Isan Village Life   =   Chapter 1.   Nai Jon Ladsa-ard

Por Jon family Por Jon's daughtersDedicated to Jon Ladsa-Ard,

father of seven,

grandfather of eleven

A man who cleared acres of jungle,

dug acres of rice paddies,

and built an entire village.

Por Jon, a deceptively strong man, 5 foot 7 inches with the physique of an Asian racing snake and unusually tall for an Issan man but baring all the hallmarks of a 65 year old hard working rural Thai. A housebuilder and rice farm owner who raised seven children with his devoted wife. Six daughters and one son, he was the envy of the villagers who deemed him lucky to have had so many girls. He liked a cigarette but was casual, had once a drink problem and was now tea-total, and his love of sweet things had cost him all his front teeth. His skin was pallid, his grey hair thinning, and his arthritic bony fingers lubricated with copious cups of Nescafe 3 in 1 but unhealthy? Not a bit of it. In receipt of his 500 baht a month pension and subsidised by his daughter living in the UK he couldn't sit still and do nothing.
He worked from 7am to 6pm every day of the year. He was a man of toil.


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