One of the village elders died a few days ago. His body was taken to the local temple
where, 3 days later, it was cremated. The intervening period was filled with much drinking of Thai Whisky at 50p a shot which left many villagers very bleary eyed!
And talking of dust… the impoverished local authority couldn’t afford to surface all the road into ‘my’ village which, during the rainy season isn’t such a problem but now the rains have finally stopped and everything has more or less dried out, the dust pollution is horrendous,
not helped by 50 or 60 trucks a day bringing soil into the village which is used as a cheap concrete substitute to ‘resurface’ farm yards and even the inside floors of some dwellings. Two truckloads of soil costing less than £10
then have to be moved through the front gate
and spread as evenly as possible
throughout the main living area! The result is not pretty. It’s not so practical. It’s not clean but if you have no money it’s all you can do and there’s always family to help!
Luckily, this young man can’t reach the tractor pedals yet so isn’t tempted to try and drive the thing. The same cannot be said when he is in a car, though. He is very happy sitting on Daddy’s lap, holding the steering wheel
whilst on the move! I know that I have to respect local customs and culture but I find it so difficult to bite my tongue when I see such dangerous practices.
Whilst it is the desire of most westerners to gain what they see as a ‘healthy’ tan, the opposite is true of the Thais, especially the young women who think that being dark skinned is a sign of a low class background. So, whereas westerners spend a fortune on tanning lotions etc, Thais spend (relatively speaking) a lot trying to look whiter! They try injections, they take pills but most of all the use a variety of lotions, some with very strange names
and brands
It’s a funny old world!
Apart from the shops selling beauty products, Maha Sarakham has a wonderful array of general housewares outlets
plus, of course, the inevitable market selling a vast array of fresh produce
and, of course, food stalls.
Tomorrow I leave this neglected area of rural Thailand and head for some sun kissed shore in the south – or that’s the plan, anyway. And what a contrast it will be. Apart from anything else, I have only seen 2 westerners (farangs) since I got here 12 days ago! I could well be in for a bit of a shock!
Phileas
thelasthurrahsite 