Rubber Tapping, Thai-Laos Border

The floods have gotten worse. We haven't seen rain here for a few days, but floodwater has pushed its way down the river and to Ubon. While the city center is safe, the restaraunts that line the banks are underwater, along with people's homes and even a university. The monsoon season seems to be over, so here's hoping things don't get any worse.

My friend Jina (who lived in NZ for 12 years) offered to drive me to her family's farm, way out near the Laos border, and we saw the flooding as we passed. The farm is primarily for rubber trees. After 5-6 years of growing, yesterday they were finally ready to be tapped for rubber. The process is apparently very delicate, and the bark must be cut in the right way in order to bleed the sap well.


Now that the farm is in business, one of Jina's uncles is going to take up residence there, so the men were building a house for him and his family. It was really interesting to watch. Without modern equipment to determine if the frame was straight, those on the ground had to judge using their eyes. After deciding that it was leaning to one side, they all pushed on the beams at the base and physically pushed it to the angle they wanted. As they held it there, a guy up the top hammered a horizontal beam into place to keep the house from leaning back to where it was. And just like that, the problem was solved. Simple.


We feasted on a scrumptuous lunch of sticky rice, pork mince salad, pig ears in chilli, cucumber, Thai beans, freshwater eel, and pork fat in broth. Then we munched on an unripe guava, because apparently that's what people here do.

The Laos border was only within a few k's, so we made a visit. Had I a double-entry visa, or a re-entry permit, we would've ducked across and seen some of the nearby sights in Laos. But that'll have to wait till next time.


Jina's cousin Ai accompanied us. She studies a bit of English in school but was too shy to say anything until I asked her, "Do you like English?"

She grinned. "No."

I laughed. I used to hate learning foreign languages when I was her age, so I can definitely relate. And she had the guts to be honest, even knowing I'm an English teacher. Maybe I'm just not scary enough.


Don't worry, I haven't just been romping about the countryside since I've been here. I've been building contacts and gathering information, both on the city of Ubon and its schools. School admins have been on break, but they go back to work tomorrow for the start of semester 2.

It's time to make my move.