George's Unusual and Marvelous Adventure

Mary and I live just a few blocks from the Mekong River.  There is a walkway along the river and a couple of pavilions where one can sit in the shade and watch the activity on the river.  Just about everyday, I walk to the pavilion near the center of town - close to a Buddhist temple - to enjoy the river and read my Kindle.

 

This view of the pavilion in the distance can be seen from the entrance to the temple:

There is a bell tower on the temple grounds.  While I'm at the pavilion, I frequently hear monks pounding a syncopated beat on the large drum on the lower level.

The pavilion:

I'm usually the only one there, but sometimes there are other visitors and, when there are, we frequently try to converse.  But Thai is a difficult language for me and English is a difficult language for most Thais, so we usually don't get very far along in the conversation.  I have an app on my cellphone that translates English to Thai so I can sometimes get parts of my thoughts across, but the app doesn't work in reverse.  I also have a bulky dictionary that translates both ways, but usually don't carry it.

The pavilion has two interior levels.

If there are people at the lower level, I usually sit up above so as not to disturb them.  On Saturday, March 9th, when I arrived, there were two Thai police officers and one man in civilian clothes down below so I sat up above and started reading The Washington Post on my Kindle.  After a while, they started to leave - the officers first.  I greeted the officers and they left, then the man in civilian clothes came toward me.  We greeted each other and he started talking in Thai.  I gave my usual Puut paasaa tai daai nitnoi (I can speak only a little Thai), but that didn't slow him down; he kept on talking in Thai and looking at me very earnestly as if to say if I would only listen a little harder, I would understand him. We did exchange names - his is Tom.  [He also told me that he drives boats across the Mekong River ferrying people and goods between Khemmarat and Laos on the other side of the river.]  CORRECTION:  Tom read this today (Saturday, March 16) and said "mai" -- "no."  He doesn't drive boats; he's a farmer and you can read more about that in Part 2 of this post. 

 Our attempted conversation went on for at least an hour.  I was amazed at Tom's persistence and really appreciated his willingness to stick with it to communicate with me.  He started talking about going somewhere; I wasn't sure where or how we were going, but I followed him to his motorbike, got on, and we were off.  He was asking me for directions so I led him to Latda Mantion and that seemed to be where he wanted to go.  We went up to our office apartment and got some beers.  I got Mary to come out and meet him.  I took a picture of him and then he wanted a picture with me, so Mary took that; he said he would frame it.

 

He talked about a school and  used his name, so I assumed he was talking about the school he had attended.  Suddenly he was ready to go again.  I thought this might be a little risky - going off with a guy I'd just met and with whom I could barely communicate, but decided to go and told Mary we were off - to a school, I thought.  I grabbed my bulky dictionary; we got on his motorbike and took off down Hwy 2050 toward Ubon.  We kept going for a long time (it seemed).  Tom would periodically point to big beautiful houses or resorts along the road and say "suai" (beautiful); I would agree.  As we went along the highway, I watched to see if there were tuk-tuks on the road that I might use to get home if I needed to.  

 

Suddenly, Tom pulled off the road into a parking lot in front of a few shops.  We pulled in very close to a big black SUV looking like it was waiting to pull out onto the highway.  We were so close to it that I wondered if I would brush my leg against the SUV.  The driver's window was open and Tom started talking with the driver in Thai.  I was pretty sure the conversation was about me; at one point, when the SUV driver was looking at me, I said my "Puut paasaa tai" line and showed him my dictionary.  Tom said something with what sounded like "poleet" in it; I didn't get it, so the SUV driver pulled out his police badge and showed it to me.  That gave me one more reassurance about Tom - he was friends with police officers.  

We got back on the highway.  Before long, Tom slowed down and seemed to be asking me (over his shoulder) about directions.  I didn't have any suggestions, of course.  We had arrived in Baan Non Tum.  He turned left and drove a short way until we reached a school on the left.  I said "school" and Tom pointed at the school and himself and said "Tom."  So we had been going to Tom's school!  But we didn't stop and a little further on I saw a Buddhist temple on the right; I pointed and said "wat."  Tom nodded and said his name again - his temple, I took it.  We drove through the temple grounds and Tom exchanged a few comments with some monks as we passed.  We drove out the other side of the grounds and up to a few buildings.  Suddenly there were children running toward us, obviously happy to see Tom.

 

That's (from left) Chunee (10), Tonkra (8), Runee, Tom, and Namfon (3). (I'm not sure about the spellings of the names.)

We were soon joined by a neighbor child (I believe) named Sawanee (10) and I got a group picture.  Sawanee is second from the left.

The children were pretty interested in the farang.  I took out my cellphone and showed them some pictures - for example, Mary feeding the baby tiger in Chiang Mai, other tiger pictures from Chiang Mai, Theo, President Obama (whom Chunee recognized).  Tom took a picture of the children with me.

At first, the children didn't talk to me, but after a short while they loosened up and the older girls started speaking some English to me.  That prompted me to do some English songs with them.  Tom used my cellphone to take pictures.

Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes

 

If You're Happy and You Know It (Clap Your Hands)

I asked Tom if we could walk around the area.  Here are Tom and the children in front of a dry rice field.

Tom took me on a tour of the temple grounds as the sun began to set.

 

 

We made a quick visit to see his cows.

Then Tom got out his motorbike and invited me back on.  We headed back to Khemmarat.  I saw a sign - Khemmarat was about 10 kilometers.  The trip back seemed a lot shorter than the trip to Baan Non Tum!  Just as we were starting the trip, my cellphone buzzed.  I couldn't answer it - my hands were on Tom's waist trying to make sure I stayed on the motorbike, but I was sure it was Mary wondering where I was. She said later that she had worried about what might happen to me on the trip but then thought about Tom, who seemed to her like a very nice guy, and thought that this is rural Thailand, where everyone we meet is very kind and generous - and she stopped worrying.

I told Tom I wanted to give him copies of the pictures from that day and we set a date for him to come to Latda Mantion again to pick them up - on Saturday, March 16th.  I'm also going to give him a copy of this blog post.  A good friend in the US pointed out that it wouldn't be more than the pictures unless it was translated into Thai, so our dear teacher/friend Wachinee agreed to do that - thanks so much, Wachinee.

It was an extraordinary afternoon!  Tom had refused to let language be a barrier and had taken me home to meet his family.  I felt like I was in the "heart" of Isaan that day thanks to their wonderful hospitality.  I think if I hung around Tom enough, I would learn a lot more Thai - because he would insist that I learn it!  Tom, thanks so much to you and your family for making me feel so welcome in Thailand and taking me on a marvelous adventure!