My timing was off these days. Some days, I left the house a bit late so I missed the sunset. Then, I went cycling a bit too early in the afternoon and it was still very hot and humid. That gave me an excuse to get an ice cream at the village store. I had noticed that having an ice cream everyday actually made me out on weights. It reminded me when I used to have a fruit yoghurt a day and I became fat. Stopping the daily yogurt, I did feel much lighter. So, I told myself not to indulging in chocolate ice cream in the evening too often.
But the hot afternoon became much more pleasant with an ice cream under some trees by the river. I had to cycle double the usual time to burn the extra sweet calories, my trousers were getting tight. After last week rain, the surroundings we’re getting greener and the river looked happier with more rain water. I cycled along the bike lane along the river but I didn’t go all the way to the market at the edge of the town. I tried to stay away from crowd and get closer to nature as much as possible.
To my surprise, a few houses near the river had ‘for sale’ signs, these were nice houses with river view. A small piece of land with many growing fruit trees was also on sale. I wish some of my friends would move to live here, so j would have more friendly neighbours. These houses could be opened adapted as ‘bed and breakfast’ hostels in high season. In the future I might have to find ways of earning a living from my place, perhaps I could have a small camping service. But the thought of having strangers on my land was a bit difficult to entertain.
I cycled passed the local hotel which used to be very crowded in the old days. The owner tried to sell the whole place but there was no offer. This indicated the economy was getting worse and people didn’t have much disposable income any more. I was surprised to hear that most farmers had lots of debts. The extreme heat meant that rivers, ponds and dams have become dried up. Many fruit orchards had seen hundreds of fruit trees died, hundreds of durian tress had died with riping fruits.
Most weed farms have become bankrupt as their produce weren’t up to the high standards so they were rejected. This could cause some major protest on the near future. The new government wanted to change the law which made weeds legally available for medicinal purposes and recreation. Some politicians were enablers for importing patented weeds by big corporations. This would kill the traditional Thai medicine as practitioners made their own organic CBD oil for treatment. This made poor patients able to afford treatments and improve their quality of life. So, the government would have a lot of trouble soon, lots of people’ lives were hanging on a thread.
Thousands of people had invested in weeds farms during the last three years. I had no idea why these politicians wanted to shorten their stay in power. The owners of the two weeds farms in this area wouldn’t be very happy with this government either. The sun was still high and the sunshine was very powerful. The sunset would be spectacular two hours later, but I had to get back to feed my cat. So this cycling session was for burning some calories from the ice cream.
I cycled further along the riverfront towards the other village. But I couldn’t make it all the way there as it would take too much time. The quiet road would become too lonely in the dark night. I noticed more signs ‘for sale’ on several pieces of land. These land would be quite expensive as their locations were very nice. This area would be quite nice for having save houses in times of societal collapse or financial crisis in the future.
The river took a sharp turn just before the boundary of the next village. Some kind of dramatic natural disaster might have occurred to make such a change in the flow of this river. I noticed some big chunks of rocks protruding over the water near the opposite bank. Fishing boats would have to navigate carefully around that area of big rocks. Perhaps an earthquake in the past sent big rocks and torrents of rushing water onto the river. In the past, villagers would be panning for gold along the river. Some villagers told me that the small pieces of gold came from the mountainous forests in Laos. The river brought along small nuggets and gold sand to the flat river bed in this area.
Perhaps I should learn to pan for gold or use a metal detector to search for treasures in this area. Some local villagers had found old gold jewelry in the earth while they were building their houses. There used to be an old city or settlement in this area almost via thousand years ago. So, there could be some hidden treasures. We occasionally found old red bricks at the back of our garden. That was the same kind of bricks used in the old city of Ayutthaya.
I looked around the tops of tall trees not far away. I did visit this farm once long time ago. The wealthy owner was a loner with strong characters who had six big and fierce pit bulls guarding her house. She planted a forest full of big tall trees and wild snakes. She told all her staff not to come out at night as all the big snakes came out hunting. Villagers talked about her as the lady who kept snakes. I wondered how she was doing, my gardener wouldn’t like to visit this lady again. I had to go on her motorbike; those pit bulls were really crazy aggressive.
I made my way back to our side of the village to take photos of my neighbours’ land and garden. The wealthy owners of the modern big house allowed local villagers to grow marigolds on their land. So, the elderly villagers could make some living by selling marigold flowers. We were lucky to be surrounded by mostly nice neighbours. We tended to look after each other by reporting on strange incidents, sharing plants and cuttings. Most local villagers around the area were also very nice and friendly. So, I was very grateful to the local land spirits for leading me to this area.
Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.
Stay strong and cheerful.
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