The last time I visited my elderly neighbours in late afternoon, I couldn’t take photos of their marigolds as the sky was very gray and dull. So, I decided to cycle to their hut after lunch to take better photos of those yellow flowers. As the sunshine was very bright, I could notice minor details I had missed along the dirt road. All the big tall trees in front of the white house were gone. The owner had them cut down so the white wall became exposed and the owner could enjoy a nice view of the river from the second floor. No wonder the shady area along the dirt road had gone missing.
The whole stretch of this road used to be lined with trees and bushes as the lands were left to nature’ s ways. Since last year, landowners had begun to tidy up their lands to show off the nice locations and surroundings. Fortunately, no prospective buyers had agreed to the expensive prices on offer. So, villagers started to let their cows gazing the land during daytime. Some landowners allowed villagers to make use of their land in exchange for keeping the weeds and wild grasses to a minimum. Villagers grew lots of lemon grasses which required little water and attention.
I was glad to see older generation of villagers still continued to work on the land. Younger people tended to look for jobs in supermarkets and restaurants. They didn’t realise that fresh food and vegetables would be very expensive in the near future. People have become so used to cheap fast food and very cheap Korean style barbecue. They didn’t know that most of these cheap pork packages were bad quality pork unsuitable for consumption.
Border police have confiscated tons of these illegal and unhealthy pork containers. This was reported in the news briefly without any confirmation of whether these illegal pork has been destroyed. Local pig farms had been complaining of price dumping in the markets by illegal importers. I was afraid that bribery and corruption might have played a big part in making very cheap pork available to most restaurants.
Lots of cheap imported vegetables from China had made life very difficult for local farmers. Most garlics and onions have been imported from China at very cheap prices. So, I could no longer buy aromatic local garlics and onions. Those Chinese ones were mostly tasteless and would rot very easily. Luckily, my gardener still preserve indigenous onion seeds and grow her own onions. These small onions have pinkish colour with pungent fragrance with nice flavor. Fields of lemon grass would spread refreshing scent while I cycled along the dirt road.
I was glad that villagers around this area hardly used chemical pesticides or fertiliser. They were aware of the adverse effect of chemical and they grew vegetables for their own consumption and the village market. Those imported Chinese vegetables hardly had any taste though they could be kept refrigerated for weeks without going bad. I was suddenly afraid of Chinese vegetables which seemed like zombie vegetables to me.
The elderly couple was living at the old wooden Thai house at the corner of the dirt road. The owners of the Thai house had moved to live in the city nearby and wanted to sell their old house. But they needed some villagers to tidy up the abandoned garden and old house. So, it was agreed that local villagers would look after the house and garden until the house could be sold. They could make use of the land to earn their living expenses but they had to do all the weeding.
The elderly man, uncle Toon, and his younger wife (Yai Na) used to looked after my land for me for a few years. I had them planted banana trees so that they could sell bananas for some pocket money. When they had to look after this house and garden, they needed lots of banana shoots to cover the cleared land to prevent weeds from taking over the ground. So, I offered them all the banana shoots they would need for free. Nowadays their banana grove has become very green and full of bananas.
Uncle Toon is about eighty-three years old. I hardly realised how time slipped by and villagers I used to know had become much older. I decided to spend more time with these friendly villagers as they have always been very good friends. It would be very hard to accept that they might leave for another dimension one day. During the last three years, I lost two nice elderly villagers who used to help me with gardening. Life became rather fragile and flimsy for the elderly villagers. They had so many old stories to tell and were always in good humour.
Yai Na, had decided to grow lots of marigolds to make some money this season. Luckily all her marigolds did very well with three rounds of blossoms. She told me this was more cost-effective than growing lemon grass. I was allowed to take photos around the house and garden. The old house used to have a fountain with a small waterfall. I could imagine the heyday of the house when the newly married couple settled down with high hopes and wonderful dreams of their future.
Since the house had been abandoned for over twenty years, the old wooden planks were eaten up so people could only lived on the ground floor. The lady of the house became ill so the family had to move to the city to be nearby hospital. The wife finally passed away leaving the American husband very lonely. So he decided to live at his mother-in-law house to keep her company until today. They were getting older with no children, so it’s time to get rid of some properties. The offered price seemed very moderate and realistic comparing with others in this area.
Uncle Toon was given two dogs to be his bodyguards. Poor dogs weren’t very well fed and the brown dog (Coco) really needed a good haircut and wash. Most villagers didn’t have the knowledge about how to look after pet dogs properly. Things seemed to be up to Mother Nature and a little haphazard most of the time. I was glad these two dogs stopped barking after they saw me having a nice cinversation with the owners. I wished I had brought along some of my cat food!
I had a good look around at the simple lifestyle of these elderly villagers. They had a big pile of dry branches for the improvised stove. The old fishing nets and instruments were neatly hung on the wooden beam. Some old bamboo fishing traps could still be spotted under the ceiling. These were old handy work which should be in museum. Uncke Toon used to be very good at fishing in his young days. All the dams in Laos and China had changed people’s fortunes.
Uncle Toon was taking a nap in his hammock. We had a brief chat about his two new dogs. Yai Na tried to persuade me to grow marigolds to make some money. They had been living at this Thai house since their eldest nephew who was a drug addict took over their house on the other side of the main road. They felt safer living quietly away from their erratic nephew. Sometimes, simple life could have simple obstacles from time to time. My gardener told me that the nephew had left for work in a big city faraway. So, the elderly couple could go back to look after their own house.
We are now waiting for heavy rainfall this week. I do hope the weatherman is correct with his forecast. Hopefully the earth would become soaked with rainwater and all the trees would stop crying out for more rain. The cost of having a borehole is quite prohibitive as a result of fiat inflation. People here have no idea about cryptocurrency so I couldn’t pay for the the cost with my cryoto. Hopefully, one day I would be able to pay in Hive and other cryto for all building projects.
Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.
Stay strong and cheerful.
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