A Receives An Injection Of Isan Warmth

This lovely Thai woman transliterates her nickname into English as ‘Ooy.’ Ooy is the bar supervisor at Baan Rim Pa, Phuket’s most touted restaurant. In that setting, she is a model of sophistication and efficiency. Few customers would guess that Ooy is a country girl from Isan in northern Thailand, with deep roots in a rural culture that has remained pretty much the same for eons.

I’ve known Ooy many years and A met her when we arrived last year. Ooy has become a close and fine friend, but we were still surprised and delighted when she invited A to come with her on a vacation trip to her family’s home in Isan. An invitation such as that bespeaks a trust and comfort not frequently bestowed upon foreigners (faranges, as they call us), so A felt very honored and jumped at the opportunity to see a bit of the real Thailand, far from these shores of glitz and western oriented entertainments.

So off they flew; A on a great adventure, and Ooy eager to introduce her family and village to their first, in-the-flesh, Caucasian.

The casual young lady sitting on the portico of her humble country home hardly relates to the elegantly accoutered woman seen in Baan Rim Pa every night.


Ooy’s Mom returns from the market with a basket filled with goodies that will find their way into an endless stream of exotic and spicey dishes set before A throughout her visit. Ooy’s family and the villagers were abuzz over the foreign guest – country hospitality and unrestrained friendliness poured forth. One of sociology’s greatest mysteries is the generosity of folks who have so little and the stinginess of those who have so much.

Above: Everything but the kitchen sink – literally! Ooy washing dishes after one of the meals.

This toilet is not exactly American Standard and it takes some doing for the inflexible knees of large-boned Caucasians to manage the mechanics of it all.

Three women bringing bowls of food to a funeral a few doors away from Ooy’s home. A said that amplified music from a Thai band played at the wake night and day for a few days and sleeping was difficult.




All the people who came to the funeral to pay their respects brought colorful pillows which were stacked against a wall under a bright canopy. We don’t know the significance of the pillows, other than, I suppose, that one could count the pillows to determine the number of the deceased’s friends.



The other major event that occurred during A’s visit was Songkran, the Thai New Year’s celebration. It’s one of their biggest holidays and there is a great tradition of throwing water during the festivities. It also marks the beginning of the long awaited wet season, so critical to the rice farmers. Thailand is the world’s largest exporter of rice.






Ooy organized a number of excursions away from the village and A got a dose of local sights and bizarre entertainments.

Of it all, the thing that perhaps impressed A the most – the thing that entrenched itself firmly in her heart – was the sincere friendliness and happiness of the people she met. They did not patronize her in the least and their hearts joined hers in a real and meaningful way. One of the greatest honors given her was a small ceremony where many people bestowed blessings on her through the tying of bits of string around her wrist. As each person tied their string to her wrist and spoke their blessing, the others in the circle touched one another and A at the same time. Thais are not touchy-feely people and hugs are generally reserved for intimates, so this truly touching ceremony was indeed an honor and instilled a great feeling of acceptance and camaraderie. Thais love freely and easily and are easy to love in return. We soak up their warmth daily.

I remember Ooy’s bubbling excitement before leaving for her trip home. Ooy in jeans picking mangos next to a rice field in Isan looks happy and then Ooy back in Baan Rim Pa decked out in her bar manager’s sexy dress looks happy too. Are both manifestations of Ooy happy, or is one of them happier than the other? It’s hard to say. Leaving the country to work in the city puts a person in limbo, a place where one can no longer be entirely of one world, or the other.

(The two posts below this also sport interesting pictures from A's Isan visit.)

Beautiful Faces Of Old Siam

Respect for elders is still very much intact in Thailand, as it is in many poor countries. There is some sense to it. One doesn't have to be necessarily wise or clever to achieve a modicum of longevity in a land of plenty, but it takes some doing to reach old age in a meager economy fraught with hazards and sparse medical care. Elders, especially in the rural reaches of Thailand, receive great respect from their juniors. A was fortunate enough to attend a special ceremony honoring the elders of the village she visited in Isan. She found it a little disconcerting to find herself to be regarded as an elder herself and also treated with deference. Like... 'What are you talking about? Who me? Not yet, please." She participated in the ceremony, was warmly included and made many friends, despite the language barrier. It was a moving experience and, of course, her camera was humming along with her heart.

Isan Silk

Silk production today is a highly automated industry. That is; except for the cocooning chores of a Mulberry-feeding moth. ‘Silkworm’ is a misnomer because the creatures that do the spinning are actually caterpillars called Bombyz Mori – not worms at all. A got to see Thai silk production up close during her recent trip to Isan and nothing about it was automated. Everything from boiling the threads off the pupae to the finished silk fabric was hand-done and labor-intensive. It’s a strand by strand chore in Isan and the results are stunningly beautiful. A colorful sarong costing under twenty US dollars has a labor value (using US as a mean) of well over two hundred dollars – that is, if you could even find anyone in the US willing to put in that much time for a measly two hundred bucks.

A’s host family during her visit are weavers and farmers and they were very proud to show her their skills, so she got a good taste of it all, and literally too… they prepare and eat the pupae after the silk cocoons have been removed. A said they were tasty, but I’m not sure she meant it, because she said “they have a lot of protein” too many times. Anyway… this is not a primer on silk production, or protein, but she came back with many pictures and here are a few of them.