Thanksgiving 2015

Today is Thanksgiving here in Thailand; a day like most every other day here.

Thailand does not celebrate or recognize the holiday.

However we do not need government sanctioning of the day to contemplate, give thanks, and to rejoice for all that is good in our life.

Yes today is a day like any other day here in Isaan - for me.  Everyday I contemplate, give thanks, and rejoice for all that is good in my life.  But it is on American Thanksgiving that I celebrate, share, and publicize it with people other than my wife.

Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays even more so than Christmas and definitely more so than New Years - specifically New Year's Eve.

Christmas carries too much emotional baggage to truly be appreciated.  After perhaps spending more money than you should have on gifts for your family, if you are fortunate you only get to witness their suppressed disappointment at the results of your efforts.  If you are less fortunate, you are told what they really wanted or asked when along with where they can exchange the gift.  You are also often put into the same situation of having to express gratitude and appreciation for receiving things that you neither wanted or needed all the while feeling guilty in recognition of the donor's efforts and generosity.

However, Thanksgiving is a time for families to gather together to feast and celebrate the blessings of the past year.  I believe that I am an optimist so a day of rejoicing and celebrating the good in life is not difficult.  Some years are not as bountiful as others.  Some years are more challenging than others.  However Thanksgiving day is a day to be thankful for what we have and not what we wished that we had or to focus on what we do not have.  If for no other reason, being alive is reason to give thanks on Thanksgiving.  With life there is hope; hope for a better tomorrow or some day after.

This Thanksgiving I am am thankful for so many things that I have.  As much as I am thankful for what I have, I am thankful for the many blessings that I had and some that I no longer can enjoy.

As much as what we have today brings us joy and contentment, it was yesterday and our past that have brought us to today.  It our past that prepared us for today and for the days to come.

Today, as for all days, I am thankful for the love, experiences, and guidance that I have received from family and friends who are no longer in this world.  They have passed on and I can no longer enjoy their presence. They affected my life in ways that are impossible to quantify or for me to express into words.  Shared experiences with them taught me and assisted me in developing my personal values.  The memories of shared holidays, vacations, celebrations, and ordinary days with them remain both a comfort as well as inspiration to me.  The gift of family, companionship and friendship is reason enough to give thanks today as well as every day.

I am thankful for having been raised in a country and time where excellent quality free public education was available to everyone.  Going to school in Groton, Connecticut in the 1950s and into the late 1960s was a blessing.  I often think back to those school years and believe that there was a unique group of teachers back then.  As students we were challenged by our teachers to do more than our best.  A quality free education is a blessing to be thankful for.  Even today in many parts of the world, children do not have access to free quality education.

I am thankful for having been raised in a country where I was free to fail and much more importantly free to succeed to the extent that I, myself, determined.  My position and goals in life were not restricted by anyone or any institution.  My parent's education, occupation, economic, or social status did not limit my prospects.  Today this is not true even in some Western countries.

I am most thankful for the way that my parents raised me.  Too often today, people blame their problems on their parents.  They blame their current behavior on their parents.  Blaming their parents, to them. absolves them of their individual responsibility and accountability for their own actions.  I know that my parents did their very best in raising their family based upon what they knew and could at the time.  Should we expect any less or demand anything more? I suspect that most parents do the same.

I was taught manners. Manners and etiquette allow individuals to function, interact and thrive in a society with minimal conflict.  Manners and etiquette help to define our value and standing as an individual and to society.  The manners and etiquette that I learned as a child have allowed me to integrate into different cultures easily where I have worked and lived.  While these may not be a blessing, they are things that I am thankful for.

I was taught that I was not special.  I am not certain how well I learned that lesson.  I suspect that most people have not completely learned that lesson well.  However I learned to not expect or demand special privileges or preferential treatment.  I expect to treated the same as any other person.  An off shoot of this lesson that I was taught throughout my youth was the realization that as an individual I had certain responsibilities to the group.  I have the responsibility to not demand that the group conform solely to appease my wishes, practices, or beliefs.  I do not necessarily have to conform but that choice is mine to make and I should be prepared for and accept the consequences.

I was taught that I could have anything that I wanted; as long as I first had the money to pay for it. I was taught and more importantly demonstrated each day.  I was taught that anything worth having was worth working for.  I was also taught that I wanted something bad enough I would work for it.  If I was not willing to work for something, I did not need it.

Today I am also thankful for my families and friends that are part of my daily life.

I am most thankful to having, recognizing and appreciating my peace of mind.

Thank You - all of you.

A Monk's Cremation

Wan Tong Veeboonkul

Buddhists do not believe in a permanent and fixed reality.  To them everything in this world is subject to change as well as alteration.  Impermanence and change are truths in our existence according to Buddhism.

In Buddhism, impermanence is described in four phrases:

Whatever is stored up is bound to run out.

Whatever rises up is bound to fall down.

Whatever come together is bound to fall apart.

Whatever is born is impermanent and is bound to die.

Everyday, if we look or choose to be aware there are examples as well as affirmations of the four phrases regarding impermanence.  However, it is the death of someone that we know that strongly drives into our reality the truth of the fourth phrase  "Whatever is born is impermanent and is bound to die".

A week ago, one of Duang's cousins died.  Wan Tong Veeboonkul was 72 years old.  We last saw him at a funeral in Thasang Village on October 14th.

Wan Tong Veeboonkul - far right side of this photo

Wan Tong had been a Theravada Buddhist Monk for five years.  He had become a Monk after the death of his wife.  As is very common her in Thailand, many men after the death of their wife and their children leaving to start their own families, will "take refuge" in the Triple Gem (Three Jewels) of Buddhism - the Buddha, the Dharma (the teachings of Buddha), and the Sangha (the Buddhist religious community of Monks and Nuns).

Duang's cousin had four daughters and one son who lived near him in Ban Nong Daeng near Duang's home village in Nongwa Subdistrict.

He had not been feeling well for a while - Duang said that his insides were no good.  Last week he went out for a walk and had a heart attack.  Typically when someone dies of natural causes they are cremated three days after their death.  In cases of violent deaths such as accidents or suicides, the person is cremated sooner because the spirits are unsettled by the death - in those cases the body is cremated one or two days later.  However Duang's cousin was a Monk which is an entirely different protocol.

Monks are considered and treated as a higher class of people than typical people here in Thailand.  Their social status is due to Monks being closer to liberation ("Enlightenment") than average people or even wealthy people.

I have attended over 15 funerals in six years, however this was the first cremation ritual for a monk.  To paraphrase an expression that Duang often uses when I point out something in America or Thailand that Is different from each other - "Funeral for Buddha (Monk) not same for other people"

The first difference is that a Monk is not cremated until 7 days after his death.  Secondly whereas all the cremations that I have attended were around 1:00 PM, the cremation for Monks does not start until after sundown.  Our sunset now is around 5:30 PM so yesterday's ritual did not start until 7:00 P.M. The ritual for the Monk lasted two hours whereas typical cremations that I have attended lasted around one hour.

The ritual for laypeople starts at their home with a procession to the local Wat for the final aspects of the ritual.  The Monk was kept at the Wat where he lived.

Entrance to Wat Udom Nong Daeng

Oh - the biggest difference was Monks are cremated on a funeral pyre on the Wat's grounds and not in the Wat's crematory furnace.  When I arrived yesterday afternoon for the evenings ritual, the Monk was already positioned on top of the funeral pyre.

Funeral Pyre for Wan Tong Veeboonkul

A small ornate pavilion had been erected around the funeral pyre. The pavilion was constructed from four concrete piles placed in the ground to serve as support columns.  The concrete columns served as support elements for horizontal bamboo members that in turn served as attachment points for long thin bamboo members to form a dome above the funeral pyre.

The dome framework was covered with a fine white fabric that very well could have been mosquito netting. The base of the dome was circled by a ring of  homemade ornate consumable panels - thin Styrofoam boards covered with a solid colored foil with an overlay of a different colored foil cut by hand into intricate designs.  I have watched this type of decoration being produced before but on a much smaller scale for "spirit houses" (basahts) used in Tambon Nong Roy Wan parties (Bone Party).

Ornate thin colored cloth panels, reminiscent of delicate summer curtains from my youth in New England were suspended from the dome ring and gathered at their end near the ground to form triangles along the circumference of the funeral pyre.  There was a low wall type structure created from horizontal bamboo poles and fabric covered thin Styrofoam panels.  Two openings at opposite ends of the structure allowed access to the pyre.  Leaning up against the outside  four low walls were many funeral memorial placards readily available for all funerals.  The placards often contain clocks, fans, giant ornamental watches, and sometimes kitchen utensils along with artificial flowers, garlands and custom printed banners of best wishes for the deceased along with the name of the donor.

Underneath the dome, a refrigerated coffin was resting upon a bed of logs.  The bed of logs was comprised of two layers of 9" to 12" diameter hardwood logs perpendicular to each other.  Inside of the refrigerated coffin was the typical consumable coffin containing the corpse.

Outside of the entrance closest to the pavilions where people sat to view the ritual where tables with talisman called daughans that would be placed on top of the consumable coffin by mourners before coconut water is poured on the corpse by Monks, dignitaries and family members.  Men remove the daugchans from the lid of the consumable coffin and place them inside of the coffin before the pouring of the coconut water.

Mourners Carrying Monk Robes Offerings Three Times Clockwise Around Pyre

A very important aspect of the ritual is to earn merit for one-self as well as for the spirit of the deceased person.  Merit is typically earned at funerals by offering robes to the Monks by dignitaries and immediate family members. The people earn merit for themselves and the deceased person by carrying the robe up to the coffin and placing the robe on a ordinary metal serving platter on the coffin at the entrance to the furnace.  The Senior Monk accepts the first offering followed by Monks in descending seniority until all the robes are distributed.  Typically at funerals there are 2 to 5 offerings made.  For the ritual associated with the Monk's cremation, ordinary laypeople made a cash offering in a collection box at one of the tables off to the side of the pyre.  They then took a packaged robe and carefully carried it three times clockwise around the pyre.  It seemed to me that unlike a typical funeral there was no announcing of who gave what for cash offerings.  Unlike typical funerals, poor people who could not offer cash did not offer small bags of rice.  It appeared to me that you offered what you could at this ritual and you got to walk around with the robe.  After people completed their circumambulation of the pyre, the robes were returned to the white cloth covered folding table to be used by other mourners.

At most cremation rituals there are 6 to 14 Monks in attendance.  However for the ritual involving a Monk there was about 34 Monks participating.

At 7:00 PM the ritual commenced.  The start was initiated by the ringing of a bell - sounded like the ringing of a steam locomotive bell.

A senior education official did the "Master of Ceremony" duty - announcing and keeping things organized in accordance to the supervision of another one of Duang's cousins - an Abbott at another local Wat.  Both the education official and Duang's cousin are common participants at the local funerals.

The Start of the Ritual - School Official Shows Sign of Respect for the Deceased

A big difference in this ritual as opposed to a typical funeral was the offering of robes to the Monks.  Besides the sheer number of robes that were offered, there was a different way to offer them.  A dignitary or family member would be called, go up to the table of robes, take a robe on a gold colored pressed metal ornate raided bowl, and carry it to the area just inside of the pyre area.  Once the person had place the bowl with the robe on a table next to the coffin. a Monk would walk barefoot about 20 meters from their pavilion to accept the offering.  Each Monk said a chant before accepting the offering.

As part of the ritual. laymen removed the refrigerated coffin from the pyre and set it off to the side.

After the coconut water had been poured over the corpse and the daugchans placed inside of the consumable coffin, laymen punctured the bottom of the coffin to drain away the liquids in the coffin and to facilitate the cremation of the corpse.  They then placed additional long logs that had been stored off to the side of the funeral structure.  The logs were placed to form a large and dense teepee around the consumable coffin. The pyre was then doused with naphtha rather than the typical diesel fuel to start the fire.

As a Monk entered the funeral structure with a candle and started the pyre fire, fireworks were launched into the black sky.  Typically three are launched to scare away any malevolent spirits that might interfere with the release of the deceased person's spirit.  For the Monk's ritual there were several fireworks shot into the sky - it was difficult to count because each firework had several secondary explosions once it got up to elevation.  I was busy taking photos but I would estimate roughly 24 explosions and colorful bursts.

Like all funeral rituals, the symbolism of turning away from the materialism of this world, candies and foiled wrapped coins were tossed to the eagerly awaiting crowd - especially the children.

The cremation ritual last night took two hours to complete.  Typical funeral rituals take one hour once the coffin arrives at the local Wat.

Whatever is born is impermanent and is bound to die.

Additional Photos - Isaan Go-Go Girls

Dancing At A Tambon Nong Roy Wan Party

 Eleven new photos have been added today to one of my more popular photo galleries, "Isaan Go-Go Girls"  My brother-in-law stages and performs in shows all over this area so I have a great many opportunities to photograph the action.  Best of all - I get backstage with no trouble at all.

These shows have a combination of old music - Mahlam Lao (Morlam Lao) and Mahlam Zing which is updated electrified music with dancers.  The motivation for haing these shows is quite varied - from raising money for the local Buddhist temple to celebrating good fortune at winning the lottery.

The new photos added today are from three separate shows - a local government employees retirement party, a Tambon Nong Roy Wan Party, and a House Warming Party.

I suspect most people are not familiar with a Tambon Nong Roy Wan Party - sometimes referred to as a "Bone Party".  Some of the best parties that I have attended have been these parties. Theoretically, 100 days after a person has been cremated, there is a big merit making celebration.  Part of the celebration is to make offerings to the local Monks and to the spirits.  The other part of the ritual is to a big party - plenty of food, too much drinking, and a big show of ethnic music complete with 1960s style Go-Go dancers.

http://www.hale-worldphotography.com/People/Isaan-Go-Go-Girls

House Warming Party Entertainment

Cottage Industry of Thasang Village

When I was younger and in Junior High School, I guess what they now call "Middle School", I learned of the term "cottage industry".  Cottage industry was the method in which many goods and services were provided before the industrial revolution and the advent of today's factory system.

In the cottage industry system goods are produced on a small scale often on a part time basis by family members at their home using their own equipment. It is a situation that I have witnessed quite often here I southeast Asia, in particular here in Isaan at my wife's home village - Thasang Village.

The people that I have encountered over the past nine years have impressed me greatly with the self-reliance and self-sufficiency.  Naturally these traits are exhibited most visible in their cottage industry endeavors.

The people weave their baskets, weave fish nets, weave cloth, assemble school uniforms from factory pre-cut pieces, process imported frozen fish, and weave mats from reeds that grow in the local wetlands - to name a few of the cottage industries.

The people do this out of necessity to meet their needs and to make some money to support their family.  There is no welfare system here in Thailand.  People in need are supported by their family, my their community and to a limited extent by the local Wats.  There are some programs largely sponsored by the King and local government.

Years ago, a representative sponsored by the King came to Duang's village.  The intent of the person's two week stay at the village was to teach local women how to be seamstresses.  I am amazed and also proud to see Duang look at clothes in a store or look at outfits in a magazine or book to then sit down with a sewing tape, some large plain paper, a pencil, several metal French curves, "S" curves, and other items and create a pattern to reproduce the clothing in our home.

A couple of years ago, a representative from the local government went out to Thasang Village to teach woman how to prepare and cook popular treats ... food items that can be produced in their hoes and then sold in the local markets.  Here in Thailand people are taught techniques to help them to support their family rather than being sustained through government hand-outs
with no skills that will allow them to rise above their current economic condition.

Federal and local governments do help local people by not overburdening them with regulations.  Local people quite often set up little restaurants - often nothing more than a couple plastic tables and plastic chairs for customers, a small charcoal furnace and a big pot of soup.  Some people, like my brother-in-law and his wife, have sidecars hooked up to their motorbikes from which they sell freshly brewed lemon ice tea, soft drinks, fried meats such as hot dogs, beef balls, and pork balls.  Some other people have a similar set-ups but sell freshly cut iced fruit. There are also other motorbikes with sidecars of fried silk worms, fried grasshoppers, and other bugs that look like cockroaches.

The common denominator of all these activities is that the people are free and unencumbered by regulation to pursue them.  There are no permits, tax numbers, licenses, health regulations, safety and health plans, local tax withholding, national tax with holding. mandatory retirement contributions, and so forth.

Last month when we visited Duang's Aunt who was popping rice as a step to making kao tawtek, we became aware of another cottage industry in Thasang Village.  As we were getting into our truck, there was a shout out to us from the house across the street.  We went over to her cousin's house to check out what was going on.

Making Cookies In Thasang Village

Underneath the overhanging roof of the house, her cousin and some family members were baking cookies to sell directly at local markets or to sell to vendors.

Cutting the Dough Into Bite Size Pieces

At the far end of the partially enclosed patio area, there was a gas fired oven - a sort of pizza oven, that you will often see outside of bakeries in the city (cuts down on the heat inside of the bakery).  The oven was obviously quite old but was "fit for purpose".  There was no need for specialized piping to supply gas to the oven  The oven was fed propane through a regulator and reinforced vinyl tubing from a 15 Kg gas bottle.

Duang's cousin handled the cooking - placing the pans of dough into the oven and emptying the cooked cookies into a large container to cool.

Two family members took large sheets of the cookie dough and cut them into small bite sized pieces to be cooked.  The family had mixed the dough before and allowed it to rest.  The cookies were very similar to "Snickerdoodles" but without eggs of milk.  As best as I could determine the cookies were made out of rice flour, sugar, vanilla, baking powder and I suspect water.  They were sweet tasting and melted in your mouth.  Delicious.

Packaging Cookies For the Market.

After the cookies had cooled, the laundry basket of cookies were carried a short distance to the packaging line underneath a small sheltered platform that is located in front of many Isaan homes - a place to eat, drink, sleep, care for babies, and socialize.

Duang's niece sat cross legged on the rough wood platform, filling cellophane bags with a measured quantity of cookies and sealed the top of the bags with elastic bands.  We enjoyed some samples and ended up buying a good sized bag, enough for three days, for 20 Baht ($0.60 USD).

There is a saying that "Where there is a will there is a way".  Here in Isaan - there is plenty of will and many ways - ways to help support yourself and your family.  People doing what they can and have to do to survive.  Freedom is not free.

Additional Photos Posted - "Runny Noses & Dirty Faces - Children"

Sixteen new photographs were added today to my photography website.  The photos are added to the end of the gallery.

http://www.hale-worldphotography.com/Children/Runny-Noses-and-Dirty-Faces

By far, "Runny Noses & Dirty Faces - Children" is my most popular gallery on my website.  As of the end of September 2015, there have been 189,605 page views compared to the next most popular gallery, "Maehongson Oct 2006", with 80,094 page views.

Twenty-six prints from "Runny Noses & Dirty Faces - Children" gallery are hung in a hospital located in Germany.  I am pleased to have been selected for the project to redecorate the hospital corridors.

Popping Rice In Isaan - Kao Tawtek Time.

Popping Rice In Isaan

I first encountered the Isaan specialty, Kao Tawtek, seven years ago.  I often refer to Kao Tawtek as "Thai Cracker Jacks"

Cracker Jacks are treat for the past 129 years in the United States.  They are molasses flavored, caramel covered kernels of popcorn and peanuts.

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 is stored in small raised sheds adjacent to each 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, Tambon Roy Wan -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 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, so that are able to make the special treat without fear of running out of rice before the new harvest is available.

Early last month, after our return from Vietnam, we drove out to Thasang Village.  Members of Duang's extended and extensive family were popping rice as part of the process to make this year's Kao Tawtek.



We ended up at one of Duang's Aunt's 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 rustic 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, she placed a battered old metal container attached to a wood handle 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.



 

 

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 at an angle as she swept the hot rice puffs into it.



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 a mat comprised of sahts, woven reed mats, along with flattened recycled rice, sugar and fertilizer bags.. The rejected product is used to feed chickens and cattle. The acceptable puffs were dumped into metal pots and eventually placed into clean empty fertilizer plastic sacks to be used another day with the other ingredients.



 

 

The plan for the day was only to pop the rice and to wait until another day to cook in the sugar, millet, coconut, peanuts and package the delicious treat.

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.

The Kao Tawtek is finished for  Wan Kao Saht 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.  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 also 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.

 

I am in constant admiration of the local people's self reliance and willingness to take advantage of the opportunities, many of them self-made, to support themselves.  Fortunately, especially for them, there is not much interference from government in the people's efforts.

The Lao Loum people, be they living in Thailand or in the Lao People's Democratic Republic (Laos), may not live in "the land of the free ..." but they are free to make a living without cumbersome regulation.  My experience is also the same for the people of Vietnam.


 

 

Gave Me Some of That Good Ol' ...

In planning and scheduling our trip to the Tonkinese Alps of Vietnam last month, I was fixated on timing for the rice harvest.  We had previously visited the area in late April at the tail end of the rice planting  season.  I wanted to capture photos of the ethnic tribes people harvesting the rice by hand, or at a minimum if my timing was off - photographs of golden rice terraces ready to be harvested.

It was difficult to determine exactly when to go in order to achieve my goal.  I contacted some people in the area and did not get a specific answer. The harvest depends each year upon when the crop was planted due to weather conditions in April or May, the weather conditions during the growing season, and the weather conditions leading up to the harvest. The harvest even depends on the location of the crop - elevation and micro-climate can drastically affect the rice cultivation.  My research indicated that the harvest season was early September to the end of October.  I decided to err on the side of caution - preferring to be too early rather than miss the entire event.  I chose to travel to the Sapa region during the first week of September for the rice harvest.

I was very pleased upon our arrival on 5 September to discover that the rice harvest had just begun.  I was also surprised to find that we were just at the tail end of the corn harvest.  Corn is grown in the area by the Hmong people.

Harvesting Corn From Patch Along the Roadside

Cultivating corn in Northwest Vietnam is similar to rice cultivation.  It is all done manually.  Small plots of land carved out of mountainsides or along the banks of streams or rivers are used.  Even if the people could afford to purchase or rent mechanized equipment, the size of the plots prevent the use of machines.

Harvest Basket of Corn Straight From the Field

There are Hmong food dishes that use corn.  I suspect that since Hmong people raise pigs, that the corn is also used as animal feed.  What I did not appreciate, until this visit, was how much of the corn is used for the production of "corn liquor" - "White Lightning","Moonshine", "Hooch".

Bac Ha is famous for, besides its Sunday Market, its Moonshine and Tam Hoa plums.  The Hmong people have a very long tradition and culture for making corn liquor.  The Hmong people around Bac Ha are famous for the quality and quantity of the Moonshine that they make.

For hundreds of years, the Hmong people practiced and most definitely enjoyed this aspect of their culture.  There were attempts on the 1960s and 1970s to regulate Vietnamese traditional alcohol production but the attempts failed.  The government failed to recognize and appreciate the strong tradition of the ethnic tribes for their culture of making booze.  Sound familiar?

The most recent attempt by the central government to regulate, if not control, the production of traditional alcohol was in 2013 when people who manufactured traditional alcohol were supposed to register and obtain a permit.  Based upon my conversations in the area the people's reaction is very similar to the famous quote by the character "Gold Hat" from the 1948 movie, "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre"

 - “Badges (Permits)? We ain’t got no badges (Permits)! We don’t need no badges (Permits)!  I don’t have to show you any stinking badges (Permits)!”

I find it refreshing as well as reassuring that there are still places, but more importantly people, who resist the intrusion of centralized government into their lives and culture.  I am even more impressed to learn that some governments know better than to push their luck and not aggressively impose their will on traditionalists.

The baskets of corn from the field are brought to a central location where they are emptied and the harvest is consolidated into empty recycled sugar, rice, or fertilizer sacks.  Depending upon the quantity of the harvest and number of motorbikes available, the 50KG bags of corn are brought to the home on motorbikes or farm wagons.  I saw some horse drawn carts during our visit and I suspect that may be used too.

Once back at the farm house the corn is spread out to dry in the sun.  Provisions are made to shield the drying corn from the numerous rain showers that still occur in early September in the mountainous region.

After the corn is sufficiently dried, it is shelled - the kernels are removed from the cob by hand or with a specialized machine - either manually or electrically driven.  The corn kernels are then spread out on a tarp in the front yard and often times alongside the road that runs in front of the house to dry further in the sun.

 On our trip up to the Can Cau Saturday Market, I noticed many people buying 20 liter (5 gallon) translucent plastic bottles filled with liquid.

The next day at the Bac Ha Sunday Market, I saw many more of these containers being purchased.  At first I thought that they might be containers of cooking oil.  I knew that they were not bottles of diesel or gasoline because the liquid inside was clear.  Based upon the lack of color and sheer size of the bottles I eventually ruled out cooking oil.  Still somewhat confused as to why mountain people in an undeveloped area with plenty of rivers and streams would end up going to a weekly market I settled on assuming the people were buying drinking water.  It was only upon our return to our hotel that I found out that the people were buying 20 liter containers of moonshine - mountain dew, corn liquor, hooch.  Twenty liters costs $30 USD ($1.50 USD a liter).  Many people were buying more than one container too.  A good profit can be made selling smaller quantities out of the 20 liters and even better profit is made by aging it for a year and then selling it in smaller containers - so I was told.  The going price in a year is around $5.00 a liter.  I am still trying to figure out how storing alcohol in a plastic container improves it after one year. Well if that is what the people believe and it works for them, who am I to spoil it for them. Perhaps I should go back in a year and taste for myself  - if some of the 17 containers will still be around then.  Whiskey is aged in oak barrels to develop much of its flavor and all of its color.

Bac Ha is famous for its Moonshine and Tam Hoa plums.  What if the two were combined?  I know.  I know from experience.  With our dinner at Sa House on Saturday night, all guests were offered Moonshine and "Plum Wine".  The corn liquor was potent - I believe it to be 90 proof.  I tasted the "Plum Wine" and was surprised how strong it was.  It had a pleasant flavor but also packed a punch.  I asked if the moonshine had been added to the wine.  Yes, it had been "fortified" with corn liquor.

Duang does not drink so I ended up with two generous shots of corn liquor and two shots of slightly less potent "Plum Wine".

Duang had complained about having trouble sleeping in Hanoi because I was snoring.  Sunday morning I asked her how she slept or at least how she slept until the early morning thunderstorm.  She said that she slept "Very good.  You not make noise.  Whiskey good for you!"