Living an Isaan (Part 5)

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 (5)

The region where Piak and Taai were born can be regarded as the real Isaan. In the middle of the Udon Thain / Sakun Nakhon / Nong Khai triangle. Endless fields and forests, farmland. The Thai government has hardly invested anything in it, only now are they starting to build better connecting roads, but there is hardly any maintenance on the small local village roads. No industry, no tourism - unless in and around the known cities.

It is difficult to get a job, you can only work in the more affluent parts of Thailand. Usually heavy and dangerous work on large new construction projects, infrastructure works or in factories. Under very bad conditions, they have to be away from family and friends for months, away from their native region. Working twelve hours a day, six months in a row is the average to get six days of vacation. Not everyone can do that, including Piak. In the distant past he did, but after a few weeks he died of homesickness, drank himself to death and was then brought back home by a good soul. He was not paid for those weeks, so back in a hopeless position.

But the daily search for income is not easy here when you have a family. You never know when there will be work and how much it will bring in. Piak starts to consider whether to offer himself to one of the countless recruiters in town, or to get a job somewhere through a friend. In the village there are many young men who work somewhere in the country, usually in and around Bangkok or in a tourist enclave.

These are difficult conversations for an Isaaner. They don't want problems around their heads, don't like to look ahead. His memories come flooding back, and Taai is also worried. Many relationships are broken because of this, because men and women work together on the yards and factories. The months of exile from the region of birth, the loneliness, … .

It is also not easy for those left behind, who have to make ends meet until money is sent, which often takes much longer than promised, employers like to hold their employees hostage by not paying them on time. And coincidentally, three experiences surface that make Piak and Taai decide to continue working here in and around the village. Three young men have returned. Tue from Bangkok where he was employed on a large construction site. Boring and Om arrived at the same time from Pattaya. All three have heavy stories of disappointment, empty promises and not having received a wage.

Tue has not been paid for three months, while this was contractually promised monthly. Every time he is told a different reason. When he asked about his first monthly salary, he has to support his mother financially, there was supposedly no money, it would come within two weeks. Of course there was no money again two weeks later, but in the meantime a cry for help had come from his mother, who had no money left for six weeks and had to borrow for food, electricity and other things to pay. Now the motivation was : we are behind schedule, you have to work faster. Hilarious, because they had been in trouble as welders for weeks. The yard generators could not provide enough power. They had already posted this on Facebook a few times, De Inquisitor, who is friends on that forum with just about everyone in the village, had also noticed this before.

There was dissatisfaction on the yard, and some workers simply left without pay and were not replaced. So even more delay. And now, after three months, Tue has gone too. Without money. Oh yes, his promised wages: nine thousand five hundred baht net, per month. Sleeping in steel picket fences, scorching hot, four toilets with a shower for one hundred and fifty people. And a yard shop where everything is about twenty percent more expensive than on the street, but the yard is closed and guarded between sunset and sunrise.

Boring his story. He is a young villager with education, has a diploma. The school was paid for by his parents with borrowed money that they still have to pay off. He is the eldest of four children, and now, with his diploma, he can contribute to the family budget. Via via he got to work in a well-known hotel chain. As a receptionist. Checking tourists in and out, helping with problems. Which tourists apparently have en masse. Boring started his job enthusiastically, his monthly wage would be eleven thousand baht net per month. He got a nice outfit, especially for tourists, brightly Thai. He could sleep in a reasonable accommodation that he shared with about twenty others. He could eat for free through colleagues in the kitchen. His work schedule was different from normal depending on high and low season. In the low season he received two days (unpaid) vacation per month, in the high season none. Only, the hotel had strange specifications for a season. Low season four months, high season eight months. Well, the higher wages made up for a lot.
But after about half a year of work, Saai had to deal with a very difficult tourist couple, he was already used to it, but this took the cake. Farangs, Boring doesn't remember which country (or doesn't want to say in the vicinity of The Inquisitor). The problems started at check-in, they did not want to hand over their passport for a copy. Get the manager involved, who is not happy, Boring had to solve that himself. Who left the copy blue-blue, the couple was very noisy, a lot of loss of face for him because the colleagues were watching as well as other tourists.
Five minutes later, new problem : the room was not to their liking. However, the hotel was fully booked, weekend, so no change possible. A lot of noise at the counter, manager again. Saai doesn't know how he solved it, but from now on he had an enemy, the manager had lost face. And so it went, day after day. The couple wanted to exchange money, which was possible in the hotel, but at a less favorable rate than on the street. Boring was to blame again. The couple had ordered some kind of tour through the hotel, but the minibus showed up an hour late. Boring had eaten the butter. When those oh so damned tourists finally left, the problem of the passport surfaced. No copy. Boring has been fired, without pay, after six months of 'high season'. Boring should not have much more of farangs … .

The story of Om (an arbitrary name, the reason you will find out later). He is a special figure, sweetie knows him from before, they are the same age. Always been a daredevil. Also looks terrifying, massively tattooed red-green-blue, earrings to say to you, nose ring. But a heart of gold, merry to the end. Likes to act tough but gingerbread heart. He was able to become a doorman in Walking Street a few years ago, through a slightly mafia circle of friends. They call that here parlor, someone who has to lure people in and help with any problems. Has been doing that job for about three years, hardly earns anything, but can go wherever and whenever he wants. He actually survived there in Pattaya, but felt good in that world where he doesn't really belong in view of his real character.

Had also seen and noticed a lot: farangs who drown unimaginable amounts of money, picked up girls and then dumped them again, often aggressive people who were very rude. He had learned to ignore them, he hardly ever got a kind word from them, not even when he helped them, drunk as they were, to get to their hotel room through a motorcycle taxi man friend.

They had an agreement: if such a person had to be taken to his hotel, the motorcycle taxi would do it for one hundred and fifty baht as long as it stayed in and around central Pattaya. Thirty baht was for Om, who had to escort the farang outside the traffic-free zone. On the one hand, one hundred and fifty baht is a lot for such a ride, but Om thought it was reasonable, after all, those people had drunk for thousands of baht, wouldn't that one hundred and fifty make any difference to get home safely? Moreover, very occasionally he even received a tip from a drunken farang, often a hundred baht, just when he left the store, so no, that amount could not be a problem. The taxi agreement went well for three years, Om said he collected about one hundred and fifty baht on average every week, a nice amount for him.

Now one had become excessively aggressive because of that price. Rude noisy, defiant, wanted to fight. Om ignored him, smiled, ran the farang. Until Om gives a blow. Immediately friends-colleagues of Om join, the farang gets a beating … . Om says he has done nothing himself and The Inquisitor believes him, he is a gentle boy despite his appearance. But police have arrived and Om has been held responsible. Fine to pay or in custody. Om started walking. And don't need to know much more about farangs either.

These stories make Piak provisionally decide to try to earn a living here in the region, however difficult it may be. He is not the only one, in the village there are many who either knew they couldn't handle this or tried to return disillusioned. Tai is happy with it.

To be continued