An Australian artist in Thailand

Songkran - Thai New Year and water festival

Its Songkran here in

Thailand

, the Thai New Year and water festival. This is the hottest and muggiest time of the year before the monsoon breaks. Although I have to say that up here in Issan the weather is not too hot. It has been cooler this year and we have had early rains.

 

A few days prior to the actual Songkran holiday everybody started gambling. Gambling is illegal in

Thailand

but the Thais must be amongst the greatest gamblers in the world. It’s no exaggeration to say that half the villagers were gambling. Initially with a variation of roulette played in the wasteland areas at the back of the houses. Usually several groups of 6 to a dozen people often children have their own group.

 

Later, in the last few days there have been many groups playing a form of poker for quite high stakes (in Thai terms). These games last all day and often right through the night with people coming and going from the game. There are no police in the village but the games are usually carried discretely out of sight.

 

I have learnt how to play the poker game (although of course not for money as that would be illegal) and it’s a variation of the game of Brag that I played in my youth. It’s a 3 card game with no draw and the top hands are normal in descending order there is 3 of a kind (with aces high), then a straight (Q,K,A high). Then it gets complicated as the only pairs that count as far as I can determine are court cards provided that the third card is also a court card. The lowest hands are calculated by adding together the value of the cards (court cards being 10) and then just using the last digit so 7, 3 and 6 would become 6. If two people have the same value hand then the hand is replayed with the previous joint winners not having to pay into the kitty but any new players having to pay a proportion of the kitty to buy into the hand.

 

Everybody obviously enjoys the game and there is much chat and slapping down of cards. It is generally accepted that this is what people do during the week of Songkran. I guess that the weather is not conducive to physical activities so people relax doing what they enjoy. It seems pretty harmless but as with all gambling there is a risk that people become addicted and lose their savings and property.

 

At the start of Songkran the lady across the road had a friend come to stay an attractive looking woman of 35 who has worked as a bargirl and knows some English.. When I met her I asked her what her name was and she replied “My name is ……..” I waited for the rest of the sentence and it never came so I prompted her with “Your name is ……” and she replied “Yes”. Clearly I was getting nowhere I started again saying “What’s your name then?” By this time Waree was in hysterics and realizing my problem I said “You mean your name is Is?” Yes she replied. People wonder why its sometimes difficult to communicate with Thais.

 

Songkran is a sort of baptism process where you bless everybody by pouring water over them. The monks come around and you pour water over them and you go to the temple and pour water over many small buddhas and statues of the king and venerable monks etc even the occasional coke bottle that Thais like to leave for the spirits.

 

This has become a general excuse for everybody to spend the whole week throwing water at each other. Which is really a lot of fun with great hilarity all around. I spent the best part of one day the other side of the village with a group ambushing every vehicle to pass with water and dancing to music. There are groups like this every 100 metres or less around every village. So you just get soaked all the time. I had a bottomless beer mug which helped the occasion but caused me an horrendous hangover later in the day.

 

Tau took me on his motorcycle as Waree was otherwise engaged playing cards and when I arrived they wanted me to sort out their sound system. As always they had 6 huge 300 watt speakers attached to one small amplifier which I suspect had blown a fuse. Their cabling was a total mess and seemed to have been done largely by trial and error, part of the problem being that the sockets are labeled in English and of course nobody here can read English.

 

Eventually we got a new amplifier and I managed to connect the cables in some sort of logical order. Of course there were power cables everywhere and water splashing around so I was a bit concerned for my safety but only an ignorant Farang would worry about such matters. So we spent several hours dancing, throwing water at everybody who passed and drinking beer.

 

I got soaked (with water) so many times during the week that I took to skulking in my studio to avoid getting wet again.

 

The village nurse can and invited me to a function at the nursing post which turned out to be a show for “old people” I was honored to be invited but disappointed to have been so accurately classified.  There was lots of Thai dancing and even games. They recorded my name and I signed for something but I have no idea what it was.  I suspect I would have been given a present but we left before they handed them out so I missed out on that.  They even had the men playing a game where they dangled something link a cucumber on a bit of string from their belts and used it to move a ball to the finishing line.  Very suggestive and very funny. Fortunately I managed to avoid being co-opted into the game.

 

Towards the end of the week we took a whole crowd of people to “the beach”. We do this every Songkran. Its an amazing experience. First the kids put in the back of the truck one of the huge earthenware water containers they use here for storing rain water. Then they filled it with water and everybody got in. Later I counted a total of 22 people in our truck that we took to the beach. The weight was so great that the tyres looked flat so we wasted 30 minutes trying to get some air.

 

We drove about 20 kms to Phompisai passing through about 8 bans (villages) in each one we were flagged down about every 60 metres by a crowd of revelers dancing to music, drinking, covering our faces with talcum powder and of course throwing water at us. We were dry inside with windows and doors locked but our 14 passengers in the back got soaked. They gave good account of themselves by throwing equal amounts of water back.

 

After Phompisai we were on the main road but we were still pelted at every village. There were many of trucks on the road all going to or from “the beach” and they were all loaded with people and water containers. We couldn’t go more than about 60 kph due to the number of people in the back, the people on the roads throwing water and the other trucks. So we all slowly rumbled along pelting each other with water like sailing ships in a great sea battle.

 

“The beach” is a large sandbank on the

Mekong

River

with several thousand people splashing about with hired inflatables or sitting on mats eating and drinking under bamboo shades. We stayed there about 4 hours although it was cloudy and rained a few times. The water was coming up fast and some of the stalls were ankle deep. We had a good time though.

 

The way back was just as torturous as coming with lots of young people dancing on the road forcing us to stop so that they could smear white paste on the faces of the girls in the back of our truck. I can see the advantages of this system to a young man. In the papers over the period prior to Songkran they were warning young ladies to be careful in their clothing as of course they keep getting wet and I imagine it could be a bit like a wet –shirt competition. However the girls here wear very conservative clothes all the time except for those who have farang husbands or boyfriends and it is expected that they would wear more western style clothing.

 

Apart from being a lot of fun Songkran is another example of the way in which people in the village build and consolidate relationships. You make lots of friends throwing water, dancing and drinking with people.

 

Well it is hot 

The girl across the road enjoying Songkran

A determined water chucker

The Nursing Post where the old peoples New Years show was performed

Adam punching another little boy.  No idea why.

Adam coverting some crisps

Guilty success

Some of the performers

Pang and me

Pang looking very beautiful but old for 15

Pang, her friend and lovely Waree

Old people

Young people

Getting ready to perform

Lovely lady dancing

Lovely lady's lovely daughter dancing

Pang always posing for my camera

We got back and were invited to see what was cooking next door. Tau's friend had caught them with his good hunting and digging dog.  I worked out the it is a civet (sort of cat) dead of course.

Some of the 22 people we took to the beach

Down to the beach

Apparently it was really crowed yesterday

Beach Issan style - What a contrast with Australis's pristine and empty beaches, but still good fun.

Stopping us to throw water at us

One of the many groups of Songkran revellers

Water water everywhere and lots of beer to drink

I should be so lucky - the wedding

Its nearly noon and I am eating cornflakes and mango which is my usual breakfast. I can hear the sound of the band dance troupe they are very good the dance girls are all very pretty.

But it’s hot out there.

The wedding ceremony took for ever as the elder chanted and they tied us all together with the white cord I call magic string.  I had to hold my hands steepled in the wai position which meant that I had to kneel on the hard tiled floor. If I sat with my legs crooked on one side I my body and supported myself with one hand I couldn’t do a wai. I could manage without supporting myself for a short time but then it either became very painful or I fell over sideways. So most of the time I had to kneel and  it was very uncomfortable. I tried to meditate empty my mind and then focus on the pain until it goes away. This sort of worked.

My darling Waree was beside me but they made her up so hard in a formal Thai style that I didn’t think she looked like Waree. She looked beautiful but artificial. You can judge for yourself. Comments most welcome

After the ceremony everybody tied magic string around my wrist or Waree together. I love this tradition it’s very beautiful. And they gave me money which I liked too. When somebody is tying string you hold one hand up in a sort of half wai and the other hand horizontal palm up so that the wrist can be tied. The person doing the tying gives a blessing (which of course I cannot understand) and then rubs the knot in a circular movement as though they are welding it together. Other people link to the process by putting their hand palm up under the arm being tied in a supporting position.

As she tied the string Waree’ sister Jit was very generous giving us 1,000 baht which was more than anybody else. She said and gesticulated a blessing that we should not fight during our marriage and added “give me the money back afterwards”.

Which I thought was lovely sentiment and definitely sincere.

The band and singers were very good and the dancing girls pretty I don’t know how they can dance all day in the heat and humidity without any sign of sweat. I danced quite a bit but it was so hot and humid that sweat was running me in great rivulets so I had to give up. Eventually the alcohol and the heat got the better of me and I had a sleep in our air conditioned studio,

Later the band packed up and left in a pickup converted for passengers (they would call a jeepney in the Phillipines) leaving the crew to dismantle the stage. All very efficient. The ladies cleared up the mess while all the men, like me having consumed some quantity of alcohol lay around on the cool tiled floors sleeping it off.

Most of this post will be wedding photos.

From left to right Nan, Huan, me and Au some of my best lady friends.  Au speaks some English so she advised me throught the earlier part of the wedding when I was not able to ask Waree to translate for me. 

You can see why I was happy to have Au as my guide and translator

Careful records are made of all who attend and how much they give

The procession from a neighbours house back to Waree's house with the groom and most importantly the money

Bang washing my feet before I am allowed to enter.  A task for which I have to pay her 100 baht (about $3)

Two ladies bar my entrance to the house so I have to pay them 100 baht each to let me in.  There seems to be a consistent theme to Thailand I am not sure what it is

Unexpectedly more ladies barred my entrance.  Waree had not supplied me with envelopes to pay them but fortunately I stuffed some notes in my pocket before I left so I was able to get into the house.

Waree looking beautiful before making her entrance

Counting the loot

Lighting candles

Lots of kneeling an waing

Everybody tied up

Hands supporting arms as magic strings are tied

Something old, something new, something borrowed but nothing blue that I can think of

Adam wasn't sure what to make of it all

The bride's mother has to supply new sheets for the bridal bed and these are they with the bride and groom sitting on top of them.

A handsome couple

The wedding - early morning

Its 5.30 am on the day of the wedding.  When we went to bed last night at 11pm there were still 50 or so people outside involved in preparations.  I thought it would quieten down but all night long I could here continuous laughter and chopping of meat. 

Waree got up at 4 am and by 5am I got up too as there seemed to be little point in trying to sleep.  Outside was alive with people working. The road has been blocked by the scaffolding of an enormous stage they are building.

The ladies are still laughing and chatting as they worked all night.  The main culprit is Hoo one of my favourites (who lives opposite and I think is very pretty) together with Gek.  I told the ladies with sign language that they had kept me awake all night with their chatter and laughter, which they though was hilarious.

Waree told me that they mix the ki (shit) of the buffalo with the meat as it is bitter and presumably adds flavour.  I think its actually the stomach contents and I photographed some green stuff they were adding to the meat which they agreed was ki.  My vocabulary in Lao is not good enough to distinguish between the contents of different parts of the buffalo’s digestive tract. 

Then Hoo showed me some white material (possibly tripe?) which Waree told me Hoo said was (I will use the softer American term) “pussy” but Waree added that Hoo was “gohok” which means “Lying” .  I took a photo of it and one of the other ladies suggested something in Lao pointing to Hoo which I took to mean that I should also photo that part of Hoo’s anatomy.  Everybody thought that this was very funny, but I am not sure whether I got the joke right.  Anyway I took a photo of Hoo.

I am drinking fresh coffee now in my studio.  There doesn’t seem to be a lot for me to do. I have been married enough times to know that the groom’s roll is minimal.  He just acts as a foil to the lovely bride and in this case pays for everything.

I will keep taking photos until the photographer arrives at 7am and takes over my camera.  He is a professional and it will be interesting to see if he is mastered my camera from the short lesson I gave him the other day. 

Hoo preparing food

Contents of buffalo digestive system used with meat

Ladies cutting up meat all night long

Tau cutting up buffalo skin all night long

Dish of raw meat and ki

Hoo told me that this was Buffalo 'pussy'

Construction of the stage before dawn

 

The wedding - fresh killed buffalo liver eaten warm

Waree

It’s Thursday evening 10.00pm and a large truck has turned up outside with 9 men on board. They brought some vegetables and some of the ladies are preparing a meal for them. They will erect the stage in the morning for music and dancing all day. I asked where they will sleep and was told that they had enough Thai whisky to sleep anywhere.

Toilet facilities are a bit of a concern (to me, nobody else would worry) the output from the toilet goes into an underground earthenware container with an overflow into the ground (I think). A few days ago Tau told me that it was full and somebody was supposed to come today to pump it out but never turned up. Too late now but I don’t know how it will cope with several hundred people.

The band and dancers and singers etc for tomorrow cost me 16,000 baht which is about $550 amazingly cheap.

We now have a small marquee outside the house and tarpaulins everywhere to keep the sun out. There are mountains of vegetables and beer, soft drinks etc. We have chairs from the temple and trestle tables set up and of course balloons. The outside kitchen area has been extended and cordoned off with mats. There are several charcoal burners, sacks of charcoal and big cooking pots all waiting for tomorrow.

Earlier there was the sound of howling dogs and Waree told me that her father, brother and friends had gone to kill the buffalo (that would have been at about 8pm). She said that the dogs howl due to the number of people leaving the village for the farm for the kill and because they know why they are going. They hit the buffalo on the head with something and cut its throat. They save the blood for eating.

Since I won’t be able to see Waree in the morning our friend Au who speaks some English is going to look after me. It’s really difficult as nobody speaks English and I haven’t got a clue what to do most of the time. Ah well we will find out tomorrow.

The truck with the men on board who have been killing the buffalo just arrived back followed by Joi’s 4 wheel mini tractor towing a trailer with the carcass. Its 11 pm and there must be 50 people outside the house milling around while the meat is brought in.

Waree has just told me some of the people come to eat fresh meat especially the liver which they eat raw with chili while it is still warm.

Bringing in the meat -  the men wear the head torches that they use frog catching and fishing at night

Fresh water buffalo meat

Rats, insects and aerobics but first catch your cicada

This afternoon we went to Rat’s farm to catch some food which Waree called eeh-ehh or something like that. When we arrived at the farm we went into the thatched building on stilts that all the farms have, which is the farm house. Rat’s father-in-law was there which was of interest to me as he will be marrying us on Friday. He is a lovely old man and I have seen him conduct other ceremonies. Weddings seem to be performed by any village elder.

Lunch Issan style

I found out today that after having my feet washed at the entrance to Waree’s house I have to pay the washer and then some ladies will try to prevent me entering. I said OK if they won’t let me in I will take the truck to Phompisai and have a couple of beers in that restaurant on the banks of the Mekong, but apparently this is not serious and they really will let me in but I have to pay them as well.

I expect it will be chaotic and everybody will have a good laugh at my expense. These are such good natured people that nothing would worry them unduly.

They were eating. Rural Thai people are always eating. As always they invited me to join them. I wasn’t really hungry but as they were eating rat which I have never tasted before I nibbled on a leg of rat. I it was very tasty.

Delicious charcoal grilled rat

I think it’s a rice field rat which is different from the rat infested sewers of London rats. Anyway it was well cooked and tasted good.

Then we collected these long thing bamboo poles about 4 metres long with another thin bit of bamboo stuck in the end. We then smeared the end bit with glue and went into the woods.

 

Putting glue on the sticks - the balaclavas are normal when people work in the fields as are thick clothing.  They are designed to keep the heat out and to stop your skin darkening, as all Thai people whant to be white!  I have tried wearing them and contrary to what you might think its not hot at all

The noise was deafening the sound of cicadas and they were our prey. I had great difficulty in seeing them and even more difficulty in getting them to stick to the end of my pole. You have to sort of sneak up under them and just at you tap them they fly off and if you are lucky get their wings stuck to the pole. I was very unlucky but everybody else got lots.

 

Waree catching a cicada

When you unstick them you rip the poor little bugger’s wings off and stick them in a bottle. It was very hot and humid so I ended up sitting under a tree and taking photos.

 

Stuck!

Having one's wings pulled off

I couldn't see them

Jit (Waree's sister) the bandit

Waree the fearless hunter

Back at the farm

On the way back we drove along the lake Nong Kai which Rat’s farm fronts on to. As we drove in we had seen people with larger and heavier bamboo poles with cotton bags on the end. These were for collecting green tree ant eggs which are a great delicacy at this time of the year.

However this time we saw a guy with a catapult (commonly used and for sale in many shops – I use one to scare the chooks away from the verandah). I couldn’t work out what he would be trying to catch in the lake with a catapult, and then Waree pointed out the Water Buffalo way over on a stretch of weed in the middle of the lake and said he was a cow herdsman. This is amazing to me. He could actually control the bests who where about 100 metres away in inaccessible swampy water with a catapult. I have watched them send the creatures running with a ping from a stone in the past but never over such a distance.

 

Water Buffalo herdsman

When we got back we had a good fry up and everybody munched into cicadas. Some preferred them raw. I tried one but like most insects it was similar to eating a prawn with its shell on except that the body had little taste just a sort of creamy sensation. Perhaps a little brothy like that 5 taste that the Japanese discovered.

 

Counting the catch

You eat the cicadas with leaves and other very very hot dishes often made from chopped up raw pork or beef

Huan enjoys a fresh cicada

Later I joined the ladies in their aerobics in a nearby street. Thai men don’t do aerobics of course but the session is led by a Lady Boy but I suppose he doesn’t count as a man any more than Farangs do. 30 or so nubile (most) ladies all jumping around in the heat and humidity, quite pleasant really.

 

I have been doing this the last couple of nights and it goes on for about an hour interrupted only by the water buffaloes making their way home up the street where we exercise.  I can almost keep up with everything but some of the jumping and skipping things tire me out too much.  A few years ago I could have kept it up all night.

Right now I am in my air conditioned studio but sweat is still dripping off me on the floor.  I will have a shower once my system has cooled down.

Back in the Land of Smilea and preparing for a wedding

I start my blog again back in Thailand.

In Ban pho, where we are preparing for our wedding next week. My blog has lapsed so much that I guess nobody will read it but it will keep a record for my very old age.

Starting in the middle.

Tonight Waree and I had a discussion about money with respect to the bride price and wedding which will be next Friday the 24^th of March. This is a village wedding not an Ampur (government) wedding so it has no legal significance outside of this society. Within the society it is a formal and meaningful celebration of matrimony between the farang Jeremy and the Issan girl Waree.

Unfortunately (for me) this society values girls far more than boys. The former are industrious and manage the family, the latter are lazy wastrels frequently inebriated (I wonder if that is why I fit so well into this culture). Consequently instead of receiving 40 pigs for marrying Waree I actually have to pay for the privilege.

The amount was negotiated some time ago and apart being MONEY there is a lot of face involved. As I am a farang I am of course fabulously wealthy and if I skimped on the bride price it would mean that I value Waree little. A convenient arrangement isn’t it, but genuine I think.

The money is publicly counted and put on a money tree for the groom to take on his walk to the bride’s house. When I say publicly I mean that they use a microphone and loudspeakers to announce each note as it is added to the tree and maintain a running total. A bit like those TV charity fund raising shows.

In this case the charity is Waree’s mum and dad and the good news is that they pay for the wedding. The rest of the money will largely go to paying off their huge debts. I am digressing somewhat but one of the reasons that the Prime Minister Mr. Thaksin is so popular in the rural areas is that he introduced a scheme of rural loans meant to improve the farmers lot by investment in machinery etc. In reality it disappears on who knows what but probably gambling, drink and dodgy get rich schemes. The Government boasts that these loans are effective as 95% of loans are paid off but the reality is that each year they pay off one loan with the money from a replacement loan. They simply turn it over. So mum and dad have significant debts.

This society has wonderful community support mechanisms. Hopefully there will be photos of all this later but on the day of the wedding many ladies will come and prepare food. Those invited to the wedding (about 250 to 300 now I think) come and take food away with them. It’s all carefully calculated down to the cost of a slice of beef. They may stay and eat the food which can be a problem because if they do they will (if they are male and some females) have to be supplied with copious quantities of alcohol.

So the wedding will supply food to families throughout the village. There is however an upside in that each attendee will bring money to give to the happy couple (I am not sure if we get it or mum and dad) and the deal is that they must bring more money than Waree’s family gave at the weddings of their families. It seems incredibly complicated but everything is recorded, so they probably know how much they have to bring.

Not only will the wedding provide food but its cost will be defrayed across the village and surrounding hamlets. Neat social security scheme huh?

Waree and I were discussing the bride price and realizing that I had to transfer the money from my bank in Australia

and that there was a risk that it might not arrive in time. That would be a total disaster as the wedding would have to be cancelled. No money – no wedding. So we decided to play it safe and that I would travel to Phompisai (the nearest town) each day and withdraw the money from an ATM in dribs and drabs. Slow but safe, I hope (there is always a risk that the pattern of transactions will lead my bank to believe that the card has been stolen and suspend it).

It was late afternoon but I decided to drive to Phompisai to get the first withdrawal at once. Waree wanted her brother Tau to go with me and said he could drop off some of his wedding invitations of the way.  Tau had a couple of cold cans of beer with him and of course I had to buy him more in Phompisai so I ended up drinking 3 cans as we drove through a myriad of dusty tracks to visit houses in villages scattered around the area.

It was hot and people were often sitting outside their houses on the bamboo platforms they have. They sit in groups and eat or just talk and relax. Some invited me to “gin kau” “eat food” with them.

Earlier in the day we went to another nearby town to see a photographer who we have arranged to take wedding photos with my Canon EOS 20D SLR digital camera. As always Waree insisted that as he is a Thai photographer he would already know how to use any camera and as always I knew that he wouldn’t know how to use it.

I have met him before and he appears to be an experienced photographer who understands photography but as I pointed out to Waree, I have been doing photography for over 50 years, I was doing developing and printing under the bed when I was 12 and it still took me several months to work our how to use this camera. Maybe I am just thick.

He didn’t do too badly, although he wouldn’t have been able to use it without the training.  I just hope that he doesn’t screw it up on the day.

Down South

We are staying in our friend's caravan in what Western Australians call 'Down South' which generally means the lovely Margaret River area of the SW of Australia.  We are in a caravan with an built in annex and ensuite bathroom about 50 metres from the main house high on a hillside near Dunsborough.

Looking out of the window bright sunshine I can see Geograph Bay in the distance and we are in easy reach of many lovely beaches and vineyards.

So far every time we go to the beach we have a problem with our baby Adam.  He normally loves splashing in water but he is afraid of the sand and even the shallow flat water of Geograph Bay he pulls his legs up and cries whenever we try to put him down on the sand.

Its such a huge change for him having been brought up in the inland areas of NE Thailand where babies are taught that they must never wear shoes in the house but but always wear them outside.  Here it is almost the opposite with people wearing shoes in the house and going barefoot on the beach.  Confusing.

I have much to do, starting to paint again, helping some friends design a greeting card, the possibiliy of running a workshop in Perth in few weeks time, moving my paintings around and fixing up my web site.  Then there are endless beaches and wines to taste to visit.  Such is life.

Christmas Day 2005

I am in Perth in Western Australia now with my partner Waree and our lovely 14 month old boy Adam.

I normally stay with my parents in Mount Helena but currently we are housewarming for my daughter Kyla and her husband Michel while they are on holiday.

We are in a large house in a suburb fairly close to the city.  Its a new subdivision and the houses fill their small blocks.  There is paving everywhere and almost no privacy in the tiny back yards as the houses overlook each other.  You rarely see people outside and all the houses have their blinds drawn.  Every door and window is locked or double locked and alarmed.  The concern about security is paramount at all times. The contrast with Ban Pho could not be greater.

Recently we have celebrated Christmas down here at Kyla's but as they are away this morning I will be driving up to my parent's place in the Hills to cook a brunch for the family and exchange presents.

Very quiet here.

Losing a phone and looking for a fortune teller

Yesterday somebody stole Rat's (Waree's sister) mobile phone. It was an expensive one camera and all for her eldest son Edt (who has five fingers on one hand) to stay in touch when he is at technical college in Nong Khai. She can afford it as her husband Adt is working as a farm labourer in Israel.

So today we had to go to a Wat near Nong Khai about 40kms away to see a monk who for 1 baht (about 3 cents) will tell your fortune and who we hoped would tell Rat who had stolen her phone. Unfortunately the Wat appeared to be abandoned so we didn't find out who stole the phone. I tried to help by looking into the past with the aid of the silver side of an old CD but I could only identify the perpetrator as being dark and having black hair, which applies to almost everybody in the village so Rat would not reward my efforts.

Today I frightened several babies. Its really strange as soon as they see the huge white bloated farang they burst into tears. Obviously they think I am a pii (ghost). Maybe I am.

Tying the houses together

I am back in Thailand after a difficult and sad time in Australia when my brother Andrew passed away from cancer.

The weather has been hot and humid but dry here in Ban Pho but at last a storm came and flooded all the dry rice fields. Since the monsoon has broken we have rain most afternoons.

After the rain there was much fishing and many insects to eat. People here catch the insects overnight with florescent tubes over sheets of corrugated iron at an angle so the insects are directed into a container of water. In the morning they fry them up and during the day delicately eat the bodies taking off the wings. They even eat the termite nymphs which they collect in their thousands.

There has been great excitement as after a long hot dry period many small round mushrooms appeared. They are mainly underground and have no stem looking a bit like small round truffles. It’s quite unusual they tell me to have these delicacies and everybody has been eating them for several days. On the way to Phom Pisai we saw many people with baskets coming out of areas of bush carrying mushrooms they had collected.

Yesterday was a special temple day and all the houses in our section of Ban Pho (Moo 7) tied their houses together with the white ceremonial string I call magic string. Then late at night people and monks came around the houses and through earth on the roofs. Fantastic that the community should bind itself together with long continuous strands of string.

Today Waree's mother sprinkled water which had come from the temple over us. We are very blessed and have good luck I am sure. A sort of miniature Thai New Year. Did I tell you about that? Well another time maybe.