This is a preview to a photo series I shot during our New Years holiday. I’ve been meaning to put it together since I shot it but Max got sick and life got in the way, etc., etc., and so forth (quote from KoS). I’m now busy doing other things, but perhaps I’ll get around to it this weekend.
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On the second day of the new year, our nanny invited us to her village for the bi-annual emptying of a communal fishpond. We piled into our trusty ’71 Crown, picked up a Japanese teacher who wanted to experience village life, and headed out deep into the rice fields. Actually, we first stopped at our nanny’s village so we could follow a pickup out to the final destination. I always carry rubber mats, wooden planks, and a shovel in the back of my car to get out of mudholes and sandy spots encountered in the back country, but with the family along for the ride it was comforting to have an escort (also, you never know when a feral Brahmin cow will decide to play cape buffalo and it’s nice to have a pickup to play decoy in such situations). The road was non-existent in places and we simply drove over drained and harvested rice fields along the paths of least resistance; I only scraped bottom once when I misjudged the far side of a steep bump. Several times, the pickup driver stopped an got out to warn me about a particularly rough patch ahead and asked if I just wanted to stop and park, but choosing the right lines is something of an obsession when I’m driving and I was lucky enough to choose correctly that day.
We eventually arrived to within walking distance (perhaps half a kilo) of the pond, which was being drained with a pump attachment hooked up to an iron buffalo (large roto-tiller or walking tractor). While waiting for the pond to drain, most of the hunters were out looking for field rats. This is where I started photo documenting the day.
To Be Continued…
Category: Photos
Roseola Update
Max is recovering slowly but surely and the red spots all over his face and body are steadily disappearing. It’s still so hard to watch him suffer from the bouts of itchiness and teething that hit once in a while, but things are better than they were before. At least he can sleep for several hours at a time now. He still has a runny nose but we took him off all of the meds the pediatrician put him on because the congestion is just a nuisance and not really affecting his breathing at night anymore.
So it seems he is out of the woods. Hell, with roseola perhaps he was never really in the woods, but I tell you, there’s no feeling like when your child is suffering… It’s like every parent ever tells you, except worse because when you feel it there’s absolutely no sense of elation in thinking to yourself, “Oh, it really does feel horrible.”
OK, I need to stop thinking about the negative stuff now and end with a Maxie chaser (from New Years since I haven’t really taken photos since then):
Max is sick
It started with a runny nose a week ago, then a fever four days ago. Then coughing two days ago and a rash on his face this morning. The pediatrician thinks it’s a bacterial infection in his intestines and perhaps an allergy as well. Max is now on an antibiotic course and taking a lot of fluids – mama’s milk, lactose-free formula (mostly sugar it seems), electrolyte beverage and water.
I’m not too worried because he’s a strong boy and getting sick is part of growing up, but it’s hard on Nam because he’s even more weepy and sensitive than he was a few days ago. She’s not getting much sleep at all, and is basically carrying him all day and all night except when he allows the nanny or me to spell her for a little while. We have to go see the pediatrician again tomorrow. Here’s to hoping it all ends well soon (especially the rash on his face, it pains us to look at it and we couldn’t bear to take a photo for reference, either)
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I happened to be going through New Years photos as I wrote this so here’s a photo of Max and his great grandma:
Fartin shoes
Sorry for the crappy focus. I was trying to take a photo without the vendor noticing… This was taken at a temporary vendor inside the new Big C in Sarakham. They were actually quite nice leather children’s shoes. I really want to know the story behind the brand, though.
Big C Mahasarakham
In November 2008, Thai superstore Big C opened a branch store in Maha Sarakham, just a few minutes down the street from us. Life hasn’t been the same since, mostly in good ways since we pay less for more and no longer have to venture downtown to the small Tesco with shitty parking inside the SermThai department store. Also, there were certain things – such as sporting goods and bicycles – that were only sold at ridiculous markups at small stores until now, so watching said shops close up forever is satisfying on some very small, very human level. On the flip side, traffic on the main street in front of our house has increased greatly – sometimes making a U-turn in front of Big C is like sitting inside a supercollider and watching electrons whizz by.
Sporting Goods Knockoff Fever: Mitzuka & Balldings
Is this the highest form of flattery for Mizuno and Rawlings?
“Balldings” is officially the best knockoff name, ever. Better than a genuine BOLEX watch, better than PenesamiG, better than MICKEY MUSOE. What was that last one, you ask?
The person wearing this thought it was wholly unremarkable.
Thai rice and the future of illegal street racing
Note the front and rear damage. Rice is rarely as fitting as this.
I believe this is known as a self-fulfilling prophecy; the only thing that would have made it better is if it was being towed.
Pu Yai Ban – Village Headman
Do you see what I see?
Close up:
Now there’s nothing remarkable about village headmen here. Every village has one, and there are presumably thousands of villages in this region alone. What’s remarkable is that (presumably) a village headman has taken it upon himself to advertise his position on his pickup.
I wondered about what kind of egotistical twat would have the nerve to do something so tasteless, so pointless, and so retarded… So I waited for him to return to his car for over twenty minutes. Sure enough: One self-important asshole in a pickup, not bothering to look before he pulled into traffic and almost crushing a passing biker, to go!
choco strawberry
No comment, except that these were on sale at Fuji supermarket in Bangkok so this is an Engrish mistake and not a Thainglish one.
Banana Tampons
… or not. That’s what they get for using the word “sanitary” on the packaging:
