Rice pudding
Anyone who has ever been to Isaan knows it. The endless rice fields, stretching from village to village. Often small plots, surrounded by an earthen wall where - depending on the season - you can see the rice stalks swaying in the wind.
Is it possible to work on the rice fields in Thailand or Cambodia?
I am a man of almost 63 years. Been walking with that idea for years, even dream about it often, to want to work on the rice fields in Thailand or Cambodia to pay for my 1st necessity of life. After 40 years of marriage, the cream is off and my last years there would like to end my life. In fact, you've already made that choice.
Rituals around the first plowing of a rice field
Of course I don't have to tell you how important rice is for every Thai. Today, most of the work in the rice fields is done by machine, but here and there, especially with us in Isaan, it is still done, as in days gone by, with a deep, almost religious-like respect for the land and its products. And that in itself is not so strange.
Fortunately, the daily conversation in the village is not about corona, so there are no corona infections. That could also have to do with the temperature, we easily touch above 40 degrees Celsius, for days now.
Life in our village continues quietly, no corona reports. The rules have been expanded somewhat, for example, the main entrance to the village is now guarded. Everyone who wants to go to the village will receive a temperature check and hand gel on their hands. Although the check is limited. Working hours are from 9.00 a.m. to 12.00 p.m. and 13.00 p.m. to 17.00 p.m., but to the eye, the village is now protected against corona invaders.
Reader submission: Corona between the rice fields (4)
No fireworks have been heard in our village this week, which is positive news. But in the surrounding villages I heard the fireworks. Whether these fireworks concern announcements of corona deaths will never be clarified.
Reader submission: Corona between the rice fields (3)
In the village where I stay, you can see carefully that the realization has come that this can become an unpleasant situation in the coming weeks. And that it may well take longer than a few weeks before, to name just one example, the tourists will return to Thailand.
Reader submission: Corona between the rice fields (2)
So, the first week of more or less self-quarantine is over. Not a problem for me, can spend many hours reading a good book.
Reader submission: Corona between the rice fields
Last Saturday I posted a message about how we live in the countryside, between the rice fields and how things are going with this corona crisis. What happens now? Quite a lot in our village. The first thing that strikes me are the many strange faces.
Reader submission: Between the rice fields and Corona
If you live like we do in the middle of the rice fields, about 25 km from Khon Kaen, you hardly notice anything about corona. Apart from what we read on the internet, life goes on as usual. Or it must be that planned parties for ordination as a monk are cancelled.
A farang in Isan (5)
The morning starts with an alternating cloudy sky, light gray between which dark clouds float that promise rain. But around seven o'clock all that greyness has already disappeared. The sun is back and will stay until late afternoon. There is far too little rain in the region.
An Isan village life (4)
Roaring machines, dust blowing up high, people walking around busily ranting and pointing. And a heat to say to you, the sun is stinging and the temperature must be around forty degrees. The Inquisitor, traditionally poorly dressed, because only shorts, T-shirt and slippers, suffers.
Reader Submission: Looking back, my first day in Isaan
About twelve years ago I met my girlfriend in a bar in Pattaya. In the beginning of our relationship, you look around a bit and get to know each other a little better. And after a few years also once, to her house in the Isaan.
Speaking of rice
Green rice fields give an extra dimension to the landscape and put a smile on the face of the tourist. Few will realize that more than a hundred thousand different types of rice are grown worldwide.
To the temple across the rice fields (video)
In this video you can see different growth stages of the rice fields in the vicinity of the house of the videographer who lives in Isaan. He films the route from his home to the local temple from the air.
Green rice is the answer
In 1985, the average age of farmers in Thailand was 31 years, now 42 years. Ten years ago, 60 percent of the population worked in rice cultivation, in 2010 this was only 20 percent.
Rice can do with much less water
Water consumption in rice cultivation can be reduced by 10 to 30 percent if the so-called 'Alternative Wetting and Drying' method is applied, a technique developed by the International Rive Research Institute.