Meth: a Ticking Timebomb Gone Viral

Isaan Part I...Proper Gander Is Not a Type of Thai Whiskey

Nada and I returned yesterday from a four-day trip to the Isann Province, in North East Thailand...and what an eye-opener it was.

The village where Nada's family live is seven kilometres outside of Suwannaphum District, Roy Et, which is six hundred and seventy-six kilometres (or four hundred and twenty miles) from Hua Hin. Google Maps says it takes just over nine hours to complete the journey by car, but I can tell you from experience that catching several buses, plus the waiting times in between, turns it into an ass-breaking fourteen hours between home and hotel and back. Luckily, pain is fleeting and hopefully by the time Nada wants to make the journey home again, I will have forgotten just how hard a day it is.

I would love to spend more time complaining about the journey, but I have returned with a new perspective on what a hard day looks like. Sitting on a bus with a slightly sore ass and watching the Thailand countryside roll past is nothing compared to the hardship I witnessed people enduring daily. But, here's the thing... I never saw anyone crying or complaining about their situation. It might be a case where they don't know any different, but I think it is more likely that people there are more stoic, and dare I say, happier than those of us who have all the things we simply take for granted.

When we arrived at the hotel, Nada's two nephews delivered a motorbike (the same bike we had sent to them when I bought Nada her new one) for us to use for our stay. The boys were only fifteen and nineteen, and I could tell they had never met a foreigner before. I was surprised at how shy they were, and after a very brief 'wai' they quickly left on the other motorbike. Then, after a long day of travel, we settled into our room and quickly fell asleep.

The room was surprisingly comfortable and clean. The staff were friendly, and even though there was no access to YouTube (only local TV was available with no English channels), I have no complaints about the accommodation...even though every morning at 7.30 sharp, we were woken by loud Thai music (which is pumped through speakers placed all around the town), followed by messages promoting local activities, and I suspect, Thai propaganda.

Most of the people (ladies) we came across, who were selling street food or at the markets, smiled and asked Nada questions about how she had managed to 'snare' a Farang. Apparently, finding a foreigner and making him your boyfriend in these parts is akin to winning the lottery...which in a lot of ways, is true. There was one place in particular where we stopped to buy fruit and vegetables to take back to the family, and the lady who owned the stall said in English (I think jokingly, but I'm not sure) that she loved me (much to my and Nada's amusement). I certainly received a lot of attention, both good and bad (depending on if the person was male or female) as we wandered through the marketplace near our hotel. There were some smiles (mostly from ladies), but I got more looks of suspicion and perhaps, dislike, especially from the men.

In the morning we left our room, and after buying meat, fruit, veggies and other assorted foods and treats, we rode the seven kilometres to Nada's house, which is in the process of being renovated by a close family friend and his crew of five workers. I met Nada's papa, who is seventy-nine, and her older sister (who cares for their father). About a year ago, he was involved in a motorbike accident and broke both bones in his lower leg. He currently has an external fixation in place which is due for removal in three months.

After an hour or two of arriving, I needed to pee so I asked Nada where the toilet was. She pointed to the large trees between the rice paddies behind the houses on the property and said to go out there. When I returned, she told me there was a toilet and shower in a small corrugated shed, but she didn't want me to use it because it was 'ucklick' (ugly). They had previously lived without a functional toilet until Nada was around thirteen.

There are three buildings spread evenly across the property's frontage. The house on the left belongs to Nada's older sister (Pee Sao), and her two youngest sons sleep upstairs. The next oldest son, who is twenty-nine, sleeps under the house on a bed made from a timber frame and bamboo slats with a traditional pandanus mat (for a soft and comfortable sleep). The middle house is the original home that Nada and her five siblings grew up in. Rest assured, there were no luxuries. They all slept on a mat on the hardwood floor. I would have liked to go upstairs (all the buildings are on high stilts) to see the house, but there were no stairs...and even if there were, the house leans at an angle that I consider likely to fall over at any time. They store previously cut hardwood timber underneath the building to keep out of the weather, and if the house does collapse, they will recycle much of the wood for future building projects

Nada's house is the most sturdy, and much to Nada's dismay, I climbed the rickety (and unsafe) stairs to take a look inside. There were no walls and only one large room (which was the same for all three houses). The only thing that provided some privacy for Mama and Papa back then were clothes hung between them and the sleeping children. All three houses are Thai traditional...made from dark hardwood, cut from trees that grew right there on the property and milled on site. It took two years for the wood to dry enough to use as a building material, so there was a lot of planning to be done beforehand.

That first day, we stayed until late afternoon, then when we left, we ate food bought from a street vendor in town before going back to our room to get some much-needed sleep. As I lay thinking about my future here in Thailand, I mulled over the pros and cons of relocating to Isaan. I know that Nada would love to return home to her family. The countryside is beautiful and the people warm and friendly, however, there is the old familiar problem of language, which unlike in a tourist spot like Hua Hin, will be a much bigger problem for me in Isaan given very few people speak English (except a few scattered Farangs and Nada). The answer is both simple and complex...I need to learn how to speak Thai...a task very much easier said than done.