Season of the Kii Lek Flowers

Driving up to the village is always an interesting, relaxing time for me. I am so used to the obstacles placed in my way and idiosyncrasies of the Thai drivers, tuk tuk ice cream selling three-wheeled vehicles, teenage mutant ninja morons on motocykes, slow farm vehicles of all sorts and widths, water buffalo, soi loving cattle, suicidal chickens and their young, desperately brain-dead soi dogs, and all the rest; it no longer is an asshole puckering experience for me. I have acclimated, to a point at least. I usually listen to a CD or two I am into at the moment on these drives through the countryside. Right now it is a Malaysian friend’s new CD he just put out, and, the band 'Dengue Fever', that a friend of mine gave me the CD of a while ago, which has all their songs from both their albums and even some 'live' versions.

My wife and family think me a bit odd at times. They chuckle and shake their heads over the fact that I listen to a band that sings in Khmen, mostly. Dengue Fever is an American L.A. band with a female lead singer from Cambodia who was a minor singing ‘star’ in her homeland of Cambodia; wonderful rock and roll this is with a ‘world’ flavor. My wife, who speaks and understands no Khmen, just Thai, Lao and English, likes a few of the songs as well. We bop our heads along to ‘Go Go Gordian’, tap our feet to ‘Tip My Canoe’, and space out and drift along over the landscape when the mystical and mesmerizing ‘Sleepwalking Through The Mekong’ comes on. If you haven’t heard this band and like a diverse world-style rock ‘n roll give them a listen. Two songs, ‘I Like You’, and ‘Connect Four’ have me wondering about their origins. Sui Bong is another favorite of mine. I love the singer’s lusty voice. The neighbors and our restaurant’s customers get a kick out of my listening to this group/music. ‘Oh, you like Khmer music? You speak Khmer?’

‘Nope, they are an American band,’ I say and smile to them, as they shake their heads at their weird and strange friendly American farang neighbor. Then I sing along to the songs in Khmen that I have learned after my so many playings of this wonderful album. I probably sound just like the many horrible Thai bands playing and singing farang classic rock ‘n roll in the many bars around the land. When I start dancing to the music though I have made friends for life most times.  

This time of year, November and December, Isaan cools down considerably, especially early mornings and in the evenings. It’s a welcome relief from the broiling temperatures that are the norm the rest of the year. You can drive around with the windows down, cool airs streaming into the cab of the pick-up, the AC getting a well deserved rest, while smelling the smoky burning rice chaff used for the morning warming fires the Isaanites gather around while eating their breakfast and drinking their hot chaa, while bundled in down parkas, or swaddled in what looks to be their entire wardrobe. It’s a bit like fall in New England, with palm trees, and multitudinous asian featured citizens. It is my favorite time of the year here; cold, hardly, but very invigorating and welcome weather.

One thing I find so pleasant about living in Thailand, besides the fact it never snows or gets below sixty-five or seventy degrees Fahrenheit (at least not in Surin and its surroundings) is the fact that whatever season you are in there are flowers blooming everywhere. One month the fields and trees will blossom with bright red flowers, the next little purple ones will adorn the landscape, the next white, and blue, and on and on through the colors of the rainbow. There isn’t one season that does not have its trademark flower. What is really nice is when the two seasons join together, one colorful flower starting to wan while the next begins its spread across the countryside, they intermingle and please the eye and spirit of those who notice and enjoy this sort of stuff. It is one of the more agreeable seasonal aspects of living here year round. One is never without a delightful splash of color from the palette of nature’s paint-box. No frozen wastelands here with blizzards, ice, and howling winds to freeze your ass off on the walk from home to vehicle. And, no shoveling back breaking mounds of the white stuff. Hell is not a burning smoky dungeon of fire and smoke in my mind, but winter in Antarctica. Winter in Isaan Thailand is heaven on earth.

Starting in the rainy season one tree starts to bloom clusters of small yellow flowers, its tiny bright neon blossoms line the highways and dot the greening rice fields. It is called the Kii Lek tree, and the flowers are named the same so I’m told. When I asked my wife what the name of these eye catching little flowers were she told me, ‘Kii Lek’.

‘Huh?’ I expressed. ‘You mean little shit flowers?’

Sis and my daughter were along for the ride and they exploded in uproarious laughter.

‘What?’ I asked, ‘Kii is shit, and lek means small/tiny, right?’

More snickering and laughter ensue at my basic butchery of their incredibly frustrating tonal language. I am a source of never ending amusement it seems. I am not very good at hearing the tonalities and my ear is like a tone-deaf person’s when it comes to discerning the slight differences. I don’t hear ANY difference as they repeat the words a few more times. Back in the village my mangled words are repeated to family and friends to much laughter and teasing. ‘Little Shit’ tree has them rolling on the floor. I really should charge admission.

One reason they find this so damned amusing is that these little yellow flowers are eaten as a flavoring in soups and fried rice dishes, and, if you eat them when picked during the rainy season they will cause you to have loose bowels. It acts as a natural laxative. I was told the rest of the year, if used and eaten, they don’t have this effect. So my ‘little shit’ interpretation is actually spot on.

The 'kii lek' actually has lek pronounced more like ‘leg’ and the ‘e’ has a harder sound. I am told this means ‘steel’ or ‘hard’. I’ve yet to decipher why, as the wood of these trees is not hard. I’ll figure it out some day.

Until then I’ll keep the villagers and Surin neighbors in stitches and enjoy these delightful friendly people, and the beautiful flowers, and the season of the Kii Lek flowers with their cool airy ‘winter’ breezes.

Cent