Pi Jaeng

Last night Neil and Amanda had a going away party. The employees of Pooh’s Bar, Mr. Barry and his family (a Dive shop owner), two honeymooners who were also having a nice diner, and Neil, Amanda, and I, all ate together at a line of tables with red checkered tablecloths and candles. For my vegetarian dive leader friends there was an array of Tofu: Tofu friend with dipping sauce, Tofu appetizers with mushrooms, Tofu Tom Yum…

I had breakfast with Pi Solep and Dehwehwim again. The flavor was rich and delightful, and although the meal was tough, meaty, and salty, none of that made my stomach hurt which was a joy.

The honeymooners might be interested in sharing a day of snorkeling in the national park so that will be very nice.

I interviewed Pi Jaeng this afternoon. I found him surveying the terraces he had just carved into the hillside behind one of the bungalows – the new home for a terraced garden. He finished planting a batch of flowers around the resort and we sat together on a little gazebo platform near the sea. Thanks to Jaengs slow speaking, clear Thai, and generally amiablity it was by far the most long and successful interview I’ve done it Thai – although that wasn’t surprising. The talked about the positives and negatives of a fishing life – a life he used to live before starting the Sanom Beach resort. A fisherman has freedom, he said. The income isn’t steady, sometimes you are lucky and sometimes you are not lucky, and sometimes you friend is lucky all month and you are not lucky, but you know there is always anotherday when you will be lucky again, and you can eat what you catch so you don’t need to buy anything. He disagreed with what Pi Maew said that people share the fish they catch, saying in the old days the Chow Lay used to do this, but now they expect money in exchange for giving another Chow Lay fish. He said long ago the Chow Lay didn’t know about protecting the ocean. Then, when the national park was made it was a good thing. But the Chow Lay just kept on fishing destructively when and where the national park wasn’t looking. Then people were arrested. He also did this when he was young, but was lucky he was never arrested. It was a good thing tourists, and development, and the national park came because, he said, in his opinion, if they hadn’t the nature on the island would be better, but the sea would be worse. Somebody with a boat can make more steady income, and make more money by taking the tourists to see the coral, he explained....