I am all in favour of positive, practical community action and get involved in a lot of things here in Phana. In return I get recognition that makes me feel less of an outsider. But the annual communal effort right behind our house is something that I always avoid.
There is a klong (คลอง) or canal running there from the roadside back towards the fields. It's called a klong but it is really a long, narrow, curving pond since it doesn't go anywhere or connect with any other stretch of water. Although it is right behind our house there is a strip of land belonging to our neighbour that comes betweeen the back of our house and the bank of the klong, so we don't have any waterfront.
There is a notice which tells people not to dump rubbish in there and another which says they should not take fish from it. People out the back do take water from it in the dry season to water vegetables they grow in their nearby fields.
It looks nice right now but that is not the way it always looks. In the rainy season the water is dark and murky, home to lots of frogs which are in turn preyed on by all sorts of snakes. The snakes come from the coconut orchard swamp across the road you can just make out in the top of the picture. The frogs let the snakes know where they are by setting up a kind of come-and-get-me serenade each evening. In the dry season the surface is quickly covered in a thick growth of weeds and it is this which has to be dealt with by the good people of Moo 1 before the next rainy season comes around. They start early in the morning, accompanied by loud music, shouting, teasing, laughter, and a good deal of flirting if you ask me. They stop quite early, too, for lunch and alcoholic refreshment of the strong, illicit variety. But in fairness, this is now not just the dry season but the HOT dry season.
Last year I went out the back and took some photos of them at work. That was a bit cheeky, perhaps, and unsurprisingly they invited me to join them in the task. Later they invited me to join them for lunch and refreshments. They seemed to take my refusal in good spirits and I hope that I was able to convey to them my admiration for the work they were doing. But I really didn't want to get as down and dirty as this man was; I don't trust murky waters and what might lurk in them.
This year I was conveniently litter-picking in Don Chao Poo, but I took this next picture (and the one at the top of this post) a few days later when it became clear that they were not going to complete the job. I hope they are not waiting for me to go out and do my share.
I certainly don't blame you for that. No way would I voluntarily step foot in a possibly snake infested, swampy river.
Posted by: Peter_M | 11 April 2011 at 06:17 PM
Big welly boots sell well at this time of year, Peter.
Posted by: Lawrence | 13 April 2011 at 04:21 PM