After almost one year of visiting Thamuang I have started to get an understanding of how the place and the people, not least the family, 'tick'. The expectation is that I provide a few goodies like small gifts and trips out to a restaurant. I don't mind doing either especially as everybody has a good time and it is a joy to see smiling faces of genuine happiness.
Khamma and I decided to go back to the floating restaurant in Ubon with Mama, Pel and Yo and her brother and family. This was made significantly easier because we had the use of Khamma's sister's car whilst she is away. So with six squeezed into the Honda and two on the motorbike we set off to shrieks of delight as they experienced the farang driving. I enjoyed driving for the first time in six months and I wasn't going to do anything silly and attract the unwanted attention of the Thai traffic police who, I am led believe, take delight in stopping Johnny Foreigner.
The meal was excellent, probably better than the first time, with BBQ Snapper, Chicken in different dishes, King Prawns, three bowls of Tom Yan, Yam seafood, salad and rice. The cost including drinks was 1,300 baht, which is about £25 - for 8 people! In idyllic surroundings and under a hot sun. Needless to say that everyone was happy and it was gratifying to see a family so much together without so much as cross word, a stroppy mood or a miserable face. Thai families are good at this.
After the meal we had to stop at Big C supermarket and somehow everybody ended up with something they needed or had forgotten to get before. Where all this stuff goes to I don't know, but all I ended up with was the till roll listing everything in Thai and every time I asked 'What's this?' the answer came back 'Never mind, lets go home'. Nutmegged again!
The end to the day was sipping a glass of Thai red wine in the evening sun. Later in the evening the full moon was shining brightly over the fields. I had only been back just over a day but already I was mellowing and chilling amongst genuinely happy people in a cosy corner of north east Thailand.
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