Jump to content

?Letters from Issaan- End of story? Part 3


phoenix

Recommended Posts

Second wedding.

 

 

 

Around twelve or one o clock, many people seem to be dispersing (either drunk, tired of the long night partying or full of food and sleeping it off).

 

 

 

This morning I?d been introduced to one of Poh?s elder brothers. Nok told me how Poh was very young when both his parents died, and he was brought up by his 4 elder brothers. Family lived on the banks of the Mekong then, very poor, and he survived by going fishing. Drifted apart from his family after his marriage, (Meh is reputed to come from a somewhat richer family, at least they owned land) and didn?t see much of his brothers over the following years. Lately the bros (all in their 60?s, maybe early 70?s) have become a bit more prosperous.

 

Anyway, Nok says that this afternoon she wants to take me and show me where Poh grew up, show the fishing on the river, etc. So now Poh, Meh, Young Brother Nok and I get into the pickup truck for the 20 km drive to the village, to my surprise all still in their Sunday best (Mine is wilting a bit, but never mind).

 

 

 

On arrival all explains itself, we?re going to another wedding, Nok?s male cousin is getting married. The family house is separated from the river by a narrow road, but for the wedding the road has been closed, covered by a marquee, and filled with chairs and tables. A lunch is in progress, I see about 60 or so people outside eating. Before sitting down and eating, we are taken inside the house where more string tying is going on. I am invited to provide the family?s wedding gift in the form of a 1000 Bt bill, which gets offered to the groom during the string tying. But hey, I don?t see a bride. Next to the groom, both dressed in a splendid western style wedding suit, sits a very handsome looking young man, smiling. I get confused, and whisper to Nok ?is this a wedding between men??.

 

Stupid farang, of course not, the other guy is the best man, the bride is still at her house.

 

 

 

We tie some more strings, take a few more pics, and troop outside for food and beer. I get introduced to all four elder brothers, take pics, eat and drink.

 

Half an hour later, a commotion, the people inside are coming out. A procession is drifting together on the river road, the groom is being ?piped? to the bride?s house, about 200 m away also on the riverbank. A parasol is held over the grooms head to provide him with shade on the walk, a structure looking like a wedding cake is carried suspended from a pole held by tow bearers, (Not a wedding cake but a similar looking construction made out of banana leaves and decorations) We are accompanied by a band of four or five players, two very long wooden drums, a reed instrument etc. The procession grows to about 80 or 90 people, slowly moving, singing, dancing, while being plied with drink from 3 or r mobile bartenders (E.g. guys carrying a bottle of LaoLao with glasses, which are continuously refilled and passed on to the next guest). When we get to the bride?s house, we get stopped in the drive by two girls holding a chain across our path, another donation clears that hurdle, and we drift on in. This is a somewhat similar event as this morning, only the key people are dressed up very formally in wedding clothes. The officiating man goes on for about 20 minutes, the audience is getting restless, even the best men and groom are exchanging jokes. The bride looks nervous. Finally the boss guy is finished, the dowry is passed around for everyone to see, in a ceremonial bowl, sprinkled with something, can?t remember if it is rice or salt. A frenzy of string tying follows. Nok introduces me to an old ?auntie? with whom she lived for a year as a child when times were tough at home. More strings.

 

I have a conversation with a woman in her early thirties, who speaks quite good English. Yes of course, she tells me, she learnt it in Pattaya. Worked there for many years but now came back to the village 8 years ago. No hesitation, no masking, I suppose she?d worked out where I met Nok.

 

 

 

After the formal bits are over, I get shown the bedroom of the newly weds, with new bed and frills. Then outside where the eating and drinking is beginning. (I suppose just continuing. I count about a total of 120 people. Good food, but I cannot indulge in the booze, since I have designated myself driver for the way home. Poh doesn?t drive, brother will get shitfaced anyway, Meh only drives very occasionally (thank God), and will also not abstain, and Nok doesn?t like driving.

 

More photos, more food, more introductions to family, and my film runs out.

 

 

 

Just before dusk, we decide that Meh, Nok and I?ll go home, Poh and bro are staying. (They eventually arrive home at about 6.00 am.) We wonder back to the grooms house where another 30 odd people are still sitting drinking and eating. We join a table with a bunch of very merry women in their 30?s and 40?s, two of which start flirting outrageously with me. Nok doesn?t take much notice. We sit at the side of the river, I get shown the type of boats Poh went fishing in. The sun is setting, and I stare across the haze at Laos, on the other side. Life is good.

 

 

 

On the way home, I realize that all the beer at the house by now will be finished, so I stop off at a shop on the way . (earlier, I tried to buy some at the only shop in Nok?s village, and they?d run out!). The two shops we stopped at were in the next village. Both of the shops of course the shopowners knew Nok and Meh, so each stop took ten minutes of yakking. In the first shop, the woman running the shop earnestly asked Nok if she could ask me if I knew a Falang like me, not for herself, but for her sister to marry. Sister was called immediately, to show to me what she looked like. I said the sister looked lovely, but that currently I didn?tr know any man who needed a wife.

 

 

 

Next day, we go back to the copshop, more statements about Nok?s ID card fraud, this time a letter is signed by her, apologizing for her deeds, saying it was because family was poor she wanted to go back to Taiwan to earn money etc etc. Also saying that although the expected penalty was 3 months jail, she couldn?t do that now because she was pregnant. Medical certificate supplied. New appointment made with a senior cop next week, on the 21st. Probably to pay a final fine/bribe. She says that she?ll probably have to stay a few days after, to finalise the paperwork.

 

I comment to her :? that is convenient, I leave on the 21st, that means you?ll be here instead of BKK, so you won?t be able to meet Ted after all!?

 

?OK, I don?t want Ted, want youuuu!?

 

 

 

The whole family then jumps back into the truck, and we go back to the hotel. I pick up my email, and we check out. Next to the hotel, on the riverbank (Mekong), there is a local eating house. Each ?table? consists of a separate wooden platform with roof over it, built on stilts on the bank. A ton of food is delievered for the 8 adults plus toddler, and ample beer. A long lazy meal followed, with stories about nahom Panom in the past, where Poh used to work, who does what now, family gossip etc. Two of the older women spy some green stuff growing on the riverbank close to the ?table?, commandeer a plastic bag, and go and forage. Why buy on the market if it grows here for free. The whole meal for 8 plus beer comes to about 450 Bt. It was a banquet!

 

 

 

OK, we take the family back home, and prepare to go back to BKK.

 

 

 

Will be continued

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 11 months later...
  • 3 years later...

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...