As you can see, there IS cock fighting in my village; these photos were taken on the vacant plot of land next to my home. It was not as bloodthirsty nor as violent as I had expected. The best way to describe it is to say that it was very dull. Had I not been so cheerfully received when I joined the gathering, I should have walked away after 2 minutes; in the circumstances, that seemed a rather rude thing to do, so I stayed still the end. I had seen a small group of men and young lads gathering in a rough circle on the field and when 2 birds ( and a bucket !) were produced it soon became evident what was happening and I strolled over to watch.
Unlike what I supposed happened in cockfighting, the birds were not equipped with spurs or razors. In fact, the top photo shows the bird's own natural spur being taped over. The the birds' only weapon was therefore their beaks. They pecked at each others' necks mostly, with an occasional dart at the wing. When they came literally face to face, and pecked each others' faces, there would be a mighty squawking and flapping of wings, before settling down to their usual, more wary approach. From time to time the birds would be pulled out of the "ring" , a cloth produced from the bucket and blood would be wiped off.
The denouement came, not with the death of a bird but with the persistent refusal of one to fight on. In the photo above you can see one bird has simply has stuck as of much of his body as he can under the other in a sign of submission ,and giving the top bird no target to aim at. In all it took about 20 minutes I would guess
There was no prize money, nor gambling, so far as I could detect; just bragging rights for the owner of the winning bird.
However, nothing is all that it seems...ever..in this country! And it later emerged that this was just a "training" fight. I am told that in the real events, there is a proper ring or pit, and the birds are able to use their spurs. Apparently a champion can be worth maybe $600 or more; which is more than many people earn in a year.
No change in the weather, just wonderful, wonderful weather, and again not a drop of rain. If anything, the mornings may have been just a fraction warmer than last week.
This week's crime report is just about road traffic accidents. In the space of one week, two of our students, Kheak in LPB and Thong in VTE were knocked off their motorbikes and suffered slight injuries. In Thong's case it seems to have been a hit and run driver, who simply sped off in his large expensive car ( Party official maybe ?) leaving Thong and his bike in the road. Somehow, in all the ensuing confusion, he had his wallet, containing ATM and Identity cards stolen. I have yet to secure an assurance from him that he was wearing a crash helmet.
In Kheak's case, he was knocked off his bike by another motorcyclist...aged 11 ! The police have impounded both bikes, and you will not be surprised to know that they charge a fee to release them. Worse, is that they are charging a fee for visiting to the accident site, taking measurements, witness statement and the like. (Someone could be in for nice holidays this year....or a nice outfit for the girl friend maybe .) So, for the moment Keak has to borrow a bike to get to College and may have to pay fees of about 2 weeks wages for police "services". What are they paid to do, I wonder?
Happily he confirms that he was wearing a helmet.
A prelude to this week's sob story is that The Opinionated German is still here ! However, rather than rush my beer and run off when he arrived I opted for the rather cruder tactic of turning my back on him and ignoring him ...after all it's my cafe not his, my city not his ! After a while the waiter escaped from TOG and came over to chat. I ascertained that he works a 7 day week, at least 13 hours a day. For this he receives no wages....but gets board and lodgings and is allowed to keep tips. He has won a scholarship to undertake teacher training in Vietnam (Why not in Laos ????); he will be leaving to start that soon, and his employer has promised him a leaving gift to help him on his way. The curious thing is that the boy, and his colleague, are both very cheerful young lads who do not seem at all bitter, or cheated by their circumstances. Indeed, the cafe owner could not be further from a Dickensian Mr. Gradgrind; he appears to be a very congenial and pleasant man.
As a bonus here is a an extra sob story this week.
Some of you may recall Pouy, whom one of whom is kindly paying school fees. Her Mum is taking in washing. In town the going rate for washing is 10 000 kip (say 80p) for a kilo. You can sometimes get it done for 8,000 or even 7,000. She is doing it for 2,000. That is 20 kilos for 1 pound 60 or so. I have yet to send her my washing but we shall have to agree on a price, somewhat higher than her published tariff.
I got the goldfish a week or 2 back. I have never been a great fan of them, but it seems that people felt I needed the company or whatever There were 4; there still are 4; but they are not the original 4. Sadly, Noy and Thong died; initially I suspected my Khamoune friend of eating them but the bodies were recovered. They have been replaced, but not yet named. All suggestions welcome. The two newcomers have great bulging eyes, so whom do we know with a thyroid problem?
And the dog..well I had mixed feelings when she arrived. I am very much a doggie person, but as I have rehearsed before, there are sound reasons for not getting one here. She had rather odd hair, cried when she could not get her way and was quite mad, so naming her Mrs Thatcher seemed wholly appropriate.But it emerged that she was only being shown off to me, not given to me. Phew.....
The missing tomatoes, oddly have nothing to do with the goat (see below) but everything to do with my getting the hang of local behaviour...remember the builders ? A student had called round and I was pottering about finding some soap and a fresh razor from a cupboard in the bedroom. I put them down somewhere, and then I could not find them so after a while decided I was having a senior moment and would resume the hunt later. In fact, shortly afterwards I found them in the bathroom, the soap opened and the razor used. Now I have not the slightest problem with sharing my soap....though one might have views about a razor, it was just the wholly informal way in which it is done. Just imagine the performance in tho UK if you wanted to borrow a razor and have a shave in someones house! And the tomatoes, well, they are not missing in the sense of being unaccounted for..just no longer under my ownership. As he was leaving, this lad looked in the fridge, found a bag, and announced that he was taking 4 or 5 tomatoes for his tea. Once again, not a major problem but I still need to get the hang of the way things are sometimes done here.
And here are some wedding photos;
As you can see, a grand time was had by all.
I know that one of you, at least, only reads this blog for news of the goat. Yes, again, there is no news, no sighting. But keep watching this space, you will be the first to learn of her re-appearance, with or without kids.
Have a good week
Alan
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