Today was rather an interesting day for me in Thailand but then every day is interesting in Thailand, my friend asked me if I would like to go up country with him today to visit his parents, wife and kids whom all live in the country side while he works in the Pattaya city, we are still both on vacation from work so I took the offer and opportunity to go along with him to see what the village life is like compared to the hectic city life, it was only going to be a 3 hour drive out from Pattaya city to Rayong province were his family live on the farm property.
We left Pattay city at 6am in the morning in order to beat the early morning city chaotic traffic and in a matter of time we had already found ourselves outside the city and enjoying the country scenery the vast green rice fields stretching out for miles this is one thing I love about Thailand it's a very flat country and getting out to the farmlands is so breathtaking when you can see these huge green rice fields as far as your eye can see.
Thailand is one the world's biggest exporters of rice and agriculture plays a major part in this Thai economy it is known that just over half of all Thailand's labor workers are employed in the farming industry that is a huge amount of Thailand's population it plays a major role in the lives of Thai people indeed and has for decades.
We had been driving now for just about 3 hours and my friend said we were only a few minutes away from his parents farm I looking forward to meeting his parents, wife and kids and was curious to see what the life style of living on a farm was like. These farmers are by no means rich in anyway in what I have seen and heard over my time of living in Thailand but they are very kind, generous and giving people and very tight working family teams helping each other in every way. How cute was this his kids were waiting for him at the entrance of there farmland that's love.
From the latest King Rama IX, bringing back from what he had learnt from his overseas trips about western countries ways of farming, came back and taught his Thai people how to be better farmers thus increasing employment levels, food prices dropped and there was a huge decrease in national hunger levels, thus the Thai people and Thailand moved more forward to a more industrialized nation of farming, they called the latest King Rama IX, the father of the land.
As with most Thailand farmers they will barely make a living if they are just going to grow rice but then some have no choice because of the limitation of land they have, they can only grow rice and some vegetables this will feed them over the year and they can sell some rice to pay there bills and survive but then there are the lucky farmers that have inherited larger plots of land that has been handed down over generations, where as they can do so much more on there land.
My friends family is one of them luckier farmers where his parents own 100 Rai of land (48 Acres) and they can have livestock like cows on there land and grow many varieties of fruits and vegetables including growing very large rice paddy fields and the other thing that is great about his land is that it has four man made lakes which he can grow his lotus flowers and breed fish all great sellers in Thailand, a huge plus which generate a considerable income.
And of course the bigger your land plot is the more many hours of work come into play maintaining the property they are up at the crack of dawn feeding the fish, chickens, ducks, and collecting the eggs. Then there is the picking of the fruits and vegetables to be sold at the markets and the rice planting and harvesting twice a year it's a never ending rotation of work depending what season they are in but they always have time for a smile and an sit around for some leisure time to entertain there guest.
They are most definitely very hard working people and doing back breaking jobs not having all the right machinery which would make it easier for them but not really been able to afford most machinery because they are expensive most westerns would never attempt the task of work these people put themselves through. Some farmers still use there Buffaloes to plow there land.
After having walked around the property it had come to that time of the day when the family prepares all those home made Thai dishes and this was going to be the best part of the day in there way of custom they like to sit around on the ground in there front yard of the property and enjoy there meal around the beauty of nature with the chickens I have no problem with that it's all a family thing.
After a great Thai dinner and a couple of beers with the family it was time for their bed time they get up at the crack of dawn work hard all day so they all go to sleep early in the rural land. I stayed up with my friend having a couple more beers but then not long after retired myself because I knew I would have to be up with the alarm clock of the roosters so it was a cold shower and a hard mattress luckily I was tired and slept well, I do think a foreigner would not survive out here without his mod cons or hot showers, I honestly didn't mind the experience at all, I could get use to it.
