings, get their bare feet out of the mud, and most importantly socialize. True to form here in Isaan, people were engaged in loud and animated conversation which Duang all too willingly joined. After about 5 minutes a couple of women became very excited (more so than typical conversation) and started pointing out to one of the flooded paddies. In a flash, two other women rushed across the paddy to where a fish net had been placed. They took the net and walked towards a specific area as loudly directed by others from the shaded area. The carefully stalked their prey and deftly threw the net over it. They triumphantly removed a medium sized mud covered fish to the cheers of their colleagues and placed it into a large plastic bucket along with some muddy water from the paddy. They returned to the shade and continued with their break. I noticed that several people were always keeping an eye on the flooded prepared paddies. A couple minutes later, a shout went out to one of the men still out in the paddy. He grabbed the fish net and in a short time another mud covered fish was added to the plastic bucket. I did not go out to further inspect the catch - I don't relish trudging out in the flooded paddy carrying expensive camera gear and I try to minimize walking along the weed covered muddy slippery dikes bordering the paddies. There are two types of fish that the local farmers are able to harvest from the flooded paddies. The first type of fish hibernates in the ground as the paddies dry up at the end of the rainy season in October. The second type of fish actually migrates over the land from one body of water to the another body of water. The Thai Walking Catfish (Pla Duk Dam) uses its fins to travel over land. The species has invaded parts of the USA due to irresponsible importing and subsequent accidental as well as intentional releases into the environment.

With some one's dinner safely secured in the bucket, the farmers returned to their primary task at hand - transplanting the rice seedlings. The farmers were covered from head to ankle for protection from the strong sun. I was wearing light cotton slacks, a polyester tee shirt, and running shoes. I lasted only 35 minutes in the heat before I was forced to stop photographing. The farmers would work on for an additional 6 hours - six more hours bent over shoving seedlings into the mud, body wet from stagnant water and perspiration wearing regular clothing, tee shirts wrapped around their face with large hats hiding their face, six more hours of doing what is necessary to survive.





We drove to Tahsang Village where I quickly sucked down two cans of Pepsi. Duang asked me if I wanted "Kaoput". "Kaoput" is corn on the cob and readily available much of the year in Isaan. It is boiled typically over either a wood or charcoal fire. The boiled corn is eaten "au natural" without salt or butter or even sugar and shredded coconut as I had experienced in Pattaya. I was very hot and definitely not in the mood to eat corn on the cob. I said "No" but Duang started to convince me that it would be good for me, and that it would cool me off. I noticed that she was at the ice cream freezer in her mother's market and had an ice cream ("i sah kheem") scoop in her hand. I was about to be introduced to another unique Thai experience - Corn Ice Cream. Duang gave me a cone of yellow corn flavored ice cream which had kernels of corn dispersed in it. Many desserts in Thailand are corn based concoctions. Somehow the possibility of corn flavored ice cream had eluded me up to this time. I had always had "mango" ice cream at the market and never realized that there was also a "corn" option. The ice cream was refreshing and the coolness was very welcomed. Although I would not go out of my way to find corn ice cream again, I would eat it again especially if no other flavor other than Durian was available.

We left Tahsang in the late afternoon. We drove the back roads rather than taking the main highway. The main highway has a great deal of on going construction as well as a great deal of heavy truck traffic. The back road took us by many more fields being worked as well as better glimpses into Isaan rural living. Our route selection gave us another opportunity to witness rice planting but under somewhat cooler conditions.

The Circle Remains Unbroken - Rice Planting Time

Here in Isaan, we do not have Daylight Savings Time. We are not bothered or burdened with having to adjust our clocks and electronic devices twice a year. Because of Thailand's proximity to the equator, there is no much difference in the amount of daylight over the course of a year. I haven't researched it but it appears to me that on June 21, our longest day, the sun sets around 18:30 (6:30 P.M.) and on 21 December, our shortest day, the sun sets at 17:30 (5:30 P.M.).

Here in Isaan, we have just two seasons - "Hot and Dry" and "Hot and Wet".

Here in Isaan the passage of time, besides being marked by personal milestones such as birth ordination, marriage, and death along with religious celebrations, is marked by the rhythm of the land. There is the time for planting rice, harvesting rice, planting sugar cane, harvesting sugar cane, planting cassava, harvesting cassava, as well as planting peanuts, harvesting peanuts, planting corn and harvesting corn. Working and caring for the land is a year long task that like a wheel carries the people through their life.

Today on our trip out to Tahsang Village to visit family, evidence that the wheel of life and the circle that it tracks was very evident. For the third time since I moved to Isaan, the fields were alive with the sights and sounds of rice being planted. We are two months into our "Hot and Wet" season, and the fields that were parched all that long ago are now flooded. The same fields that were dull brown are now verdant rectangles creating a motley mosaic across Isaan.

Last month some of the rice paddies had been sowed with some of the rice obtained in previous harvests. The rice sprouted to create thick brilliant carpets dotting the landscape. Now it was time for the next stage of rice cultivation. The thick carpet of bright green "grass" is harvested, more accurately - pulled up by roots, placed into sheaves, the tops trimmed, and the seedlings are then transplanted in groups of three or four plants into prepared paddies.

The roots of the seedlings are key to the success of the transplant so care is taken to remove any excess mud from them. The sheaves are then placed back into the water so as to maintain their viability. The seedlings are transplanted within 24 hours so as to prevent them from drying out.

The actual process of planting rice at this time of year is actually a series of ongoing parallel tasks - all in close proximity to each other. The seedlings are pulled from the muddy paddy and gathered into a bunch. The bunch of seedlings or sprouts are slapped against the harvester's bare foot to remove excess mud. The bunch of seedlings is then tapped against the bottom of an overturned plastic tub to square off the roots. Once the bottom of the bunch is squared off the bunch is converted into a sheaf by binding the sprouts together using a couple of the plants as a string. After the pointed tops of the seedlings are cut off with a heavy machete type knife, the sheaves are stored roots down in the flooded paddy. One of the farmers periodically gathers the sheaves, and carries them, often using a long bamboo rod across his shoulder., to a near by paddy that has been prepared for transplantation of the seedlings.

The sheaves are then distributed throughout the flooded paddy roots down awaiting planting into the soupy mud of the paddy. Several workers, male and female, grab the sheaves and break them apart. The worker then selects the seedlings, three or four at a time, bends over and thrusts the seedling's roots into the viscous mud of the paddy. The farmers work in sort of rhythm under the overcast and heavy Isaan sky to place the rice plants in a grid across the paddy. Their efforts are only interrupted at times by their amusement towards a falang (foreigner) spending so much time photographing them.

The workers are a combination of the land owner's or lessee's family and day labor. The hired help make about $3 to $4.50 a day for an 8 hour day. Part of their compensation includes being fed by the land owner or lessee. Payment is made on a strictly cash basis. There is no immigration status checking required. There is no employer portion of Social Security - Old Age Taxes to be paid. There is no employee portion of Social Security - Old Age Taxes to be withheld by the employer. There is no employer portion of Social Security - Medicare Taxes to be paid. There is no employee portion of Social security - Medicare Taxes to be withheld. There are no Federal Income taxes to be withheld. There are no State or Local Income taxes to be withheld. There are no Unions. There are no written contracts. There is only the trust and bond of the employer's and employee's words. It is the free market distilled to its basic components - demand and supply.


In a paddy next to the paddy where the seedlings are being transplanted, a farmer uses a machine to prepare a flooded paddy. The mechanical buffalo ploughs the soil and smooths the ground to create the viscous mud required for transplanting the rice seedlings. In a third paddy a portable pump is set up to be driven by the power drive off of the mechanical buffalo to transfer water in order to flood the paddy.

After photographing two different groups of farmers planting rice, I returned to Tahsang Village to visit our grandson, Peelawat, and to have my lunch.

A Gathering of the Clans - Isaan Style

Today was another busy day here in Isaan. I spent the day making backup DVDs for many of my recent photographs - original files as well as edited files. All in all I made 9 DVDs of data files of course that does not include the 4 DVD disks that were found to be defective after I had spent 30 minutes each burning the files to each one of them. I had plenty of time for this task because I was alone for the day.

My wife, Duang, and my stepson had gone off to what I will refer to as a "gathering of the clans" Pugh and Puii, his girl friend have been going out with each other for the past 18 months. Now that she has graduated from university and he has a job, they have decided to get married. This was not a spur of the moment decision on their part and we have been expecting it for some time now.

However getting married here in Isaan is no simple matter. Although my stepson is 29 years old and Puii is 21 years old, getting married is not the simple matter of them coming to agreement amongst the two of them. As with everything else here in Isaan, the Lao Loum culture requires family involvement in such great matters and decisions.

A very big part of getting married is the negotiation and settling upon the "Sin Sod" and "Tong Mun". I had written about these in a previous blog regarding the marriage of one of Duang's female relatives ( http://hale-worldphotography.blogspot.com/2010/04/tahsang-village-wedding.html )

Puii's mother had some preliminary talk regarding a possible marriage. Duang was saying that Puii's mother, at that time, was talking about a Sin Sod of 800,000 baht ($24,242) and a Tong Mun of 5 baht of gold ($2,900). This is extraordinary, if not unrealistic, for a young man who makes 6,000 baht ($182) a month as a mechanic at a local Mitsubishi dealership.

It was agreed that today, Sunday 27 June, would be the day that the actual amount of the Sin Sod and Tong Mun would be negotiated. I had originally indicated that I thought that it would be best if I did not attend the negotiation. It is always best for a falang (foreigner) to not be involved in any dealings related to money here in Isaan. Foreigners are viewed as being "rich" and able to afford to pay more than Thai people. With a Thai man making $182 a month working 6 days a week at a car dealership and farm labor making almost $5 a day, I am not going to rage against that commonly held perception. However I had told Duang that I did not and will not pay for my sons to get married so I would not be "paying" for my stepson to get married. Despite my reservations, she said that she wanted me to go with her as well as the rest of the "family" to negotiate.

Three days ago, Puii called and said that she thought that it would be better if I did not go. She felt that my presence would complicate the negotiations. It was not a problem for me and Duang did not really need me for morale support. Twenty-one family members were going with her to Puii's home.

Yesterday Duang reviewed with me her position on the upcoming negotiations. She identified her bottom line numbers and said that if Puii's mother wanted more than that, she was going to tell her son to go home. It would then be up to her son and Puii to decide to continue their relationship together outside of the best wishes as well as spiritual support of the families. I asked her if her son would actually leave and return home if she told him to. She said that he would. Somehow I can not imagine an American 29 year old son doing the same. As a negotiation point I suggested that Duang tell Puii's mother that we were going to do this wedding "American" style - where the man pays nothing and the women pays for everything. I also pointed out that if negotiations got stuck, Duang could tell Puii's mother that if she thought that she could find a man with a job, who treated Puii as well, loved Puii as much, and who Puii loved as much and could pay more money, she needed to start looking along the roads now for him. Duang and I had a good laugh but maybe there are other reasons that it is best that I did not go to the negotiations.

Duang and her son left this morning at 8:00 A.M. to go to Tahsang Village to pick up some of the clan going to the negotiations. Two pick up trucks left Tahsang at 9:00 A.M., the most advantageous as well as strategic time according to one of the old aunts who knows about numbers with the 22 family members ranging from Duang's mother to Peelawat (16 months old) and Kwan - 2.5 years old. Duang stopped at the market in Kumphawapi in order to provide the food for the negotiations. Puii's mother was supplying the beer, whiskey, and soft drinks. Based upon my experience here in Isaan, I would say that Duang won that round.

Duang and her clan arrived to find Puii's clan represented by her grandfather and 17 other family members including 4 babies. Puii's family asked where I was and Duang told them that I had stayed at home. She told them that if a falang had gone then the price would increase too much. She added that if there was a wedding I would be at the wedding and they could meet me then. They all had a good laugh - whether it was a jovial laugh or self-conscious laugh I don't know.

After an hour of socializing, the negotiations commenced. Puii's grandfather spoke for the family and wanted a Sin Sod of 550,000 baht and a Tong Mun of 5 baht of gold. Duang countered with an offer of 209,999 baht Sin Sod and 2 baht Tong Mun. The grandfather discussed this counter offer with Puii's mother and Puii. He then asked if she loved Pugh and if Pugh loved her. With two affirmations, the grandfather agreed. Everyone clapped and were happy with the conclusion. After the 30 minutes of negotiations, a down payment of 40,999 baht was presented to Puii's mother with a promise to pay the remainder next year around March. Puii's mother gave a gift of a "gong kao" - a woven bamboo basket for storing cooked sticky rice to each adult member of Duang's clan further binding the families.

With the tension of the negotiations and resolution of everyone' s angst, the food and drink was brought out so that everyone could enjoy themselves. Duang told the people about how in America men do not pay to get married but that women paid to get married. Two old Lao Loum men said that they were going to go to America and get some money for marrying American women. Everyone had a good laugh at their joke.

Duang returned home at 4:00 P.M. tired but satisfied with her efforts for the day.

The clans had gathered and financial considerations had been addressed. There will be a wedding in the new year - another occasion to celebrate here in Isaan.

It Takes A Village to Heal A Child - At Least In Isaan

It has been a few days since my last blog. The lack of blogs has not been due to a lack of subjects but because we have been very busy. Much of our time has been spent at the hospital in Kumphawapi. Our grandson, Peelawat, has been hospitalized for three days.

Peelawat has been been living in Tahsang Village with his mother at his Great-Grandmother's home. In Tahsang Village, he spends a great deal of his time playing with his two and one half year old cousin, Kwan, and three year old neighbor, Tay. Like all other 16 month old children in Isaan, Peelawat's play involves walking around bare foot, playing in the dirt, running after chickens and puppies. All the toddlers carry evidence of their play on their ankles, legs and arms. Nicks, scrapes, and scabs bear testament to the fun that they have been having on these hot and humid days in Isaan.

Monday morning, we received a phone call from Duang's daughter saying that Peelawat was sick. He had a fever and had experienced a couple seizures. Previously when he had fevers, Peelawat had experienced seizures. At first this was extremely concerning to us but after researching I determined that these seizures are somewhat common in young children. Later I found out that Duang as well as her two children had the same experience with fevers when they were young. This made me somewhat more relaxed but I still had concerns about epilepsy or some other serious condition. Duang's daughter had a cousin take them to a clinic in Khumphawapi to see a doctor. Peelawat had a seizure at the clinic. He received treatment and returned to Tahsang Village.

Later that evening we received another, more stressful, call from Duang's daughter saying that Peelawat was running a fever, had additional seizures, and was being hospitalized. Peelawat and his parents had been taken to the hospital in Kumphawapi by one of the uncles in Tahsang Village who had a pickup truck. Most people in Isaan have motorbikes but out in the villages few people have trucks and even fewer have cars. People with vehicles are often called upon to help out in emergencies. With the emergency notification, Duang, her son, and I headed off to Kumphawapi.

We arrived at the hospital and found Peelawat in the Emergency Room. He seemed so small and defenseless laying on the gurney swathed in a blanket with an oxygen mask on. He was very feverish and in that quasi conscious state that a high fever induces. After a while, he was transported to the Pediatric Building of the hospital. Since the NICU is located on the second floor and there is no elevator, I had to carry him up the two flights of stairs to the NICU.

Although the sign above the entrance to the ward said "NICU" (Natal Intensive Care Unit), the room was more of a children's ward than what we expect to find as a Intensive Care Unit in the USA. The room was very similar to other hospital wards here in Isaan. It was a large room divided in two sections by a five foot high block wall. Each section contained 16 beds. A couple of ceiling fans provided ventilation for each of the sections. At the end of the room there was a large area that had several shower stalls and toilet stalls. Just to the left of the entrance to the bathroom area, there were a couple of large steel cabinets with hospital linens. There was a fairly large Nurse's Office, which was air conditioned, at the middle and front of the ward. Approximately 4 nurses were in and out of the office.

Here in Isaan, the Nurses handle taking vital signs, and giving medicine. They do not provide care for the patients such as bathing, dressing, changing bedding, feeding, or assisting in the personal hygiene of the patients. The family and friends of the patient provide patient care. Since there are such large families and such a strong sense of community here, the hospital wards are always filled with people. In addition there are many people congregated outside of the wards - eating, resting, and socializing while they await their turn to give care and comfort to the sick. While this may be reassuring during times of normal sickness, I fear the consequences of this behavior if the fears of a SARS, H1N51, or some other horrible epidemic become reality. Containment will not be possible.

The ward was filled with patients from two weeks old to about 12 years old. Each patient had two to four people attending to them. Surprisingly, many of the adults caring for the little patients were men. Lao Loum men are very involved in the raising of their children. Uncles are also involved in helping to care for their nephews and nieces. Peelawat had his grandfather, grandmother, mother, father, uncle, a couple of great aunts, a great uncle, and two cousins - a couple more attendants than typical that night. The ward was filled with the sounds of babies crying out of fear and from pain.

The young patients were placed in full sized hospital beds. The beds had been modified for young patients by the addition of smooth nylon string in a lattice pattern to reduce the spaces on the pop up rails on the side of the bed. Very young patients sleep with their mother in the hospital bed. Older patients mothers or fathers sleep under the hospital bed or on the balcony outside of the ward - if they get to sleep at all.

Duang and her daughter kept busy wiping Peelawat down with tepid water to break his fever. I occupied myself trying to comfort him. Peelawat was confused about the situation. One thing that he was sure of as well as adamant about - he wanted out of the hospital. He remembered the way into the ward and he was constantly pointing toward the entrance indicating that he wanted OUT and expected me to take him out.

Sadly just about every time that Peelawat calmed down a little bit and started to get some much needed sleep, a Nurse came by to check his temperature, collect blood, or give him a shot. After awhile, the Nurses decided to connect Peelawat to an IV. Just about every other patient on the ward was hooked up to an IV. One of the younger Nurses tried to put a needle into his foot. She tried and tried to no avail. Peelawat very quickly understood what was going to happen when the piece of surgical tubing was wrapped around his arm or leg. After about 5 minutes of stabbing and jabbing Peelawat to connect an IV, I said "Enough. No More, she doesn't know what she is doing. Get someone else to try". Thankfully, whether they understood me or not, another Nurse took over. Three nurses moved Peelawat's bed over to be in better light to assist in finding a vein. In the end it took a third nurse to finally connect the IV.

A Doctor was not available to examine Peelawat or any of the other patients until the next morning. I tried to determine what medicine Peelawat was getting - fighting against the language barrier as well as the cultural barrier. Medicine in Isaan is similar to the type of medicine practiced in the USA 50 years ago and longer ago in the USA - The Doctor is always right, the Doctor has no obligation to explain treatments, the patient is just to take the medicine given to them, and the Doctor is infallible. After some time I learned that Peelawat had been given an antibiotic. This seemed reasonable to me and reassuring. I was also satisfied that blood as well as urine samples had been collected. After four hours we left the hospital and returned home.

The next morning, we were back at the hospital at 8:00 A.M. I noticed that Peelawat's ankle was swollen, very hot, as well as surrounded by a black band. It was obvious that there were several red ant, weaver ant, bite marks on that leg - not an unusual sight on village children in Isaan. I pointed this out to Duang and she told me that some people in Tahsang Village had the same thing only higher on their body and they had died. This was not comforting news. Duang informed me that some of the old people in the village know what to do. She added that they make medicine and blow it onto the affected area. I asked what kind of medicine and she disturbed me once again - "same same Momma chew" Betel nut? I asked her to make sure that the Doctor took a good look at that area. I was suspicious that Peelwat had what is often commonly referred to, in accurately, as "Blood Poisoning". The actual condition is "Bacteremia", bacterial infection of the blood. The Doctor had not arrived at the ward by Noon when I left. The Doctor had been delayed because of so many adult patients in the other building. Duang called the Village to arrange for one of the older villagers to be brought to the hospital to treat Peelawat. When Duang returned home she informed me that the Doctor had not seen Peelawat but he had authorized more antibiotics for Peelawat. She also told me that a man from the village had visited and given Peelawat the first of his three "treatments"

Duang returned to the hospital the next morning to help her daughter to care for Peelawat. Her daughter and son-in-law had spent two mostly sleepless nights at the hospital. The good news was that Peelawat was feeling better. He had been chasing the same stray cat out the ward that I had chased the night before. The hospital has several stray cats that have run of most of the facilities. The cats eat the uneaten food off of the metal trays that are placed at the end of the corridor awaiting pick up at some time. I suspect that the cat's diet is also supplemented by rodents since I have not seen any around.


At 5:30 P.M. I returned to the hospital with Duang's son and his girl friend. As we pulled into the parking lot we saw a very good sight - Peelawat and Duang were sitting outside waiting for us. Peelawat had a shunt installed in his hand but other than that he looked excellent. His fever was gone and he had his energy back. He enjoyed having his photograph taken and had to see each picture on the camera's monitor after it was taken. He eagerly displayed his "Big Smile" more like a soundless lion's roar when asked.


We went back upstairs to the ward and let Peelawat play on the outside balcony. Peelawat still was pointing to the exit and now that he was mobile, he often took off for the stairway to leave the facilities. Peelawat amused himself by playing with the various shoes placed outside the doorway to the ward. Peelawat kept himself busy by trying on the various shoes. He wore mens as well as women's shoes irregardless of their size. He was very adapt at ensuring that he selected matching shoes. Later he started to play with a bed table that was stored on the balcony. He amused himself turning the crank on the table and pulling as well as pushing the table along the corridor. After awhile he indicated to me that he wanted to get on top of the table. Being a somewhat indulgent grandfather and somewhat bored, I placed him on the table. Peelawat lay on his stomach and had such a big smile as I pushed him down the corridor that I decided to share his pleasure with Duang. I wheeled him into the ward and quickly discovered that the nurses were not amused. Duang scolded me and Peelawat and I went back outside. We limited ourselves to the simple pleasure of sitting in a chair and kicking our feet back and forth while learning the English words for parts of our face.



After awhile, Duang's son returned from Tahsang Village with one of the village elders to give Peelawat his second treatment. The man had a small plastic bag with a green leaf, slices of Betel Nut, and some wood chips. He placed the items into a small brass mortar and ground them together with a small brass pestle. He sat next to Peelawat on a concrete bench on the outside balcony. Peelawat was not afraid at all and sat patiently next to the man. The man, a spiritual leader, chewed the ground up concoction and soon had a mouth full of red liquid. He examined Peelawat's infected leg, said some chants, and sprayed the red liquid on the infected portion of his leg three times. Peelawat observed the ritual with interest. The man also placed his hand on Peelawat's head and said some chants before blow air three times on the top of the head. Peelawat then pointed to a scab on his other leg to the shaman and said "Nee" (here). Somehow Peelawat inherently understood what the shaman was doing and he was pointing out to him another one of his injuries for special treatment. We all had a good laugh. Having been informed by Duang that Peelawat had received more intravenous antibotics at 6:00 P.M. and that the Doctor had scraped the skin on his leg while putting some medicine on it, I was not opposed to the traditional treatment.

After the man completed treating Peelawat, Peelawat thanked him by giving him a wai, the Thai gesture of respect which is similar to the Western prayer gesture. We left the hospital at 9:00 P.M. much relieved that Peelwat is well on his way to recovery. Peelawat will be released today from the hospital once the doctor has checked him.

Once again the differences between health care in Isaan and health care in the USA had been made very apparent. Here in Isaan health care is much more of a community effort. Family members as well as friends or neighbors are heavily involved in caring for the sick. The play on the old African proverb ("It takes a village to raise a child") - "It takes a village to cure a child" is not too far from the truth - at least here in Isaan.

My Photographs

Yesterday one of my Facebook friends, a classmate from high school, enquired about what software did I use on my photographs or was what was in the photograph was actually what I saw. This was a very interesting coincidence because I had been contemplating writing about my work and my thoughts regarding photography in general.

I am not a studio photographer. I am not a commercial photographer. I am definitely not a fine art photographer.

I consider myself to be a photojournalist. I strive to capture and create images that tell a story or at least supplement the stories that I wish to share. Most recently, or rather over the past twelve years, these stories are mainly about people and their culture.




Looking back upon my earlier years this aspiration is entirely understandable. As a child, I was a voracious reader - mostly non-fiction. I revelled in reading of far away places and the exploits of actual adventurers. From my home in Groton, Connecticut the books transported me to Africa, South America, the Pacific islands,and the Orient. The wonderful books also transported me back in time to the time of explorers and adventurers. Supplementing the books from the school and local libraries were the family subscriptions to Life and Look magazines. Precious times were the occasions when I could get my hands on a National Geographic magazine usually at the barber shop. One benefits of living in a "Navy" town was the exposure to classmates who were from "far away" places such as Virginia, California, Hawaii, and the Philippines. hearing of their former homes and past travels, only inspired me more to travel and explore for myself.

My professional career provided me with extensive opportunities to travel. Many of these opportunities frequently involved foreign travel. I often used my work location as a jumping off point for travels further abroad. I made it a point to participate in local festivals as well as celebrations. Living abroad presented certain challenges such as adapting to cultures and customs that were different from what I was familiar with. One coping mechanism that I utilized was to "go native". Wherever I found myself I immersed myself into the local culture and sights. Of course these locations were not like America but that is, for me that made it so interesting. The more that I convinced myself and accepted that it was not America, the more interesting and fascinating it became. As I showed more interest and understanding of the local culture, the local people were more and more willing to share their life with me - greatly increasing my experience.


I started to take photographs when I was in the fourth grade, nine years old, using a rather large Kodak Brownie box camera. I saved money each week from my paper route to buy film and to pay for developing the black and white film. I bought My first 35mm camera while in college and used the former fraternity housemother's bathroom to develop film. Now that I am older, much older, my equipment is more sophisticated and embraces the newest technology. I now shoot digital exclusively which is good since professional slide processing is only available to me in Bangkok and they do not handle transactions through the mail.


Although I have the latest technology in terms of camera, lenses, as well as photo editing software, I have not deviated from my original philosophy regarding my photography. I strive to accurately and truthfully document people and their culture. As such I do not stage photographs. I do not direct my subjects to do anything specifically for the purpose of my photography. My desire is to capture the moment accurately as well as truthfully. I also minimize the use of Photoshop Elements to make only minor adjustments to my photographs such as to adjust exposure, white balance, and to crop. I do not add elements to a composition. Adding objects or elements to a photograph violates photojournalist ethics.

Quite often I will let subjects know that they should just go about their business and try to ignore me. I take time first to build some sort of repertoire with the people prior to starting to photograph them. I try to obtain their permission prior to photographing them. One of the best ways to build the repertoire is to just stand around and observe them trying to be as inconspicuous as possible - trying to blend into the background. I then share the first of the photographs with them.

On other occasions, especially in very public venues such as festivals and markets, I utilize what is sometimes referred to as "ambush" techniques. "Ambush" technique involves photographing people from a distance without their knowledge. With this technique photographs of people going about their day to day activities can easily be attained. I accept the responsibility of ensuring that the resulting photographs are not embarrassing to the subjects and truly reflect life.


My goal in photography is to show extraordinary people doing ordinary things. In so doing, I wish to show how different people appear, to provide a glimpse into other cultures, to celebrate the diversity of mankind, and to demonstrate that despite our appearances we are so much alike.

I would be more than pleased to learn that my photographs and blogs helped inspire or motivate others to go out and learn about their world.

Today I live in Isaan and have many opportunities to document the cultures of Southeast Asia through my photography, blog, and books. I believe that it is important for the diversity mankind as well as cultures to truthfully document and celebrate these diversities. We need to respect these differences and to tolerate them.

To the extent that I may be able to raise awareness and sensitivity towards these needs, my efforts will be justified. I am concerned about efforts to abolish or stop rituals and practices that more "civilized" or "advanced" societies judge to be "unjust" or "barbaric". However the subject of "cultural arrogance" is best left to be the subject of another blog at some future date.