Farmer Talen circa 2009 in the rice fields of Mukdahan quite a bit heavier then and very sweaty.

The first thing I noticed as the bus pulled into Petchaboon province were the small mountain ranges on the horizon and after that was the miles and miles of farmland. Petchaboon is definitely farm country as is most of rural Thailand, and while you’ll see many rice fields as expected they are far from the the money crops. The rice fields for the most part are for personal use while the main crops are sugar cane, tamarind, soy beans, corn and potatoes…miles and miles of potatoes. From atop the mountains you get a beautiful view of these patchwork crops laid out as far as the eye can see.

One evening after dinner I was sitting with Mo and her parents talking about, of all things, Ford tractors, and that’s when Pappa asked me if I would like to go with them in the morning to pick flowers…I said sure, I would love to. Now, I have learned quite a bit of Thai over the past year but staying with the family in Petchaboon quickly made me realize that my Thai was sorely lacking. I was able to pick out enough words to understand what was going on but I missed a lot of the subtle things such as Pappa’s picking flowers question.

While the farmers do rotate crops and in October many farmers rotate in sunflowers it was still too early for picking because the sunflowers were only 2 feet tall with small heads and for the life of me I saw no other flowers anywhere. Needless to say I was a little confused as to what flowers I would be picking.

The next day came early and after a good breakfast we headed out in the pickup truck, a few miles down the road we pulled into some fields and I started looking intently for flowers…nope, we had stopped at a house to pick up a few older ladies. A few more miles down the road we stop again to pick up and old couple…and when I say old I mean old, they were in their 90′s. Another twenty minutes and we pull off the road into a muddy track between sugar cane fields, about a mile in we stop as the road is flooded so we had to walk the rest of the way.

Interspersed between the sugarcane fields were the flower fields or should I say RICE fields. We wouldn’t be picking flowers at all but cutting rice. I asked Mo if I misheard her father about picking flowers and she told me I didn’t but when harvesting rice many of the old timers refer to it as picking flowers. Of course everyone was dressed for farm work but me because I thought we would be casually picking flowers Either way I grabbed a sickle and followed the 90 year old man into a field.

They had already started harvesting a few days before as there were already bundles of rice laying out to dry. It turns out the 90 year old couple owned the 15 or so rice fields which they shared with 4 families in exchange for planting and harvesting. A good deal all the way around which keeps every family in rice for the year.

The old man showed me what I needed to do which was as you could guess…grabbing a handful of rice by the stalk and cutting it about 3-4 inches from the ground then laying it behind me to dry. After about 15 minutes of this in the blazing sun I was ready finish, the old man told me to slow down I could die in this heat which made me laugh my ass off as he had cut one bundle then sat down and lit up a cigarette and that was his work day. I talked to him the best I could and caught bits and pieces of what he was saying but could read so much more in the lines of his face and the big smile he wore that said so much more than any words could. At 90 he was still going strong and taking care of his family and friends and he was more than happy to do so.

By 11 am it was time to quit, the fields would wait for another day as Pappa and the others had their fields to tend to. Mo and I hung out with the kids at a small shack in the middle of the fields and had lunch before we went home, I was beat,  the sun had taken it out of me and it showed. This was hard back breaking work that these people do day in and day out year after year because they have to, because this is how they feed their families.

2 years ago I worked in the rice fields of Mukdahan getting them ready for planting by shoveling dung into the fields and now I have come full circle by helping to harvest some rice. What I’ve done working in the rice fields was very little compared to the lifetimes the Thai’s have spent in these fields, but the little bit I have done has helped me to understand and appreciate what it takes to put a bowl of rice on the table and the people who do it.

Sadly just a few hours ago Mo told me she is going back home for a week, the old man who I shared a few laughs with passed away last night.

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Another day and more shit to shovel! I took a rest day yesterday and walked around town taking pictures. Nakom Phanome really is a beautiful city and they take great pride in their walkways on the Mekong. That post is for another day as well as the alien bug encounter we had the last few days.. Today we had to haul shit to the family’s other fields about 3 miles away which entailed putting road tires on the tractor. Once we finished up for the day the brothers wanted to take me net fishing , which was great because I was all about doing some swimming.

The water was cool and just what I needed after a long day in the fields. As for the fishing, well, we didn’t catch anything and after trying three different bodies of water we settled into the largest of the man made ponds and started searching for fresh water mussels. After an hour and with the sun finally gone from the sky we counted 3 dozen mussels as our take and we headed back to the family home for a well deserved meal…which included the mussels.

I was amazed that after dinner Uncle, who is an auxillary policeman, got dressed and headed out for a night of work after working the fields for 10 hours.

I think I’m going to need a vacation from this vacation soon…

The internet here is excruciatingly slow today so not many pictures but hopefully it will be better tomorrow because I really want to post a lot of pictures of the walkways on the Mekong.

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Ok, that might have been a bit over the top or melodramatic but considering I shoveled shit on the family farm in Nakom Phanome yesterday in some serious heat I think it’s a fitting name for the rice fields here.

Two weeks ago Mama’s sister asked Pookie if falang could help out getting the rice fields ready as Uncle was a little short handed…and of course she said I could. I didn’t mind, so I was up at 6am and headed to the family farm 10 minutes outside of town.

Now shoveling shit is a bit of a misnomer because there were no shovels involved just hoes and baskets and a lot of back.  We basically moved the shit from the stable to the rice fields depositing a couple of piles in each section. Thai’s will wear long sleeved shirts while working and they offered the same to me but it just doesn’t work for the falang…but a good straw hat and constantly pouring water over my head kept me cool and also made everyone laugh.

We worked for 4 hours and then took a break for eating, showering and sleeping as it was very hot.  During this time the family hang out under the house because it’s much cooler there. While the men did the work the ladies wove baskets and chatted all day. A few hours later we went back and finished up with the last few loads of buffalo shit and called it a day. We aren’t finished but we made a good dent in it.

It’s funny, here I am helping the family out but a couple of the female family members kept saying ” falang pee baa” which I know to mean ” falang crazy”. When I asked Pookie why the family kept calling me crazy here is the answer I got…” Falang shovel shit…falang pee baaa because why falang shovel shit?” The gist of it all is falangs have money so don’t need to shovel shit and any falang that has money and still shovels shit is crazy. I’m beginning to believe they are right.

The fields didn’t kill me today but I’m told they will have another shot at me tomorrow…Falang pee baa!

Related Articles of Interest:

• Setting Sun on the Family Farm
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Phuket attracts a bunch of budding photographers, who usually come to the island with more talent than they find the local media scene can cope with. There are some really good photographers in Phuket, but finding well-paid work is a challenge. If you want to be paid to take photographs in Phuket, you need to network, network and network and then the jobs will come up.

For writers, the island is a lot more forgiving. There are countless publications in Phuket and the Andaman region that will pay decent money for travel articles. It’s just a case of finding them. A number of Bangkok publications will also pay you to write about bits and pieces in Phuket. Again, networking will open up new possibilities.

Another popular line of business is property, but if you’re thinking of going down this route, you will need to be well connected and have a solid game plan. The property market in Phuket is utterly over saturated.

If you want to work in Phuket, you need to meet people and understand the way the island works. It can be a little cliquey at times, but if you can get your foot in, the rest will follow.

This post was written by Matt from Phuket Vogue and Thailand’s Lost Boy.

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