THAILAND TRAVELS: A Journal PHANOM DONG RAK (cont'd) Page 6
Tuesday 17th: Morning: Helped to unpack and shift >1500 roofing tiles (ca 2kg each) for the new family house which is being built here. This is a very far cry from the existing small traditional Thai wooden house on stilts which the family currently live in.
Afternoon: Shifted countless numbers of hardwood planks [photo] varying in 2m to 5m in length, into cover for the new house.
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- Those hardwood planks are actually quite heavy. Not sure how many I shifted but it was easily in the 100's.
- And after all that work... time to relax in the hammock... and, yes, that's Chang beer :-)
The hardwood timber the trees for which are all over this region is beautiful and is more readily available than its equivalent pine in UK which is not only softwood but rots easily. The timber is from big tall trees felled here on the farm. This is actually illegal in Thailand without consent (similar to UK) but being so remote no one gives a hoot. I think I lost a gallon of sweat doing these tasks, and no beer to sate the thirst…. Only Adam’s-ale ☹.
Wednesday 18th. Caught some pretty big fish in one of the farm ponds. Ca 1.5-2 kgs each [photo]. These once cooked by Aom’s mum, Thai-style is really very tasty.
Around noon came news that Aom’s grandmother’s buffalo had slipped into a steep-sided deep pond and not being able to clamber out had drowned. This is a big loss to Thai country folk. Anyway, the family rallied around and eventually dragged the poor animal out. What happened next was not short of amazing. It took less than an hour for the carcass to be dismantled/butchered in its entirety and shared out between the large number of family members. Each paid for what they took as compensation for the loss of the animal. So (very) fresh steak all-round. I, fortunately, didn’t witness the butchery but I did arrive in time to see the animal’s head being roasted whole on an open fire. Nothing is wasted.[photo and movie]
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- PHOTOS: What was left of the buffalo when I arrived. Fresh steaks all round.
Movie:- A buffalo replacement vehicle and village locals at work hacking (sorry, carving) the cow's head.
Wednesday Evening: Things are looking up!!! Aom’s dad appeared in the late afternoon with a carrier-bag containing 6 big-size litre bottles of Chang. It’s very rare I hug another guy, but Chet Khongjaidee got one this day. We helped each other down 4 of them before and after dinner. Mmmmmm!
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- PHOTOS: Fishing in one of the farm ponds. And, yes, I caught several; all good to eat.
Thursday 19th: Well it had to happen when I was here didn’t it…?
The combination of September being the wettest month in Thailand and the after effects of Typhoon "Usagi" around the Philipines meant awful weather. It started raining buckets at about 2am and it just kept on coming and coming. Typical monsoon stuff. Everything ground to a halt today which gave me time to write down more of this crap!
Heavy rain continued for 19 hours non-stop…. One thing I didn’t pack was a pair of wellies! No problem, just go bare-foot. I since hear that no one here has seen rain fall so heavy in 40 years for that length of time. Usually a massive downpour for maybe an hour or two but not 19-hours of it!
Temp a bitter 26ºC brrrr. Thais consider it cold anyway.
Friday 20th: Quiet day. Made arrangements for accommodation in Pattaya for 28th. Unsure our last apartment will be available so I’ve booked into a hotel for a couple of nights which I’ve used several times before and got to know the manager. Usual very good rate for one of the best rooms. It’ll only take a day to find another apartment with Aom’s Thai help. It’ll be relax and wait time then.
Sunday 22nd and Monday 23rd: The extreme weather continues. Torrential rain storms sweep the Surin Province. Severe flooding in Surin city have claimed 8 lives and 20,00 chickens from a farm. Other local news reports 12 crocodiles escaping from a farm into the river-system. Only four have been re-captured!
Errrm! Think I’ll leave off fishing for a while.
Wednesday 25th: Hot and sunny again. Spent most of the day assisting with roofing the new house [photo]. Temperature at noon 34ºC under the “gazebo”.
Thursday 26th: Morning: Finishing off the main section of the roof of the new house. Having watched the Thai builders at work, I’ll make a comparison between them and their UK counterparts:
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But here's some photos of the old wooden house and photos of the progress of the new house:
