Kat’s Window

I would like to share with you one of Thailand’s most overlooked but truly wonderful establishments: the country saloon. This is where many Thais head off to for a night of drinking, live music, and fun.

Country saloons are usually a bit off the beaten track. They have a real Thai countryside feel to them. The interiors are usually wooden and have a barn-like style. There is a ‘hippy-like’ atmosphere and live music can always be found. The night starts out very quietly and usually ends in a dancing frenzy. Especially on payday weekends, these pubs are jam-packed.

Country saloon music usually kicks off at around 7:30 p.m. with a solo acoustic set, moving on to one or two other traditional performances with a four- or five-member band, and ending with a more modern and very plugged in performance at the end of the night. Things usually come to a close at around 2 a.m., when an unpredictable DJ will play anything imaginable.

Until the DJ takes over, there are three main categories the music will fit into: ‘Songs for Life’, Laotian music, or Thai pop music mostly from the 80’s. The most popular ‘Songs for Life’ bands are ‘Caravan’, ‘Carabao’, and ‘Kamphie.’

The group ‘Caravan’ created the ‘Songs for Life’ style in the 1970s. These songs address and celebrate the life of the common Thai person, hence the name. ‘Caravan’ addressed social and environmental issues in a non-direct way and supported communism, thus getting them banned by the Thai government for a while. It is still possible to catch the group ‘Caravan’ on an occasional tour. Their influence on popular Thai music remains immense.

The legendary Thai group ‘Carabao’ is the second-generation ‘Songs for Life’ band. They created a western rock/metal-’songs for life’-Thai classical music fusion sound. This band has been recording for over 20 years and still has an amazingly busy tour schedule.

‘Carabao’ is currently the most popular band of this type in Thailand. You can hear their songs being played everywhere and most everyone knows the words, although sometimes they will not admit it. Despite their popularity, many Thais disagree with ‘Carabao’ lyrics and ‘good boys and girls’ do not attend their shows. ‘Carabao’ songs address modern social problems and often talk about history and falling in love. They have even dedicated songs to a governor of Bangkok and a Prime Minister. ‘Carabao’ is also famous for an occasional scuffle in the audience during their live performances. Band members like to ride Harley Davidsons and look ‘rough and tumble’ but also own an impressive fleet of Mercedes and Land Cruisers. They are currently advertising for a local beer called Chang (elephant). The logo is ‘My Country, My Beer’ but ‘Carabao’ prefers to drink red wine on stage. Despite their contradictions, these guys rock hard.

If you ever see a sheet painted with a gigantic buffalo skull hanging outside a pub, it means that ‘Carabao’ is coming. Be sure not to miss it! The band does not kick off until midnight to 1 a.m. and you usually have to reserve a seat weeks in advance to get in. ‘Carabao’ is well worth the wait. This group of highly skilled musicians will rock the crowd into an absolute frenzy and the guitar solos will knock your socks off.

The third-generation ‘Songs for Life’ singer is the baby-faced man named ‘Kamphie.’ Trained and inspired by leading guitar man Lek from ‘Carabao’, ‘Kamphie’ is pretty much a direct spin-off from ‘Carabao’ both in sound and text.

Cover bands playing at country saloons will usually mix ‘Songs for Life’ with a tad of Thai pop and Laotian music. Laotian music was brought into popularity by the migration of Lao people into Thailand and the fact that eastern Thailand shares its border with Laos. Laotian music is played with a variety of bizarre reed instruments and can range from the quiet acoustic set to faster bouncing and bopping rhythms.

In general, Laotian music has a happy and energetic sound and most people absolutely love to dance to it. Dancing to Lao music involves rotating your hand in a circular motion to the beat of the music while also keeping rhythmic time with your feet. Laotian music generally speaks about rice farming, flirting with each other while farming rice, and falling in love.

Country saloons make for a wonderful evening out. Besides being a unique cultural experience, the amazing wealth of musical talent in Thailand (both original and cover bands) showcases itself well at these establishments.

Thai food and reasonably priced drinks are always available. If you buy a bottle of whiskey and do not finish it, they will store it at the pub for you until next time (this is bar protocol all over Bangkok) but I bet you will return anyways on your own accord.

Out of all the vendors that peddle through my street, the broom seller is my favourite. I like the way his cart looks. It took me over two weeks to catch up with him, and when I did he happened to be standing next to a salt vendor. I decided to chat to both of them. To my surprise I discovered uncanny parallels between these two men and the woman named Katin I interviewed for an earlier article entitled “Baskets and a Hubcap.” (see back issues: April 30, 2001)

All three of them come from Isaan (the northeast), Thailand’s poorest region, and work as vendors in Bangkok part-time for ridiculously low wages. Like Katin, both men have a boss that pays for the housing, electricity, and transportation to and from work.

Posuk is 27 years old and sells salt. One and a half kilogrammes of salt sells for 8 baht (17 cents) and Posuk keeps 2.50 baht (5 cents) for himself. He stated, “At 3 a.m. many people go to pick up the salt at the factory. Everyday I walk with my salt. I finish at 2 p.m. I live in a three-room house with twelve other salt vendors and my wife and baby.” At 2:30 p.m. Posuk had made 140 baht (3.11 US dollars) for the day.

Boonlan is 50 years old. He sells brooms, toilet scrubbers, mops, and feather dusters. He keeps 50 percent of his total sales as profit. He works from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. seven days a week. He told me, “I peddle my cart for about four hours a day. On a good day I can make 400 baht (8.88 US dollars).” He lives in a large one-room apartment with 14 other vendors.

When asked if they liked their jobs Posuk said, “It is a good job for me. I can go different places. I don’t want a new job.” Boonlan stated, “No, this job is no good for me. I keep looking for a new job, but I cannot find one. But I have a happy heart.”

Both men are married. Posuk’s wife also sells salt. They have one three-year-old baby. Boonlan’s wife lives in Isaan with their two children (15 and 5). She does not work. Posuk works as a rice farmer in Isaan three months out of every year. Boonlan returns home to work the fields for ten days out of every month. In their free time, both men enjoy watching Thai boxing and football.

Posuk finished school at the age of nine and Boonlan at the age of six. Both say that they can read and write. Both rent land in Isaan so that they can farm rice. When asked what they would do with 5,000 baht (111 US Dollars), Posuk said, “Put it in the bank for my baby.” Boonlan stated, “Pay for my children to learn more. Pay for some good classes.”

“Why do you farm rice?” I asked. Boonlan gave me a comprehensive explanation: “I farm the rice so that I can feed my family. If I have to buy rice, it would be too expensive. Every year the farm makes about 10,000 kilogrammes of rice. Three thousand kilogrammes is given to the man who owns the land. I keep 1,000 to feed my family. The rest (6,000) we sell. You can sell rice for 4 baht (8 cents) per kilogramme, but if you buy it at the store it costs 18 baht (40 cents) per kilogramme. Thailand is not good now for rice farmers. It is hard to make money.”

Boonlan let me get on his cart and try to pedal it. Everyone was laughing as I honked the horn and tried to ride it. It was a heavy contraption, difficult to steer and only had one gear. Pedaling this for four hours a day in the heat of Bangkok? No way, I couldn’t do it.

Boonlan pedals off into the heat, and Posuk starts walking home with his pushcart. His house is not far from where we are standing. They leave me there thinking about Isaan.

Isaan gets only about two percent of the tourist flow that goes whizzing through Thailand every year. The soil is of low quality and very often farmers are the victims of drought. Isaan is the region with the lowest per capita income in all of Thailand. This causes many of the area residents to head to Bangkok in search of money. Sometimes they can strike it big, but more often than not they are left scraping by: pedaling carts, selling salt, or sitting with a pile of baskets. I headed home wondering who these magical bosses are that drop Boonlan, Posuk, and Katin off every morning. One thing is for sure: these three people and others like them are easily exploited.

One thing that is certain, while traveling in Thailand always expect the unexpected. Once while driving in western Thailand (Kanchanaburi province) my friend looked up at a tree and exclaimed, “Hey! That sign says ‘magic hill up ahead’! Shall we try it?” I sat there wondering just what kind of magic the road would perform and enthusiastically agreed.

We drove for about another kilometre and saw three other cars parked on the side of the road. “Well, this must be it!” We followed suit, stopped the car, turned it off, shifted it into neutral, and all gasped as our car magically continued up the hill. What fun! It really felt and looked like magic. Three people were in our car: one American, one Swiss, and one Thai. The two westerners worked hard thinking of scientific experiments that could prove whether or not the hill was magic. We asked our Thai friend about the hill and he said, “Well, it’s magic.” He then went back to napping. I found the difference in responses intriguing and fitting.

One unique thing about Thailand is the atmosphere of acceptance that surrounds most everything. From magic hills to illegal activities, most Thais will just shrug most things off with an ‘it is what it is’ or ‘never mind’ attitude. The western approach is usually the complete opposite.

Thais tend not to ask ‘why’. It is very rare indeed for a Thai to question me about my obvious cultural differences. Thais know that westerners are different from them and leave it at that. I spend most of my time in Thailand asking ‘why, why, why?’ not only on behalf of this column but because it is simply my nature to do so no matter where I am. I wonder just how annoying this is for my Thai friends who know I’ll always have questions.

I was astonished when local authorities put up ‘No Fishing’ signs around my neighbourhood pond and everyone actually obeyed them. Usually the pond’s shores are stuffed with fishermen, some fishing for fun and some fishing for dinner. No one tried to sneak a pole in at night. No one took down the signs. No one gambled on not being caught. The sign went up. The fishing stopped. The sign came down. The fishing started again. It is a fact that surprised me: Thais tend to accept authority. The sign said that the road was magic, so the road was magic. Period.

Why don’t Thais ask why? I believe this is due to the Thai system of hierarchy. Everyone and everything in Thailand can be placed in its clearly-defined and highly-respected system of rank and order. As being aggressive is a definite sign of rudeness, the polite way is to sit back, wait for orders to come from above, and follow them, period. The golden rule is to respect those ‘above’ and not to question their authority. To disagree with your boss would simply be unthinkable.

The present Thai education system does not encourage ‘why’ either. Teachers write on the board and students copy the information into their notebooks. Memorization not conversation rules the learning atmosphere. Opinions are not asked, nor are they freely given. Critical thinking is scarce. Thailand is currently trying to revamp its education system but it’s easier said than done. The education system reflects the structure of Thai society and society reflects the education system.

Thais do not like to ask why but why should they? Although Thais are often criticized for having little initiative, frankness or critical thinking, where would this new, improved ‘why’ world actually get them? Thailand, with all of its plusses and minuses, still gets the job done at the end of the day without too many ‘whys’ or worries for that matter. Asking or answering ‘why’ does not necessarily change the reality of the situation. In most cases it only provides a mutable opinion. Perhaps ‘why’ is overrated.

Many months later all three of us were back at the magic hill again. This time we had a marble with us. First we stopped the car and went for another ‘magic ride.’ Next, I placed the marble on the pavement (out of view from other cars taking the same ride as to not disappoint them with the potential truth) and alas, the marble rolled backward. My suspicions were confirmed: the ‘magic’ of the hill was only an optical illusion.

The sign that marks the magic hill has since been taken down. I wish that I could still see people enjoying its magic. I wouldn’t mind going for another magic ride. There is said to be a second magic hill somewhere in Thailand. If I ever get to it, I will leave the marble at home.

The first time I saw it, I almost went into shock. An old woman hunched over the side of the road in downtown Bangkok spit a grotesque wet red glob onto the ground. I thought she was terminally ill. When I looked at her bright red and brown teeth, I assumed she had a bleeding ulcer. Wrong. She was simply chewing betel. Betel has been chewed in Thailand since ancient times and remains a popular activity today, especially in the countryside.

‘Pre-made betel’ or ‘make your own betel’ stands can be found at local markets and on street corners. Betel chews come in a wide variety of mixtures, some made specifically for women and some made specifically for men. The standard and basic ingredients for making betel chew are: betel leaf, betel nut, and lime (the mineral).

Betel chew designed for men can includes: chewing tobacco which may have been soaked in alcohol, lime (the mineral) with salt and lemon added, cloves, small shaved pieces of sweet wood, and betel nut.

Betel chew for women becomes even more complicated: fluid honey-coloured wax, and sweet wood shavings can be added to the basic betel mixture of betel leaf, betel nut, and lime (the mineral). The chewing tobacco is usually left out.

The ingredients for the betel chew are placed on a betel leaf and then folded neatly into a square pouch. The pouches are then placed in a glass jar and the jar is closed to keep the betel moist. Betel stands often choose to leave the betel leaf open so that the buyer can view the ingredients before making a purchase. It also helps the betel look more appealing.

The betel nut, betel nut, and lime (mineral) form a chemical reaction that is responsible for generating the red color in the saliva. People who habitually chew betel end up with red teeth. The teeth must be scraped to remove the stains. After chewing betel, it is common to rinse the mouth out with water and eat something either sour or sweet for a pleasant sensation and taste. Spittoons usually have a plastic bag placed inside them and are shared among the group of betel chewers, leaving quite a mess behind.

Chewing betel is said to be equally acceptable for both men and women generally above the age of 16-17. In fact, growing betel, cutting betel, washing betel leaves, and making betel chews is a common daily chore in the countryside. It is also a way to make money. Betel chewing is definitely more popular among Thailand’s older working class. Younger Bangkok residents tend to view betel chewing as ‘not hip’ and would rather smoke.

Betel contains a narcotic stimulant and is said to have some medicinal value. A friend of mine is a perpetual betel chewer. I asked him what the benefits of chewing betel are. He was quick to answer, ” It aids in the cleaning of teeth and the freshening of breath when a toothbrush is not available. It increases blood circulation, and increases heart rate. Chewing betel also helps dissolve phlegm.” I decided to try some with him.

I took a betel chew designed for a man but tried my best to remove the chewing tobacco. I then placed the pouch between my cheek and gum and waited. The first sensation was almost menthol-like. And then the cloves kicked in. My saliva started to flow and my mouth heated up. I spit and then I spit some more. Chewing betel is a full-blown taste bud experience indeed.

I tried hard not to let the ingredients fall out of the betel leaf, but I was told that it’s OK when this does happen. After concentrating on this new and strange experience, I began to notice that I was becoming extremely awake. I wondered if the betel had made me ‘drunk’. My head was in the clouds. I got up and walked around. I touched my nose. I stood on one foot. Everyone laughed at me.

I learned that my motor functions were not impaired at all. Rather, I felt like I had drunk thirteen cups of coffee, but without the coffee aftertaste. After finishing my betel, I ate some bitter fruit (pomelo) and had yet another taste-bud explosion. I also had a very difficult time falling asleep that night even though I had chewed betel at 8 pm.

I don’t plan on chewing betel again any time soon, but I do see why people enjoy it. I also didn’t get hooked on betel chewing after one round. I think betel would have been a great thing to have around during those very long study nights at college but if I ever really need to stay awake, I’m sticking with coffee. Red teeth are simply not for me.