Living an Isaan (Part 13)

The Inquisitor now has a unique opportunity to follow the average life of a small Isaan family. Sweetheart's brother. A typical Isaan life, the ups and downs, probably with the main question: how to build a life in this underprivileged region? Time for a sequel, The Inquisitor takes you to the past, in a modern age, in what calls itself a modern country.

Living an Isan (13)

The Inquisitor begins to notice. In recent weeks you heard it more and more: “after the rice”. Everything they plan here is postponed. Until after planting the rice. And a farang finds that strange. Firstly: it is only mid-April, at least more than a month before they start, despite the showers at the moment there is still far too little water on the fields. It's De Inquisitor's fourth rice season and he knows that from experience. For the past three years, they only started at the end of May. Only on the fields that can be irrigated are people started to grow young shoots.

The why has The Inquisitor guessing, but nothing new is started. This includes Taai and the plans to start selling prepared chicken. They urgently need that income because they no longer have any cash. Zero point zero. The last thing that generated some money was the sale of the dried tubers of the . The rest, such as the bean field, is longer term because they are just emerging. The pregnant cow is also long-term, the calf will only arrive in a few months and then it is not even certain whether it is healthy, moreover, when a male animal is not sold - so no cash. Day wages are currently not possible in the region, there is no building or anything else going on anywhere.

All their hopes are focused on the rice they will grow. They think completely differently from the Western Inquisitor. His arguments that they need money to invest for the construction (young shoots, manure, machines, labour), that money will only come around the end of November - it is of no use. The rice will bring them about thirty thousand baht is the message. A fortune in their eyes. But a tough gamble depending on so many factors like weather, market prices,…..

And all that makes The Inquisitor a bit nervous. What in the meantime? Because he knows the traditions here, he knows sweetheart, he knows Piak. The latter will depend financially on his eldest sister, who cannot refuse because of her good-natured nature, because of the prevailing family culture. It has already started a bit, Piak and Taai have a heavy bill in the shop. They simply buy everything they need (and we have a wide range by Isan rural standards, not just drinks and food) without frugal, without hesitation.

The Inquisitor is not one to be taken for granted, and besides, he has already gained a lot of Isan experience. He knows he shouldn't go looking for confrontation, that won't bring anything except problems and a sour atmosphere. But he has no intention of paying for another family's living expenses. So he is thinking about finding some good detours again.

First there is the account of the Piak family in the shop. Way too high, that's not possible, five hundred baht debt maximum was the agreement when we started the shop and that applies to everyone. So every time Piak or Taai come to take something from the shelves, The Inquisitor acts as if his nose is bleeding, puts the goods in a plastic bag but does not hand it over spontaneously. He clearly states the amount due for the purchase. In the beginning the answer came quickly: put it on the bill. The next time De Inquisitor reported that it is already well above five hundred baht, everyone in the village, including Piak and Taai, knows the rule. Must sweetheart come along to explain why Piak or Taai can go over it. But The Inquisitor keeps repeating the game, every day. That is a loss of face for those involved, because De Inquisitor pre-eminently does this when there are even more customers in the shop. In Isaan the rule is: everyone is equal before the law. So other customers start to grumble, also want to go above five hundred for a while, something that sweetheart has a great fear of.

Next move was to put even more pressure without confronting directly. The Inquisitor buys an average of about two hundred baht in the shop every day. Milk, eggs, biscuits, coffee, an ice cream, water and soft drinks, the occasional beer … . Why would he go buy those things elsewhere? That also goes into an account, and usually De Inquisitor pays after three days. Now he doesn't. His bill is growing. Honey-dear, who of course needs cash for new purchases wants to say something but realizes the strategy. Why should The Inquisitor pay and her brother not? The Inquisitor's account is now as high as Piak's - over two thousand baht. He reports that he will pay at the same time as Piak….

Then De Inquisitor brings up an old plan again, without really intending to carry it out. He again shows a strong interest in motorcycles, heavy motorcycles. Thousand and more cc. Prices around eight hundred thousand baht and above. Sets herself to count, in sight of dear-dear. Talk about it, mentions that he would like to spend some cash this year and that it will be tight (The Inquisitor pays himself a monthly 'wage' as a self-employed person to avoid people thinking he can just go to the bank to withdraw money). Liefje-sweet now knows that there is little left to spend, that The Inquisitor will pay more attention to the satangs. Because he has brought back the tradition of the housekeeping book. Write down daily what is being spent, and indicate to what.
Liefje-sweet now realizes that if she wants to support Piak and family, she will have to do so with her own money. Something she hates, she puts everything she earns sparingly into a joint bank account and it takes her a lot of effort to withdraw something from there when she wants to spend something….

It all doesn't seem very neat, but in the eyes of The Inquisitor it is the only way to ensure that he does not pay for the livelihood of others. The promise was that he would only take care of his wife and her daughter, not family or anyone else. You could simply confront, but that would hardly do anything and the harmony would be completely disturbed.
Because now don't think there is resentment. No, daily life continues happily. Yesterday we were attacked by a huge thunderstorm with buckets of rain. There we sat, two o'clock in the afternoon. Both on the wooden box that we had already partially placed in the shop at the entrance because the wind blew the rain horizontally. In no time everything is blank, lightning and thunders show and hear that it is just above us. Barely half an hour later the power goes out. Well, that always happens when heavy rain starts to fall, that has become routine.

Nice scenes to see on the street and in the fields: people on mopeds coming from the market, soaking wet and yet laughing when they see that we have an eye on it. Piak went to get his cows too late, the animals are nervous because of the thunderstorm and run back and forth, Piak follows behind to no avail. The terrace of the shop fills up with dogs that come to shelter, the storm makes them leave each other alone. Taai comes back completely drowned from the market in the town but enjoys it. After an hour we decide to close the shop, no one is coming now anyway.

The thirty meters between shop and house are too much, we are now soaking wet ourselves. We laugh and notice that we have left the windows open, there are puddles in the house, but don't worry, that will dry up later. Once we relax a bit on the now closed (but puddle-rich) upper terrace, the storm stops. It has cooled down to twenty-five degrees, coming from forty it's really chilly and the wet clothes make us feel cold. OK, a nice hot shower! Bad luck, still no electricity, the water pump and hot water boiler are not working.

It is now five o'clock in the afternoon, The Inquisitor wants to cook. Can not. The freezer is not allowed to open, who knows how long there will be no electricity. Going to the toilet, difficult, that does not flush. Go to sleep hungry after a few cookies, without showering. No lighting, work with flashlights. No fan or air conditioning, the bedroom is very hot.

The next morning there is still no electricity. Coffee via the gas burner. Internet not working. Then open the shop immediately. Where Taai and Piak laugh themselves to death with the electricity-free discomfort of De Inquisitor. It works uplifting for the couple, they are not bothered by it at all.

The Inquisitor may take a shower with them. A rough brick house without cement occupation, a floor of tamped red earth. A squat toilet right in the middle that De Inquisitor constantly trips over. Just behind it is a large vat of ice-cold water. A rough wooden plank hangs from the roof truss and wobbles. There are the soap, shampoo, their toothbrushes and toothpaste, a broken piece of mirror and a hair comb guarded by a bunch of geckos. Light comes from an opening in the steel roof, the panels are from surpluses and just a little too short. The Inquisitor is being watched by a huge frog, dark green with brown balls on its back, but the beast is too lazy to do anything. The red soil makes The Inquisitor's feet even dirtier than before the shower.

He is overjoyed when power is back after twenty hours without it. His frozen vegetables, bitterballen, meat croquettes and other delicacies are still frozen. Honey-dear is less fortunate. The ice cream in the freezer of the shop has melted. Only after De Inquisitor has pointed out her responsibility for the customers is she willing to dispose of everything, refreezing could well cause medical problems afterwards is his position. Taai who just arrived has less problems with it, she brings everything home to keep it in the freezer compartment of their refrigerator. Hopefully PiPi won't get sick of it.....

To be continued