Love Living in Isan
26 March 2019
This is a minor post in contrast to the last one I published on the 22nd of March, which covered a week or more of activities. This story only covers a few days of small and even smaller events but as always I hope the detail of some of the topics I write about help give you an ever increasing knowledge and understanding of a real life in Isan. I continue to learn new things, none of which will rock the world, but they allow me to look at the everyday with increasingly educated eyes. Every time I discover something I didn’t know before it’s like another step in obtaining my degree in Isan Living, all of which I share with you.
Recycling
The village loudspeakers announced that we were more formally moving into an era of recycling and that households were required to have a three bin system for paper, glass and plastics. This is an odd announcement because Isan people are very good at recycling because there’s money in it. The place may be a bit basic and make-do but you will rarely see piles of rubbish and certainly never things that can be recycled at the side of the road or in villages. Anyway someone in the burearocracy had a bright idea to formal the separation of items and here we are.
In a western world that would require a rush to the nearest hardware store to buy plastic bins or something along those lines, but here it was a rush to the stokes of bamboo.
This traditional timber house now looks down on three recycling bins.
The Moo Ban 7/11
I recently came across a post on Facebook designed to be helpful for tourists promoting the advantages of Thailand’s extensive network of 7/11s. Now, I have nothing against 7/11s in themselves as they provide a useful and convenience service and I use them myself when I need basic farang supplies or when we are on a road trip.
What I worry about is that eventually 7/11 will start to creep out of the commercial areas of small towns and into the surrounding moo bans (villages) putting out of business what we would historically call the ‘corner shop’, a dead concept in our urban areas too these days.
I love these quirky local shops selling everything from beer to irrigation pipe. They are usually just tacked onto the front of the owner’s house and each village will have several, almost one in every street!
Instead of the commercially, pre-packaged and often over-sweetened food offered by 7/11, these local shops will stock food cooked by some of the villagers each morning using locally grown ingredients and distributed to these shops to on-sell. People on the way to their farms early morning will call into the store to pick up breakfast or lunch. All the money is retained within the community Small bags of vegetables or a few roasted frogs – whatever is being grown or caught in the fields find their way to these shops. They form part of the character of Isan and it will be a sad loss when progress overtakes them.
We were heading out to the farm so called into this local shop run by a lady who went to school with Gaun.
I was coming home before Gaun so we were taking the entire Eastmead vehicle fleet to the farm. Ice and soft drinks were what we were after. You can see the food on offer on the bench at the back. More commercial stuff in the front. Everything you might need as an Isan person inside.
Duk Dik’s annual bath
Duk Dik, the family dog who is well known to regular readers, is officially recorded in the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s scruffiest dog but this week he made his daily walk to the farm at the wrong time and met three ladies who were determined to make him look decent for a day.
Peng, Gaun and Puk, a niece. You might remember Puk from the local wedding I wrote about in the last post, where she was looking a little more formal. She’s much more comfortable in this dress-style!
Duk Dik is very docile and took it all pretty well. However, we didn’t see him for the rest of the day post-wash!
Who needs a swimming pool?
This was a funny happening because I had replied to a regular reader’s question just that very morning:
Frank: Does anyone else share your passion for early morning swims?
Tony: No, just me and the fish, swimming in the mornings or at any other time. I have seen Lud go in for a splash once but neither he nor Yuan can swim so I guess it’s not an attraction as it is with us. The heat just doesn’t seem to register. Gaun can doggie paddle and swam in the Land & House pool regularly when we lived in Chiang Mai pool but here she only gets wet fishing (net) or looking for snails 
It was a very hot day and as Duk Dik had got wet the youngsters (and Gaun who was only there to keep an eye on Peng, who can’t swim) thought they might as well too. The high tech floatation devices had a work-out.
Did they enjoy it? The look on Peng’s face says it all.
This may look like Gaun is swimming but she has a small plastic kick-board underneath her, which is keeping her afloat.
This is such a typical Isan photo. Swimming must work up an appetite so sour mangos were cut, chilli powder and sugar added and there’s a complete snack to have poolside 🙂
Lunch for the farang – freshly made fried rice. Thanks Gaun.
It’s freezing here
I have been holding out on buying a freezer but took the plunge this week and a small 100 litre version has been added to the family. The freezer in our fridge is quite small because one third of the space is taken up with an ice maker. I find that for those of us who still enjoy ‘home-style’ cooking then some western supplies have to be bought in bulk, for example if we do a shop in Udon Thani or order online. The separate freezer will allow me to widen the scope of ingredients available for meals.
If you still want to eat western meals you will find Thailand as expensive for some of the basics as back ‘home’. 250 grams of butter is 120 baht here, although it does pop up on special but always over 100 baht. At Coles in Australia (a big supermarket chain) butter is 100 baht! 2 liters of milk 68 baht at Coles vs 92 baht here, Mainline cheese 125 baht vs 190 baht, and so it goes. Something like a lasagna, which I enjoy, is expensive because it is highly farang orientated involving beef (Thais largely don’t eat beef), cheese, milk, mustard, a splash of wine plus some for the cook etc. The benefit is that having made it there are a few meals left over and that’s where the new freezer comes in.
I have added a few photos of some of the online meats available here, which can be shipped pretty cheaply.
The freezette in our storeroom next to Peng’s treadmill.
For blog Isan farmer only
An update on farming activities I have recording in the last week, for those interested.
The broccoli has finally been ploughed into the ground. Yuan has been able to pick small heads way past what she was able to do last year so it has more than paid its way. All good things come to an end however.
Lud at work on the small tractor getting what was a paddy field ready to plant with vegetables. Hot, heavy work.
Because of the heat, which dries out the soil so much, Yuan felt that the long beans needed more moisture than was being provided with her afternoon hand watering. Here water is being pumped from the pond to flood the ex-paddy field holding the beans.
The tractor in one of its other roles, here pumping water.
The long beans have taken off in the couple of days since the extra watering.
See the small beans sprouting from the flowerheads.
Sorry – I can’t help myself. All of this planted by hand by two people! Outstanding.
I thought that this was a bed that had been previously harvested and was full of weeds. Oh dear farmer Tony – you’re still learning aren’t you! This is actually morning glory in its early stages but a different type to the one I have shown before, see below. It’s a good thing I didn’t decide to help Yuan and Lud with a bit of farang ad-hoc weeding 🙂
This is the second type, which is a runner and has flowers like this. Happy to grow on dry land or wet…see photo on the right.
I posted this photo recently and it shows Yuan and Lud harvesting morning glory for the last Friday markets (I think). This one is growing in water.
Here’s that field Lud was ploughing ready for crops.
And here are some of those crops being prepared. These are onions that have been drying for a few weeks now. The stalks are being removed and the tops cut off ready for planting, which they were by the end of this day.
The farm pickup has recently had four new tyres and window tinting installed. Bought with a bank loan that has now been paid off. Note that in Thailand the front window can be tinted, which is illegal in Australia and I suspect elsewhere. If you are buying a new car here you usually get free window tinting in the package. Make sure you tell them NOT to tint the front windscreen if that’s your desire. Daytime its OK but at night a tinted windscreen is not a good idea.
Charcoal being made for the family on the other half of the farm. Wood is buried and then slow burned. Bear, Gaun’s older sister, got stung by a scorpion when moving wood for this fire. Very painful. Be careful around piles of timber here for snakes and scorpions.
This dog came with a neighbour who popped in for a chat. Young Labradors are the same here as everywhere – bouncy, friendly and always hungry!
Back home
A few updates of the garden but not overdone I hope. I mentioned before that I was going to write a post on gardening in Isan and that is slowly moving to the front of the queue so should make an appearance soon(ish).
The mix of red bougainvillea and the yellow of newly flowering Dok Khun is a beautiful combination. Dok Khun (Golden shower tree) flower every year over the Songkran period mid-April – Thai New Year.
I have recently extended the sprinkler system into the old garden and everything like these hedges are loving the attention.
Our fourth anniversary of moving in happened two days ago on the 25th March.
This photo was taken on 15 March 2015, 10 days before we moved. The garden had room for improvement.
Sawadee to all visitors (welcome).
Looking across the new garden to the house in the distance. You can just see the roof. The photo isn’t for the garden but…….
……for my only reference to nationalism, the Australian boxing kangaroo, which flies from our roof. Visible from the garden only. Funnily the pole was provided by ToT (Telecom of Thailand) for a microwave dish I once had for my broadband. When I changed to fibre optic the dish was never collected so I have used the pole for the flag. Thanks ToT.
I hope you enjoyed this edition. Please leave a comment. It makes my day.
Hi Tony,
another interesting and varied post which I thoroughly enjoyed reading I was most interested to read about your sprinkler system, perhaps you could furnish me with a few details how this is done as I have been trying in vain to see how these are put together!
Kind regards
Chris and Nong
Hi Chris.
Thanks for that. I will send you details of the system to your email. Cheap and easy to do. I might add it to the blog as well.
Tony
Hey Tony,
Another great update.
One of the things I dislike about trying to get ‘farang’ food here is the way it is packaged frozen, usually 2-3 serves at a time which is pretty useless as you can’t refreeze it as far as I know…
I tend not to be too worried about Aussie food, just make up for it when I get home… The prices of the steak here is just too high, and the odd time I have lashed out the meat was crap… Not even sure it come from home.. Would not be the first time something here was counterfeit 🙂
Thank you Shaughan. I miss the ability to buy fresh in the quantity you need for the next meal too. You can obviously do that with the meats Isan people eat, fish, pork and chicken but not with edible beef. Like you I have found the local beef to be literally inedible. Duk Dik had a great time the couple of times I tried. I even slow cooked some local beef all day and Duk Dik still got the results! That means buying from suppliers who mostly have to ship to you, which can only be done frozen. I meant to add a place that does individual portions of meat, some of it Australian, in Udon Thani. I will add it to the next post. You can find it HERE
Hi Tony,
I guess Duk Dik will be a little wary on his next trip to the farm. What does a clean dog do after a bath? why, of course, go find some soft dirt to roll around in. From dogs to doggy paddling, looks like some of the family had fun in the pond. Peng could have paddled around for therapy after her surgery, if it was available, and the weather was ok. The whole Isan way of farming from prepping the land with minimal equipment, getting beds ready with hand tools, seeding by hand, and harvesting by hand, and even making their own charcoal, is true rural farm living. However, it is hard as hell on the body. I know there is increasing beef production in Thailand (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6039331/), but it seems expensive too. Maybe producers in Thailand see the high prices charged for imported beef, or wine, and think (even without having to deal with tariffs, shipping costs, etc.) they can still charge just as much for theirs. All those tinted windows you guys going “gangsta” on us! Remember; 7/11 = obesity!
Take care,
Jim
I haven’t seen him more recently but also we haven’t been at the farm as much recently due to other commitments. He loves Gaun’s mama and while she is based there during the day I am sure he will make the walk out, but keep a low profile while there 🙂
Yes, manual farming is fine when you’re younger but takes a toll later in life. Yuan and Lud are heading into their mid-40’s and on the other half of the farm Bear is in her 50’s and Tham 62. Lud gets regular injection in a knee for pain and Bear has had injuries more recently. As we have talked about before, without the next generation to take over what is the ‘retirement’ scenario for these people? I wanted to buy Yuan some jasmine shrubs so that she could diversify a little bit. The flower buds are used to make the more upmarket flower garlands you will see being sold at traffic lights (we bought one today when we were in Udon Thani and the jasmine scent filled the car). Jasmine is expensive so I thought Yuan could make a bit of easy(ier) money. The offer was refused because she told Gaun that she only had experience growing vegetables and didn’t want to try something new. I don’t had a problem with that as it’s not my business, but I think that closed attitude can probably be applied to many aspects of Isan farming that may require new ideas in order to adjust to an aging workforce and low prices for traditional output.
This part of Thailand just isn’t set up for beef farming. I see people out and about hand cutting grass to supplement the grazing cows and buffalo do on the sides of the roads or in harvested rice paddies. It’s not exactly broadacre farming as we’d relate to in the US or Australia. The tough quality of the meat reflects this low quality input (plus of course they kill and sell).
Hi Tony,
three comments come to mind. Here in Rayong Province, re-cycling is a long established habit, though not yet government mandated. It is practiced mostly by a good number of lower income folks, who regularly collect empty beer and soda bottles, aluminum cans, clear and colored, heavy plastic containers and bottles, cardboard of most types, discarded metals of many types, etc. from residents roadside trash bins, construction sites, etc. and take them, after sorting and bundling, to one of quite a few near-by re-cycle yards.
I and a few others take our own separated family’s re-cycles to the same places once per month, mostly because it is the right thing to do, but also, because it generates a few baht additional pocket money (usually between 250 and 300 baht) for my mother-in-law, who lives with us and ‘runs’ our house and garden. She is a wonderful Lady, whom I have grown to love and appreciate ever since, now six years ago, she, Sue, little Anda (my wife’s great niece) and I established our ‘thrown together by the winds of Karma’ family.
Mom Teal, after working in rubber tree plantations all her life, now, with my wife’s assistance, happily grows roughly 250 jasmine plants in our garden and sells their blossoms to the local garland maker shops. These days, since the rains started a few weeks ago, the jasmine bushes are producing like gang-busters and the ladies pick about two, some days three kilos of blossoms per day, making for a nice little business for them, at about 300 baht per kilo. The proceeds are all Mom’s and she loves earning her own portion of her spending money. Since I participate by providing transportation, does that make me a sort of ‘Gentleman Farmer’? I’m just saying……….
Looking at Duk Dik getting shampood, brings my canine family to mind – Buddy, Becky, Nawan, Year and, as of two weeks ago, our newest family member, who has been named Lucky – a sweet puppy of a pit bull mix, no more than perhaps five weeks old now. He was ‘lucky’ to be rescued by Sue from the middle of a heavy traffic filled market road not far from here. Year, named such because he was a New Year’s Gift from someone, is a cute, but pudgy little Pommeranian. Nawan (‘Sweet Water’ in Thai), another present from another friend, was to be a female Pommeranian companion to Year, but the two haven’t succeeded in founding a family yet. Becky is a sweet five year old Thai-Australian Dingo, who bosses everyone else around a bit, but loves them all anyway. Buddy is a three year Staffordshire Bull mix, who simply attached himself to us one day during our daily walk through the fields not far from home. Strangely enough, he joined us one week before his predecessor ‘After’ was sadly hit and killed by a truck while crossing the main road on the way to the fields. ‘After’ because Sue found him, AFTER the other two already with us ……… the world according to my Lady Sue …..
Three years ago, Sue had rescued After under similar circumstances to ‘Lucky’ – also from the center of a busy main road, with heavy traffic passing him by in both directions ……… go figure …..
OK, Tony, three observations triggered by your post……. I don’t always get this wordy…..
Hans
Thank you so much for the expressive comment Hans. Your name was mentioned two days ago to a visiting Australian, a blog reader for over four years, who dropped into see us on the way to Chiang Mai. I was so impressed you made the trip up to see us and beyond. I am pleased you are still following Isan life from Rayong and taking an interest in the very small events that make up my life here.
Yes, Thailand is spotless compared to some other Asian countries because of the commitment to recycling, not for the environment but for economic reasons. When I drive to Nong Bua Lamphu we pass one or two regulars with small carts collecting bottles and plastics from the side of the road. I remember being worried leaving an empty bottle of beer on the side of our village road during a street party until I realised there were ladies collecting recycle material at the back! We even have a plastic bag recycling plant in the village itself. The bags are washed, dried and then bundled for sale.
I am disappointed that Yuan didn’t go for a Jasmine extension to her business. I might lease a small area of the farm near the beach hut and plant some myself (well Gaun will plant – you know me well enough to understand how it works!) I can enjoy the flowers and maybe we can ease Yuan into the concept.
I hadn’t really picked up on what a dog lover you and Sue are. We went to the blessing of a partially finished house owned by a local Frenchman and his wife (lovely house) and he left his car running during the whole ceremony. It was only later I realised that he had his three dogs in the air conditioning to keep them cool. Now that’s dedication. Two dobermans and a husky.
Thank you again Hans.
Tony