We’ve just purchased a new digital camera!

After a lot of research we finally settled on a Canon IXUS 950 IS, which retails for 17,900 baht (just under $500.00 U.S. dollars). The camera is a trifle complicated, but we’re slowly learning to use most of its features and I’m sure we will enjoy the benefits of it in the long run.

About fifteen months ago Mam came home with three young papaya plants given to her from a neighbor. They were about two feet in height (I still can’t get used to metric measurements) and quite healthy, so Mam planted them behind our cottage in some moist shady soil. One has since died, but the other two flourished and we have several papayas growing on them.

It never fails to amaze me how easily things grow here in Thailand. We have numerous plants growing around our home (many varieties of orchids, hot peppers, vegetables, herbs, fruits, flowers, and fungi) that come about from seeds tossed out, plants given to us, or from cuttings taken from larger plants.

I love papaya, so about six months ago Mam brought me a large ripe papaya from the local wet market, cut it and served it to me while I was working on my computer upstairs. I scooped out the seeds with a spoon and dumped them out the window, never thinking they would take root, but sure enough, about three weeks later, Mam showed me the small papaya plants growing outside our upstairs window.

We’ve since transplanted fourteen of them, most flourishing in and around our home, destined to provide us with fresh papaya in the future. Papaya grows very fast, and can produce fruit in as little time as a year, if the conditions are right. This photo is of Mam holding our largest papaya to date, weighing around two kilos (4.4 pounds) and providing us with sweet papaya fruit for well over four days.

Mam is cultivating lemongrass (an aromatic herb widely used in Thai cooking), an ingredient I could never seem to find while living in the U.S., attempting to cook Thai dishes. I’ve since learned that you don’t eat lemongrass, but only allow it to flavor your meal, since it is so pungent. Many of Mam’s plants, herbs or weird Thai or Issan dishes never come near my mouth simply because they are used in recipes too extreme for my taste.

Here at home, there is a distinct division: “Her” food, and “My” food. “My” food is purchased once every month when Mam and I venture into Hat Yai for our monthly grocery shopping. Although Mam does pick up a few things for herself, most of the trip is devoted to finding my farang or “foreigner” food. In the past two or three years, I’ve managed to nail down more and more locations in the city where foreign food is available. Our food forays have become much more complicated as a result, with the two of us venturing to many different sites in Hat Yai, chasing down various (often rare) food items.

Cheese, certain spices, imported sausages, specific legumes, black olives, processed and canned fruits, tortilla chips, sour cream, cottage cheese, and many other specialty foods are difficult to obtain unless you know where to purchase them. I love to cook and I am always trying to learn to cook new foods. Given that this great shopping day is often a hectic one, Mam and I usually treat ourselves by visiting a different restaurant while in the city.

One of our favorite restaurants is Namaste Orange (http://www.geocities.com/namasteorange/) an Indian food restaurant that recently moved and which we fear will eventually close due to poor patronage.

Since Namaste Orange sells some of their own Indian food ingredients, I have been delving into building up a small home supply of ingredients to cook my own Indian meals. The owner of the shop has given me some information of where in Hat Yai to purchase certain ingredients such as chick peas (Garbanzo beans), lentils, yellow split peas, Garam Masala, and other Indian food items. Indian food is easy to cook if you have the right ingredients.

Many restaurants in Hat Yai that were favorites are now closed, mostly because of the bombings and past terrorist activity in the area. So, I have begun to compile a list of certain recipes I can prepare at home, rather than rely on locally prepared foods.
My newest experiment is Chicken Masala, an Indian dish that is not only aromatic, but also pleasantly spicy and delicious when served with Indian breads such as Chapatti, Naan, or Roti.

The recipe is simple and straight forward, providing you have the correct ingredients:

Chicken Masala

1 kilo (2.2 pounds) boneless chicken breast (cut into bite size pieces)
100 grams ghee (a clarified butter similar to lard or shortening)
3 finely chopped (medium) onions
3 finely chopped tomatoes
½ teaspoon Deggi Mirch (Indian red chili powder)
15 grams Chicken Masala powder (a pre-mixed powder containing coriander, chilies, cumin, Turmeric, Fenugreek leaves, salt, Black pepper, Dry Ginger, Mustard, Bay leaf, Pulse, Cloves, Nutmeg, Caraway, Cinnamon, Cardamom seeds, Mace, and Asafetida).
Natural Yogurt (One small carton)
Lemon (or lime) juice to taste (I use one medium sized lime)
2 grams Kasoori Methi leaves (about five small leaves)

Preparation:
Wash, remove skin, cut the chicken and set aside. Heat 100 grams oil / ghee in a pan and fry 3 chopped onions until golden. Add 3 chopped tomatoes, ½ teaspoon Deggi Mirch & stir well.
Add 15 grams Chicken Masala powder & salt to taste. Stir-fry for 2 to 3 minutes. Add chicken pieces and fry them for 10 minutes. Add yogurt, 60-ml. (two ounces) water & mix. Reduce to low heat, cover & simmer for 20 minutes. Prevent it from sticking at bottom. Add 15-ml. lemon (or lime) juice & 2 grams Kasoori Methi leaves, stir & serve.

Luckily, the Chicken Masala powder, Ghee, Deggi Mirch, and Kasoori Methi leaves can be purchased at Namaste Orange. Mam and I prepared this dish today, and although Mam said she doesn’t like it, she changed her mind after tasting it, steaming and piled high over a bed of freshly cooked rice.

Food in our household is a central issue. From breakfast to dinner, we both try to become inventive and flexible. I am flexible when it comes to sampling Mam’s various menu items from the Northeast of Thailand, while she tries to be flexible with my various Western menu items, and my new experiments with other ethnic foods.

Breakfast is a sensitive issue for me since I cannot fathom eating certain items in the early morning, while Mam can chomp down upon items such as fish, pungent soups and stews, and a variety of strong tasting and smelling concoctions.

I’ve reverted to making my own breakfast sausage, which has proved to be quite a successful project, given the right ingredients. Jimmy Dean, I’m not, but given the mock recipes on the Internet, I’ve managed to create a close second. The only problem I have is ingredients. Some months you can find Marjoram, but other months it is absent from the market shelves, so patience is the key here in Asia.

I reflect upon my time spent living in China, where I was forced to purchase specialty foods at a small deli in downtown Guangzhou. Simple Western foods such as certain cheeses, taco shells, gravies, baked beans, various spices used in the West, soups, chips, tartar sauce and mustard, were available at terrifically inflated prices that severely lightened my pocketbook just for a taste of the foods I was used to eating. Local Western restaurants such as KFC, McDonalds, Pizza Hut and the like, were all available, but expensive by Chinese standards.

Here in Thailand the situation is much the same, with imported foods typically higher in price than local foods. Eating Thai food at local restaurants is often limited to how much Thai you can speak or read, or to what degree you are willing to experiment. In my first year in Thailand, I quickly found out how to ask for a handful of different types of Thai dishes. Now, in my fourth year living here, I have expanded that repertoire to a couple of handfuls. But, I fully realize there are hundreds of Thai dishes I am effectively missing out on, simply because I lack understanding of the Thai language. It takes time and diligence to learn about different Thai dishes and to experiment with different restaurants.

One Thai dish in particular that I enjoy, is Laab Moo, a spicy minced pork dish containing finely chopped scallions, green onion, Thai peppers, lime juice and red pepper, all heaped over a giant bed of steaming white rice. But, although I favor Mam’s variety, I have found many different varieties in and around our home at various local restaurants, some tasty, and some not. Variety, I believe, in Thailand is the key to sustenance.

Foods here in the south of Thailand are not exclusive to the South, as many are cooked by ethnic Muslims, local Thai’s, transplanted Northern Hmong, Issan north westerners, and a rich variety of Chinese immigrants who add their own special taste to local foods.

I think if I were to return to the U.S. today, I would suffer a culture shock (reverse culture shock?) after living in these conditions for five years. Although I haven’t forgotten what it is like living in the U.S., my memory is fading somewhat, the longer I live here in Southeast Asia.

-Jeeem-

Belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone!

I haven’t celebrated Christmas for years, but this year I did enjoy the holiday vicariously through my students who absolutely treasured our classroom Christmas tree and reveled in making holiday cards for their parents with Christmas music playing in the background. There’s just something about a Christmas tree; tiny flashing lights and Christmas music like, “The Little Drummer Boy,” that evoke good feelings in me.

I received one Christmas card this year, from my friends Ben, Joyce & Ellie from Bristol Laundromat in Bristol, New Hampshire, my old stomping grounds back in the states, with a promise they would write me a more in-depth letter in the near future. Whether other friends sent cards or not remains a mystery since the good ole Thai postal service is just as corrupt as the rest of the government services here in Thailand.

I sent out a few Christmas cards this year to people I know well, but Christmas is actually just another day to me. To be honest I didn’t even notice Christmas had arrived until I began to write the date on our white board at school. Even then, I realized that here in Asia it was Christmas, but the Western world was still a day behind.

I try to explain Christmas to my students using the commercialized version rather than the religious one, simply because my little ones don’t understand the complexities of Christian versus Buddhist or Muslim faith/belief. I strongly oppose bringing religion into the classroom having grown up in a confusing mix of Protestant & Catholic beliefs versus scientific teaching in the public schools I attended. I’ve since encountered many questions from the Thai / English teachers at our school who want to know more about Western beliefs, religions and traditions, testing my mediocre knowledge of the subject, while I have learned a lot from them concerning Buddhist and Muslim traditions and faith.

Lately, Mam has met and befriended a woman across the street who is the village shaman of sorts. I’m delighted because it has opened up a new world for Mam, whom I believe was getting a trifle bored living way out here in the boonies with not much to do except read, clean house or go shopping. Now she chatters on and on about things she has learned from the “old woman,” as she is affectionately called in our home, including anything from health remedies to numerology.
Mam bristles when I don’t go along with her convictions, labeling me a nonbeliever, often beginning her sentences with, “I know you don’t believe me, but…” alerting me that she is about to tell me something she learned from the “old woman,” or share some superstitious belief she has concerning ghosts or spirits.

I might be a skeptic, but I’m truly happy Mam has found happiness in her dealings with the old woman, whom although I am reluctant to take seriously, I must admit she does have a few things going for her and I am often flabbergasted at some of the results of her so-called magic. Mam often traipses over to the old woman’s house when I am busy doing something, offering, “I’m going across the street to eat Khanom Jean, (or Durian, Jackfruit, Papaya, Jampada, Som Tam, etcetera). But I know her time spent with the old woman is mainly informational since the old lady tends to treat Mam as somewhat of an apprentice to her tricks of the trade, so-to-speak.

Mam has suffered from occasional dizziness ever since we first met over two years ago. She takes medications prescribed by local physicians, but refuses to go to the hospital, not wanting to undergo expensive medical exams. She complains the medications prescribed for her rarely work, and has resorted to traditional Chinese medicine at some of the local Chinese pharmacies, which appear to work better.

Recently she suffered a persistent attack of dizziness while I was taking a nap in the afternoon. Medication she had on hand didn’t work, so she went across the street to see the old woman, who gave her some mysterious powder to mix with water and drink.

Upon arising from my nap I was ambushed and enthusiastically lectured on the knowledge and healing properties of the old woman’s cure for Mam’s dizziness with this mysterious powder, which appeared to work very well for her.

I listened to her story for a while before asking to see the powder. When Mam produced the small plastic bottle, I examined the brown powder and opened the bottle to smell it. After a good whiff, I sat back in my chair with a déjà vu that I had smelled that scent somewhere else. It was a matter of minutes before my memory banks settled upon it….

I had it!

Marijuana.

Having stuck my face into many a baggie in my earlier years, I surmised that the old woman was manufacturing something that either included the illegal substance, or was a close substitute. I then remembered reading a scientific journal years ago, which extolled the healing properties of THC, which surprisingly enough, included dizziness.

Perhaps I am wrong. Perhaps it is just some aromatic herb that smells similar. So, I kept my mouth shut, because it meant more to me that the powder seemed to help Mam, than to burst her bubble trying to tell her that her local shaman may be growing some illicit weed somewhere on her property and reducing it to a powder to sell to local villagers. Meanwhile, Mam is delighted with the mysterious brown powder and is now using it even when she’s not dizzy, saying it helps her sleep and affords her many other good benefits.

Yeah, I’ll bet….

Of late, the old woman has been coming around our house more often. It seems she is interested in Mam’s dreams. Mam told the old woman of a dream she had involving her grandmother and a Buddhist monk who, in the dream, presents a number to her in prayer. After the old woman and other local villagers played the local lottery numbers using the numbers in Mam’s dream, they actually won, each player paying a small portion of their winnings to Mam. Since then, Mam’s popularity has grown at a surprising pace here in North Klong Tong village. The old woman has given Mam a numerology chart so she can figure out her dreams and interpret them numerically so everyone can play the two and three digit lottery based on her predictions.

A fair amount of money exchanges hands here and there, most of which I am ignorant to, having tuned most of it out. But, I caution Mam, reminding her that the two and three digit lottery is illegal, and she must be careful.

Lately the old woman has been teaching Mam about local plants, insects and wildlife. Mam follows the old woman around absorbing everything she says. I have noticed that Mam’s green thumb has been glowing of late, cultivating many different flowering plants along the path to our house and bordering the main road. She has put this new ability to test by selling the flowers to our landlady who uses them in floral displays and flower alms for the monks. So, although Mam doesn’t have a job per-se, she is making a little money from her plantings and numerology predictions.

The old woman stopped by last week to deliver a gift to me, although I have never formally met her. Mam met her on the main road and came back to our house announcing that the old woman had delivered a gift of a papaya to me. I asked Mam why she didn’t come to the house, and she told me the old woman knew from her dreams that I enjoyed my privacy, so she would only call Mam from the main road.

This startled me, since it is true. I have always been a die-hard private person and revel in my privacy. Here in Thailand I’ve struggled with privacy issues since many Thai’s don’t seem to understand the concept of true privacy and often impinge upon personal space without realizing they are doing so. Explicitly, this concerns the cultural difference in Asia of Interdependence (Asia) versus Independence (Western Culture).

So, although the local shaman has some pretty wild ideas, Mam is adopting a few of them, and I am learning that many of them may have a purpose in this life. Although I a skeptical of many things foreign to me, I try to have an open mind when it comes to Asian beliefs and life here in Thailand, and given the fact Mam treats me like a King, it’s the least I can do, to honor her beliefs.

-Jeeem-

It has been well over a year now since my last posting. Mostly I have just been lazy since I no longer have the convenience of accessing the Internet from home and have to wait until Mam and I venture into the city to go shopping before I get the chance to visit an Internet café.

I really do not want to see this blog go to the wayside since I put so much effort into it for so many years. So, I am going to try to post on at least a monthly basis.

To date I have surpassed my original goal of three years spent living in Asia and am approaching my fifth year, over three of which have been spent living in Southern Thailand. As my most recent post reveals, Mam and I have moved to a remote location nestled into the foothills of our village mountain range to the east. Initially Mam and I were complacent about our daily life out here in the boonies but within the last year we have grown quite cautious and vigilant.

About four months or so ago, we spotted our first King Cobra slithering across the road near our home. Quite impressed, if not a bit freaked out, we both rationalized that it was not much of a threat since it was only a baby. Then reason set in and we both realized that where there are babies, there are parents, most likely big parents. We have since spotted seven cobra snakes, both King Cobras and spitting cobras, four of which were found right outside our house.

Two months ago Mam was bitten by a scorpion when she picked up her sharpening stone to hone a knife. She described the bite as excruciatingly painful, the pain radiating up her arm from the initial bite on the palm of her hand. A local villager helped her out by concocting a noxious poultice made from tobacco leaves, which eased the pain a bit. Shortly after Mam's ordeal, our puppy was bitten by a large centipede, which made him sick for days.

Of late we have been visited by several scorpions, some of them very big, two other species of poisonous snakes and a rather huge, poisonous spider, the likes of which I have never seen before, closely resembling a tarantula. Nightly trips to our downstairs bathroom have become a guarded affair, carefully venturing forward after sweeping the floor with the beam of our flashlight, lest we step on a scorpion, centipede or worse.

Despite all our eminent dangers, all is balanced out by the sheer serenity, privacy and peacefulness of our abode. Upon arising in the early morning we are serenaded by the plethora of birds, some exotic, which inhabit the woods around us. Mam and I have purchased a book listing the birds of Thailand, and have adopted the hobby of identifying the different species.

I'm still working at the local school and I thoroughly enjoy the kids, although I have been keeping my eyes open for other opportunities and have applied for a couple of positions in the north of Thailand.

Mam and I now have a motorcycle, which has opened up our world a bit, allowing us to travel to more distant villages and see new sights. We are also hoping to purchase a new digital camera so we can record some interesting things we see.

Well, that is about it. We will be off soon for our monthly visit into Hat Yai to purchase our monthly groceries and take the opportunity to eat out at one of our favorite restaurants. I hope to write again soon, probably next month during the ten days or so that I will have off during vacation in December/ January.

See you then...

-Jeeem-

I thought I'd post once more before our phone line is disconnected.

The picture below shows a new fruit we tried recently, called Snake fruit. The reason for the name escapes me, but it's probably because of the fruits' skin texture, which is sort of prickly, that I suppose could pass as feeling like a snakeskin.

Once the prickly outer skin is peeled off, the fruit meat inside is arranged in a cluster of two or three oblong pieces, depending on the individual size of the fruit. The fruit tastes comparable to Smarties® candy, or RedBull® energy drink, with a tart-sweet tang. Mam's eyes were bigger than her stomach when she selected a bunch from the vendor, as she wasn't crazy about the fruit, but the two of us did manage to get through a dozen of them.

Read about Snake Fruit HERE.





Although our cottage isn't quite as rustic as the picture above, it's not far from it. Our new landlords are remodeling the cottage as I blog, and it seems we're going to have a very nice, quiet and serene place to live in very soon.

Mam and I have been packing our orchids, varied plants, and flowers, along with some very crude garden tools, into our backpacks and hiking up to our cottage every day to work on the outside grounds. I've managed to almost completely cover the tree trunk outside our bedroom with the orchids I've been growing, fastening them to the tree with shredded coconut husk. I watched a Thai gardening program on T.V. and learned about this handy little orchid growing trick, which sure does work well.

Our orchids are flourishing and blooming to beat the band in the humid environment around the cottage and nearby fruit trees, and will be so beautiful once they start to really take hold. I've been experimenting with growing orchids for well over two years now, and finally have perfected a system that seems to work pretty well. My hope is to expand my collection ten fold, so I have many beautiful specimens to admire and enjoy.

Mam has been clearing brush around the cottage, swearing that she'll never return if she sees a snake. So I'm hoping she's only joking since the change of her seeing a snake is pretty darn high.

Mam saw another Atlas moth on Saturday, when we were returning from our visit to the cottage. She's got an eye for that sort of thing, while my eyes are only getting worse in my old age. There are too many weird and interesting flora and fauna to list here, that we see during our walks, but I have begun assembling a folder on the various bugs, birds, reptiles, and animals we spot, to keep track of what we've spotted and put an official name to all of them, which I'll put up as a link on this blogsite at a later date.

Since our sampling of snake fruit, we've come across another three or four odd varieties of fruit during our walks that neither of us has ever seen before. So this has become another challenging project of mine, to catalog the various names of fruits we encounter, and save them to another folder on my computer to post at a later date. Not an easy task, by any means I must say.

Often we have to ask some of the local villagers what the name of the fruit is and often the name cannot be translated into English, or the villager only knows the name of the fruit in a Southern Thai dialect, which cannot be translated into conventional Thai or English. Difficult yes, but certainly not an impossible task by any means.

My vacation is pretty much over now. Only four more days left before I have to return to the classroom. Mam and I visited the school today and did some work on the classroom itself, cleaning here and there and readying some materials for the new school term. Many of the students were out and about, shouting to us, "Teacher Jeeem! Hallo Jeeem! Khrue Mam! Hallo Mam!" which was a good feeling, as I've missed the kids.

Our rainy season seems to have never stopped here in the South of Thailand. Almost every afternoon we have been deluged with thunderstorms, often severe, leaving our rivers bulging at the seams. The dry season was all but absent this year, replaced by torrential rains and sudden storms. Now we're back to our usual monsoon season and the water table remains at a level much higher than normal.

Floods are certain to be a problem this year.

Mam and I will be moving out of this house by the 31st of this month. We've got a lot of things to do to get situated in our new home, such as putting in a new phone line and getting the mail delivered to the right address, so you probably won't hear from us for a while.

Don't despair; we'll eventually be back like an annoying pimple.

Meanwhile, live good lives and stay happy...

-Jeeem & Mam-

We've finally found a new place to live.

About a month and a half ago, during our daily walks up to the North Klong Tong Cemetery and Priest Meditation Residence Temple, I spotted a secluded cottage tucked well off the road in the midst of a fruit tree plantation, and decided to check it out.

"This would be a wonderful place to live," I commented to Mam, but at the time she was far from agreeable, pointing out all the defects of the place, which had obviously been uninhabited for several months if not years. She did agree, however, that the silence and solitude was definitely a plus compared to where we are presently living.

During our walks over the past two months, we've spoken to many villagers along the way, some who were curious about us, and some who were just friendly, getting to know many of them well. We never failed to mention that we were looking for a place to live, and that finally paid off.

Last week we were beckoned by one of the local villagers who saw us while we were walking past his house. The man began talking in a very animated way to Mam, telling her that he knew of a gentleman who was willing to rent out his house and would like to take us to him if we were still interested.

Although I didn't understand most of what was said, I gathered from his gestures and gesticulations that he was talking about the cottage I like.

"Is he talking about the cottage on the temple road?" I asked Mam.

"Yes."

"Does he know the owner?"

"Yes."

"Does the owner want to rent the place out?"

"Yes."

It's a burden having a companion who is so verbose, but I suppose I'll survive....

Eventually we met the owner and in short order we were heading for the cottage, riding in the back of his pickup truck.

Mam and I spent a good part of the morning looking the place over and I fully fell in love with the house. It is definitely what I would call a "fixer upper," but I've always been the type that loved places like this and my excitement level could barely be contained. Not to mention the fact that we'd have about six rai of land (about 2.3 acres) to explore and would be able to plant a vegetable garden and have our own flower garden, for a fraction of what we're paying now.

So, we're moving out the 31st of May and I'll be offline for some time as I'll have to have this phone line shut off and it may be a while before I get a phone line installed at our new home.

See you then!

-Jeeem-

Although a trip to a restaurant is considered extravagant for us lately, we do manage to shop around for inexpensive restaurants in our immediate village and eat out at least twice monthly now.

Recently we discovered a new restaurant in the village that has decent prices and a pleasant atmosphere, so we got all dolled up one evening and went to check the place out.

The menu was huge, and took us several minutes to peruse all the offerings, which were pretty diverse. Mam settled on a big, hearty bowl of seafood Tom Yam, and I decided to splurge a bit and delve into some "Weird" food, since I hadn't eaten anything questionable in quite a long time.

I chose the Wild Boar plate, and Mam told the waiter to water down the spices a bit.

"Is Wild Boar typically spicy?" I inquired.

"Oww! Pet Mak! Very, very spicy," Mam exclaimed.

"Okay, thanks for telling him to make it edible," I said.

Mam's bowl of Tom Yum arrived first, and the bowl was huge, big enough that both of us could share, since Mam could have never finished it herself. The prawns were massive, and the dish was laden with vegetables, curry, lemon grass, large chunks of tasty fish, baby squid, octopus, and other tasty treats.

Then my Wild Boar arrived.

The plate was about twelve inches in diameter and heaped with chunks of Wild Boar and something that looked suspiciously like fresh green - black pepper sprigs. There were some veggies in there too, and the whole dish was swimming in a rich looking, dark brown sauce.

The dish smelled good, albeit spicy, with just a hint of mint. So I dug in and promptly discovered that telltale numbness of the tongue and mouth, which spoke of something so ungodly hot and spicy as to be practically inedible. The last time I had eaten something so damn hot, was in Beijing, China at a Mongolian Hotpot restaurant.

I was good. I didn't complain...much, and I never made an attempt to have them take the dish back. I suffered through the whole thing, my mouth tissues protesting, my nose running, eyes watering and sweat beading up on my forehead.

The boar was good, actually. It had a semi-sweet taste to it, but most of the flavor was lost in the incendiary quality of the recipe. There were many tiny little bones, which were a bit of a hassle, but really not that bad. Mam assured me she knew where to purchase boar at the market and could fix me a dish of it at home if I wanted, sans heat.

"If that dish was the 'watered down' version, I can't imagine what the usual plate would be like," I pondered.

What a spice wimp I am.

-Jeeem-

Thanks to all of you who have recently written wondering how Mam and I are doing and expressing concern over not hearing from me for so long. We are both doing very well, even though we had to cancel our plans of returning to Chum Phae this month because of insufficient funds.

Mam has been crocheting some very intricate, white Buddhist prayer shawls, two of which she sent to her mother in Chum Phae. Those two prayer shawls generated orders from others, so Mam has been busy crocheting every moment she has free time.

Mam and I both enjoy nature. Bird watching, butterflies, plants, flowers and insects all peak our interest, so we decided once again to set out for our daily morning walks like we did while in Chum Phae last October. To date, we've been walking about eight kilometers every morning, sometimes more, sometimes less. Our usual walk is about 8 kilometers (just a hair short of 5 miles) and takes us from our home on Soi 3, south about three city blocks, then east on a major road that runs east-west, for about 3.5 kilometers, and eventually north on a quiet road which leads to the Klong Tong cemetery and priest meditation residence temple.

The walk is peaceful once we get on the road to the cemetery and temple, the grade gradually increasing until we're up top a hill. We've been walking for approximately three weeks now, so most of the people along the way recognize us and stop to talk to us along the way.

On the road to the temple, after passing a large rubber tree plantation, we encounter several privately owned fruit tree farms. Most of the villagers on the hill raise durian, so we've been privy to witnessing the growth cycle of a durian fruit during our walks. If you haven't read my previous entries about durian fruit, the KING of all fruits, please click HERE to find out more about this wildly popular, yet terrible smelling fruit.

On top of the hill, besides durian farms, are farms growing mangosteen, rose apple, longan and pommello. The villagers we come across love to tell us about their fruits and boast about their crops. On the very top of the hill we come to a "T" intersection and turn right, again heading east. Along this road we find a huge sugar apple plantation and get to talk to the plantation owner, a curious man who is eager to find out why this "foreigner" and his Thai wife have wandered over his way.

Our daily walks cover familiar ground, but the surrounding flora and fauna, including insects, have become our main interest, and there is never a day that they are all the same. On a typical walk, while I focus on catching local lizards, Mam scours the forest canopy for interesting flowers, plants and insects. I affectionately call her the "bug lady" referring to her never-ending fascination with bugs.

Today Mam spotted this monstrosity:




At first she called it a butterfly until I eyed its antennae and identified it as a moth. I told her about my interest in the beautiful lunar moths back in the states, but added that I had never seen a moth so large before.

Upon arriving home, I did a Google search and found out that the moth in question was indeed one of the largest, if not the largest moth around. It's called the, "Giant Attacus Atlas Moth," and you can read about it by clicking HERE.

Later on during our walk, Mam spotted another Atlas Moth and this interesting bird:




It's the first blue bird I've seen in Thailand and once home we discovered that it is called, "The White Throated Kingfisher." For such a small bird, it has the largest beak I've ever seen, easily visible from over twenty feet away. You can read about the White Throated Kingfisher HERE.

On the last leg of our walk we typically stop at one of the local stores in our village to buy something to drink or eat. Today I had the munchies, so I purchased two breakfast patties, one of cooked bamboo and another of cooked taro, which were both delicious with hot sauce.

A few days ago after completing our walk, Mam quite literally became semi-famous among the villagers. The two of us had made a short detour to the local wet market to pick up some vegetables, and while returning home through the local temple we saw a bunch of local kids playing in a large Lilly pond near the temple.

Typical kids, playing in water,...or so I thought.




Before I had a chance to understand what was happening, Mam burst into action, jumping into the pond, sweeping up a small girl and holding her aloft, dripping with water. The little girl made a howling noise, sucking in air before she began coughing and sputtering water. It seems she had fallen into the water and was face down in the pond, not knowing how to swim, when Mam noticed her.

There were at least five other kids in the pond, two of them students of mine. Nobody had a clue as to what had just happened, but slowly things sunk in as Mam began chastising the older kids regarding watching their baby sister. Slowly the older girls began to look pretty sheepish.

After a strong coughing spell, the little girl was okay and safely in the arms of her bigger sister while Mam and I walked cautiously away. Only after it had all happened did Mam realize that her back and ankle were sore from the event. It seems she must have slipped while entering the pool and landed on the small of her back in the concrete pool while saving the little girl from drowning.

A little sore and a bit nervous, Mam reflected upon the event and decided the soreness was a small price to pay for what had happened. Without a doubt, the child would have drowned, totally unnoticed, had Mam and I not wandered by the pond. Needless to say I was very proud of her intuition and efforts, as I'm sure many in the village are also.

Since all these interesting happenings, we've continued our walks every morning and have added to our list, the Golden Orb Spider, which is a huge spider that is frequently seen around southern Thailand.

Mam has visited the temple on top of the hill many times, paying her tributes while I wander around and take in the beauty of all the foliage and flowers. Mam and I both are "seed stealers" in that we tend to scour plants we like, looking for seeds that we can "steal" in order to plant them in our own garden.

That's about it, as far as what we've been up to lately. The two of us are very actively looking for another house to rent, since our neighborhood seems to be falling by the wayside, in regards to noise, illegal activity and other, more minor irritations.

Thanks again to all who have written expressing their concern. Stay tuned for updates in the near future!

-Jeeem-

Just in case my readers are hanging on a thread...

The play went as planned and the kids were awesome and funny. Only one child didn't show, but luckily it was a child who was a Thai narrator, so the part was easily filled in.

The children were all awarded little prizes, but their performance alone was enough for the majority of them, as they were so excited and so happy to have the chance to appear in the school's major performance.

Some children forgot their lines, and some children stuffed up their parts a bit, but in general, theses little mistakes went off as a humorous segment meant more to entertain, than to hinder.

My two impoverished kids showed up and did fine, both of them grinning ear-to-ear about having the opportunity to be in the play.

Today closes the chapter on English Camp and the final days of the 2005 / 2006 term. We now will enjoy a full two months of vacation before the next term starts on the 15th of May.

Mam and I don't plan to vacation anywhere since money is tight, but we will be venturing to Songkhla to see the beach at the South China Sea, and sample the reputed excellent seafood near the shore in Songkhla City.

-Jeeem-

After months of painstaking practice, students quitting, arrangements being made, props being ordered, costumes being made, new students filling in, and all the hassles that go along with trying to put a large play together with thirty children aged six to eight...our play, "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" is finally ready to go on.

But not without a few snags.

The performance will be tomorrow morning, Monday the 13th of March, so today we had a final practice before the big day tomorrow. At least four children didn't show up today, so naturally we're worried that they may not show up tomorrow.

Two of these kids are from my neighborhood, on Soi four, in what I refer to as the "poor" part of town. But, in Asia, you never have to go far to find a "poor" section, as unlike the West, where certain poor areas seem to have been pushed to the wayside, or the "other side of the tracks," here in Thailand they are everywhere.

Corrugated shacks are mixed in with modern buildings and people all seem to get along fairly well together here.

But with poverty, comes problems.

Today after our practice, Mam was asked to find Bebe and Nontawut, the two kids in our neighborhood who missed today's practice, and remind them that they have to show up for the final performance tomorrow.

Easier said than done.

Bebe lives in a small, squalid, one-room house that has no windows. It is approximately nine feet by nine feet in square area (2.7 x 2.7 meters), in which there is a stove for cooking, several mats on the floor for sleeping, and a T.V.

God only knows where they relieve themselves, because there is no visible toilet in the immediate proximity. The house smells musty and rank, from years of being inundated by floods.

Bebe typically wasn't home when Mam called on him. A young woman answered the door, and was busy jostling four young babies, stating she didn't know where Bebe was, so Mam began to ask around the neighborhood.

She went to Nui's house on the corner and was informed that Bebe had been severely beaten by his father this morning and was nowhere to be found.

At this juncture, Mam signaled to me to go on ahead and return home, as she would continue the search. I knew that what she really meant was that she could do a lot better on her own, so I let her go and went home.

A little history may help here.

Bebe is one of my prize Prathom two students.

Although he's from an extremely impoverished family, he is a star student. He is in one of the worst Prathom two classes this year, yet he has excelled and has learnt English despite the odds.

The school where I teach decided to award Bebe a large cash stipend last month, during our mid-semester activities, not only because he is very poor, but because despite his families financial situation, Bebe has excelled in school subjects.

Last Saturday, during one of our Goldilocks practices, Bebe's father showed up to watch. When he arrived, you could see the visible stress on Bebe's face as the child noticed his father walk into the auditorium. Bebe's father is an obvious scumbag, who doesn't care much about his appearance, let alone his conduct.

As I was coaching the kids on their performance, Bebe's father sauntered up to Mam and asked her in Thai, "Will my son get paid for this?"

Mam didn't know what to say, so she waved him off.

She said to me later, "I don't like that man."

Bebe's father is like many Thai children's fathers...

Lazy, unemployed, alcoholic, abusive, and living off what their poor overworked wives can bring into the household. They play all day, or lie around and drink Thai whiskey, expecting all to be well.

Mam finally found Bebe today, entering what I call the "Catacombs," of Soi four, which are a maze work of pathways leading to progressively poorer hovels nearer the river. Places I wouldn't have the intestinal fortitude to venture into. Once she found him, he refused to come out to greet her, instead opting to speak to her from a back room, through another child.

"He says he'll show up tomorrow," Mam says, but only time will tell.

I've never been to Nontawut's house, but when Mam returned to our place, she said, "His family is very, very poor,"

I knew immediately, from that statement, that what Bebe is used to, is a mansion compared to where Nontawut lives.

Nontawut is a sweet boy who is a bit shy, but is a good student. He eagerly jumped at the opportunity to be in the play, and to date has done very well. He has a huge, horseshoe shaped scar on the right side of his head, from an accident he suffered when he was only four, playing with other kids at the local dump.

Back many years ago, some kid hurled a sharp object at Nontawut, striking him in the head. Nontawut would have died had it not been for locals who grabbed him, threw him in a truck and drove him to a local hospital. He underwent several hours of intricate brain surgery and emerged unscathed, with only minor memory deficits.

Mam told me that Nontawut told her he "forgot" about today's practice, but both of us knew that he was probably fudging it, as all the members of the play had been given permission slips to give to their parents, notifying them of today's practice.

Nobody really knows the mechanics that go on behind the scenes of these impoverished kids lives, but all I know is that the kids who do show up and do end up performing in the play, always have a good time and end up feeling a sense of importance and accomplishment.

As a kid, I was a "quitter," meaning I would easily sign up for things, but soon lose confidence in my abilities and "quit," because I felt I couldn't perform adequately. I was punished severely for this "quality" of mine, when I was a kid, but I never really learned my lesson until now.

Many of my past experiences as a student in school have helped me to be an effective teacher in grade school. Kids are all about fun, affection, love, happiness and playing. If you can design your classes and activities in a similar fashion, you've nailed it. If not, kids are gonna be kids and you will have to deal with the results as a teacher.

Whatever the situation, I'm sure that tomorrow's performance of Goldilocks and the Three Bears will go off well. I'm not worried, and I'm looking forward to another big, two-month break in semesters.

-Jeeem-

I've dealt with many issues in Southern Thailand, most of them positive, but in two years of residency here, a major issue has been pressing hard on my psyche.

Approximately five months ago, I was approached by one of the Thai teachers at my school, telling me one of my grade three students had been struck by a car on the main road in my village. I was shocked by this news, but surely not surprised, as Thailand's roads are known to be some of most dangerous in the world.

I continued to inquire about the little girl and tried to picture her, but I just couldn't put a face to the name. On the average, I teach over one thousand eighty students in any given week. All these students have names such as Pajaree Narinthaporn, Wontawut Kaewphibool, or Sirima Prakopkaew. Try remembering those three names alone, not to mention over one thousand of them. I do remember a phenomenal amount of my students, but most of them are the ones you'd never forget even if you tried.

This little girl was described to me as one of the more out-spoken, and vivacious, who had a deep voice, but still, I just couldn't picture her.

Two weeks later I was informed that she died on the Thursday after she had been hit. Her class was on a Wednesday afternoon, and for months, her empty place at her desk haunted me. The accident was a hit-and-run, which is highly common in Thailand, and the driver was never found. Not surprising, considering the current state of Thailand's police force.

I've dealt with death thousands of times in my past, both professionally and personally. I worked as an autopsy assistant for several years during my medical career, as well as a procurement technician for the New England Eye Bank in Boston, Massachusetts, harvesting corneal tissue and whole eyes from cadavers. I "bagged and tagged" numerous patients during my long medical career that spanned over twenty-two years. I also buried both my parents and numerous relatives and friends.

But, a kid is different.

I don't care what anyone says or thinks. The death of a child is always the worst. Children are innocent and full of fun, nonsense, jauntiness, games, wonderment, and joy. They are at a stage where independence and responsibility is just out of their grasp. They look to us, the adults, for safety, consolation and dependence.

Whoever hit my little student and ran, trying to escape punishment, should suffer. I personally hope that they suffer endless guilt and despair for the rest of their lives for selfishly taking the life of this little girl.

All this brings me to my main point. Although I haven't lived in Thailand a full two years yet, I have witnessed over twelve major accidents on the outlying roads, at least twenty minor accidents, and an uncountable number of near misses. Two of the major accidents I witnessed had obvious fatalities. At least five of the minor accidents had the potential to have been fatal, and I won't even get into the near misses.

As a pedestrian, either a motorcycle or a car has almost struck me on at least five occasions, possibly more. On one occasion, I was struck by a large truck backing up, which (luckily) knocked me into a ditch. Here in Thailand, the pedestrian DOES NOT have the right-of-way, no matter what the written law may or may not say. It is unbelievable what drivers of motorcycles, cars, SUV's, buses, trucks and the like, will do once they are on the road here in Thailand.

Many, if not most, of the drivers in Thailand are inexperienced, untrained or poorly trained, yet they hit the road every day, zipping in and out of lanes, passing other vehicles at high speeds, traveling the wrong way on a one-way lane or street, merging in any direction, driving drunk or severely incapacitated, driving vehicles that should have been junked eons ago, babbling incoherently on mobile phones instead of paying attention to the road, or just changing lanes without even looking. Just to mention a few of their many infractions.

People die. People continue to die. Numbers of road casualties continue to escalate, but is anything done? Not to my knowledge.

Of late, although I try hard NOT to be a politically motivated individual, it seems that the governmental system in Thailand needs a serious overhaul. Corruption is rife, which is something about Thailand that the whole world is aware of, not just a select few. Government leaders appear to be faithful about empty promises, while very good at pocketing illicit cash and delving deep into graft practices that serve the governing parties.

I remain hopeful that Thailand will "wake up" soon, to the many issues about their country that need "fixing" by a capable leader who carries the people's interest in the forefront of his or her mind, rather than personal and private interests that only serve to undermine the greater good.

As "English Bob" once put it in the Bangkok Post news bag, "Let's not forget," an article heralding the current PM's insulting and prejudicial comments about Western aid sent to relieve the victims of the recent tsunami...

"We don't want farangs to walk around Phuket and say they built this building or that building."

I seriously doubt that the current PM would have made similar comments on his "ass kissing" missions into other Western countries on his Thai financed jet airplane, lest he lose other forms of much sought after aid, in both monetary and material forms.

The current political attitude is the type of attitude that destroys a country, not one that builds a country. Prejudicial thinking, smug remarks, slanderous comments, are not makings of a good leader. This country needs a good leader who doesn't just make empty promises, but rather fulfills them.

Deaths on the highway can be seriously dealt with, if Thailand inaugurates a leader who can move the country beyond the disarray it is currently in, and begin methodically unraveling the dense weavings of corruption and evil that exists in the country today. A good leader will focus on his or her underlings, who command the various departments responsible for the major problems in Thailand, rather than try and combat troubling issues by his own.

Dumping a bunch of folded paper birds upon an area rife with Muslim insurgent violence is not a solution to the problem, but rather a silly, poorly planned action that buys time for an embattled leader who doesn't have answers because he just doesn't care.

-Jeeem-