Happy Days in Isan
Reflection of life over a glass of chilled wine
You know how you get after a couple of wines (or whatever), in my case kindly donated by recent visitors? Life seems pretty good and despite all the challenges of living in Thailand, there’s nowhere else I would prefer to be on an evening like this one.
A beautiful warm evening with a chilled Aussie white (bottled under a Thai label) in a five star tropical garden environment made me think just how incredibly lucky I was in every aspect of my life.
My wife Gaun who is the most supportive and caring person I know. So full of life and humour. A joy in every situation.
On the left she is in dress-up mode and on the right in working gear helping to lay a 6,000 brick extension to our garden paving.
A home that is beyond anything I hoped to achieve in Thailand
or anywhere else.
Our Isan Village Home
The lounge room, although spacious and comfortable with big views over the original garden, is hardly ever used. We spend most time outside. The TV gathers dust.
An open plan design is so appropriate in a hot tropical climate. Uncluttered for easy living.
Our guests know this bedroom well.
My extended family, who are a delight. They give so much and expect nothing in return. Lud and Yuan here.
Yuan’s son Game, who recently helped us lay 6,000 brick paving in our tropical garden, and Tham, Gaun’s older sister Bear’s husband.
They welcomed me into the family from day one and nothing has changed since then.
My Isaan life is full of surprises and keeps me young inside even if the exterior is falling into disrepair like this farm truck!
Surprising moments at every turn. A Miss Something or Other at Udon Thani.
Boys toys like my NIssan.
Friends made on the blog, Facebook and others from a previous life
plus family have travelled to see us. The world comes to Thailand.
My dear stepdaughter Peng, who is in the process of developing her CV for university entrance next year, a first for a family of rice farmers.
She’s made a lot of this possible. Thank you Gaun.
I will never be accepted as a Thai person but when you get scenes like this one, which happened on my birthday 2017 organised by Gaun and Yuan, it’s as good as it gets.
Happier here than anywhere else. That will do me.
Thanks for reading this post, which is testing an updated layout.
Hi Tony,
Greetings from Brisvegas where its a balmy 32 degrees. Yuri tells me its been quite chilly in Surin over the last week. The exact opposite here – hot, humid and definitely heading for a scorching summer.
112 weeks to go Tony – we are almost in the transit lounge so to speak. Conversations have shifted from “when” to “what” …
Our discussions are becoming more detailed as the time approaches going “home.” It is going quickly too, albeit sometimes not quick enough when confronted with a typical Monday morning.
The new format looks great and compliments nicely your defining characteristic as a writer / story teller – self effacing and subtly understated. So often one is drawn in by your conversational style, which is much more engaging than the narrative of many other blogs I’ve read and discarded over the years. The new style suites it to a T.
Keep sending your wonderful “Postcards from Isan” Tony. Both Yuri and I look forward to them very much.
-Greg
About the same as here during the day Greg. Nightimes are getting in the high teens, so cooling down. The insulation in the house is now keeping it warm. 24 overnight while outside is 15 degrees. We have to wipe chairs and table each morning to get rid of the dew. Very un-Thai. I heard you are in for a hot one with bushfires about already. Super dry here with 50% of Isan drought declared and we are only starting the dry season.
That time will slip away and you’ll be enjoying local coffee in no time!
Thanks for the positive remarks on the new blog format. I am trying to give it a bit of a refresh but not compromise on the content. We have been so busy recently that it’s a catch 22. With so much going on I have heaps to write about but not the time because there’s so much going on. Also the weather is just so perfect during the day that I feel guilty being inside typing away. I have a laptop but my main computer is better suited to blog work and graphics.
This week is quieter (although things pop up expectedly – which I love) so you might see a few new posts flow though to remind you of what’s to come.
Always nice to see your name in the comments section.
All the very best to you both.
Tony
Tony, A great site, and a pleasure to read. To quote you… “Happier here than anywhere else. That will do me” seems to sum it up perfectly.
Welcome Dave and a big thank you for the comment.
I hope to hear more from you over time.
Cheers.
Tony
Hi Tony,
I look forward to reading your posts because you tell life how it is here in Isan without the BS like on other forums, I have learnt so much over the past 3 years from your good selves whether it be building, gardening etc. Sometimes I surprise Nong with things and she asks where I learn this, to which I reply ‘Tony in Thailand’
Thanking you so much for imparting your knowledge with your great Forum, looking forward to seeing you soon.
Chris & Nong
An absolute pleasure Nobby. I am sure I have said it before but ‘meeting’ people like you and Nong is the main payback for writing the blog and what a delight it is.
Thank you.
Tony
Dear Truly Tony!
By your own pretty unique way to empower and beautify the world, you are not only displaying happiness of a well-lived life. Also you are inspiring people from around the world to become the best they can be by expanding their minds, exploring new horizons, and seeing life as a blessing.
Additionally, you are telling us –subtly- never is too late to do what is right because your life is your story, so write it well, and edit often since the past is just a lesson and never a perpetual prison, and by sharing your gift with humanity your qualities can be developed limitlessly by others once your story resonated with them.
Truly Tony, you are the perfect incarnation of this quote telling the world is full of suffering but it is also full of one person like you making a difference to overcoming adversity while thriving and doing good for others.
“Never forget that you are one of a kind. Never forget
that if there weren’t any need for you in all your
uniqueness to be on this earth, you wouldn’t be here
in the first place. And never forget, no matter how
overwhelming life’s challenges and problems seem
to be, that one person can make a difference in the
world. In fact, it is always because of one person
that all the changes that matter in the world come
about. So be that one person.”
-Buckminster Fuller
Likewise Peng, even if at a different age (I’m 65), I’m getting university entrance because I believe I can help more to leave this world better that I found it.
About you and Gaun, you are the perfect couple because as said by an anonymous author, “love is much more than finding the right person; it is a matter of being the right person.” Both deserve each other.
In conclusion as expressed by Maxim Gorky, “Happiness always looks small while you hold it in your hands, but let it go, and you will learn at once how big and precious it is”.
And you Truly Tony has proved it is attitude not aptitude what determines our altitude.
Finally at the end of the day take your wife Gaun and your daughter Peng and get to know about this marvelous message (Caption in English and Spanish languages). It is like your story as speaker of great words and images, and a doer of wonderful deeds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mydHYd0CcsU
Thank you and Blessings a Thousand fold!
Guillermo Rivera
San Antonio, Texas, U.S.A. – 2:54 PM
If I had to rate a comment yours would be a 10/10 Guillermo, not just for the content but as an insight into the person writing it.
I am lucky to have largely discarded an ego in my journey because otherwise I would have to enlarge my doors to get my head through 🙂
A Truly fine piece of writing and Truly appreciated at this end.
I feel this is an inadequate reply to your words but simplicity is sometimes an appropriate response.
Thank you Guillermo.
Tony
Dear Truly Great Tony:
Lasting a suggestion to complete the last two chapters of your book “Becoming the Truth” and still expanding them as said by Rumi “Close both eyes to see with the other eye.”
http://peacefulrivers.homestead.com/rumipoetry1.html
Perhaps Ernest Wilson may give you an insight or two (navigator is at the right):
https://www.truthunity.net/audio/ernest-wilson/master-class-lessons
At my side, I will take advantage of your accomplished landscaping know-how by ordering your Kindle book “Building a House in Thailand: How to Survive the Thailand Building Challenge” at Amazon. I have a huge yard (0.4 acre) and your path will be helpful to me.
So when you, Gaun and Peng visit me in San Antonio, Texas you will feel really at home in America.
Many blessings to you all!
‘Till,
Guillermo