When travelling around the countryside in Udon Thani Province I am often amazed at how much some of the scenery resembles the country fields back home in England. You may think I’m kidding but I am deadly serious about that.

Take away the rice fields, palm trees, bamboo stalks, exotic trees and plants found in some of the rural areas and view the natural unharvested land, and you could imagine being in one of many different countries in the world. Take a look at the picture below right, which has been cropped from the top photograph and you’ll see something which was a familiar sight in the UK not too many years ago. A scarecrow. A very crudely made one but nonetheless a scarecrow.

Nowadays electronic scarecrows are used by most farmers around the globe to protect their newly laid seeds and crops from birds, but in the rural regions of Thailand the old and proven method is still employed. These scarecrows may not have the high pitched sounds of their electronic, ultrasonic and solar powered rivals but they do still give the birds one hell of a fright. Maintenance is negligible and wages nil. The perfect combination for Thailand’s farmers.

When I noticed my first scarecrow in Thailand I made a mental note to look out for others and for me they are now a fairly common sight. The scarecrow’s are not just seen in the fields as some Thai people place them near the road outside their homes as a source of humour to passer-bys. They are probably there to scare away evil spirits as well.

Having discovered Thailand’s scarecrows I started looking around for more old-time traditional things which the farmers and villagers used as a solution to employing more novel and technological ways of achieving and producing things. One such method was just a hundred yards from our village home, two mounds of earth standing a little apart. I hadn’t seen them there on my last village trip but I knew what they were used for. Charcoal production.

If you took away the charcoal kilns in the above photograph I’m once again convinced the scene could have been snapped on a very hot English summers day. It reminds me of the countryside I enjoyed during my childhood visits to my grandparents village in Gloucestershire here in the UK.

Most Thai villagers cook outside and use a bucket shape charcoal stove made from fired clay. The stove is lit by burning small twigs inside its bottom aperture and then placing charcoal on top of the burning wood. A pot or grill is placed on the crown of the stove to steam boil rice and barbecue meats or in my case on the right, to toast a sandwich. So how is charcoal made. I’ll hand you over to Wikipedia for a very basic overview:

‘ Charcoal is a carbon containing substance made from wood, naturally black and powdery. Charcoal is made from wood by heating it in airless space in high temperature. The wood will not burn, but instead turn into charcoal.’

The process of turning wood into charcoal using this method is called pyrolysis (transformation of a compound caused by heat).

The charcoal kilns are made from a mixture of clay and a small amount of rice husk which is leftover in the fields after each rice harvest. Wood is stacked inside the kiln and a small fire is lit under it and the opening is then closed off to leave the wood burning for a few days. The wood to charcoal conversion yield is quite high, just imagine the slight reduction in size of wood charred on an open fire.

Charcoal kilns are just one of many types of small ‘businesses’ operated by individuals and families in Thailand’s villages which help keep the community economy ticking over.

Cash earned from selling charcoal to friends and locals is fed back amongst the populace by servicing the small village shops and food stalls. Whether it’s selling fish caught in the local rivers or growing mushrooms in blacked out tents, the Thai villagers are very adept at seeing an opportunity to not necessarily make a fortune but keep their heads bobbing above water. When Thailand’s economy hits a recession the rural villages ride the smallest waves.

You may have your hopes invested in bricks, bonds and shares but Thai rural villagers have theirs in knowledge and know how passed down from generation to generation. Black Monday to some is looking into a darkened hole and seeing the fruits of their labour, mushrooms and charcoal.

If you asked most blog writers to name their favourite post they’ve ever written and then asked them the same question one week later, there is every chance you’d receive two different answers. I think you would if you posed that question to me.

In March last year I added a Popular Posts widget to my sidebar which totals hits on each post and as of writing today, the post with the largest total of individual page views is Thai Ladyboys – Pattaya with 5,394 hits. Most of those views have arrived from random searches and with its title that trend will probably continue for a good while yet.

The Beginning Part Two is probably my all time favourite post that I have written, although tomorrow my choice might differ. It is the story of my first ever day in Thailand and is buried deep in this site’s archives. It has also only registered 106 hits on my Popular Posts widget and I’d like to give it the chance to tally a few more by reposting it today under the header title Turning Back the Years. I believe it to be a much stronger post than Thai Ladyboys – Pattaya.

There is a prequel to this post suitably named The Beginning which was the very first story I wrote for Beyond The Mango Juice back in August 2008. The Beginning recalls how myself and a friend got rather drunk in a bar in my hometown in England, and after grabbing our passports we headed for Heathrow airport to book the next available flight to Thailand.

A few hours into the flight we both awoke from our drunken sleep and realized to our horror we were in mid air and heading for the Land of Smiles, a country we’d never been to before. When I telephoned my father from Bangkok he replied rather loudly.

” THAILAND… you said you were going to the pub (bar) and then coming around here for dinner.”

After making a few minor tweaks to the post, The Beginning Part Two – Revisited picks up the story. The year is 1999.

The Beginning Part Two - Revisited

Don Muang International Airport January 5th 1999.

The two athletically built young men strode confidently and purposely through customs control, clean shaven, not a hair out of place, stylish clothes neatly pressed. Their whole demeanor was something they were born with, something you could not acquire. Tom and myself followed behind, middle aged, overweight, unshaven and disheveled, it was a look that had taken years and plenty of wasted money to achieve. We passed through customs with no problem and entered the terminal.

We both stared at the two beautiful Thai women sat behind the glassed money exchange counter. We had about 400 pounds in British banknotes between us and ATM cards as back up, it was time to get some Thai coin. We guessed their English would be so bad we’d have to go into broken English mode with a little mime and theatre thrown in to get them to understand us.

The three English language variations we knew were plain broken slang nasal English, pidgin English and a type of jargon similar to Jerry Lewis and the Nutty Professor. I opted for pidgin as the latter might lead to arrest. Different countries had different rules and we didn’t know any of Thailand’s.

“Wallet want money come, you can do” that should do it I said to myself.
“Could you repeat that sir” she replied, spoken in perfect English with a slight American twang.

It had been delivered with a look that said they must come from a country where English is 53rd choice in the second language school curriculum. I upgraded her to nasal English for the cash transaction. She deserved better, she merited full stops, commas and paragraphs.

Wallets reloaded we headed off. Outside the terminal we fought off the onrush of taxi drivers literally begging us to jump in and fill their cars with cigarette smoke. Somehow we found a less hassled spot of mother Thailand and an Australian chap came over and introduced himself. Gary had been visiting Thailand for many years and on hearing we were heading down to Pattaya, gave us some advice.

It was our first time in Thailand and Gary couldn’t believe his luck. He gave us the low down on hotels, bars, shows, soi’s(streets), you have got to meet my friends, shopping , markets and all that. I felt like asking Gary what time we could have a crap each day but decided to give it a miss. Like all good advice in life we divulged it, churned it around, spat out most of it, then swallowed what little was left.

The Australian chap, I’ve forgotten his name, advised us to jump on a bus to Bangkok’s Ekamai Bus Terminal and from there get one of the regular routes to Pattaya.

Like all good advice…. our taxi pulled into Ekamai Bus Station not too long after with me guessing the Australian chap would still be at the airport boring the ass off somebody still sopping wet behind the ears. We had not tasted alcohol for about fifteen hours and we had to get a beer soon, but first things first, bus tickets. Tom gave it a go this time starting with Queens English, getting a reply in third variation English and concluding the deal on a wing and a prayer. Our bus would be leaving in about two hours time, it was hot and we needed a drink.

Have you ever been walking along the side of a road minding your own business, deep in thought when unaware to you a police car or ambulance pulls level and at the same time puts on it’s siren. Scares the bloody life out of you. Well what happened next was similar but amazing replaces scare.

We were walking down a road, about five minutes away from the bus station looking for a bar, deep in conversation when this great big elephant with a bloke (mahout) on top comes ambling past us on the road. Amazing, I’d never seen anything like that in England. I wanted to shout after it ” Stop you’re heading for the airport, Gary (remembered) will bore the trunk off you,” but once again I gave it a miss.

We eventually found a bar (kind of bar) and after sinking a couple of beers started to open up about our doubts, fears and what a general mess we’d drunk ourselves into. Yesterday we were sat in an English bar and now next day sober, we had found ourselves walking the streets of Bangkok. It’s surreal what drink can do to you.

Back home we’d heard stories about tourists in Thailand getting beaten up and robbed by taxi drivers and this was part of the reason we’d opted for the bus. Having survived unscathed on the short taxi journey from the airport to the bus station, we were now relaxing with a few beers and starting to feel a little more upbeat.

After a brief discussion about never having heard of a bus driver overpowering fifty five passengers and robbing them, we both agreed it was time to chill and make the most of our unexpected holiday. Anyhow, we’d sit at the back and the bus driver would be knackered by the time he got round to robbing us.

I really do enjoy sitting on a bus and watching the world go by. Having noted that the bus driver did not measure up to my fears, more five foot two with lots of ribs than the one hundred and twenty five kilo, seven foot tall, shaven headed psycho we’d discussed over a glass of the gold stuff, I sank deeper into my seat and relaxed. With our cheap and tacky sports bags well stocked with cans of beer the bus pulled away and set off for Pattaya. From deep inside me, around the rib cage level, I hoped the elephant had managed to drag himself away from Gary.

The bus rolled into Pattaya Bus Station around nine in the evening, darkness had fallen hours before. I remember thinking what a strange country we were in. It was winter time in Thailand, nine in the evening and about thirty degrees celcius, it seemed very odd when compared to England’s cold season. We were both sweating as much as a young newspaper girl on her first delivery day approaching the gate of the Battered Pit Bull Rescue Home. We disembarked, our mood on a high and our empty beer cans hidden low at the back of the bus.

We were quickly ushered into the back of a pick up come bus and having earlier decided to find a hotel near the beach, the driver had merely nodded at our request and waved us inside. Inside was actually outside because the converted pick up had a canvas and metal tubing cover over what would have been the open back, with the side canvas rolled up to allow you to breathe in the stifling hot air.

The tailgate had been removed and a step led up to a bench on either side. At a guess it could hold about twelve passengers and it drove off with four Thai’s hanging on at the rear and about fifteen sweating bodies crammed inside. There are hundreds of these baht buses as they are known in Pattaya and you jump on and ring the bell whenever you want to depart, they’re cheap and user friendly too. Good old Gary.

By the time we hit Beach Road there were only four of us sat in the rear, I wondered if any of the departed had fell off the back. At the time we didn’t know it but we were heading from North to South Pattaya and we rang the bell just past Soi 6. The flash of white teeth acknowledged we had overpaid the driver but we didn’t care, booking a hotel for the night was a high priority on our must do list. Second things second, first we needed a drink. There was an empty looking small bar about 30 metres away and with our stomach’s pulled in we waddled towards it.

The bar had four tables outside and we sat down at one and breathed in the hot moist night air. A pretty young bar girl with a broad smile appeared, took our order and disappeared back inside. Putting things into collectives you get a herd of cows and a gaggle of geese, we were all of a sudden hit by what is best described as a posse of pussy, we got to our feet. Platform shoes, flashing thighs, small pert breasts, tight taut ass, we sat back down, willing but unable to run. It would be an understatement to say we were scared, but the Beginning Part Two had begun.

Footnote….We never did see Gary again or the elephant. Hopefully they have married and are living together somewhere in Australia. Their days spent together rounding up sheep and the evenings sat on their veranda sipping ice cool beers.

Credits
Photograph Bangkok Traffic     © Copyright 2008 Mike Kramer, FreeLargePhotos.com.

Photograph Aeroplane – Free photos for websites – FreeDigitalPhotos.

Photograph Baht bus by nakedsky

Photograph Bangkok Skyline by Argenberg

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