Weekend in Ban Phai

We visited Nicolas and Kwan this weekend. We had met them in Bangkok last month and they invited us for a visit. They are about 3 hours by bus from Yasothon. We arrived just before lunch on Saturday and they took us directly to the market. We enjoyed lunch and had a look at some award winning silk. It was pretty expensive, so Nicolas suggested that we go to a town that is close to Ban Phai where they are known for their silk products.


Left to right: Nicolas, Christina, Nadim, Kwan's mom, Kwan holding Natsha, and in front, Yasmin, Roya, and Neesha, Kwan's aunt and a cousin.

It was really interesting to see the ladies making the silk. Their feet were pressing the pedals and their arms were pulling a bar. They really had a rhythm going. The cloth was beautiful. After watching for a bit we headed off to some shops and I couldn't resist buying a few metres of fabric. I bought two different types. Both were a mix of cotton and silk and will be quite durable. I'm not sure what we will make with the fabric, but I'm sure I'll think of something!

Nicolas and his wife have a small farm. They have eight cows, and some land with young mango trees that were just planted and also some rice fields. We were fortunate enough to eat some of their sticky rice and it was very good. In the picture below you can see the edge of the rice fields, which has already been harvested for the year. To the right of the picture you can see a dark green tree that is fairly round. It is a mango tree and the small mango trees that Nicolas planted are just beyond that tree.

Yasmin and Roya enjoyed playing with their two daughers, Neesha who is almost 4 years old, and Natsha, who is only about a year old. Neesha was quite a character and the girls enjoyed playing the big sister role with her.

As we got talking, some of their life stories came out. Yet again I am awestruck by the power and strength of some people. Nicolas is from Switzerland and that is where he met Kwan. She had gone to Switzerland to make money because her family had been taken by a scam artist and was in danger of losing their land and houses to loan sharks. Nicolas was also going through rough times, but Kwan helped him through it and Nicolas saw that Kwan needed to be with her family and help them through their hard times.

They decided to move to Thailand. Nicolas and Kwan have invested in some dormitories and are working the farm land. The investments that Nicolas has made has helped not only his wife and children, but his brother-in-law's family and Kwan's uncle's family as well. The wooden house on stilts that the family was living in has been improved. It now has a concrete first level. There are also small houses for the extended family as well. You can see the impact that this couple has made.

I had mentioned that Nicolas had some hard times. It was because of this, that Nicolas began to research religions. He felt he needed a stronger power to help him through his issues and began to research Christianity, Buddhism, and other Faiths. This is when he came across a prayer from the Baha'i Faith. He liked it very much and began to research more. He was so taken with what he read that it was almost all consuming. He told me that he spent nearly 48 hours at the computer downloading and reading, and downloading and reading. He really liked the idea that all religions are from the same God. As he researched some more, he found he liked the concepts and teachings of the Baha'i Faith. He wanted a religion he could be faithful to and with the Baha'i Faith he found what he was looking for.

When I asked him if he missed Switzerland, he laughed and told me that in the morning he would go to work in Geneva and it would be dark and cold, and the faces on the bus were all depressed, and when he came home from work it would be dark and cold, and the faces on the bus would be tired and depressed. Now he wakes up in the morning and the sun is shining, it's peaceful, everyone greets each other with a smile, and he is surrounded by family who cares about him. Although the slow pace took some getting used to, he says he doesn't know if he could go back to life in the fast lane!

We all really enjoyed the weekend. More and more, we find that the people are the most interesting part of our trip.

CM