Grabbed from the Isan life. A sequel (part 2)

What is such an expat doing there in Isaan? No compatriots around, not even European cultures. No cafes, no Western restaurants. No entertainment. Well, The Inquisitor chose this life and is not bored at all. This time stories in non-chronological days, no weekly report, but always just a blog, sometimes current, sometimes from the past.

An early day and visit to the hospital

The day started early. At 2 o'clock in the morning. The money machine called football is responsible for that. The Inquisitor has been a football player at a reasonable level in a past life, long ago and cannot do without the game. But UEFA does not take global time differences into account.
And just let those matches that De Inquisitor thinks are worthwhile start at 21 p.m. European time. That's 2am here. Where do they get it.

The telephone alarm goes off after just under three hours of sleep, because the shop could not be closed until around 23 p.m. on Sunday evening due to crazy situations that had created. Some natives had suggested that they remain open, so that they could view “Beljuum”, but De Inquisitor had not fallen for that. For all but a few of them were already drunk and noisy, and their money was gone. Of course they count on the generosity of De Inquisitor, but he thought that it had already been enough, he tapped twelve hundred baht, more than enough for a Sunday.

Getting up at night proves once again how tolerant Thai ladies are. Football is not a priority for the gade, but without grumbling she gets rid of the secrets of the remote controls that are too difficult for The Inquisitor. Why are two remotes always needed here in Thailand? Why doesn't the channel stay the same when you shut down and start up again? She always succeeds without problems, he never gets done with it.

She back to bed, he on the porch in the relax chair in front of the device. Watching sympathetically, so gesticulating noisily. What makes the sweet come back out of bed to watch his reactions with twinkling eyes, she is having fun. And keep him company right away, she has a bean for Luu-kaa-koe.
Great, it gives a good and loving feeling.

The shop opens as usual around 6am, but The Inquisitor's new day doesn't start until around 30am. Another nice gesture from the wife, she gets out of bed but lets the farang sleep in.

Still, after half an hour of surfing the internet, he has to jump in around nine thirty. The beer stinger is there. And every week that is quite a few cartons of Chang, Leo, Singha and especially lao kao. They have to go into the warehouse. Moreover, dealing with that beer stinger is always fun. The Inquisitor has an independent professional history and exported a lot to the Netherlands. There he came into contact with the 'Dutch merchant spirit', and because of this he can do something himself.
You have to negotiate.

When the shop had only just opened, we naturally paid far too high purchase prices. So that The Inquisitor quickly realized that the shop would not be very profitable. So he drove all over the area, looking for better prices. He learned to negotiate 'Thai', completely different from Western. But purchase prices fell.
With the current beer stinger it is even more fun. Because De Inquisitor can't resist buying a little heavier now and then, thirty instead of the usually normal fifteen cartons of bear Chang. The man always looks pleasantly surprised, and then grabs his hair with his hands because De Inquisitor wants an even better price. And that works every time.

That man's warehouse is in the town where De Inquisitor will buy many other goods that are not brought. And it worked, when he couldn't get a better price, to buy beer elsewhere. Then cheerfully that afternoon, when mister bear is sitting in his warehouse, with an innocent face, park next to it with a fully loaded pick-up truck … .
The Inquisitor calls that Thai negotiation because the man has never forgotten that.

This Monday will be varied in an Isan way. Apparently there are three acquaintances in the local hospital. They must be visited, the lady had known that for a few days, but planning, anticipating, informing - that is not done, it would only make hubby restless is always the story when The Inquisitor grumbles a bit. So close the shop after noon and head to the hospital.

The local hospital does not immediately look confidence-inspiring. Old, decrepit building. Pale green facades, probably painted once and never repainted. Complicated infrastructure, over the decades, new buildings have been added.
Emergency, you don't want to end up there as a Westerner. Without shielding so that everyone can watch which interventions are being carried out. And here in farmland, these are often bloody affairs.
Through the maze, all kinds of treatment rooms, again without lockable doors but with windows. A pharmacy that employs more people than Bayer itself. It's an ant's nest. Long corridors with the patient rooms. Actually, they are usually rooms with about twelve beds in each, but you can see that it was originally intended for only six beds.
Young and old, men and women, broken bones and diabetics, open wounds and the chronically ill, it is all mixed up and together.

Moreover, there is always a visit because there are no visiting hours, ergo, the immediate family members spend the night there. Wicker mats on the floor. Pots and pans with food scraps. Sticky rice bags. Satay bags from one of the countless food stalls in front of the hospital. Open windows and doors because no air-conditioning, but mostly broken fans on the walls. Tolerated street cats in search of food wander through the legs of the old-fashioned steel beds that show only a little color from weathered lead-based paint.

You will also have to deal with symptoms that you usually do not find in a Western hospital.

Well-known number 1 is a very good friend of the wife. Nice, pleasant lady, regular customer in our shop because she works for the municipality. After a Pattaya history that so many here have, she obtained enough capital to buy the job.
She was bitten by a centipede. A beast twenty centimeters long, two fingers thick. Extremely dangerous and even more painful. Her tibia has a dark purple swelling and has doubled in size. Shinbone ? The Inquisitor wonders.

Don't those mothy beasts usually bite the foot or hand? How and where did she get it?
At home. In bed. Hello ? Well, she lives in such a typical wooden house, normally the sleeping quarters are upstairs because such a house stands on stilts. But over the years, rooms have been added downstairs. So the animals can easily find warmth and moisture.
Despite the fact that he lives on the top floor of a stone house, The Inquisitor intends to open the duvet from now on before settling down… .

The second patient is family. A cousin. Beautiful male of about twenty years old and gay. Which makes him feel very uncomfortable with all the visitors because he has to wear such bright green hospital pajamas decorated with orange flowers. He finds nothing. He has denge fever. Dengue fever. If that diagnosis is not made quickly enough, it can be fatal. Mosquitoes are the carriers and there are millions of them during the rainy season.
Fortunately, they were quick, mother and father are somewhat more developed Isaaners and with insurance. As a result, the little guy is also in one of the few single rooms. But just as depressing as the halls. A screeching Thai television, a noisy fridge and a rickety air conditioner.
The Inquisitor so quickly does not know how to arm himself against this ailment and decides to interpret it in Thai, karma.

The third is a neighbor. By Isan standards, that means her house is about five hundred yards from ours. Even dengue fever. In much worse condition than the cousin. Because poor, no insurance beyond that “thirty baht” thing. Hesitated far too long because of fear of rising costs.
Also because this lady has three grandchildren that she is responsible for. The Inquisitor, of course, asks, in Flemish terms, "the piers out of the nose" of his lover. Why are they responsible for three toddlers?

Neighbor's husband died early. Her daughter and husband saw a different future than becoming Isan farmers, the industrious husband to Laem Chebang where he works in the port. And immediately found another love, so the young mother was on her own. The one to Koh Samui, the tourist industry, in a restaurant is reported, but that leaves De Inquisitor thinking of something else.
What makes his love a little angry: you with your always negative thoughts … .

Not only does the Inquisitor feel like a cigarette, he also feels sorry for the three toddlers. They've been sitting in that hospital for a week, in that overcrowded ward, by grandmother's bed. There are few other family around, moreover they now have to work on the rice fields. They can barely jump in. So The Inquisitor takes the three vices under his wing, he has seen a kind of playground at the back of a building. Can he smoke right away.

That playground would be closed immediately in De Lage Landen. Old, paintless and therefore rusty toys. Two swings with ropes that are about to burst, and one has come loose from its anchorage in the bottom, so it's swaying dangerously. A slide-off where the rusted side walls are guaranteed to cause open wounds. A rotating thing with seats that regularly come loose and fly away.
But the kids have fun, especially when The Inquisitor treats them to coke and sweets at the inevitably strategically placed stalls.
The cigarette becomes three, and suddenly the lady is standing there. Does The Inquisitor still want to go home? But she shines, she likes it oh so much that hubby gave the children some entertainment. Once in the car, the question comes up again - 'you are good with children, why not yourself...?'

Oh dear, The Inquisitor has no use for this repetitive question. And sweet treats , in one of the few restaurants in town where there's something to eat for someone like him.
If the atmosphere is soon back as it should be, when we return home the shop will no longer open so that we have a lot of time for each other.

To be continued