2002-01-29

A walk around the village

Botter's village is located in a valley surrounded by mountains on all sides. The valley is huge and on hazy days the mountains are merely sillouettes on the horizon. They grow almost everything here: garlic, potatoes, tomatoes, cauliflower, cabbages, onions, broccoli, beans, rice, corn and tobacco to name a few. There is even a small vineyard that appears to be an experiment to see how the grapes do. Needless to say, the food is fresh and extremely good. Deb would be pleased to know that I'm eating broccoli almost every day. I need to lose a few pounds but, as Botter points out, I came to the wrong place to diet. At least the food is much healthier than I usually eat back home.

Bangkok is full of farangs (foreigners) and Chiang Mai is big enough to have its share but a new farang in this little village is a topic for much gossip. Botter says word travelled fast when I arrived and by the second day everyone knew there was another farang in town.

This is the local market. The girl on the right is holding a plastic bag full of fruit juice. They put ice in a bag, fill it with water, juice, tea or a soft drink, insert a straw and wrap the top with a rubber band leaving a loop to carry it by.

I bought a bag of fried bananas for ten baht (though I suspect the price for locals is less.) It's much more than I should eat at once but they are so good it's hard to stop until the bag is empty.

Later, I learned that the usual price is five baht but I got the extra large bag (no idea how I got that, perhaps I nodded my head at the wrong time) so my suspicion was unfounded.

The woman in the hat rides her motorcycle through the village every day to sell vegetables.

Everyone knows how to say "Hello" in English and the children aren't bashful so I wave as I walk by and return dozens of "Hello" greetings.

A cow tethered to a pole. The pole is mounted on a swivel with a weight attached to the short end. This gives the cow freedom to move around within a circular area but there is always pressure on the rope to remind him he is tethered and can't wander away.

The village barber shop is a little one-room building adjacent to the barber's house.

Cost of the deluxe cut was 25 baht- about 60 cents. It was a better haircut than I could get back home at the Supercuts.

The klong (canal) runs through the village parallel to the road. People have electricity and a single road that is mostly paved but they don't have running water or a sewer. The klong supplies water for bathing, washing clothes and dishes, and irrigating the fields. Septic pits serve as a sewer.

Tobacco leaves are laid out on bamboo tables to dry in the sun.

Most houses are raised on stilts. I think the valley used to be regularly flooded before the dam was built.

During the hot part of the day people will gather underneath the house in the shade to eat, chat and nap.

People here are, by American standards, very poor. Four dollars a day is an excellent wage. Possessions most desired are a scooter, a television and a pickup truck in that order. The man with a pickup truck is a rich man.

I can detect no sense of poverty. Everyone eats well. Public education is free for the children. And work is available if you want it.

I'm sure there must be envy of others who have more possessions, it is an inevitable part of human nature, but it's scarcely visible. Since I am a farang everyone assumes I must be rich and by their standards that is true.

The wealth gap appears to be greater here than in America where we regard it as a significant and growing problem. It isn't unusual to see houses in the valley that would qualify as opulent mansions next door to tiny shacks. I presume the mansions are owned by farang and rich Thais. Why this doesn't create any visible stress is a mystery to me.

A couple of people are taking a mid-day nap under this house.

The Thais are Buddhist and believe in reincarnation. To a certain degree, if a man is rich and successful, it is assumed that he must have been good in a previous life. Botter speaks fluent Thai which simply proves that in his previous life he was a very good Thai who happened to be reincarnated in America.

Wealthy Thais contribute large amounts of money to build and fund Buddhist wats (temples.) Almost every village has at least one. The more money you contribute the more good karma you buy to ensure success in this life and the next. Money can even erase past misdeeds. The temples have apparently taken to advertising to make this point clear. It seems as crass as our own, "As soon as the coin in the coffer rings the soul from purgatory springs."