Part 40

The View from Nongkhai

Published

14 October

2006

And from a reader in Alaska

Well here is the photo from part 36, the wedding of Chris and Nang, and it is easy to spot the gorgeous bride and the male model groom. I hadn't seen the blue tinted alien before, but if you stare hard at the picture a bluish blob can be seen hovering on the left side of the photo. Chris I can assure you that it was not trick photography nor does it appear to be a trick of the lighting. I wonder if it is another unexplained Nongkhai phenomenon like Bang Fai Payana?

Spookily at the wedding of another Kris, but this time with a 'K' that same bluish blob may be discerned, but this time hovering on the right hand side of the photo.

This strange manifestation has now been caught on camera at two separate weddings in Nongkhai. If any reader is aware of its appearance on any other occasions please get in touch.

Chris, I will try to find out the status of the sexy young lady in part 25. May I presume that as a newly married man, you are enquiring on behalf of a friend?

Giulio and Sangjun have had a baby daughter Bianca-Maria, seen left asleep. I was expecting her to be wearing a hat like Dad. Perhaps that will come later?

 Next will be Noi right, wife of Brendan. Must be something about working in a bar.

Happiness

Some 2500 years ago, Aristotle defined happiness as the ultimate goal for humanity. He believed that money, possessions and leisure were merely ways to find it.

I cannot help but concur with Aristotle that money, possessions and leisure do not by themselves confer happiness, and there are a lot of popular sayings to this effect. Indeed it is a central tenet of my life of 'ethical hedonism' in Thailand. So it was very gratifying to find a survey of Thai people published in 'The Nation' last month. The survey of 4,864 people in 25 provinces focused on happiness. It found that the most happy people in the country were those living in the Northeast, where the gross happiness index touched 6.69 points (out of 10). Residents of Bangkok are the most unhappy in the country, with 5.54 points. I am lucky to live in the Northeast amongst the happiest (and poorest) people in Thailand.

The survey results were even more striking when divided into groups based on incomes. Of those earning less than 5,000 baht (£70 yes less than £70 or 100 Euros) per month 19 per cent said they were happy. By contrast, of those earning 30,000 baht (£420  or 110 Euros) per month (i.e. big money in Thailand) only 9 per cent said they were happy.

These are not isolated statistics! The director of the research centre that conducted the survey said that 'since we have conducted the gross domestic happiness surveys, the Northeast has always emerged as the happiest region'. Nationally the index soared to 9.21 points when the country celebrated the 60th anniversary of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej's accession to the throne.

So it seems fairly conclusive that money does not buy you happiness! Is it possible that once again the people of Thailand have something to teach the people of the West?

Bang Fai Payana in Nongkhai

At and around the full moon in October the Bang Fai Payana festival takes place. This year saw a diminishment from last year, (I wrote about last year's festival in part 24) but this year was still very busy. As before there were these lovely floating structures up and down the river bank at Nongkhai. This particular one was the creation of a group of monks based at a local temple. Observant readers may note that this year I got round the problem of the river current in the extended night exposure. The odd lights in the distance are Laos, as the Mekhong here is the international boundary.

Various illuminated boats move up and down the river. This particular one sponsored by a local radio station (hence the FM 92.5) was powered, so remained at Nongkhai, but most are unpowered, and go where the current takes them. But the driving force behind the festival is the emergence of the Naga fireballs. I have yet to see them for myself, but this year three people who saw them independently, contacted me separately (I know that none of them know each other) with

reports of sightings. Their eye-witness descriptions were eerily similar, and left me in no doubt that they had seen the same phenomenom at different points along the river. It seems likely from the descriptions that a gas is being emitted from the river which spontaneously combusts on contact with oxygen. But why does it only happen at the full moon in October?

After every festival comes the clearing up. I happened to be present when the monks were dismantling their lovely floating structure and carrying its components back to their temple. This nasty centipede emerged and made a temporary home on the monk's arm. I am told that they have a very nasty bite, but perhaps the monk felt that he was being protected by Buddha. Spookily, the last time I encountered one of these creatures was in October last year at Chris and Nang's bar. (See part 24). Do they only appear in October too?

Friday night is pig roast night

Glen's Friday night pig roast continues to excel. I took Dan along for his inaugural visit, and he thoroughly enjoyed it. There we met Greg with his good looking sister Cheryl. Cheryl is clearly so good looking because she doesn't resemble Greg at all. Greg was visiting from Laos, while the lovely Cheryl was visiting from Hong Kong. Apparently it was Greg's birthday on Tuesday (10th) which was the reason for the visit. Cheryl gave me her email address, which I am prepared to pass on for a large enough bribe. (It will have to be huge).

Other people I've met, at the Outback recently are Nang (below left) Graham and his wife (centre) and the Kelly gang (below right). I also met Jungle, but he was camera shy. When Glen started 'Friday night is Pig roast night', small children were free, see part 37 for the play on words. This is no longer the case. Glen says it is because he needed the space on his board, but I wonder whether the Kelly gang's four meals for the price of one had an influence? Somehow I doubt it because Glen is a generous host.

By contrast, talking to Mark (in red, right) is an anonymous 'balloon chaser'. Apparently that beard hides a sophisticated device for tracking 'bell rings' at bars in Nongkhai. He then homes in on the bell ring to claim a free beer. After consuming several such free beers at the Outback one customer suggested that he might like to put his hand in his own pocket. This brought on a show of outrage and contrived anger, and he left the bar in a huff. Glen made it clear that he is not welcome back. If you see him, be warned!

Heavy Rain

We are now into the cool season, but this year the seasons have been most unusual. So it proved once more this week when it started raining on Monday last (9th) about 9 a.m. By 11 a.m at least an inch of rain had fallen, and the road outside my house was more than 8 inches deep with water. Dan was amazed and took these photos of a passing motorcycle and pick-up. He loaned me his camera to retrieve the photos, and I found this nice self-portrait taken in his garden in Broadstairs.

In part 35 I included pictures of Dan with eleven different women. One would be forgiven for thinking that Dan is obsessed with women, but I can reveal his true obsession, again from the contents of his camera, this beautiful hybrid MG, which was built entirely by hand by Dan. It received a lot of attention at a recent Concours d'Elegance in Broadstairs. Dan is going to spend more of his retirement, enjoying life in Thailand. If he spends more than half his time here, he may bring this superb motor car with him.

The English language in Thailand

This street sign is in Udonthani, where there is the beautiful ornamental Lake Prajak named after a famous Thai from history. (I live very close to Prajak Road in Nongkhai). However it happens that the word 'nawng' in Thai simply means a body of water, with no distinction as to its nature, whereas the English translations, which are swamp or lake have quite different inferences. Evidently the translator of 'nawngprajak' was not aware of the difference, so that signs to this beautiful lake say Prajak Swamp. Incidentally the name Nongkhai derives from the fact that the area was swampy, with many nawngs, and it is pronounced nawngkhai by Thai people. It has been simplified to Nongkhai for foreigners, which then has the disbenefit that Thai people may not understand our pronunciation. Since I have learnt to read Thai script, I have become aware of many examples of things being written one way in Thai but differently in English. The name of the new airport is the latest example. There is no 'V' sound in the Thai language, and a word never ends in 'i', yet the official spelling in English is Suvarnabhumi. If you say it from the English, most Thais will not understand that you are talking about Suwanabum Airport.

Obviously contrived Link

I'm sure that most countries have their share of things that make you wonder what is going through the mind of the perpetrator.

Here is another such item, this time from England, and once again courtesy of Dan's camera. It really has been a treasure trove.

Obviously contrived Link Number 2

Creatures who would probably be at home in Prajak Swamp are these beautiful amphibians, who nevertheless called to visit me on different evenings. (I am not sure if they are frogs or toads, so I played safe with amphibians). The one on the left wasn't very big, as you can probably guess from the graining of the granite step on which it is sitting, perhaps 2" or 5 cms, but it is absolutely huge when compared to the one on the right, which was about the size of a  small fingernail.

Breaking News  I was at Carsten's travel agency buying tickets for my trip next month when José and Jessica popped in to Tha Sadet Café below for a cocktail. As well as posing for a photograph, they passed on the welcome news that Dr José's Mexican Cantina and Surgery will be reopening from Monday 16th. Food, drinks and medical advice will be available from mid-day to 10 p.m. from Monday to Saturday. After toiling for  6 days Dr José will sensibly be resting on Sundays.

Finally

 If you want copies of any of the photos, or want to write, but you don't know my personal email address, you can send email to :          mail@nongkhai.co.uk