On 1 Jan 2006 03:23:49 -0800, "Vagabond" wrote:
>Stickman is not too impressed with Thai village life, or the people
>that live there. But how about the bush farangs themselves? Will they
>protest when they read this?
>
>Vagabond
>
>
>>From Stickman Weekly 1.1. 2006
>
>-snip-
>"The natives of the bahn nok (a commonly used but slightly derogatory
>term for country people) are always friendly and hospitable, but a
>little uncouth, and not only without sophistication.
Exactly how Tchiowa fares in Chaiyapum and Tim in some shithole
village in Chantaburi.
These are low class people .
What do they expect?
>
>It might seem harsh to say so, but many lead grubby lives and have
>dirty, anti-social habits. (Before you jump on me for being
>unreasonably harsh, mother in law is always the first to say this.)
>The dwellings are often filthy and I have to admit that the idea of
>contracting bird flu did cross my mind when wild chickens were running
>around within a few feet of me.
>
>I cringe when food is offered and I have become expert at accepting it
>and pretending to eat it, but tossing it when the locals aren't
>looking. Now this all might sound rude, but if you had seen some of
>what I saw this weekend, believe me, the last thing you'd be doing is
>putting that food into your mouth. One particular woman, always with a
>huge grin on her face, was making a sauce and dipping her grubby
>fingers into it, tasting it. She then brought some out to the balcony
>where everyone was gathered to eat, and simply put her finger into the
>bowl and pushed some on to the plate in front of me! Aroi! I smiled,
>as you do in this part of Thailand, and then carefully pushed that part
>of the food aside when she wasn't looking. Comments were made by a few
>that farangs usually use a spoon. She just grinned and said, "We're in
>the barn nok now!"
>
>Doing a little tour of this somewhat prosperous (by Isaan standards at
>least) village, I observed that each house was much the same, at least
>in contents. Virtually no furniture could be found and mats with mats
>used instead - you eat on mat, you sleep on a mat and you sit on a mat
>when you watch TV. While there was little or no furniture, every house
>seemed to have at least one if not a few, show cabinets, in which their
>fine China was kept, as well as graduation photos, if they or their
>kids had made it tertiary study. Photos of various family members
>could be found on the walls and there was always a photo of either the
>current King, King Rama V, or perhaps both. There would be various
>cooking utensils and a wok or two in the corner, and that would be
>about it. There are always two appliances that you find in every house,
>a fridge and a TV.
>
>To me, the interesting thing about such villages is just how the people
>there survive. All you see in such villages are the elderly and the
>very young. Really, the ages of the people you see are either north of
>50, or south of 12 or 13. In between, there would appear to be very
>few people. Hardy folks, people of the land, the elderly look like
>they no longer work. In this particular village in the eastern part of
>Chaiyapum province, there would be approximately 20 - 25 houses. As
>best I could tell, there were only two that were generating money, one
>with a small general store, and the other with an abattoir - and you
>couldn't escape its smell from anywhere in the village! Like all
>villages, there is a temple.
>
>So what about everyone else? How do they survive? Well, at New Year,
>members of the family come along and slip them some cash and I'm told
>typically they will end up with a few thousand baht. In addition to
>this, every house has a decent sized plot of land and they have various
>trees as well as crops that they have grown for many years. Vendors
>from the local market will come along and pick their crops and give
>them a small amount of cash for the crops. If they're lucy, they might
>get 500 baht or more a month this way. Obviously throughout the year
>younger members of the family will slip them a bit more cash. According
>to mother in law, people in the village can live on about a thousand
>baht per head per month.
>
>One often reads reports online of Western guys spending days and days
>with the Thai family out in the sticks, and most of their time is spent
>boozing it up in the morning, recovering in the afternoon, and the
>resuming again early evening, sleeping it off through the night. There
>really is no surprise in this because once the initial wonder has worn
>off, one quickly realises that they have very little in common with the
>locals. And if you cannot speak not just Thai, but understand the
>local dialect, you'll be left out after a while. There will always be
>a million smiles for you, but smiles do not overcome the feelings of
>boredom, unless you are a true anthropologist.
>- snip -
>
>Source: http://www.stickmanbangkok.com
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