The Thai Countryside with Michel – Thai Customs and Beliefs

Life in the Thai Countryside and Thai Customs and Beliefs:

We took an overnight bus to the northern province of Phayao, where Stephane’s cousin, Michel, lives with his Thai wife and their two children. It was exciting for us, as it was not only our first visit in a town outside of Bangkok, but also the first time that I met Michel. He reminded me in every way of Stephane’s father – in fact, I’ve never met two people before who remind me so much of each other. So it was very comfortable – I felt like I already knew him!

Michel’s village is unique in that there are nine Western men who have married Thai women in the small village of 1500! His sister-in-law married a German. His neighbor is Swiss, and his brother-in-law is English. And so on and so on. This has earned the village the nickname of “Town of Farangs” (‘farang’ translates as ‘European’ or ‘white person’). The town is relatively wealthy for the area, and the foreigners in the town seem to have helped a bit. Many have built large houses over the last decade. Except for one man, all of the others work in their home country and only come to Thailand for a short period in the year to see their wives and families. Michel, for example, still works in France 10 months per year and comes to Thailand about two months per year. He hopes to retire in Thailand.

We got a good glimpse into Thai life in the countryside. Michel speaks Thai and everyone in the village greeted him with a wave and a smile. He was able to explain different customs and traditions for us, from life in the rice fields to the reasons why people no longer eat rats to how Thais never greet each other with ‘hello,’ but always with the formula ‘Where are you going? What did you eat?’ He explained how people hunted for food in the mountains, coming back with whatever they could find (snakes, squirrels, birds, frogs, etc.). We saw one ancient woman with big rubber boots standing in the mud across the street from Michel’s house and fishing for her dinner.

We learned that a pagan religion is still mixed with Buddhism. People believe in spirits, and they often leave offerings to these spirits so that they will leave them alone. His wife and daughter leave food (usually rice or fruit) in the spirit house in their garden for the spirits of departed love ones – even leaving them their favorite drinks, such as soda or whiskey. A straw is always included with the beverage. Sometimes, the offerings are not meant for specific people, but for whatever spirit that might be in the area. All of the spirits are believed to be human spirits, and not animal or tree spirits. If something bad happens, people often attribute it to spirits. For example, Michel’s wife, Niam, told him he should not go jogging in one direction one morning, and when he went anyway and came back with a sore back, she said it was because of the spirits.

Michel goes to about ten funerals per year when he is in Phayao (i.e. 10 funerals during his 2 months in Thailand). People do not mourn much at funerals. There is little crying, as people believe that the departed person will return again in another life. For example, if someone’s father dies, they believe that he will come back again in the form of the next male child. They often give the child the same name. Everyone in the village is invited to a funeral. People usually play cards (for money) during such occasions. Because gambling is illegal and because it is expected that people will play cards at a funeral (or no one would stay for the wake), the family of the deceased gives a sum of money to the police commissioner, who then gives the money to the government. This money allows the police commissioner to overlook the “illegal gambling.”

We learned that although gambling is illegal throughout the country, many people still engage in this practice behind closed doors. Niam plays bingo and cards several times per week with her friends. At the end of it all, she usually wins or loses 10 or 20 baht (between 30 and 60 cents). Though it’s not enough to bankrupt anyone, it’s still illegal. They got busted a few years ago when the police came to the house. Michel opened the door, and the police barged upstairs into the bedroom, where the women were playing. They were taken to jail and released only after they paid a fine (1000 baht, or 25 USD). Since then, they no longer park their motor scooters in the same driveway, instead asking a friend or family member to drop them off. Before, it had been easier to catch them, because a neighbor would call the police when he saw a group of scooters in a driveway (the neighbor receiving a commission). Now, they change location for each game.

We saw how elders are always respected. One day per year (it fell when we were there), everyone is supposed to give a monetary gift to his or her grandparents or parents, or his or her oldest brother or sister. The youngest never receives anything. This continues throughout life.

Showing respect in Thai society is also very important. As the head is considered the highest part of the body, you should never touch anyone’s head (even a child). And as the feet are considered the lowest part of the body, you should never touch anyone or anything with your feet, or point with your feet. If you walk between two people, you should always bow your head in deference. Also, you should never walk over anyone’s legs (they should move their legs out of the way instead).

We noticed how every man had his torso covered in tattoos – usually animals or symbols. It is a Thai tradition.

We saw, too, how karaoke is the undisputed national pastime. We spent five days in Phayao, and we heard karaoke – at top volume – every day. The young people played it and the old people played it. Many of the houses in the village had TV sets and karaoke CDs. The CDs had the words in Thai played in synchronization with the video. The same songs were played over and over again, so that we had started to learn the songs by the time that we left! We stopped at a neighbor’s house (the favorite in next month’s mayoral election), and he belted the songs out at top volume, never stopping for hours at a time, except to ask Stephane and I to sing something in English. Michel’s 15-year old daughter, Nui, brought friends over to the house, and out came the karaoke set. We went to a birthday party, and the karaoke was played all night long. So loud, in fact, that it was difficult to engage in conversation. Both men and women sang away happily.

Thais are supposed to be the number one consumers of alcohol worldwide. How this is calculated, I don’t know, but I wouldn’t argue too much with it after seeing the people in Phayao drink! Of course, we arrived at the end of the Thai New Year festival, so people were still celebrating on the weekend by getting drunk, but Michel says people drink a lot, even when there is no holiday. The women could definitely hold their own, as well – both in the drinking and smoking arenas. The favored drink was beer, although there was also rice whiskey.

We noticed how, even in the countryside, the people no longer wear traditional costume. All of the young people – and the older ones, too – wore sports clothing: long, loose-fitting basketball shorts and T-shirts that went to the knees and the elbows. The tops often had the names of famous English soccer teams, such as Arsenal or Manchester.

People in the village shop for food twice a day: once in the morning between 6 AM and 7 AM and again in the afternoon between 2 PM and 4 PM. This is because they have traditionally not been able to keep anything from spoiling in the heat. They eat whatever they cook immediately, and if they can’t finish it, they give it to the dogs. Refrigerators are relatively new. Most people still do not have them. Even in Michel’s house, where there is a large fridge, Niam does not use it except to keep water. She apparently does not see the need for a refrigerator – it’s only used when Michel comes to visit!

Aside from visiting with Michel and seeing village life, a big highlight of our trip was trying homemade Thai food. Niam made something different for each meal. We had seafood tom yum soup with squid and octopus, grilled fish, chicken pate made with noodles, buffalo stew (European meal made by Michel), grilled vegetables and omelette, seaweed soup, spicy noodles, and snake soup, among others. I especially enjoyed the seafood tom yum and the snake soup.

Every meal was spicy, and every meal was served with sticky rice. Niam made the sticky rice each morning and kept it in a plastic container, which kept it hot all day long. Meals were taken sitting on the floor. Traditionally, Thais sit on the ground and do not use utensils to eat. In fact, there was not even a single table in Michel’s house! The way to eat is to roll the sticky rice into a ball, dip it into a sauce, and eat it with meat or vegetables. They all eat from a common bowl – even the soups.

Hunting for ants – Grilled red ants and ant larvae omelette:

Among the more interesting things that we did was go “hunting” for ants. Niam’s cousin, Dee, was in charge, leading the way with her big rubber boots and long stick with a sack at the end – used to disturb the ants’ nests in the trees and to catch the ants as they fell from the nest. Usually, the ant hunting takes place in the mountains, but since this was just a small excursion, we didn’t go any farther than the end of the main street. We still caught enough for a good meal. As Dee disturbed the nests, a lot of the ants and the eggs fell into the sack, while other ones came racing after us on the ground. Ouch! Angry ants deliver a good bite! When we had enough, Dee put them all into a rounded bowl and covered them with talcum powder to calm them down. She sorted the queen ants (by far the largest), the worker ants, and the larvae into three separate piles. The worker ants are let go, because they have a sour taste. Dee ate a live one to show us how it didn’t taste good.

Then came preparation time. The ant larvae were cooked in banana leaves over a pot of boiling water, with garlic, fish sauce, and salt. We ate them in an omelette. It was quite good. You could see the different stages of development of the white larvae. Some were unhatched, while others were partially hatched. You could see their eyes, even. Because it was time-consuming to sort out all of the ants completely, we ate some of the worker ants in the omelette.

The queen ants were another story. They were grilled and eaten whole (I had Stephane take the wings off for me). I was a bit more squeamish about trying the ants, because they were so much bigger, and because the crunchy legs got stuck in my teeth (at least, I think it was the legs!). In any case, it was a delight to eat homemade Thai food. It is incredibly varied, spicy, and flavorful.

We took a bus back to Bangkok on the same day that Michel left. He spent one week in Bangkok before flying back to France to start working. Since we hit it off in Phayao, we stayed on in Bangkok in order to spend time with him there, as well.