My cow

I might have mentioned that we have a cow and two buffalo. They are looked after by Paa’s dad and grandparents. Here is a pic of the cow, I will get one of the buffalo.

Grandparents

I got a shot of Paa’s grandparents, the usual stance when you ask to take a photo in the village. Mouth closed, stand straight, arms by their sides. They live in a little shack type house, in the middle of rice fields with no proper road and no electricity, water is gained by handpump or collecting rainwater. They have a nice little allotment and even grow tobacco.

Fishing in Pattaya

We found out that there was a fishing lake, 40 baht (50p) for a rod for the day and 20 baht for bait. I caught two fish the first time in two hours. The next time three of us only caught 1 in 6 hours (18 hour total). A very enjoyable day though. Yesterday we went to Jomtiem Fishing Lake and caught even bigger fish, I will upload the pics soon, Andrew must have caught 250lb of fish. I only caught about 100lb.

Buriram Night Bazaar

There are some pictures of the bazaar or market. It is very colourful and more exciting because it is at night. The fish and other things are often alive. Very different vegetables to what we are used to, although a couple of stalls do potato and carrots.

Thai Fishing

The day after the wedding Paa asked if I wanted to see Thai fishing. At a local village pond, all the local villagers paid 50 Baht per team or net to catch as many fish as they could. I had been wanting to see them fishing up close, but got a lot closer than I expected, it was a very hot day and after a couple of invites to join in, I did, much to their surprise. I became Paa’s uncle Ee-at’s fish collector. He threw the net, and then we felt around in the mud under the net for fish. I only caught one, every time I touched one I was so surprised I was not quick enough to grab it. Some great pictures. A couple of people got injured by spiky fish, luckily I did not even get a scratch. Just after I got out Ee-at found a snake in the water and threw it to me!

The Wedding

The day after the funeral, was the start of Num’s 3 day wedding. Num is Ampha’s brother and I helped out a bit with his dowry ‘sin sod’ and bought a few boxes of beer for the party. It was a long event, a party at Ampha’s family home in a marquee, a ceremony for the groom and what appeared to be his best man. Breakfast for everyone the next day, round at the bride’s family home - with beer. Then a blessing for the bride and groom at Ampha’s family home, I was blessed and given a hand made piece of cloth by the brides family, as was Ampha, I asked why we were singled out and was told it was because I had helped the family pay the sin sod etc. Then the next day was the actual wedding at the brides family home. Pictures are included. The bride also had to wash the feet of the ‘in-laws’. Num now goes to live at the brides house until he gets a home of his own presumably. I went upstairs at the house that he will be living in. They had made a 2”x2” frame and nailed hardboard to it to create a 9’x9’ room. Thai houses like Ampha’s mum and dad’s have one large room upstairs and mum, dad and children all sleep in it. Num and Don had their honeymoon at our house in Pattaya. Num’s two brothers and a friend decided to come as well - strangely to me, but to them I believe it seemed normal.