Here's a bunch of pics taken mostly the first day. As always, you can click on them for a closer look.
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| David and Tung, on a walk across her family farm near Ratchasima. |
Tung is David's Thai partner, expert at Thai massage and presently studying how to cut hair somewhere down near Chatuchak park while David was in the course. She was offering massage here at the hotel which was great and convenient for me, but we all got busy with getting things done and I haven't been able to schedule a session lately. Some long standing problems with my shoulder have melted away, not sure exactly due to what but I am really getting to be a believer in this sometimes painful but usually therapeutic treatment.
The course finished up Thursday afternoon so I was useless the rest of that day, and Friday was spent recovering. It was to be a long holiday weekend due to Chulalongkorn Day (aka Rama V Day) on Tuesday, October 23, so David and Tung made plans to go visit her farm in Korat. I wanted a change of pace so I asked to tag along, eager for the chance to hang out with a Thai family and see rural life in Thailand first hand. They graciously agreed, so we made plans to catch a bus from the Chatuchak bus terminal on Saturday morning arriving 4 hours later in the closest city, Nakhon Ratchasima. From there we got on a truck Tung hired to get us the rest of the way to her home. I don't know how we got to her family farm after disembarking the bus, and I'm sure I would never be able to get there again on my own. It's located somewhere just west of the village of Nong Manao. Mueng Kong is in the area too.
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| We caught a taxi from our home to the Chatuchak Bus Depot, near the Mochit BTS Station. Here sitting and waiting for Tung to get us our bus fares. Mine cost 220 baht, about US $7.00 |
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| After we got the fare it's outside to where the buses pull in to wait for ours to arrive. |
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| David and Tung sorting out snacks, luggage, etc. |
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| These are quite like hot dogs, but much more delicious. Very plump, gooey with fat. |
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| I have no idea what Tung has here, but she's obviously very happy about these...meat balls. I suspect it's some kind of pork something-or-other, marinated and grilled. I'll have to try them myself soon, I see them at many of the food carts. |
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| Settled in and ready to go. The bus is pretty comfortable, and while the air-conditioning is not icy cold, it cools things down well enough. I napped most of the way there. |
Ratchasima is the largest town in the area, and that's where the bus stopped. Tung uses a man to cart her and her things around, and it took only a few minutes after we got off the bus before he found us, collected our belongings and took us to the Siam Makro Cash & Carry, very much like the largest Walmart or Sam's Club or Costco you've ever seen. I'll have to find one here in Bangkok as I've had quite enough of trying to navigate the thousands of small shops in half a dozen various malls and markets. I'm ready to go one place that has it all. The prices were pretty good too.
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| Pulling in to Ratchasima City bus station |
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| Tung has a man she uses to cart her and her things to and from the farm. Here we are packing it all up and squeezing into the little pickup to go to the Makro for supplies, and then the hour long ride to her country home. |
It turned out to be quite a shopping spree, bagging a king-size mattress, hot water heater, lots of food, 3 cases of Leo beer, many and various household items. You can get it all at Siam Makro Cash & Carry!
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| I lost track of how much food we got |
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| We didn't buy pumpkins, but had to include this pic of them. I've never seen pumpkins like this. Later in the week I saw them at the Tesco and one was cut open, it looked more like squash. |
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| Yours truly after we bought the king-size mattress, sold from a tent in the parking lot, tied down on top of everything else we got plus luggage, in the Macro parking lot, and about ready to hit the road. |
Poor David and Tung were shoehorned in the back king-cab area of this little truck, and I had the passenger seat with my knees up near my ears. Driving out of town the scenery looked like pretty typical farm land you might see in the US, same kinds of trucks stops and water towers...well, enough of a difference to make you think you are in the Twight Zone.
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| Pretty scenery, lots of open spaces |
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| I got out my ukulele and tried to liven things up, but it was a little too cramped. Our driver put on some Thai pop music that made my ears bleed. |
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| Everyone talks about how many Starbucks there are here. I see far more 7-11's |
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| These monuments to the royalty are at the entrances to most towns |
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| This is what I meant by Twilight Zone, like an alternate reality, with most of the things you're familiar with, just...different |
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| This very nice house is obviously the home of a well-to-do westerner |
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| Finally reach a small town |
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| Pretty sleepy around here |
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| Pretty country |
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| This in front of a small market where we stopped for some food. I think this was shading the driver as he napped. |
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| This looked like a great way to cook pork, will have to try it some time. Yes, it was as delicious as it looks. |
As things got progressively more rural, I saw odd, colorful farm trucks with loud, single-cylinder engines. They are discussed a bit in this sub-forum post at the ever useful site ThaiVisa. Though they were all over the place I never could catch one standing still. They are powered by watercooled single-cylinder diesel thumpers, and they are really LOUD. This pic is clear enough to make out the name, the Kubota RT series of engines.
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| I've always been annoyed that my camera has about a one second delay from the time of pressingthe shutter button to when it actually takes the picture. I've about learned how to time it to where it sometimes gets a fast moving pic in the frame. This was taken out the front window of the truck we rode in, barely catching this farm truck as it drove by. |
These engines just didn't look very big, and when I did a little research on them this morning, I honestly had to read it twice. These little trucks are built to carry a full contingent of farm workers and tons, that's right, tons of cargo. The engine you see in that truck right there is the Kubota RT 140, and it is all of FOURTEEN HORSEPOWER. Apparently many of them use no more than 10 HP versions. How can that be? We in the western world are steeped in easy and cheap power, little cars with hundreds of horsepower to enhance "the driving experience". Even my neighbor's leaf blower back in Vancouver, Washington (which he uses incessantly to keep his house and grounds free from any speck of dirt) is probably about 1/10 the rated horsepower of the engine in that farm truck. It is quite incredible to me. A little looking around on the web found this website with some info on them, they're called Etan trucks. Also very happy to find this youtube video of one driving through Thai farmland. The author mentions they won't be around much longer. Don't know where he get's that information, I saw (and heard) dozens of them the several days I was there. If true, that's a pity--though I can't see such an economical arrangement replaced by anything better at the present time. I'd happily drive to work in one every day, parking alongside my friends' Hondas and Isuzus, and giving something for the Hummer owner to point and laugh at.
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| Uh oh. Roosters. This doesn't look good |
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| The last stretch, almost there |
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| Pulling into the driveway and stretching our legs. I think the drive was more than an hour. |
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| Glad to be out of that little truck. Tung seems happy too. |
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| Beer Leo. Not bad stuff. |
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| The girls dig into the ice cream we brought |
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| It's gone in no time |
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| Papa didn't come home from work until later, but I thought I'd better post a pic of him now. He is one year younger than me, and I sure wish I had his abs. He doesn't say much. He wai'd me pretty deep the first time we met, I guess because my hair is so grey. |
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| Here's Mama. She really took a shine to me for some reason, really made my stay a wonderful experience. I can't believe I didn't get a better pic of her than this. |
Here's a look around the house. I'm not a good judge of area, but the area the house and out buildings sit on seem to be approximately the same area as the floor I live on in this hotel, about 4,000 square feet. The rice paddies and fields are a short walk away.
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| In the front of the house there are three low platforms made of hardwood. One of them has a floor made of bamboo strips and is pretty springy.  with. I just knew you could make something really neat with it. |
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| A view of the back of the house from over by the cow shed |
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| Stepping out the back door and looking into the kitchen area |
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| They keep 3 Brahma cows, for meat I guess. David said they don't milk them. |
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| Turning around with the cow shed to my back you see this building, used to store the rice harvest. |
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| That's a new cart David bought for Papa. Before, he would just cut grass for the cows and carry it home on his back. |
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| Brand new outhouse with kitchen wash up area. David told me he bought the materials on the last visit and Papa built it. This trip he brought a water heater. Once it was installed the next day we had hot showers. |
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| To the side of the new outhouse there were these large earthenware jars used to store rainwater collected off the roof. I drank rainwater the entire time I was there. |
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| A view past one of the buildings into a neighboring lot, and path that winds it's way off there. |
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| Another look between a couple of the outbuildings, to the farm lands in the distance. |
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| This is one of two adjoining ground floor rooms. We have stacked things just inside the doorway. |
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| I honestly have no idea how the hell we are going to get that king-size mattress up that stair case. |
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| Nope, no way is that going up there. |
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| Here's a couple views of the second room |
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| And the upstairs |
So we got relaxed and had a bite to eat. I did most of the eating.
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| These are what Mama uses to barbeque things on |
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| I should have found out what these herbs were |
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| Three fish, Tung calls, pla yang. We got at the Siam Makro Cash & Carry |
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| Slits made in them and salt, fish sauce and who knows what else worked in there and left to marinate for a while. |
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| Mama cut a couple banana leaves off a tree and wrapped the fish in it |
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| I guess it keeps things moist, adds some flavor and holds things together so they don't fall through the grate |
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| My god these are looking good |
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| Some of the items in Mama's pantry. That's about half gallon of sliced ginger there front and center. I got sent home with a bit of that. |
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| I kind of like that little spool for a handle |
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| Hold me back |
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| Kuhn Kob, the human vacuum cleaner. There was not much left of those pretty little pink fish when I was done. I never had fish that tasted this good. |
I didn't think it would go, but I was wrong. Who knew you could fold a king size mattress in half? Not me. I didn't get to sleep on it, some of those who were pushing and pulling did.
Afterwards we retired to the front porch for some pickin' and grinnin'. The neighbors all stopped by to see the farang and his ukulele serenade every woman within arm's reach.
I got sleepy early, but not sure what time it was when I turned in. I slept upstairs in a
mosquito net. They provided me with a fan too, but it was actually too cool with it on. It is a different feeling out here than Bangkok. The breezes are cool, and I can sleep without air or fan. I had to get up to visit the toilet during the night, and it was an adventure finding my way in the dark. My little phone has a torch light, probably saved me from going headfirst down the stairs.
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| I slept up here. You can see the net attached to the walls. |
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| Here's what I woke up to the next morning. |
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| It's like a little house. Pretty fun. I had the mattresses and several pillows in there, it was very comfortable. |
This was a good night's sleep and awakening to sunlight streaming through the space between the wall and ceiling. It's all open air.
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Sorry it's taken me so long to update this post, I've been very busy and more than a little worried after returning home, beginning a job search, settling into a new job, learning the ropes of the bus system and visa process, etc. It's Nov. 25 already, my visa expires today and I must travel to Laos to get another one. Jumping ahead here, I'll get on to the second day now of this long, long post about Korat that happened several weeks ago.
