Delightful Isaan - Shy Khun Noi (Fragment)

1

Nakhon Phanom, Isaan. I sit in this Restaurant alone, like so many times. Two tables across, there is a mixed group of five young, interesting Thai people, academics I guess. There is one especially interesting girl, with her ethno style bandana she looks somewhat arty and individualistic by Isaan standards. While I eat my very good fish in lemon sauce from Mekong river floating under my feet, I get the occasional look from over there. (Not that I do not stare.)

The waiter removes the empty plate, I lean back and - the group invites me to their table.

Sometimes I deeply enjoy being alone, especially for my after dinner koma. But of course this is Thailand, and I 'd be stupid to turn down an invitation from interesting local people. So there we are, 5 Thais and a farang, sharing beer and coke, talk-talking in a Thai-English mix. They are all academics who have graduated about two years ago, and yes - they did study arts, including the interesting, but very shy girl.

I mention my knack for luuk thung, Thai country rock, so they decide to finish meal and take me to a live venue. We have a nice talk there - as far as possible against the noise. The interesting girl remains interesting, but incredibly shy. I merely find out her name, Khun Noi, and we talk about some interesting old photographs she just found in her parents' home.

Around midnight, they want to treat me for a snack. They know I do stay in that most expensive hotel right on Mae Nam Khong, so they want to take me to the hotel restaurant. Me, I like to sleep in a comfy clean quiet hotel room for the night. But I never fancied hotel restaurants, for a grub I prefer night markets, music pubs, riverside eateries etc. But it is not possible to stop them from going to that posh, bland place with me. Have they ever been there? We sit down, have fruit juices plus very delicious finger food and a boring karaoke perfomance from a lady singer in an evening gown.

The bill turns up, it is about 780 Baht for the six of us. One girl pays everything. I want to pay that bill, to slip her at least 500 baht, but I have no chance. "NO!!! NO!!! We friends!!!!" I accompany them to the door, and I see that everybody is giving one or two hundred baht to the girl who paid everything first. I like that way of sharing, and of course I want to join in and want to smuggle at least 200 baht into her wallet. I am doing that as discreetly as possible, no words or gestures, but no chance: "NO!!! NO!!!" I tried hard, but maybe I should have tried harder? Even today I feel bad about not contributing to the costs of that late night snack. I really wanted to contribute, offer my money - but "NOOO!!, We friends!!!"

2

Near the clock tower, right on the edge of lazy Mekong river, there is a string of internet services. Khun Noi walks in and buys the usual password for one-hour-usage, that’s a mere 15 Baht up there. As so many Asians, she has a Yahoo account, so she logs into Yahoo-dot-com, and for the first time she will write to a farang!

Shy Khun Noi, believe it.

There she goes: "Sawaas dee khaaa Khun Hans :-)... Sabai-dee mai khaa ? :-)" All her shy, easing Thai smiles she transcripts into smiley emoticons. I guess she had pondered her move for weeks, she may have consulted dictionaries, friends and family, is it decent for a single Thai lady to write to a single Farang man, but now she finally types across the miles: "You remember we talked about the old photographs my parents have? :-) ? You want see them, chai mai? OK! But you promise me, you send pictures back? You send me promise, OK, I can send pictures to you :-) Oh, and Isaan now not so hot anymore :-) Can sleep well now! :-) Good luck to you, from Khun Noi :-)!"

Khun Noi hits "Send".

Two days later there is one e-mail from Farangland in Khun Noi's Yahoo in folder: Of course I do promise to return her family pictures promptly. So Noi visits her parents' house and gets those pictures about 40 to 1,4 years old now: Her father as a young, serious man. Her mother as his fiancee - in a very conservative, yet sexy sarong, and breathtakingly beautiful. Her parents' wedding with strange rituals. A little Khun Noi as a baby, lots of relatives, her going to school... old old Thailand, miraculous, lost in time, she dreams away over the pictures, as I dream away later, 10000 kilometers apart...

Some photographs are just few centimeters wide, many black-and-white, some faded, some with coffee stains or notes in Thai on them. A treasure. Noi writes a number on the back of every picture, and for every number she writes a comment for me. So I can learn about her pompous graduation celebration, but also about her trips to cold national parks in the north. Sometimes she wants to show me one certain person in a group picture, so she cuts a triangle out of silver duct tape and sticks it right onto a photograph, pointing to that brother or friend she wants to highlight. Shy Khun Noi! Everything into an envelope, and off to the post office.

About one week later, Khun Noi receives another e-mail from farangland. "Dear Khun Noi! Khop khun maaaaak khrap, the pictures arrived today :-) I will have a closer look tonight and tomorrow and send them back this same week, ok?"

About 10 more days later, Khun Noi receives a big padded envelope with a farang stamp on it. She walks back to the internet place on the river side, she still has 10 minutes on the one-hour-password she bought about 3 weeks ago: "Dear Khun Hans :-) Khop khun khaa for sending back the pictures so quickly! Everything back here now :-) And thank you for including these 'jelly baby chewing gum bears' :-) Arroy maak... When do you come back to Isaan? You can bring more of them :-) "

3

Every now and then, Khun Noi visits one of the internet shops on the river side. She has bought more one-hour-passwords. She sends some lines to Europe. Shy Khun Noi, by e-mail she is more talkative than face to face. She keeps me up to date about the cool season, problems at the office. She discovers they do scan paper pictures which she can paste right into her e-mails. So one day she sends pictures of her friends at the office to Khun F, one time it is just her face that she pastes into the mail. Some lovely snapshots from Loy Khratong too, I had told her how much I wanted to see that special holiday.

One week later, something new is on her mind: "Maybe you think funny... :-) But i never have boyfriend... maybe now i like boyfriend... :-) I 27 now! :-) What your advice?"

© Hans Meier. All rights reserved by the author.