OznAsia

My friends, Ead and Tong, live in the suburbs of Bangkok not far from where I was living last year. There is a small canal that runs at the back of their house. When I first visited, some years ago, there was what they described as a 'traditional village' among the trees on several acres of land on the other side of the canal. I gather that the land on which the village stood changed hands a few years back and the village was pulled down. Some time later, squatters built what I would call 'temporary dwellings' on the land. They lived there, apparently happily, for a few years. When I arrived earlier this year much of the land had been cleared and it looked like roads were being built. On my latest visit, last weekend, I see that many new temporary dwellings have appeared. Some but not all of the old ones have gone.

In Thailand, it seems from my observations, builders labourers don't have a permanent home but move onto the site where they are going to be working, along with their families. Before they erect the permanent buildings they build temporary homes like these. I guess there is going to be quite a lot of construction going on there over the coming months and in the mean time these dwellings house Ead and Tong's newest neighbours.

Labels: Asia, Bangkok, housing, thailand

When I lived in Ajahn's Condos six years ago, security was very tight. You had to have your fingerprint scanned to open the front door. Sometimes you pressed too hard or too soft or on the wrong angle and it would refuse entry. Then you had to find a security guard and if he knew you, he would open the door for you. All visitors had to sign the visitor's book on the way in and out. One of my friends resented this and used to give the guards a bit of cheek. (Not a typical Thai) They did not appreciate this and gave my friend a hard time in return.

This has all gone now. The front door seems always to be open but security doesn't appear to be an issue. The place is still crawling with guards 24/7. As well as the regular lock on the front door of my little flat, I have my own padlock. The lock on one of my windows won't work but I'm not concerned. Someone might be able to push it open if they manage to get past the guards and scale the wall to my level but there is a grille covering the window that no human could get through. All but the front windows have insect screens. I leave the screened windows open at night to let the cool air in. But not the front windows. The intruders I most fear are small six-legged, winged creatures that bite and may carry disease. The screens are kept shut at all times.

You can imagine my surprise yesterday evening when I opened my front door and was immediately aware of an intruder. No, not a mosquito nor a human but something in between. There was a sparrow perched on the curtain rod of my living room. But not for long, it panicked when I came in and fluttered over behind the refrigerator. I closed the door, went to the bedroom which faces the front of the building and opened both the curtains and one of the unscreened windows.

I went back to the living room and made a bit of noise to try to chase it towards the bedroom. I could hear it fluttering around behind the fridge but it didn't come out. When I searched, I found it had somehow got itself inside a cellophane bag that happened to be lying there. I picked up the bag containing the nervous wriggling little creature and let it fly out through the grille on the front window. It took off and kept going in a straight line for about 100 metres. Guess it was happy to be free.

How did it get in? I searched all the windows. There was no gap anywhere, not even big enough for a sparrow. I wonder if there will be another visitor when I get home this evening. Another sparrow I can cope with but if I find any of those aforementioned six-legged creatures, I won't be happy.

Labels: Asia, housing, Mahasarakham, thailand

Thought you might like to know what it is like when you need a plumber in Thailand. Actually I'm not sure there are many. Most people do their own plumbing. I don't know anyone who tells me they actually know a plumber. And it's much the same in other Asian countries.

The design of bathrooms here also means that the shower sprays water over the bathroom floor. There is no separate shower cubicle. Some newer places have one but in most bathrooms after you have a shower the floor of the whole bathroom is wet. If you don't mop it up you risk slipping when you come in again.

My shower started dripping last week. There is not much I can do about it because there is nowhere for me to turn the water off while I replace the washer. And the water was dripping and keeping the floor constantly wet. I spoke to the building manager and she said she'd get the fix-it man to attend to it. But he didn't come. Maybe I asked about four times. Eventually he came and changed the shower head. Of course it still dripped. With my limited Thai and his limited English it was difficult for me to explain to him that he needed to change the washer not the shower head. In any case, he should know that. He is the fix-it man after all. He just kept on saying 'mai pen lai' (it doesn't matter). This is a very common phrase in Thailand. He told me that all the rooms were the same and 'mai pen lai'.

I was not happy. I had visions of getting up for a pee in the middle of the night and slipping on the wet floor while half asleep. To me it did matter.

The building manager's daughter and I help each other practise our language each night so that night I explained the problem to Tee with the help of drawing a picture of a shower head and a tap and a washer. She seemed to understand and told her mother and the mother said he would come again the next day at midday.

I'd given up waiting for him at 1 pm and started getting ready to go out for lunch. Just as I was about to leave at 1.15 there was a knock at the door. This time he had a whole tap. I wasn't going to argue the point. I just wanted it fixed. It took him about 10 minutes and it was done. And since, no problem.

Labels: Asia, Bangkok, housing, thailand

I recently had a visitor to my home in Kompong Chhnang, a young Australian woman named Sarah. She only stayed for a few days but I certainly enjoyed having her company and showing her around some of the Kompong Chhnang villages.

At one village we stopped to visit a temple and chatted to the monks. There was a school attached to the temple and as we were leaving the school was breaking for lunch. There were a few kids standing outside the sala staring at us.

They looked pretty cute so I decided to take their photograph. In no time at all there were many smiling faces and more coming. It seemed everyone wanted to see the foreigners and get into their picture.







As we left they walked with us until they reached their homes—homes like these.

It was just before Christmas when we were there and it occurred to me that these kids make a lie of the myths we in the West grow up with. I was always told that Santa comes to all good kids all over the world. Somehow I don't think these are bad kids but I doubt that any of them have a clue who Santa Claus is. They won't have received even one toy on Christmas day. I doubt that they'll see as many toys in their lifetime as most Australian kids received on that one day.

I don't write this to gain your sympathy—not because of the lack of toys anyway—these kids are generally pretty happy and don't miss what they don't know. They are delightfully friendly, as you can see.

Sadly, they lack a quality education and for most there are no great prospects for the future. Hopefully they can retain their smiles despite this.

Labels: Asia, Cambodia, housing, Kompong Chhnang, poverty

I've been in my house for close to two months now. Perhaps it's time I told a little about it. This is a traditional Cambodian timber house. Basically there are three types of house here. Ones like mine are quite common. Many people live in simpler homes built with a timber frame and palm leaf walls. Their walls need to be replaced periodically. If the family is poor, which is often the case, such walls become well ventilated. The non-traditional homes that many aspire to are made from bricks with a concrete facing.

The house I have now is similar to the one I had last year only smaller. It has two upstairs rooms. One is about six metres square. The smaller is about 3 x 2.6 metres. This is a high-set house similar to the Queensland style. Under the house is mostly open but with one brick-walled room. In this particular house, I suspect it will flood a little in the rainy season. I use it to store my bicycle. I have a verandah on one-and-a-half sides.

There is no internal lining on either the walls or ceiling nor is there glass or screens in the windows, just bars and shutters. This is a very basic home. I like to think I live Khmer style but the reality is that in this house in which I live alone there would normally be about ten Khmers. I recently visited my landlord's home, bigger than mine, and there are 23 people living there.

My house last year had no running water at all. Water was collected from the roof in the rainy season and pumped from underground during the dry season. This house has no way of collecting water from the roof. Before I moved in there was no water what-so-ever. Nor was there a bathroom of any sort. The owner put in both for me.

He didn't consult with me first and put the bathroom in the far corner of the backyard. When I talked to my friend, Vana, about this he said that Khmer people like their toilets to be as far from the house as possible. Strangely, when they advance to an indoor toilet they often put it in the corner of the kitchen???

To bathe I have a similar setup to what I had last year. A big tub holds water and you splash it over your body to get wet, soap up and splash water again to wash the soap off. My friends in Australia with water shortages could learn a lot from my Asian friends about saving water.

The owner also put in a water pump for me. There is no such thing as town water. The water is pumped from under the ground. About once a week I need to run the pump to top up the water in my tub. I also asked him to have a pipe run to the upstairs verandah so I could have water available there.

I pump it into a bin and have to collect it from there but at least it's right outside the door from the corner of the main room that I use as a kitchen. That's my version of running water. The red bucket in the picture is my washing machine.

Initially I started with both electric and hand water-pumps. They were in the open next to the bathroom. I hadn't been here long when someone climbed the 2.6 metre brick fence during the night and carried off the hand pump. I didn't hear anything.

There are a few results from this incident. I have another new electric pump installed in the room under the house. Razor wire has been put along the top of the two most vulnerable fence walls.

And I now have a dog. Australian readers shouldn't need three guesses to know what I have called her.

Labels: Asia, Cambodia, housing, Kompong Chhnang

Today I moved into a house where I hope to spend some time—not sure how long. It's not my habit to stay long anywhere but let's see what develops. I have made some sort of commitment, I've paid three months rent in advance. But then, three months rent in Kompong Chhnang is roughly equal to what I might pay for one week in Brisbane at the lower end of the market.

This is a little smaller than the house I had in the next village last year. I am no longer surrounded by a permaculture forest. Hopefully this also means I'll have fewer mosquitos. This village is closer to the centre of town which makes for less exercise getting to and from the market. I'm also closer to some of my friends and my Khmer language teacher.

I've taken no photos yet. Not sure when I will because I have to go to Phnom Penh soon to renew my visa. Watch this space. Perhaps I'll add little snippets on the house over time that will build into a bigger picture.

Labels: Asia, Cambodia, housing, Kompong Chhnang