The Police and Paa

Well Almost up to date, I have just spent a few hours attempting to get pictures on and write this blog. I could not have done it without Sean - thanks for that. I'm glad people are reading the blog. Here are just a few pics of Paa.
I am back in Pattaya now, I drove down yesterday. Stopped and fined by the police, I was in the wrong - no passport, and driving on a red number plate in the night, but I had to pay a "fine" of 28 pounds at first he said just over 100 pounds, or face the prison cells. Totally different from the policeman who changed my wheel in the middle of the night and would not accept 7 pounds from me as thanks. I do object to highway robbery, like I witnessed yesterday. If I am fined, that money should go to help the people of Thailand, not line the pockets of the individual policemen.
Anyway enough of the rant, I did only have a 'copy' of my passport.
So on a lighter note here are some pics of Paa.

Disco

We went to speed disco two nights in the week, I took some pictures.

Weaving and Pigs

Other things of note are firstly the weaving and silk production that goes on. Last time I think I mentioned the weaving and will put up the pictures when I can. This time I saw the stages of silk production and a few finished silks. They grow what must be mulberry (or Thai equivalent), feed the caterpillars, let them make the cocoons and presumably breed. The silks are amazingly time consuming and they get about 1,000 baht (£16) for them, they must take a month.
Secondly two pigs died, a piglet in the next village died of the wrong pills being given to it or something. The wall workers (Paa’s mum, dad, brothers, uncles, aunts and cousins) wanted me to buy it for them to cook, I did. I watched them butcher it and eat almost every bit (only some part like a gall bladder or something was discarded) even the intestines were barbequed. I ate crackling and a bit of pork.
Paa’s mum, Puk has 2 pigs and one mysteriously died, some said it may have been a big snake that is reputed to live in the bamboo behind her house. Who knows. Anyway I watched that being butchered, and was invited to try myself, I declined as I had not washed my hands J. They cut the pig up, cooked the head and trotters, and boiled the internal organs. The meat was divided into piles of about 2 kgs. Whenever something like that happens all the villagers and maybe other villages buy the meat at a cheaper price that normal, but that helps the pig raiser with money and at least they get a return for their investment. I have pictures of the butchering. Work on both mine and Jimmy’s wall stopped for the day.

The Wall and Village Life

Our wall is coming on, I have no idea why I took no pictures. These pictures are the ones from before, I thought that post was too full of pictures. Everyday people were working on our wall. I often bought them lunch, and melons, oranges or whatever. In the evening I buy them 1 bottle of Thai whiskey (55p) and 3 big bottles of Beer Chang (£1.75). The village is the same as ever, quiet and generally sleepy. When we arrived a lot of people were at an old man’s house, he is dying and everyone was round to get him better. There were about 12 women round him, Paa’s mum was administering remedies to him and lightly massaging him, other women were fanning him. The noise was extraordinary by our standards when someone is ill, because the Khmer women are louder than Thais generally, there were also half a dozen children around and half a dozen men further away that I sat and drank with. When I left I was told that the poor man had not eaten for 4 days and was not expected to make it for much longer. The villagers can seem very hard, they take death as a normal part of life. They often seem not to care about one another by there mannerisms and shouting, but that is not the case. They take care of each other in an amazing way. Everytime they get something off me like oranges or beer, it will be immediately shared with everybody including myself, even people driving past will be offered drink or food. They seem to pass on food to the older ones so that no one will starve. I regularly give the old ladies a few baht (25p) they may get two meals for that, or three whiskies.
We saw Paa’s grandma a few times and passed food on to her, she lives in a little shack of a house with no electricity or running water and no road, just a walk across the rice friends. She is a tiny lady, slightly stooped but a strong as an ox I would say. I watched her fishing one day in a shallow fishing pool, she walked about in the mud, with bamboo type fishing thing that I can only describe as an upside down funnel. She shoved it into the shallow water and with her arm down the wide spout end checked for fish. She caught 3 in 30 minutes, enough for her and her husband for a meal. She also has an allotment garden, with everything from bananas to tobacco. I must get a picture of her.

Koh Samet and Chantiburi

I decided to have a little trip around the coast, so travelling south and then east, Paa and I had a drive. Initially it was very boring a long dual carriageway, but we turned off towards the sea when we were about 10 km away from the island of Koh Samet, the first bit of beach was incredible, there should be a picture, there were umbrellas for the tourists and little stalls every so often, but there were no tourists, the beaches were almost deserted for miles. We stopped, Paa ate and I searched for shells - the best shell beach yet.
When we got to the harbour where the boats leave for Koh Samet, the boats had already left in the morning and we had arrived mid afternoon. We decided to stay on the island for a night and get our own speed boat over there. That was great, calm water zooming along. The boat man asked if we wanted to see a turtle for extra money. I immediately said yes. I didn’t realise it was captive in a fish farm. There were small sharks (pictured) and a large one.
Afternoon on the island beach was great, great food later with a fire show which was impressive, and then on to the island disco, which was little more than bar with a mirror ball.
The next day we zoomed off on the speed boat, and then travelled to Chantiburi, the gem stone centre of Thailand. Then a snap decision to travel up to Paa’s Village. A different route to usual and a longer route. We didn’t arrive until darkness.
On the way there were blue signs (tourist attractions) to a waterfall and a wildlife park. We arrived at 3.17pm, then waterfall closed at 3.00pm, then wildlife centre consisted of about 10 cages, 8 of which contained peacocks and peahens. There was also a bridge that went over the river, the highlight was a couple of beautiful butterflies by the stream. To small for the phone’s camera to pick up.