As I said in an earlier post, Pookie’s family splits their time between 2 houses. One in Mukdahan province and the other in Nakhon Phanom. The house in Mukdahan is owned by pookies parents and has no farm land attached to it. The house in Nakhon Phanom is Pookie’s Aunts house that has been handed down through the family and has about 4 acres of farm land attached.

Normally the family would be shuttling back and forth during the planting and harvest seasons to help out in the fields but over the past year they have been spending an increasing amount of time in Nakhon Phanom. Unfortunately Pookie’s father decided it was time to have a girlfriend and mama is none to happy about that. Plans have been made to make the move to Nakhon Phanom permanent. To this end the house in Mukdahan will be getting a makeover. The bottom of the traditional Thai house which is concrete will remain but the top of the house which is made of teak will be removed and carted to Nakhon Phanom where it will be re-built.  Endings are messy no matter what culture you are from.

For now the family house in Nakhon Phanom can accomodate everyone quite well. It’s a large house built of teak in the traditional Thai manner. Storage area’s and sitting area’s under the house and the main living quarters above.  The living area has a bathroom, kitchen, 2 private bedrooms and a modest living area. The floors are amazingly beautiful teak that the pictures just don’t do justice. Though beautiful they are also rather on the thin side so any falang of decent size, such as myself, has to walk slowly and softly while upstairs.

The house is kept very nice and the only clutter is all the stuff we brought with us to Nakhon Phanom …and a considerable amount of clutter was brought. Aside from the various pillows and blankets we also had to load up the karaoke system and the stereo. Most everything in the house was made by the family and they are very proud of that fact as they should be. And if there is any question on which shirt color they side with one only needs to look at the walls to see Thaksin’s photo’s in a place of honor next to the King and Queen.

Although Nakhon Phanom seems to be home for now there is still shuttling between Nakhon Phanom and Mukdahan due to the fact that little brother still has school in Mukdahan and he needs to be checked on to make sure he actually goes.  Hopefully the pictures bring out the real beauty of the family house in Nakhon Phanom even if it doesn’t quite measure up toi western standards.

I’ve had several readers ask me in the past few weeks why I talk about the family house in Mukdahan one day and the family house in Nakhon Phanom the next. I guess I left out a few details so this should clear that up until next time when it’s changed again…this is Thailand we are talking about

Once I get things sorted I’ll post a large galley of all the Traditional house and farm pics I have.