Sakon Nakhon Visit (Part 1), August 2008

We've just gotten back from a visit up to Sakon Nakhon, with my wife's family. This was the very first time our son, Little Nio, would meet all his relatives up country. And we felt it was also very important that he find his roots on his mother's side as well.

DAY ONE

Our trip started out early in the morning to catch a 9:25 AM flight last Monday, August 11th.



Here he is all cramped in the economy class of flight TG-1002 bound for Udon Thani airport from Don Muang airport in Bangkok. Sitting on his Mom's lap with a nice bottle of milk makes the trip a lot more comfortable.





Little Nio with his Daddy at the arrival lounge of Udon Thani airport an hour later. From the airport we hired a car and driver to take us to the village of my wife. Ban Nachalern is in the Ban Muang district in the province of Sakon Nakhon, which is a two hour drive from the airport at Udon Thani. It might seem like a long drive, but the airport at Udon Thani is actually a lot closer than the airport at the Sakon Nakhon provincial capital.

We get to the house of my wife's parents after lunchtime and we pretty much just unwind and relax.

DAY TWO

The next day, Little Nio wakes up in a whole new world and he just realizes the big change in place.



Here he is standing in the middle of the common room in the middle of the house. He's not quite awake yet, but that doesn't mean he isn't hungry already.



At the side of the house, in the dirty kitchen area, sitting on his grandmother's lap, Little Nio gets his first taste of life up country — a simple hardy meal of fish and sticky rice. His elder cousin, Pi Toon, looks on to make sure he gets enough to eat. Little Nio makes short work of breakfast and puts away a healthy portion of food.



After breakfast, his grandmother bundles him up in the traditional northeastern way, carrying him around Issarn style.



A cool morning bath and a change of clothing and we're ready to go to the flea market next to the village temple. Here's Little Nio and his Mommy posing in front of the gate to the house. The day was a bit overcast with a chance of rain, so Little Nio donned his hoodie before heading out.



In front of the rice fields just across from the house, with his Daddy.



At the flea market near the temple, from left-to-right: Little Nio's grandmother, then Little Nio carried by his Mom, then his cousin, Pi Toon. Pi Toon is the eldest child of Loung Rin, and older sister to Pi Aeh.



Checking out the stuff at the market with his uncle, Loung Rin. He is the eldest brother of Little Nio's Mommy. He usually doesn't go with strangers, specially not with men he doesn't know. But within a few minutes of meeting Loung Rin, Little Nio was very comfortable with him.



With Mommy, on the way back to the house.



Here's Little Nio and his Mom, sitting in the small sala at the front of the house. This is literally a "bahay-kubo".

Bahay-kubo

Bahay-kubo kahit munti
ang halaman doon ay sari-sari;
singkamas at talong,
sigarilyas at mani,
sitaw, bataw, patani
kundol, patola,
upo't kalabasa
at saka mayroon pa
labanos, mustasa
sibuyas, kamatis,
bawang at luya
sa paligid-ligid
ay puno ng linga.

These are the lyrics to an old Tagalog traditional folk song. It's a song about a simple country cottage made out of bamboo and thatch, and about all the many plants and vegetables that grow all around it. It's a bit lively, but I sing it to Little Nio as a lullaby.



After the hectic morning schedule, Little Nio takes a power nap on a hammock set-up in the bahay-kubo. Very much like the Filipino duyan, this is used to rock a baby to sleep. And it works too. It never ceases to amaze me that in cultures throughout the world there are so many similarities.



Some of the family gathered round for a meal. From left-to-right: Loung Rin, his wife Pa Goh, their daughter Pi Toon, and Little Nio's grandmother with the hands-free device in her ear as she speaks to a friend on a mobile phone. My wife's family may be humble farmers, but they are not completely isolated from the impact of technology.



Awake from his power nap, Little Nio enjoys a bit of local television programming.



A childhood friend of my wife, Kanittha, comes to visit. Seated from left-to-right: Mae Aew and her son Nong Leo, who is only a few weeks younger than Little Nio, My wife with Little Nio in her lap, and Mae Aew's niece, Pi Taengmo.

Sakon Nakhon Visit (Part 2), August 2008

Perhaps I should have split this post sooner, but I realized that the number of images in these blog entries would make the loading time extremely slow.

DAY THREE

A slow start to another very laid back and relaxing day.



Here's Little Nio sitting with his Mommy in another hammock. He's finishing off his post-breakfast bottle of milk and getting another power nap before we go off to visit the farmlands of my wife's family.



Less than ten-minutes away on the back of a motorbike, the rice fields and farmlands of my wife's family are a beautiful shade of green. It will be several more weeks before the harvest, so until then the family has some time to relax and do other things.





Here's Little Nio and his Mom on the dirt road leading up to the bahay-kubo at one end of their property.



With his Dad up on the farm. Little Nio had so much fun splashing about in the puddles of rain water and running all around on the red earth. It was difficult to persuade him that it was time to get back to the house.



On the way back to the house with Mommy.



Back near the house, just a few streets up from where we were staying, we brought Little Nio to meet the other children in the village.



It was truly heartwarming to see how he was welcomed and accepted by the entire community. All the children knew him by name, but sadly I couldn't name them all even if I tried.





Unsure about how the neighborhood games are played, Little Nio puts on his curious face and watches how things are done. His Mommy and a watchful village elder both look on to supervise the children at play.



We all take turns having our photograph taken with Little Nio at a bridge that spans a small stream, just a short walk away from the house. First with his Daddy.



Then another picture with his Mommy.



And then another one with Mommy, but this time joined by his cousins, Pi Toon and Pi Aey.



The flags and the signpost in this picture mark the geographical end of the village. My wife's family home is right behind the sign and their house is literally the last house at the very end of the village.



Later that evening after dinner, Little Nio discovers a new play thing. A traditional cylindrical basket containing sticky rice — khao niew makes for a wonderful pull toy.







Here's Little Nio dragging the basket off to one of the rooms inside the house.

Sakon Nakhon Visit (Part 3), August 2008

This is the final installment on our trip up country to Sakon Nakhon.

DAY FOUR



I wish I had another camera with me to share how amazing this photograph of my wife, Kanittha, really is. I'm well aware that she is very pretty, but what actually makes it so amazing is that Little Nio is the photographer. Sure enough my wife is holding his hands as he points the camera, and I am guiding his finger over the shutter release button, but he has his eye on the viewfinder.



Bored with the local television programs, Little Nio settles down in front of Daddy's portable DVD player to watch a movie.





After a substantial portion of the movie, Little Nio decides it's time for an Oreo break. The combination of chocolate cookies and a cup of water inevitably leads to a messy shirt, which becomes a prelude to a quick change of wardrobe.



Here's Little Nio getting carried away feeding a small turtle. By the time he is done shredding some tasty blossoms and fruit leaves for the turtle, you could hardly see the water in the bucket. We were supposed to take the turtle out to the nearby stream and release it, but we ran out of time so they had to release it for us.



A new favorite of Little Nio — an orange flavored jelly beverage that barely has enough nutrients in it to make it fit for human consumption. Not a very good idea, all things considered. But it was given to him by his grandmother so it would not have been very polite to refuse. He enjoyed it immensely, so a little bit of spoiling is not such a bad thing.



For the next hour or so, Little Nio engages in his first session with a football.





His shooting skills are far from perfect and even dribbling and ball control could use a lot more practice, but he plays with gusto. There is no denying that the little man has a passion for the game even at this early age.

Despite his obvious thrill for the sport, seeing him red faced, covered in perspiration and caked with red earth, his Mommy decided to send him off the field. Much to the dismay of his cheering fans.



Here's Little Nio visiting with his old nanny. From right-to-left: Little Nio's Mommy, Pa Ohm carrying Little Nio and then Pa Ohm's daughter, Pi Bam. At first he didn't recognize his old nanny, but after a few minutes he seemed to remember and it was almost as if they had never been separated.

DAY FIVE

We woke up early morning on August 15, but already the car and driver were waiting to take us to the airport at Udon Thani. We were booked on flight TG-1003 scheduled to leave at 11:10 AM. This meant that we needed to be there at around 10:00 AM, so to be on the safe side we decided to leave the village at around 7:30 AM.



Here's Little Nio sitting in his grandfather's lap with his grandmother looking on. She's trying not to cry, but we all know she will. One last chance for a snuggle and a hug. We know they will really miss him.



Waving goodbye for the camera, Little Nio waves both hands to everyone. From left-to-right: his grandmother holding on to Little Nio, then his younger cousin, Nong Win being held by his mother, Pi Nook.



In the car speeding towards Udon Thani, Little Nio puts away another bottle of milk to make sure he doesn't go hungry during the flight back.



We arrive at the airport with enough time for breakfast. Here's Little Nio having breakfast with his Mommy, tasting some black jelly for the very first time. The tasting transforms into a big serving with one taste quickly followed by another, and another.

Before the flight Little Nio was running all around the waiting area in front of the gates. This was actually a really good thing because he tired himself out and he ended up sleeping through most of the flight back to Bangkok.

We had an incredible time up country visiting with our family up in Sakon Nakhon. If our finances allow, we are planning to make this a regular visit every year.

Sketching & Painting, August 2008

It's been almost five months since we've moved in to our new home and we are all settled in very nicely. Paying for both the house and the car, plus all the rest of the bills has been extremely challenging, but the ends still meet and we're all making it work.





One of the most amazing milestones has been discovering Little Nio's inclination towards the arts. I gave him a pencil and an old sketch pad, and showed him how he could draw a line, and off he went.







Here's Little Nio passionately scribbling away. The results are not very impressive, but he's just getting warmed up. Give him a few more years and he will be surprising all of us.



Here's Little Nio with a thoughtful and determined expression.





He discovers his Daddy's old boxed set of LightWave and starts reading through the specifications. Like any good geek in the making, he doesn't let the box cover fool him. Little Nio carefully examines the fine print at the back of the box.





He must've discovered something very impressive in the LightWave features list because he spontaneously starts applauding.



Little Nio spends a lot of time visiting with me in the study where all the computer equipment is placed. After a long session of fiddling around with computer equipment, he's ready to call it a night and he heads for the door with his teddy bear rucksack on his back.



Despite all the cute and fuzzy toys we give him, Little Nio is infinitely more interested in things like computer keyboards.



Here he is happily punching away at the keys while sitting in his playpen.



Another favorite with him is the wireless phone. Here he is cradling an old spare wireless telephone handset.





Just in case you think we let Little Nio spend all of his time in front of computers and caged up in his playpen. Here he is scrutinizing a balloon that is supposed to be in the shape of a flower. He doesn't look too convinced.



With his aunt, Pa Kut, on one side and his Mommy on the other, Little Nio prepares to enjoy a few hours out near our village clubhouse. The developers have organized a small community day with some activities for kids.



Sitting on his Daddy's lap, Little Nio tries his hand at painting a dinosaur figurine. At one year and five months old, he's already showing a lot of interest in the arts. He knows instinctively that the colors are supposed to go on to the plaster figurine, and he knows better to not taste the paints. The results are not very impressive, but he's got a lot of time to develop his aesthetic senses and the skills to express them.