Love them or hate them I reckon Thai neighbours are pretty unique. True they are just ordinary folk like you might find back in the UK or US but they seem to possess this ability to operate at the extremes of human tolerance. Often they demonstrate great acts of kindness or on the other hand acts of selfishness and a total disrespect for anyone else.
Take this morning for instance, Saturday, no school and a planned lay in before a trip to Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park for a bit of wildlife watching. So I was less than impressed when at 5.30 am I was blasted awake by loud music from just down the road. Clearly Annan was up early and wanted everyone else to be the same. Well not wishing to disappoint him I grumpily got up, made a cup of tea and headed out onto the veranda to watch the sun rise.
While I sat there contemplating my life in the tropics my next door neighbour, her mother and a friend returned home, clearly having taken advantage of Annan's early morning wake up call, to visit their animals on the farm.
We exchanged a few words before the air was filled not with loud music but the sound of an animal crying in apparent pain. Alerted by the sound Ge-eps mother uttered those words I least like in Thai after farang, ngoo(sounds a bit like new)she repeated, which means snake! She then made a hand gesture in the shape of a Cobra!!
Now I actually have a different attitude to snakes after a couple of years here, now its more a case of live and let live unless its in the house or trying to dispatch me. However what happened next was pure poetry. Quick as a flash the old girl was over the garden wall (the gate was locked) searching the garden. I for my part continued to sip my tea, since there was no sign of anything untoward, only to be joined by Duen, the rest of my neighbours and an assortment of soi dogs, since my partner had now opened the gate.
The wounded animal sound continued and seemed to be emanating from the side of the pond. Equally quickly mother grabbed a sharp stick prodded at the side of the pond and announced that the ngoo was no more. Now I like a bit of evidence to convince me but all I have found so far is a few bit of mangled frog or is it snake?
By this time the music had stopped, Annan had gone out and everyone retired to their respective homes, perhaps to try and catch up their sleep. Me I just stayed up, which is why I am penning this post at 7.30am!
Thai neighbours? Don't you just love them?
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5 comments:
I'm surprised you rank ngu after farang, Mike. At least your neighbour doesn't grab a sharp pointed stick every time she spots a farang. As for 7.30 am, you are lucky to get to lie in that long. Welcome to the real world. Now when I get up I'll expect to find a new post from you already.
You've made the events of everyday life sound exciting. I'm awakened by music sometimes too, but we don't have too many dangerous snakes around here.
Mike , every morning at 5am the speaker on the pole at the end of our road blars out soooo loud that the pole shakes no lie and I then get up for my morning tripto the toliet stuff a ball of paper in each ear and go back to bed Ciejay has to get up as the music and news and weather and who knows what else they can find to talk about that early in the morning . is so loud for 2 hours till they play the national anthem and the Kings song and then it's all quite till noon then for 1 hour during lunch break at the city hall they play it loud again and then we have to get ready for the 4 o'clock announsments about what will take place in the village tommorow , and then at 6pm a short song or two and then quite till 6 am next morning and it starts all over again , never a dull moment in Whang Pho.I complained one time to a village leader about it being so loud and he very quickly and sharply , said " this for Thai people not farang" enough said . Malcolm
Mike that's what I call an exciting start to the day. On my rare days off I get up about 5-30 in the morning and even in Thailand I'm usually up by six. I have always said that early morning the world is a wonderful place because all the as**oles, burglars, rapists and bum are fast asleep at that time. It's just good honest working folk who are about when the sun rises.
Lawrence, you may be right but I actually hate being called farang especially when people know my name...I don't refer to them as Brown skinned Thai!
Ratty- life is ordinary here and fun to write about occasionally.
Malcolm-pass the toilet paper please while I fashion some ear plugs.
Martyn-that made me laugh-reminded me of home. Its just a bit frustrating here at times-but the walls are thin so all sound gets in.
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