Happy 1

Door to Door

The house I used to live in Nakohn Phamom is preserved as national heritage !!  Yea….. !!  I heard that news, but did not have any evident of it but it is nice to know.  The owner of the house was my Father’s boss.

I saw one story in a blog today [May 22, 08] about the historical places in this province and was amazed that I did not have any memory about them at all.  I promised to myself, I will explore my little province on the bank of Mae Kong River again.  But today, may I invite you to visit this little town in my memories.

I have told you how my house looked like when you looked from the street.  Let me open all the doors for you to see.  The first from the left if you looked out from the house was the big gate, where my memories about the monkey, Jasmine trees, and the sacks of rice lied.

From the gate was the building.  All the doors were folded type, painted with green and white.  They were doors and wall in the same time.  When unfolded all the doors completely the house would be opened to the eyes of the people on the street, no wall.

back to the top

 Dressmaking Room
The first door [wall] was My mother’s dress making room.  We call mother “Mae” and father “Poh”.
There was a window that you can see the gate, the monkey, etc.  Mother was in this room almost all the time.  There was a large long table for layout and cutting materials that the back of the room with some stools in front of it.  I remember Nid, my elder sister, sitting there embroidering beautiful flowers on the new dress Mae made for me.
Nid complained that she was so much bored and thought that mother used child labor.. hi However, she was the best in working with all kinds of handcraft until now and it has been her all time leisure.

The sawing machine was in the middle of the room facing the street.  It was the Singer paddle style that she later asked Poh to put the electronic paddle on.  The clearest picture in my mind was that she was sawing with my homework on the other side of the sawing machine.  I was trying to write but the number 3 and 5 was always reversed horizontally.  I heard later that it was the effect of the left hand child that was forced to use the right hand. 

Since then I always wonder that, if I were allowed to use the left hand from my childhood my right brain would work, does it mean that the working one wrong?  Would my live be totally opposite?  Would I become more ‘Engineer’ than’ Poet’ ? 

If left-handed people were majority of the world, we would have had more logical than emotional people and the world would be more peaceful..

..and less colorful.. hi hi

Mae is famous in that little town.  She was very good dressmaker. Her work was very fine.  She never ignored even a little wrinkle that even the customers said, just left it or the customers did not see.  She corrected all.  Her customers ranged from with Mayor’s wife to school teachers.  She became good friend of 3 ladies, the wife of Province’s Finance, the wife of a lieutenant, and a wife of a teacher who was very near to our house.  We were closest to this family.  She passed away in late 2006, over a year back.  Her family did not want to tell Mae, since she was not well and far away.  So Mae had just realized it when she called her friend early last year.

I sometime had to bring the cloth to two customers because it was in hurry and no one else available.  I felt very honor.  One customer was the wife of the Province’s forest control.  She gave me the money to bring to Mae. 

They live in the house provided by government.  It was behind the office at the ‘almost T’ junctions.  The main road was from my house and went along the river.  Another road from suburb of the province met it there, also the road down to the river bank where, if ever, there were anything big came by raft could be brought up to town there. 

That junction was the point I remember well and made me be very happy to see it in my got lost experience.

The second customer was a province’s school of boy teacher.  She was pretty.  She gave me some sweet and show me something nice and told me she would give the money to Mae herself.  It happened that she moved that night and did not pay Mae for many clothes she had ordered.

My big brother hatched some chicken eggs with a lamp, not sure it was his curiosity or project from school, but we all excited.  We kept the future little chicks in a box with electric light shone on them and put the box in her dressmaking room on the top of the high cupboard.  I used to think it was the best place to hatch them.  I have just understood now when writing that it was to prevent some… uh.. only one little curious girl to make more experiences in learning about it. 

One day, some of the “to be little chicks” succeeded in really being chicks, half of them became interesting smell bombs.  We were excited with both.  The little chicks were then adopted by an ignorant mother hen.  Some of them might have grown up to be problem chicks.. That was over my observation limitation.. hi

Mother’s dressmaking room was what we were growing with.  On one of her birthday, I gave her tiny dressmaking kits I found, tiny sawing machine, scissor, iron on iron board, things like that.  I made from pieces of wood what she had long to have, a large long table for cutting the material then put them in a glass box, setting it tiny dressmaking room.  I was not able to make as good as I wished, but she put it on the head of her bed all the time.   It was her life, and it was for the future of us, her 4 children.

back to the top

Books Under Bed
Behind this room was my brother’s room.  Under his bed, there were hundreds of interesting book.  One of them was a great novel.  I read until the 4th book in the series and no more.  I had found this book again a few years ago and very please to know how that story ended.

Out side of my brother’s room hung a rattan and feather duster. It was the law controller of the house.  My curious and naughty brother have to use this service very often.  I was forced to use the service once. I forgot the reason only remember that  Poh kindly applied the medicine on my finger later because I covered my back with my little hands.  He told me not to do so again – not to let the fingers be punished.  He was so kind that my heart was melted into tear.  Poh thought he applied the medicine too hard.  I said no, and put my arms around his neck and cried.  I knew then how much he loved me.

back to the top

Secret Walkway
The only door [wall] that never been opened at all except on the big cleaning day of the year.  With the door closed, it became a section to keep things like money coils used in my grandPoh’s time, horns, strange animal skins, etc. It was interesting but not so pleasant for me.  After that compartment was a guest room.  I was not allowed to get in.  There was a secret door in the room that opened to narrow closed walk way behind the room.  The other end of the walk way was to my parents’ bedroom [and mine also].  There, at the narrow door hung that pink curtain with white dots.

I knew later that the walkway was for escaping, from the guest room to the main bedroom, and went to the back of the house, through the storage, to the back of the house and got out.  It must have been a God Father’s house.. hi

The second door [wall] was also opened all days together with the third door to be the office for Poh. 

In the evening the third door will close first, then Mae’s, and the second door would close the last.

back to the top

Flying Dragon

When the third door was open, you will see a big wood armchairs and table for guests.  It was the place where my elder sister’s friends came to work on the school’s wreath to put in front of King RamaV’s statute every October 23th, the day he passed away. 

One day, we had strange vegetable for dinner.  The name of it was in Chinese meant Flying Dragon.  The taste was also strange, like the taste of metal.  I knew later that it has a lot of Iron and Vitamin A.
Poh told me that eating this vegetable I could fly.  I did not think that he was joking and he did not think that I took it real.  I climbed on that wood arm chairs and jump down for a few times and was surprised I could not fly.  I thought I did not fly the right way.  Lucky me that I did not think I should jump from higher place.
This experience taught me to understand the children’s mind, how we have to be very careful to communicate with them, make sure they understand what is real and what is not.

Through that door I saw local people carried body of large tigers, bears, big and small pythons etc.  They were sold to Poh and would be carried to the back of the house and I always ran after them.  I saw Poh put a big hook under the python’s chin and the workers pulled the rope while some other worker pull the tail of the python to make it straight while Poh cut the peeled of the skin.  Poh said I kept asking what he was doing and it was difficult to tell a little girl that he was killing the snake so he did not say anything.  I looked for awhile and shouted with victory.  “Poh is taking off the cloth for the snake.”  Everyone laughed.  I have been too optimistic since that young.
 
All the skins and other valuable parts of cows. Ox, buffalo, tiger, bears, pythons, were sent to the head quarter in Bangkok.

back to the top

She came back to work after dinner until late until about 8 Pm. before taking a bath and rest, watching me played with my little sister.  We had only one big bed.  My little baby sister lay on the upper part near Mae, I on the lower part.  When both of us were ‘longer’ I then lay across the feet of the bed.

One day my parents decided that I should have my own bed.  I did not want to move from my comfortable corner.  I did not want any new bed.  I like my place. 

They did not try to persuade me but put a new bed in the room, beside my parents’ and Mae started to make new mattress.  I watched excitedly when Mae made that bright green thick mattress.  It was a real fun to help putting the kapok into the mattress.  I was white from head to the toe with kapok.  When it was closed and cleaned and brought to my new bed I could not wait to lie on.  I had new beautiful pillow and side pillow and best of the best a new soft pink blanket for my own.  It was so soft and the soft pink was so sweet.  I used my beloved blanket until university years..

No one had to tell me to move to the new bed.. hi

Poh hung up the mosquito net for me every night.  When I got into my new lovely bed he would put the lower part of the net under the mattress tightly.

One night he heard me cried for help.  He found me hung on the net beside the bed.  I fell off the bed into the net.  It was too tight for me to pull off the end of the net out of the mattress, too high to reach the floor and to low for me to climb back on the bed.  I hung there helplessly.  I remember how Poh laughed.  He kicked me softly as if I was a ball before carried me back to the bed.  I was about 5-6 years old then.

back to the top

Temple Festival

Nakohn Phanom was a very small province.  Any kind of activity could bring a lot of excitement.  In summer time there was a beauty contest, held at a public park outside of town.  It was in April, the hottest month of the year and the tide of Mae Kong river was very low, so low that you could walk across to Lao province.  The bottom of the river was sand, and the river at that time was like a beach with little water.  The beauty contest stage was right there, on the beach. 
At that time there were a lot of insects.  They were beautiful insect, white body and four thin white round wings.  Inside there fragile look body we could see their yellow eggs.  If we could catch them and pressed their wings on the floor they would lay eggs.  The golden yellow strip of eggs were nice looking.  We children always have fun with the insect.  But they were soooooooooooooo many.. Where there was light there were these insects.  You can never walk without stepping on them.  We put water in a big bow and put under light, within a minute, the insect would be fully in the bowl.

Imagine the beauty contest stage with a lot of light.  The people who came to watch the contest were always flooded by the insects. Insects in the mouth, in the eyes.. but people were still enjoy watching.

At the same time, all temples had festival.  In Temple festival usually have food, free movie, music show, Merry go-round, cork guns, and other games for children, and lots of food to sale.  I like what call Kao Jee, grilled sticky rice.  They made sticky rice into a ball, put on stick, added a little salt and grilled over red charcoal until some part brown or a little burn.. the smell of it make people mouth watered.  Sometime they coated the sticky rice ball with egg.  It was also nice.  The other thing I like to see was the pop corn.  The had thin long pot made by metal net, put some corn seed in and shake over the charcoal until they popped.  It was amazing for a child to see how small amount of corn could pop until the pot was full.

Another thing that was so pretty was what they call Cherry.  It was a kind of fruit, about Cherry size, cooked in syrup until it was very crystal clear and dyed bright green and bright red like Christmas color.  The translucence green and red was too pretty to eat.  I only looked at it.  My parents never bought such colorful food for us.
I still want to taste this kind of sweet, knowing that it was not good, each time looking at, the temple festival atmosphere appeared in my mind and wanted to taste it again.. My memories became so real, so nice a feeling. 

I did not know that the temple I ran in and out when young was very famous since it was so beautiful and very fine. the name is Okad Sri Bua Baan Temple.

My house was on the main road, between the two very famous temples.  There were people walked from one temple to another one.  We put water container in front of the house, with ice and fragrant herb water for any one to take for free.  The fragrant herb was natural pink.  The company produced it call Moh Mee – Doctor Mee and the product call Ya Uthai.  It is really very nice refreshing for the hot day. 

Now, young lady used this Ya Uthai in stead of blush-on.  It gave natural pink to the cheek, cheap and nice fragrant.

This is the picture of water with Ya Uthai. sweet pink and aromatic. Beside is my precious Bulgaria Rose hand cream, gift from Panayot, LZ1US. They go together so nicely.

When have more time, I will write about my first funny 2-3 years was in Nakhon Swaan before moving to Nakohn Phanom, and the excitment when we had to "run away" from Nakhon Phanom to Bangkok..

back to the top