Integration

Francois and Mieke came to live in Thailand in January 2017. They want to build their little paradise in Nong Lom (Lampang). Thailandblog regularly publishes writings from both about life in Thailand.  

I don't think we are doing too badly with integration at all. It is mainly all kinds of little things that we notice that we are slowly but surely becoming a little bit more at home in this wonderful country. In the afternoon we regularly go to the market. Lately we have been cooking more often ourselves, because this way we can add much more variety to what we eat, and shopping at the market is just a lot of fun. The locals sell freshly harvested fruit and vegetables, fresh meat, and freshly prepared curries, desserts, fried insects, fresh fish, too many to mention.

Cooking is a bit of a camping thing as we don't have a kitchen here. But when we went to buy a refrigerator at the beginning of the month, we got a free electric wok with it, and we started using it. The thing is perfectly usable for the vegetable dishes that we like to make. Today we learned a new name at the market: water spinach is called pak boeng. The mnemonic bridge then of course becomes boom, which is quite obvious. I bet I won't forget… A vegetable seller commented that it was very hot today (make a loan) and I understood her! It's not a blow, and yet it's a kick when you notice that you're recognizing more and more words, and sometimes even short sentences! We like to occasionally buy unknown things at the market and then try out how it tastes and you can always find a video on YouTube about how to clean and prepare certain vegetables or fruit. Like big fresh bamboo shoots one of these days, delicious! We have only left the fried silkworms, but according to the neighbor they are tasty and soft on the inside! And we bought a kind of folded pancakes, which are baked on the spot and filled with a mix of, for example, sweet corn and grated coconut. Delicious dessert!

We have also adapted to the village rhythm. People are woken up here at six o'clock with music (we have decided that it will be a kind of regional folk song and it always ends with a tear-jerking tearjerker) and in between a talk from the village head. It is currently so bloody hot during the day that it is no punishment at all to get up at six o'clock and immediately take a walk with Tibbe. It can be tolerated at about twenty-five degrees, but by the time we get back home it is already approaching thirty. During the day it will be about forty degrees. We are actually very surprised that we can handle this heat very well. It's really a lot of sweat, but it's actually 100% not too bad for us. It must be said that on those extremely hot days we spend a large part of the day upstairs in our living room where we have the air conditioning set to 27 degrees, wonderfully cool! Another advantage is that you have very little laundry. You wear very little clothes at all, and when you are at home you can reduce that to a minimum or zero. Blessed!

In the morning we wash the small items by hand, which is dry again an hour later, and we hand over the bedding to Noi, who takes it to the laundry. For just under one and a half euros we have our bed and large towels clean again.

Yesterday I accompanied neighbor Nui to the preparations for a cremation of one of the elderly here in the village, who passed away the day before yesterday. That was a fun and educational experience! Almost all villagers help to support and relieve the family of the deceased, they do not have to arrange anything themselves. Funeral directors are completely superfluous here. The men erect awnings and roofs, carry stoves and gas bottles and bags full of vegetables, fish, meat and fruit, and then sit down and watch the women cook. Dozens of women are cutting vegetables, and gigantic pans are used for stir-frying and cooking. About 200 people are expected for the cremation, all of whom have to eat. It looks like a chicken coop, there is chatter and laughter, it is a downright pleasant affair.

I receive the warmest welcome, everyone just chats Thai to me and with sign language it is easily made clear where I can sit and what I can do (unpeel roasted garlic cloves and 'unsteal' mini-eggplant things). I feel completely included in the group of women and actually have little problem with the fact that I cannot follow any conversation. It's just fun to be a part of this village happening, listen to the chatter and laughter and just have a good time. I realize that there are advantages to not being able to understand or speak the language. I finally keep my mouth shut and I can meditatively enjoy what I'm doing and the atmosphere around me. I also enjoy listening to the chatter and trying to understand words. In any case, I soon realize it when I 'talk', because then I hear that they are talking about the 'farang' (pronounced 'falang'), which means something like 'foreigner', or 'White person'. 'Man farang' are potatoes, maybe we whites are named after them…

And a good part of our time is spent on our house and/or country hunting. I truly believe that it could become this environment where we will find our own place. The environment is very beautiful. We regularly make trips in a radius of about thirty kilometers around Lampang, and we have been surprised more than once by the beauty of the diverse landscapes. One time we mainly see rice fields and other agricultural landscapes, then again it is very wooded, or we drive in beautiful green hilly landscape. That beautiful green is a matter of luck, by the way, because normally it can be very dry in the hot season. In the past few weeks we have had a heavy tropical downpour three or four times, and that is enough to keep everything nice and green.

Along the way we try to spot plots or houses with a 'for sale' sign. But we see most plots and houses because we are tipped off by neighbors, acquaintances or complete strangers who pass on tips to our neighbors. Of course, the entire village now knows that new falang have come to live in the village, who are looking for a house or a place to build one. We are always advised to first have a Thai inquire about the price, otherwise it will skyrocket when people know that the interested parties are falang.

However, so far nothing has been to our liking, but we try to be patient and just keep going. The two places we liked, here in the village of Nang Lae, are not going to be. One house is for rent, but not for sale, and the other has recently been sold, but may be put up for sale again, because the new owner seems to have difficulty paying off his mortgage. We will see. This morning we went to look at a piece of land with the buuv, but it turned out to be a bare rice field that first needs to be raised before you can build anything on it at all. We're not going to. Butrrrrr…. when we went to Noi this afternoon with the laundry and the rent, she told us that she had also heard of people who had land for sale, and tomorrow we will take a look at it with her. In any case, we will keep busy….. we will keep you posted!