Sunday Post
It's been another interesting week here in Thailand. Last night my primary instructor, Khun Awn took me to a restaurant specializing in Lao and Isaan food. Besides the food, there was a band from Laos that played music from Laos and Isaan and dancers that performed traditional Isaan dances. The restaurant was semi open air. Parts of it were enclosed and parts were open to the air. Fortunately by 8pm when we went to the restaurant the temperature had cooled to the high 70's. Below I've included a few pictures from the evening. Perhaps you noticed that I did NOT use the word traditional with the music. The music was mostly contemporary, but with a very definite Isaan flavor. There were two percussion players, one drummer and one guy that played miscellaneous unfamiliar percussion instruments. One musician played the "pin", which is an Isaan style guitar. It is long and thin and very definitely electric. There was an electric bass player and another guy that played a sort of vibe like instrument. Lastly one of the guys played various bamboo wind instruments. They took turns singing. The music ranged from an lively Irish jig kind of thing to sad slow songs about the usual subjects; unrequited love, missing one's homeland and so on.
Two dancers accompanied the musicians. They were performing Isaan style dance and wearing traditional costumes. Each dance had some meaning, one was a welcome dance another spoke of a longing for a missing loved one. Very graceful and the dancers suay maak maak (were very cute).
It turns out that my instructor, Khun Awn, has been writing some stories about her life growing up in Isaan. She grew up on a rice farm. Her family was poor. They kept several water buffalo and ducks and chickens. They raised vegetables as well. The rice was their "cash crop". I've agreed to help her edit those stories. She has graciously allowed me to include one or two here. These stories are still in draft version and pretty much unedited, but I think a few of them will be of interest. So here goes. The first one I will include is called:
Winter Bathing in the Countryside.
Bathing is a problem in the winter in my country. Because we don't have a bathroom we take a bath in an area of the house where we keep a big jar. The water in the jar is very cold and in the winter the temperature in the house is probably in the low 50's. Someone makes hot water and mixes it with water in a bucket. Sometimes we take a bath outside. First we make a small bonfire outside the house. Then we bring a big bucket of water from the house and put it near the fire. The fire keeps us warm while we take a bath. First we wash our face, arms and legs with soap and then pour water in a bowl. Next, we pour water on ourselves to clean off the soap and rinse it off quickly because we get cold in a very short time. Finally, we quickly make ourselves dry and warm with a towel or by putting our clothing on. This is the process of bathing in my country in the winter.
More later... as always questions or comments email me at andym528@hotmail.com
Two dancers accompanied the musicians. They were performing Isaan style dance and wearing traditional costumes. Each dance had some meaning, one was a welcome dance another spoke of a longing for a missing loved one. Very graceful and the dancers suay maak maak (were very cute).
It turns out that my instructor, Khun Awn, has been writing some stories about her life growing up in Isaan. She grew up on a rice farm. Her family was poor. They kept several water buffalo and ducks and chickens. They raised vegetables as well. The rice was their "cash crop". I've agreed to help her edit those stories. She has graciously allowed me to include one or two here. These stories are still in draft version and pretty much unedited, but I think a few of them will be of interest. So here goes. The first one I will include is called:
Winter Bathing in the Countryside.
Bathing is a problem in the winter in my country. Because we don't have a bathroom we take a bath in an area of the house where we keep a big jar. The water in the jar is very cold and in the winter the temperature in the house is probably in the low 50's. Someone makes hot water and mixes it with water in a bucket. Sometimes we take a bath outside. First we make a small bonfire outside the house. Then we bring a big bucket of water from the house and put it near the fire. The fire keeps us warm while we take a bath. First we wash our face, arms and legs with soap and then pour water in a bowl. Next, we pour water on ourselves to clean off the soap and rinse it off quickly because we get cold in a very short time. Finally, we quickly make ourselves dry and warm with a towel or by putting our clothing on. This is the process of bathing in my country in the winter.
More later... as always questions or comments email me at andym528@hotmail.com