"Hey Kids, What Time Is It?"

Lao Loum Women Making Popped Rice

Back in the 1950's in the USA, there was a children's program named "Howdy Doody" which starred a puppet of the same name.  Each show would start with the host, "Buffalo Bob" saying "Hey kids, what time is it?"  The live audience of children would scream out "It's Howdy Doody time!"

Well it has not been Howdy Doody time in the USA since 1960 when the show went off the air.  To be truthful, I never liked the show.  However it is now "Kao tawtek time" here in Isaan and I love Kao Tawtek.

I first encountered the Isaan specialty, kao tawtek, almost five years ago to the day (6 September 2008).  I refer to Kao Tawtek as "Thai Cracker Jacks"

Early September is the time, when Lao Loum families gather together to make Kao Tawtek.  Rice is one of the main components of the delicious treat.  Last year's harvest of rice was stored in small raised sheds adjacent to the house.  Large 50 kilogram (110 pound) recycled fertilizer bags, sugar bags, and rice bags are filled with sun dried rice kernels each October and November.  The bags are kept in the raised granaries and removed as needed to feed the family or opened to obtain offerings at special events such as funerals, bone parties, 100 day death anniversary, weddings, and Monk ordinations.  Families who are unable to make offerings of cash, make donations of rice.  The cash as well as the rice are then offered to the Monks in merit making rituals.

The stored rice has its husk in tact.  In order to eat the rice, the rice is brought to a local miller to remove the husk, rendering the rice to the state that most people in the USA are familiar with at their grocery store.  Many bags of rice are not milled in Isaan because they are the seed stock for next year's crop.  Other bags of unmilled rice are saved to make kao tawtek.

I suspect that it is not by coincidence that the time to make kao tawtek is a month before the harvest of this year's rice crop.  Families now know how much rice they have as surplus from the last harvest.

Yesterday we had a family funeral to attend in the village near Duang's home village of Ban Tahsang.  We had also been notified that some of the relatives in Tahsang Village would be making kao tawtek.  Our plan was to attend the funeral after first watching the family make kao tawtek.

A Metal Pan Is Used To Contain the Popping Rice

After walking across the main farm road through Ban Tahsang we ended up at one of Duang's relatives house.  Alongside of the house underneath the shelter of an overhanging corrugated metal roof, there was a stove made out of a modified steel barrel. The barrel had been cut in half with a large notch cut into the side. The barrel was then placed upside down on the dirt so that the notch served as a door to the interior of the barrel. A small wood fire was burning inside of the barrel using long pieces of fire wood. As the fire burned down, people shoved the unburned portions of the logs deeper into the barrel. On top the barrel was a large and heavy wok type iron frying pan. A woman was popping rice in the hot wok. She would take about a quart of brown rice seed from a woven wood basket and sprinkle it into the wok. She constantly stirred the seed inside the wok with a broom made with a wood handle and reed bristles. In no time at all, the seed started to pop. With snap, crackles and pops the white interior of the kernel burst forth - much like popcorn.  She continued stirring the seeds despite the updraft of hot rice puffs. When the wok seeds were fully engaged in popping, another woman grabbed a large metal bowl and placed it over the wok to contain the rice puffs.

The sound of the popping rice seed, the swirling smoke, the swishing sound of the stiff reeds on hot metal, the sight of white rice puffs bursting upwards, and the smell of a wood fire all created quite a sensory explosion.  The shelter of the overhanging roof ensured that the pending rain would not interfere with the activity.

Sweeping Popped Rice Into A Metal Tub

Occasionally another woman would stoop down and tend the fire. Most of the time tending the fire was adding just a couple more inches of the small pieces of wood into the fire. Other times tending the fire involved splashing some water on the coals to maintain a desired temperature in the wok - too hot a temperature would end up quickly burning the popped rice before it could be removed..

As the popping came to a conclusion, another woman would approach the fire to take hold of the large metal bowl that had been used over the top of the wok. She held the bowl as the cook swept the hot rice puffs into it.

Sifting the Popped Rice to Get rid of Unpopped Kernels

The puffed rice was then carried to another woman who was tending a woven basket suspended from the overhead beams. The hot rice puffs were dumped into the woven basket that she rocked back and forth by hand to sieve the product. Unpopped seed and smaller puff pieces fell through the basket onto woven reed mats. The rejected product will used to feed chickens and cattle. The acceptable puffs were dumped into metal pots and eventually placed into clean empty fertilizer plastic sacks.

Laughter Is Always Abundant Here - Or At Least When I Am Around

I had hoped to be able to photograph and, better yet, sample some completed kao tawtek.  Unfortunately the plan for the day was only to pop the rice and to wait until another day to cook in the sugar, millet, coconut and package the delicious treat.

Our time at the family home was not over  after I had packed away my camera gear.  Inside the house was a two month old baby boy that we had to meet.  It seems that no matter where we go here in Isaan we encounter children of all ages.  It is always nice as well as entertaining to meet the new generation.  After holding the baby, feeding him some water, and "talking" as well as "listening" to him, we left for the cremation ritual in the next village.

We were told that other relatives in Tahsang Village would be making kao tawtek today.  We left our home at 7:00 A.M. to get out to Tahsang Village early.  The work is hot so the family was going to finish in the morning before temperatures got too high.

Duang's relatives, who live across the street from the "inside" Wat of Ban Tahsang had set up their "kitchen" on the Wat's grounds under the shade of a large tree amongst the chedi which contain the bones of past villagers.

Processing Popped Rice for Kao Tawtek

This morning there was not a threat of rain so the process could take place in a more exposed location.

Popping Rice

Duang's uncle, aunts and cousins all took part in this effort - true family effort.  Their plan was to pop three bags, 330 pounds (150 kilos) of seed.  Unfortunately their plan for the day did not include producing a finished product.  They did promise to call us when they will assemble and package the kao tawtek.


Separating the Chaff From the Popped Rice

The work proceeded with a great deal of laughing and talking - very little transpires here in Isaan without a great deal of talking and gossiping.

Uncle Guhyoi (Banana) Winnows Rice Seeds to be Popped

"Chef" Yupin, Duang's Cousin Stirring the Pot

The Kao Tawtek will be finished for 19 September - "Kao Patducdin".  Kao Patducdin, my spelling of what Duang told me, is the Mid Autumn (Moon) Festival.  On this day, the Lao Loum people of Isaan make offerings to the hungry phii (ghosts).  In making the offerings to the phii, the people ask the ghosts to watch over and take care of this year's rice crop which will be harvested in October and November.  This close to the harvest, the people want to ensure that there are no problems with the crop.  The kao tawtek is a special treat for the spirits.  Kao Tawtek is also offered to the Monks as they complete roughly 60 days of the 90 day Buddhist Lent also referred as the Buddhist Rains Retreat. Families can make extra income by selling surplus kao tawtek to people who want and need it but are not able or willing to make it themselves.  During today's activities I heard and understood the family talking about how much money they expected to make this year.

Cousin Yupin Uses the Cover of Rainwater Collection Urn to Contain Popped Rice
 

 

 

I will be photographing the remaining steps required to produce Kao Tawtek when we get the word in the next week and one-half.  I am looking forward to ... providing QC feedback to the family cooks!

Of course I will be sharing the photos and writing a blog on the activity.

I am not planning on sharing any of my Lao Tawtek though.

Harvest Time - Cassava



Lao Loum Farmers Harvesting Cassava In Isaan

The weather here in Northeast Thailand, Isaan, has become rather monotonous - hot (90-95F), humid, heavily overcast, and often wet.  The monsoonal rains that we have been experiencing since May will end next month.

Earlier this week we drove out into the countryside.  The day was heavily overcast but was dry.  We were not on a photographic expedition or foray.  Duang had been suffering for a couple of days with a stiff neck and shoulder.  Although I was willing to take her to the Army Hospital to see a doctor about it, Duang preferred to seek a traditional cure for her suffering. We had gone out to Tahsang Village two days earlier where Duang had gone a special massage treatment from one of the village women who had a reputation for helping people.  The massage did not give Duang much relief.

Undeterred by her failed experience with massage therapy, Duang wanted to go into the countryside to one of her aunt's home.  This aunt has a very good reputation of helping people who have various aches and pains.

Despite it not being an optimal day for photography, I brought along my photography backpack as I normally do when we head out into the countryside.  Although the weather or even the lighting may not be great, there usually is something interesting or unique to photograph.  This trip was no different.

This aunt lives in a very small village somewhere out in the countryside.  I dutifully followed Duang's instructions for the route out to the village.  To get there we drove almost to Ban Tahsang (Tahsang Village) and took a small road off of the local farm road.  Eventually we ended up driving across a small dam and then across some levees followed by narrow blacktop roads, narrow concrete roads, some roads that were heavily eroded, and even some heavily damaged dirt roads on our journey out to the village.  No matter the construction or state of the roads, they shared one common condition;  there was more water buffalo shit on the roads than other vehicles.

Out in the countryside, water buffalo as well as cattle are "free range".  Early in the morning the animals are driven, well more like walked, out of their pens in the villages to forage the countryside until late afternoon when they return to their pens typically adjacent to the owner's house. The animals are tended by a lone man or woman who follows them as they eat the thriving vegetation wherever they find it.  Unlike American westerns where the herds have hundreds or even thousands of animals, the herds in Isaan are small - typically three to five animals.  The largest herd that I have encountered was twelve animals.

Cassava Tubers Awaiting Gathering

Duang got her massage from her aunt with instructions to return for another treatment on Sunday.  We then headed back home along the same route we had traveled earlier.  Along the way we came upon some farmers harvesting cassava - a photographic opportunity.

What is cassava?  Cassava, Manihot esculenta, which is also known as manioc and mandioca, is a woody shrub originally from South America that has a starchy tuberous edible root.  The edible root is very much like a potato.  It is more fibrous and more mushy than a potato prepared the same way.  Cassava.  Unlike the potato, it is important to properly prepare cassava.  There are two varieties of cassava, sweet and bitter.  The bitter variety is typically used for industrial purposes. The sweet variety is the kind most likely to be eaten by people.  Both varieties can expose people to cyanide if not properly prepared.  The bitter kind has 50 times the concentration of cyanide compounds than the sweet.  Proper preparation of the sweet variety involves peeling and boiling the tuber ensuring to throw the water away.  the industrial variety needs to be soaked in water for 18 to 24 hours.

When the root is dried to a powdery or pearl type extract is known as Tapioca. Cassava can be eaten as "french fries", "potato chips", or "boiled potatoes".  In Brasil the tuber is dried, powdered, fried with butter, packaged and sold as "Manioc Flour" or "Farofel"  It is sprinkled on meat or beans for flavor and to thicken the consistency of the dish.

Cassava is a good source of carbohydrates but a poor source of protein for people.  It is grown because it does not require fertile soil or a great deal of water.  The cassava shrub is also very drought resistant.  Because it can grow in poor soil and without a great deal of water, cassava is a natural choice for a cash crop here in Isaan.  It is called "mahn falang" by the Lao Loum farmers.  Cassava is used in rotation with sugar cane.  Of the three cash crops of rice, sugar cane, and cassava, cassava brings the least amount of money to the farmers.

Gathering Up Cassava Roots Exposed By Previous Day's Plowing

The first step in the harvesting of cassava, is to cut down the woody stalks.  Later the stalks will have their leaves and branches removed.  The bare stalks will then be bagged up and removed to the farmer's home.  At the farmer's home either underneath the shade of a large tree or under the protection of a corrugated metal shelter, the villagers will chop the stalks into approximately 25mm (10 inch) pieces.  After soaking in water the stalks will be stuck in the prepared ground to commence the next crop.

The second step in harvesting the cassava, is to plow the field to expose the elongated tuberous roots.  The plow pulls the root clusters up from the ground and leaves them on top of the soil for the farmers to collect.  The farmers are working against the clock to harvest the tubers.  Since the farmers are paid by the weight of the delivered crop, they need to get the tubers to the nearby processing plant as soon as possible to avoid weight loss due to dehydration.  The crop also starts to deteriorate quickly too so speed is of the essence.  Since they had exposed the tubers the evening before, the farmers that we encountered were working hard to gather up all the roots and get them to the processing plant that night.

Cutting Up The Tuber Cluster To Save Space

As you will see throughout the fields of Isaan, men and women work side by side pretty much equally sharing the divisions of labor.  Most of the people are working their family land.  If the family needs extra help, they typically hire neighbors or friends - the minimum wage has been raised from 150 Baht ($5 USD) to 300 Baht ($10 USD).  Employers also feed their workers two meals a day along with supplying beer and Lao Lao (moonshine whiskey) at the last meal of the day.

Tossing Cassava Roots Into the Farm Truck

After taking many photographs and Duang having a good conversation with the farmers as I photographed them, we got back into our truck for the ride to Kumphawapi to get the truck washed.  It has been a long time and too many muddy roads since the last time the truck had been washed.

Moving Down the Line to the Next Bunch of Roots

All Along the Back Roads

Harvesting Peanuts In Isaan

These are busy times along the back roads of Isaan.  The monsoon rains have transformed the countryside. The rice paddies are verdant rectangular patches dotting the land.  Farmers are still engaged in transplanting rice stalks from the nursery paddies to the paddies where the plants will mature and give rice kernels for harvesting in October.

Crop rotation is practiced here in Isaan and is a necessity due to poor soil conditions and lack of money for fertilizers or soil amendments. Dependent upon the time of cycle, the same piece of land is used to raise rice, cassava, sugar cane, and peanuts.

The sugar cane has undergone a rapid growth spurt due to the almost daily rains and is now as high as an elephant's eye.  The cane will continue to mature until December when the annual sugar cane harvest will commence.  In anticipation and in preparation for the upcoming harvest, the Kumphawapi Sugar Company is expanding and improving their truck staging area.  Three years ago the area where loaded sugar cane trucks waited their turn to enter the refinery to be offloaded was a large dusty field with huge billows of choking red dust rising from the winds or passage of trucks.  That area has now been paved over with concrete and surrounded with grass covered earthen berms to contain any run off as well as to restrict traffic.

Just down the road from the refinery entrance, the company is busy preparing the land to receive the huge amounts of organic waste from the sugar extraction process.  The sickening sweet smelling black waste material is sold to local farmers who spread it on their land in an attempt to improve the soil.

Cassava plants have also experienced a rapid growth.  Large trucks filled with cassava tubers are starting to travel along the back roads transporting the cassava harvest from the fields or interim gathering points to the processing facilities.

The heavy vehicle traffic from the sugar cane harvest earlier this year and the heavy monsoonal rains of the past four months are starting  to have a deleterious effect on the local roads.  Potholes and alligator-ed pavement are becoming more of a challenge when driving along the country roads.  Typically the roads will remain or get worse until after the next sugar harvest when the roads will be repaired only to be repaired in two or three more years.

Roadside Stand Outside of Tahsang Village

Now is also a time of abundance along the back roads.  Sweet corn is being harvested.  Peanuts are also being harvested.  Many fruits such as mangoes and custard apples are in season.  There are many roadside stands now where farmers sell their corn, fruit, and peanuts.  We stopped at one of the stands and bought mangoes, peanuts, and sweet corn.  Unlike the USA, you buy cooked corn at roadside stands.

Duang Selecting Bag of Peanuts to Buy

In one of the fields along side of the road, a man and woman were harvesting peanuts.  I had not photographed peanut harvesting yet so I found a convenient as well as relatively safe place to park the truck. Duang and I got out of the truck and commenced our cautious walk out to the harvesters.  It was quite a challenge due to the amount of overgrown weeds, the mud, and puddles.  The woman saw us cautiously approaching and yelled out to Duang with directions for the best route out to her location.  We arrived out to the woman without any incident.

Removing Peanuts From the Bush

The woman was seated on a pile of stripped peanut bushes under the makeshift shade of net cloth and two umbrellas - some protection from the hot sun but no relief from the oppressive humidity.  She removed the peanuts from the bushes and placed the peanuts in a plastic bucket placed off to her side.  Her fingertips were caked with mud that adhered to the peanuts as the bushes were pulled from the muddy field.  Like all the other farming activities here in Isaan the work was monotonous and oppressive.  In no time at all sweat was pouring down my forehead into my eyes and I was doing little but taking photographs!

Harvesting Peanuts

Not far from the woman, a man, I assume to be her husband, was pulling peanut bushes out of the soft moist ground.  The bushes came out of the ground with ease.  After he had accumulated several bushes, he walked them over to the woman's location and added them to her pile for processing.

Gathering In the Peanuts

More Peanut Bushes to be Processed

As I have found on my excursions out into the fields of Southeast Asia, the farmers seemed to appreciate the break in their monotony with my interest in photographing them.  I suspect that they find it amusing that a foreigner would be so interested in them that he would risk limb and dignity to go out to where they are working in order to take photographs.

My Mom used to often admonish me with the question "Who do you think that you are, someone special?".  Well, I know that I am not "special".  I don't believe that anyone should consider themselves to be special. However, just about everyone is "interesting" and along the back roads of Isaan there are many of interesting places as well as things and plenty of interesting people.

Isaan Hospital Care

Duang Bathes Her Father In the Hospital

 

Duang's father was hospitalized on Wednesday and remains there.  He has been in failing health for a while and I hardly recognized him on Monday when I was out at the village for Mothers Day.  He has lost considerable weight and his face now sports sunken cheeks.

On Wednesday he went to see the doctor at the Kumphawapi Hospital.  Duang knew that the hospital would be busy so she ensured that they would arrive relatively early at the hospital.  Apparently the family entourage did not arrive early enough because they were #125 in the queue.  After consultation, x-rays, and other tests, Duang's father was admitted to the hospital.

According to Duang, "Inside of my father no good".  Upon questioning her further to better understand what could be her father's problem, I learned that she has seen an x-ray of his lungs and she said that there were "big white spots that are bigger than before".  Duang's father is also short of breadth which sounds like lung cancer to me.  Why doesn't Duang know the diagnosis and prognosis of her father's health?  This is Thailand.  In general, doctor's communications, especially with the local people, are similar to that in the USA in the 1950s. Similar in that the doctor does not feel obligated to explain and ensure that patient and their family fully understand the situation. One of Duang's fears regarding her personal health issues is that the doctors would not tell her everything or even worse ... lie to her regarding her diagnosis as well as prognosis.

I have written several times about the strong social fabric of Lao Loum culture here in Isaan - the latest being early this week related to Mothers Day.  Another circumstance where strong family bonds and obligations come into practice is when a family member is sick.  Duang is the youngest daughter so she has the burden of ensuring proper care.  Her sister and brothers also help out and other family members also help out.  However it is up to Duang to ensure that her father is physically care for and lacking any help, she has to provide the care.

Physically care for a patient?  In Thai hospitals, not the international hospitals that have many foreigners as patients. but district and small town facilities that service the local population, nurses only provide medical care.  Bathing, cleaning, feeding, and assisting with bodily functions is the responsibility of the patient's family and friends. Hospital wards that I have visited in Isaan are very crowded - besides the closeness of the beds, it seems that just about every patient has two to four visitors attending to them or just socializing.  Outside of the ward, more family members and friends are located in the hallways and balconies awaiting their turn.

A Family from Bangkok Camped Out On the Ward's Balcony

During my visit at the hospital today, I left the ward to sit out on the balcony to provide more space in the ward.  There was a family camped out on the balcony - camped out literally and figuratively.  Through Duang I learned that the family has been living on the balcony for four days.  They took the bus from Bangkok to be with their father/grandfather who is in the same ward as my father-in-law.  The two children do not sleep at the hospital.  They sleep at another family member's home in Kumphawapi but the adults sleep outside on the balcony to ensure that care is available to the patient and to ensure that the patient does not die alone.

In the pediatric wards, the child patient typically has a mother or father sleeping with them in the hospital bed and often a grandmother sleeping on a saht (woven reed mat) underneath the hospital bed.

Typical Kumphawapi Hospital Adult Ward

Besides the beds in the ward, there were also beds in the outside corridors of the hospital.  Kumphawapi Hospital recently under went a major expansion.  Duang's father is in the old part of the hospital.  Some of the rooms and facilities of the old part of the hospital are being renovated or modified.  This undoubtedly is adding to the congestion at the facility.

Most of the patients were wearing adult diapers.  Stainless steel bedpans were also available for patients who could not use the common bathroom facilities.  I checked out the common bathroom facility and I was impressed with its cleanliness.  I was relieved to see that there were western sit down toilets - I could not imagine being hospitalized and having to use a squat toilet.  The bathroom also had shower cubicles.  Emptying and cleaning bedpans is a responsibility of the patient's family and friends.  The cleaning station was outside of the bathroom area on the balcony where I was sitting.  Duang used the utility sink to wash and rinse the cloths that she used to clean her father.

When I reentered the ward, I met the father/grandfather of the Bangkok family.  He had a distended abdomen that I suspect was due to cancer.  He was on oxygen and told Duang that he was on oxygen because he could not breathe and that he would soon be dead.  This attitude towards one's fate was not unique to this patient.  Duang's father has been saying good bye to family and friends for about two weeks now.  This morning, he told his sister that when he died he wanted her to contact an old friend of his so that the person could sing at his funeral.

Doctor Making His Morning Rounds

Duang was remaining at the hospital for the day, her older brother and sister would stay at night.  Before I returned to our truck to drive back home, Duang and I visited the maternity section of the hospital.  We enjoy visiting the new borns and it is good therapy after dealing with the stress of hospital visits. The maternity ward remains in its original location.  Unlike all previous visits to the ward, the door was closed.  We checked with the adjacent nurses station and were told that visitors were being restricted to protect the new borns from an outbreak of sickness.  The nurses did say that we could visit upstairs where sick babies were located.

We climbed the stairs to visit the ward where our grandson has spent some times for treatment.  There were two babies both five months old were being cared for by their families.  The babies were hooked up to IV bottles.  I stopped and spoke to and consoled each of the babies in Thai.  I am not sure if it was a sense of peace or fear, but both babies seemed to relax and be calmer from my attention.  When it was time to leave, one of the parents asked Duang for me to take care of their child before I left.  Duang asked me and I knew exactly what she meant.  Here in Isaan, Monks will puff air three times (Buddha, the Teachings of Buddha, and the Buddhist religious community) on people's injuries or pains to heal them.  I have also seen an Animist Shaman do the same to our grandson, Peelawat.  I often do the same for Duang's as well as Peelawat's hurts and pains. Tonight I asked Duang why the people asked me to take care of their baby.  She said that the family said that I loved babies and that they wanted me to take care so that the child would get better and be able to leave the hospital tomorrow.  I asked her how they knew that I understood what it meant and could do it.  She had no answer.  Perhaps the only answer is "This is Thailand" .  Many things happen here that can not be explained but can only be accepted for the way they are.

Kumphawapi Hospital, New Addition In Background

Thailand's Mothers Day - 2013

Duang and her older sister pay respects and make offerings to their aunt

Monday, 12 August, was a special day here.  It was one of only about three days without rain here in Isaan since we returned on 5 July.  The day was also a very special day no matter what the weather is or would be - it was the Queen of Thailand's birthday.  Since the Queen of Thailand is considered to be the mother of the Thai people, her birthday is celebrated as "Mothers Day" in Thailand.

Here in Thailand there is a strong sense of family and community.  There are few government programs for the social benefit of the people.  The strong social fabric of the people provides for the needs of the young, invalid, and the elderly.  Two tenants of Buddhism is to care for the young and to care for the elderly.  The first line of care providers is the family; family as in extended family.  Nieces and nephews are expected to care and provide for aunts, uncles, and cousins just as members of the immediate family are expected to.

These expectations are strong and well communicated.  During our visits to the hospital we always see teen aged grandchildren accompanying and assisting a grandparent.  On the few occasions where we have seen an elderly person struggling alone, Duang has expressed sorrow for the person and contempt for the family.  As I looked around the waiting room at the other people I strongly sensed similar emotions from the other people.

Once I read a comment related to these blogs that I write.  The reader was asking that since I write about people who they would consider to be poor, the reader was curious as to how the Thai people differeniated as to who was poor.  My reply went along the lines that the people do not use material possessions as the prime determinator of wealth.  A person with a great deal of money but is not happy, and is not loved, respected and taken care of by their family would be considered to be poor whereas a person with few material possessions but was happy, loved, respected and taken care of by their family would be considered to be well off.

Duang, Duang's daughter, Duang's oldest brother, Duang's older sister, and Duang's nephew pay respect to Duang's mother

There are four national holidays when Thai ppeople are expected to return to their family's home.  The holidays are New Years, Songkran, Mothers Day, and Fathers Day.  Children are expected and under considerable peer pressure to visit their parents to show their respect as well as to honor them.

On Mothers Day, children give offerings of fresh floral arrangements (pumahlai) and cash to their mother and favorite aunts.


Pumahlai



Duang's Aunt Accepting the Offerings

There is a specific ritual for making the offerings to mothers on Mothers Day.  A small plate is placed on the raised platform where the mother is seated or on a table in front of the seated mother.  The participants place the offerings in the plate and say things along the lines of "Thank you for everything that you have done for us, the help that you give us and for taking care of us".  After saying this, the participants supplicate in front of the mother.  They then rise up and respectfully offer up the plate to the mother.  The mother raises her hands to the plate in a gesture of acceptance while thanking and telling the participants that she wishes them good luck as well as good fortune.  Part of her blessing includes a reaffirmation of the social compact to care for the very young and to take care of the elderly.

Duang's Aunt Gives Her Blessing

Caring for others is the strong foundation of the culture.  Manners and respect are taught at a very early age. When we go out, I make it a point to visit with the babies and young children that we encounter.  Unlike in the USA where such behavior would be extremely questionable and suspect, here in Isaan the parents are quite flattered.  I am always impressed that the parents, starting with children as young as 9 months old, require their children to show respect to me by performing a wai (placing the hands together in a praying position and bowing the head).

Our grandson is now 4-1/2 years old and is aware of the social compact, when he has candy, he always ensures that he shares it with me.  He also shares his soda with me.  Now we have to work on him to share with his grandmother Duang.  He always wants to go to Ta Allen's house (Grandfather Allen) to eat "kao falang"  (foreign food).  He loves macaroni & cheese, spaghetti, shredded pork for chimichangas, pizza, and new this weekend - levepastej (home made Danish liver paste).  He seems to like any food that I make unlike his uncle Perk, Duang's son, who hates all foreign food.

Duang's son and his wife came to our home in the evening.  They had offerings for Duang and brought me some fresh pineapple from the market.  I had to sit next to Duang on the couch as they paid their respects. Although I pointed out that it was Mothers Day and I was not a mother, Duang said that I was like a father. As Duang accepted their offerings, she was telling them many things in Lao.  When the ritual was completed, I asked Duang what she had told them.  She said that she was wishing them good luck and fortune.  She also reminded them that good luck and fortune would allow them to take care of us when we got older.  Upon hearing that I told Duang to tell them that I was counting on Peelawat to take care of me because he liked and understood "kao falang" (foreign food), if I counted on Perk, I was certain that I would starve.  We all enjoyed a great laugh.

I live in a country of strong traditions, manners, respect, and where people still deal with each other on a one to one basis.  For that I am very content and grateful.  Mothers Day is a special reminder and manifestation of that each year.



What Goes In, Eventually Must Come Out

Grandmother Placing Betel Nut In Her Mouth

Most people have undoubtedly heard the adage of "What goes up must come down".  This statement refers to gravity and indicates that whatever is thrown up or placed in an elevated position will eventually succumb to gravity and return to the ground.  Here in Isaan, or for a matter of fact any where, there should be another adage just as valid - "What goes in, eventually must come out."

We all are knowledgeable regarding the consumption of food or feed and how eventually the waste products of digestion are eliminated.  Well here in Isaan there is another biological process or rather habit where what goes in must eventually come out - betel nut chewing or betelnut chewing.

I have written about this tradition a couple of times in this blog:

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Yesterday, 12 August, was Mother's Day here in Thailand.  Duang and I drove out to Tahsang Village to pay our respects to her mother and one of her aunts.  There always seems to be something interesting for me to photograph so I brought along my camera backpack.

Sure enough there was plenty to photograph - children paying respect to their mothers, children playing, road side produce stands, peanut harvesting, and saht weaving.

 A grandmother and her grand-daughter were set up in the community building(?) of Tahsang Village to weave locally harvested reeds into sahts.  The community building is an open sided corrugated metal structure with a full concrete block wall on one end and three three foot high walls on the remaining perimeter.  There are opening in two of the low walls to allow the passage of people, dogs, chickens, and children in and out of the sheltered area.  The structure is used for village meetings, local as well as national voting, government sponsored instructional programs, Songkran celebrations, occasional marketplace for traveling kitchenware or household goods vendors and most of all as a  play area for children.  It has a roof and a concrete floor so the children frequent the area to play out from the sun and/or rain; besides the low walls are great for climbing on and jumping off.

Yesterday besides being an area where our grandson and other village children were playing, the area was being used by the grandmother and her grand-daughter to weave the ubiquitous Lao Loum floor and ground covering - the saht.

When I arrived the grandmother and grand daughter were engaged in stringing the loom that had been placed on old sahts placed over the concrete floor.  After working together to get the loom fifty percent restrung, they took a break.  The grand daughter went off to visit friends next door to the community area and the grandmother retired to one of the plastic chairs kept in the area for events.  As she walked across the floor the chair she was carrying a small woven basket with her; a small woven basket that you often see being carried by older Lao Loum women here in Isaan.  The basket does not contain food (far from it!).  The basket does not contain needlepoint or embroidery supplies.  The basket contains her accouterments for chewing betel nut!

Grandmother Getting Some Lime (Chemical not Fruit) for Betel Nut Chewing

I am not a fan or proponent of betel nut chewing which I find akin to chewing tobacco or "dipping".  I was traumatized by my introduction to chewing tobacco many years ago.  I was born and raised in New England and never played baseball so I was not accustomed to chewing tobacco or even "dipping".  After I had graduated from university and joined a large engineering/construction company, I was assigned to a project in Lake Charles, Louisiana where many of the men chewed tobacco.

One of the subcontractors had a very colorful superintendent, I believe by the name of Hub or Hoke Meadows.  He constantly chewed tobacco and therefore was frequently spitting out tobacco juice wherever and whenever he chose to.  He was involved in the site preparation of the site in an area that I was responsible for.  One day there was a problem and he drove me over to the site in order that I could assist in the resolution of the problem.  It was terrifying for me sitting in the front passenger seat of his company pickup truck.  It was not his driving that bothered me.  It was not exactly the rough and bumpy terrain that we were driving over.  What bothered me immensely, was the rocking back and forth of the coke can that he kept on the dashboard of the truck,  the coke can that was about half filled with his spittle and tobacco juice!  As he drove, he would reach for the open topped container and add to its contents.  I lived in fear that the can would topple over and spill its contents on to me.

Here in Isaan I do not have that fear because the people spit the red juices from betel nut chewing into a plastic lined small bucket.  However I find the practice just as revolting as tobacco chewing.  My mother-in-law chews betel nut as well as most of her friends.  I tease her in Thai about if there is "red water in the truck" I will not let her ride in our pickup truck ever again.

Chewing betel nut involves a process involving a tree leaf, betel nut slices or chips, and chemical lime.  These ingredients are combines to produce a plug or packet that is placed in the mouth.  I have witnessed two distinct rituals to prepare the ingredients.  One method is to use small mortar and pestle to grind everything together and then pack it into a metal tube to make a small plug to place in the mouth.

My mother-in-law just like the woman whom I photographed yesterday use a less labor method to prepare their "chew".  They take a leaf or two in their hand, sprinkle some betel nut slices or chips on to the leaf, smear some chemical lime paste on to the betel nut and then fold up the leaf or leaves much as people fold up a chimichangas (Mexican food), and place it in the side of their mouth.  After a while the packet or plugs produce copious amounts of red spittle that they discharge from their mouth into their little buckets.

What Went In Is Now Coming Out

Yes, what goes in, eventually must come out but I often wonder why it was even necessary for it to go in. However, I am a guest.  This is their culture and it is not mind so I will keep my mouth shut ... just like I did in Louisiana.

A New Photo Gallery Is Now Available

A new gallery on my personal photography website is now available for viewing and purchase of prints.  http://www.hale-worldphotography.com/Other/Yellowstone-National-Park-2013/31126734_mLJKdq

 



 

The gallery contains selected photographs from our June visit to Yellowstone National Park