Changing Landscapes

About a month ago, a significant change occurred. Within a few weeks the entire landscape had been altered. The views from the roadside changed from those of fields overrun with weeds to fields with neatly planted rows of rice as far as the eye could see. These changes came in several stages and will continue to evolve over the next few months. These changes, which are an annual event, are an essential part of not only the Thai landscape, but also the Thai culture.

The rainy season brings with it the yearly influx of water. In a country were rice is a staple crop and a significant source of income for nearly 60% of the population, these monsoon rains are essential. Most of Thailand’s rice is grown in rice paddies. Rice can be grown on dry land, but most rice is cultivated in paddies. However, by taking advantage of rice's ability to tolerate high levels of water, it is more commonly grown in paddies which helps with weed control and increases productivity.

One of the first things that I noticed when I arrived in Thailand for the first time almost two year ago, were the rice paddies. When most people think of Asia, one of the first things to come to mind is rice. Rice, like 7/11, is ubiquitous in Thailand. However, when my family arrived in June and throughout their stay, while rice was a significant part of their diet, it wasn’t a part of the landscape. My family arrived towards the end of the dry season and the beginning of the wet season. The monsoons hadn’t arrived yet and my family was rewarded with very mild weather - we only had rain for a few days they were here and it wasn’t particularly intense rain either. Well, that all changed a few weeks after they left and soon the fields had become inundated with water. That wasn’t solely a natural change as it was also aided by the opening of different canals, sluice gates and different irrigation systems utilized in order to prepare the soil for planting. That change was almost imperceptible. Had I not been living along several rice paddies, I might not have noticed the change. I did, however, begin to notice patches of green sprouting up in different places. These patches of green, located in the newly flooded fields, were what would become the seemingly endless expanse of rice. Rice is a tricky and labor-intensive crop to grow. Unlike some crops, it isn’t just sown straight into the ground. Rice is actually planted in two stages. The first stage occurs in these little patches of green. Here the farmers sow the rice seed. It is scattered about and grows up randomly with the different plants growing very close together. After the rice has germinated and reached a certain height, it is pulled from this small field and moved and spread out amongst many fields across a large area. However, before that occurs they must plow the fields. Traditionally this was done with water buffalo and plow but most of the water buffalo have been replaced with the ‘iron buffalo’ or the tractor. The fields, after having been left fallow since the harvest (which occurred in roughly November or December), have become fields of weeds and grass. During the dry season, these fields become havens for cattle and it's impossible to not spot a herd of cattle somewhere in the distance grazing on top of what once was a flooded rice paddy. The plowing happens in two stages. First, the grasses and soil is turned over and the soil is shaped into neat rows by the plow. After leaving the field for a few days, it is plowed again this time using a flat plow which serves to level out the field in preparation for planting. Flowing that second and final planting, the rice shoots are transferred from the nursery into the fields. This is all done by hand and over the course of several days working in groups of a dozen or more, they slowly fill the fields making sure that the rice is arranged in nice neat rows. What follows is a long period of waiting and tending the fields as the rice matures. Once the rice is ready for harvest, which happens in about November or December, these groups will again descend into the fields and harvest the rice, again mostly by hand. I'll maybe add more about the harvest come December (and add some pictures as the rice around my house is harvested) but until then I'll bring this post to an end.

I just thought that it would be interesting to write about these changes and record for posterities sake what I'd seen happening in the fields around my house and around town as well as what I'd learned over the past few years.

Here are a few photos of the fields behind my house.

The rice season begins with the plowing of the fields. The grass that had been growing there for the past few month is turned over and flooded.
This picture shows a little of every stage of the planting process. The central plot has yet to be plowed, except around the edges. They will start along the edge of the paddy and work their way into the center turning over that thick mess of grass. The plot in the back right has already been plowed. The back central plot which is the darkest green spot in the picture is where the rice seeds are sown and grown before they are transplanted. Finally, the plot in the back left has been recently planted.

After the fields have been plowed, the rice is planted. The seeds are sown in a more protected field and then transplanted by hand into the newly plowed fields.

In a matter of weeks, the fields overgrown with grass take on a new appearance. The neat rows of newly planted rice stretch on as far as the eye can see interrupted only by the edges of the rice paddies.
This last picture shows the whole process.

Until next time,

Ryan

Hong Kong Part III

I've come to realize that I'm in the middle of telling several different stories. I haven't quite yet finished the recounting of my time in Hong Kong nor have I finished sharing my family's visit. I've also realized that I have left you hanging and haven't finished Taryn's visit and our time together before the family arrived or (and I let out a sigh) the conclusion of Peter's trip. I'm going to try to take care of one of those sagas this morning.

I last left off at the end of my second day in Hong Kong. The following morning was D-Day for Taryn. She was subjected to three exams each lasting two hours throughout the day. What that meant was that I had the whole day to explore by myself. My first night in Hong Kong we rode the bus to the top of Victoria Peak and were rewarded with some incredible views of the city at night. I wanted to catch the same views but during the day. I also wanted some exercise. I took off at about 7:30 am and began the trek uphill. I mentioned earlier that for a large city, Hong Kong has a surprising amount of forested areas. Victoria's Peak is one of those places. Only a few minutes out, I entered into a very thick forest and began to wind my way up the hill. This was no little hill and it was pretty much uphill for a good 45 minutes. But I was rewarded with some incredible views of the city, Kowloon and the harbor. The next step was to take the old tram back down the hill. While some may be scratching there heads and wondering why I didn't take the tram up and walk down, there is a simple explanation. I started out about halfway up the hill. Taryn's room is located in the mid-levels and so in order to get to the tram I would have had to go downhill. Plus the tram was a good 45 minute walk (or more) from Taryn's room. Not to mention the second item on my list was the Bank of China building which just happened to be at the base of the tram. Being a bank, it wasn't open at 7:30 am. So there was logic. Plus, I also wanted the satisfaction of knowing that I had climbed the tallest mountain in Hong Kong. Anyway, I soon found myself climbing again however this time it was in an elevator inside the Bank of China building. If you can picture the Hong Kong skyline (I mean, who can't?), you might make out a very cool looking building with neat angles and roof lines which look like the tops of the towers were sliced off leaving a slope. Well, that's the Bank of China building and I really like it. So I decided that I wanted to go up to the viewing platform on the 43 floor. After accomplishing that, I headed towards Kowloon. Hong Kong SAR is made up of several different areas mainly Hong Kong island (and a good number of other islands), Kowloon (the land just across the river/straight between Hong Kong island and mainland China) and the New Territories (which are simply an extension of Kowloon into mainland China). So I crossed the body of water (I've yet to determine exactly what that body of water is called...straight, river, harbor, stream...I've no clue) and ended up in Kowloon. After gazing back at the immense city rising up out of the water at the foot of Victoria Peak, I headed towards the the History Museum to brush up on my Hong Kong history. I'll spare you most of the details, but Hong Kong has a very interesting history. A point of note though is that only recently (on July 1 actually), Hong Kong celebrated its 10th anniversary as a part of China. There was a huge celebration and my family actually was in Hong Kong and was able to witness it. If you have any questions, please direct them towards them as I'm clueless. Aside from my current state of mind, the museum was interesting and enjoyable. Plus it was air conditioned. I then spent the next few hours wandering in different areas of Kowloon and eventually made it into the New Territories. Historically, the British claim to mainland China ended with Kowloon and the boundary was rather artificially drawn up. A ruler was simply place on a map and a line was drawn. The boundary is meaningless today, but where the old boundary lay now lies Boundary Road (I wonder who thought of that?). A few markets and temples later, I was ready to head home and meet Taryn. Her exams were about the wrap up and it was soon going to be time to hit the town and celebrate. I returned and soon after that so did Taryn and in her brain dead stupor (6 hours of law exams in 10 hours...who can blame her?) was able to recommend a place for dinner and off we went, accompanied by several of her friends of course. That was shortly followed by drinks and more lively conversation at a classy pub. Now, this was an evening that I enjoyed. It was absolutely wonderful to get back into the world of academia. Here I was in the company of a handful of bright and interesting individuals who have spent time doing a variety of things (including study law in Hong Kong). It was a reminder of what I enjoyed so much about my stint at university and whetted my appetite for my eventual return to campus. Our discussion were lively and the consumption of alcohol made us all funnier and the inclusion of a Connect 4 game fulfilled all of the criteria needed for a memorable evening. And that was my last night in Hong Kong.

Seeking to put an end to this of the adventure, I'll quickly add the highlights of the following morning and my eventual return to Thailand. We awoke early the next morning despite our late evening in order to get Taryn packed and moved out and talk to the parents. We hit the streets and tried to take in the last few sites of Hong Kong. We were unsuccessful with the exception of the Noon Gun. I honestly can't tell you much about the gun other than it's fired everyday at noon. There's some reason for it, but I was too sleepy and hot to retain any information whatsoever so we returned to the comforts of a coffee shop shortly after noon and there we remained until I needed to head out to catch my flight. A few hours later, I was back in Thailand and on my way back to Lampang. 9 hours later I was home. My weekend trip to an international destination was complete and so is another blog entry.

Until next time, fair reader.

Ryan

More family fun in the streets of Bangkok

And I'm back! The adventures that my family and I had have gone untold for too long and I'm sitting down tonight with the intention of sharing a few more of them. I don't know how far I'll get. I get the feeling that it'll be a long process documenting their trip.

We woke up on our first day in Bangkok fairly early despite not falling asleep until roughly 4 am. I was awake sitting in in bed and I heard a faint knocking at the door and opened it to find my mom standing out in the hallway in her pajamas. We roused the rest of the troops and headed out for breakfast. Our breakfast that morning began one of my dads favorite meals - chicken-on-a-stick (and fruit). Outside the hotel, there were several vendors selling different things and we decided to have some grilled chicken, various assorted fruits and sticky rice. Awhile later, making our way to the river taxi, we headed off towards Taryn's office. Taryn, the lucky girl that she is, had to work that day and was at the office already. We went up into her office, met some of her co-workers and then went to lunch near her office. Taryn went back to work and we did what all families would do if they could - we got a massage while we waited for her to finish! I introduced my family to the wonders of the cheap Thai massage. A little shopping and walking and it was back to the hotel for a dip in pool, dinner and then we hit the sack. We all were pretty exhausted (setting a trend fr the days to follow) and slept well that night. The next few days were spent in Bangkok exploring and getting to know the city. I found out quickly that I had to change my tried and true method of exploring a city as my family (my father in particular) weren't diggn' it. What I'll do is simply wander around a city until I've seen everything that I've come to see or run out of time. I'll look at a map every now and then but for the most part I'll simply wander. We started out that way. I led the way and we were off. Our objective that morning was the Queen Sirkit Snake Farm. Located near (maybe even within) Chulalongkorn University, this is a research institute dedicated to snakes and, in particular, developing antivenoms for snake-bite victims. We walked there (it looked closer on the map) and got lost (because a road was missing) and were all hot and tired by the time we got there (but, as I like to point out, we were on time and did, in fact, get there). They have a daily snake show at 11:00 followed by a 'milking' of the snake. The snake show was interesting. They had a good variety of snakes and the presenter had a very good personality. The milking of the snake is an important step in making the antivenoms. They'll essentially force the snake to release its venom (hence 'milking') and bottle it. The antivenom is created by injecting a small amount of the collected venom into an animal such as a horse, sheep, goat etc. The animal will then have an immune response to the venom and will begin to produce antibodies which can be collected and stored to use in case of snakebites. After we got there we continued our adventure towards the Jim Thompson House. Jim Thompson was an American who served in Thailand during WWII and eventually settled down in Bangkok after the war. He is said to have created the Thai silk industry, which was steadily declining when he set up shop, and opened Thai silk up to the world and received a tremendous response. He established several factories in Bangkok and was on his way to the top. He designed a house (he was educated as an architect) which was modeled on several different styles of Thai architecture and had it built in Bangkok. During a trip to Malaysia, he disappeared and was never heard from again. Jim Thompson Silk is still some of the best silk in Thailand (and was used for most of the clothing in The King and I) and his house is now a museum. The house is located in the heart of Bangkok and so is very convenient. I've wanted to go for ages now and hadn't yet gone and so when my family expressed interest I jumped on it. I've been meaning to go for so long (and with several different people) that I actually bought several postcards and sent them to the people I had previously discussed visiting the house with declaring that I had finally gone. We then had lunch at a little street-side restaurant and climbed on board the BTS (the elevated light rail system in BKK) and headed to the weekend market. The heat and the large numbers of people made this a rather low point for the day and we quickly turned around and headed back for the cool and inviting environment around the pool. A lazy evening and dinner found us ready to call it a night.

I haven't yet really talked about our meals. I have to say that the meals that I shared with my family while they were here, despite their being fairly mundane events, were some of my favorite moments. I've always enjoy meals with my family and they've been a large part of our time together (we actually eat three of them a day!). Growing up, we always had Sunday dinner together. I remember one Sunday when Taryn and I were enjoying the freedom of her newly acquired drivers license and came home late (missing dinner of course) to a very angry family (mother and father in particular). They usually prove to be very entertaining and stimulating. Our conversations are vast and varied and there is usually at least one joke about how old Dad is (while he may be getting old, joke about his age never seem to). Right before I left, we took a trip to Hawaii and the same can be said for that experience as well. The most vivid memories that I have from the trip are mostly connected to different meals that we shared. So while I may gloss over the meals, they were a significant and meaningful part of their trip.

And that's enough for tonight (or at least for now). Maybe I'll sign back on and knock another day off the list...who knows. Anything can happen. And pigs fly too.

RM