Fish

Yesterday one of the people here where I live took me to his village to spend a day with his family and friends. The first thirty minutes or so were a little awkward, but after that I had a great time.

We sat around chatting (and eating) for about an hour and a half while waiting for people to show up. Once everyone was there we went down to the river. One of the boats took me upstream a little ways to see the place were two rivers came together. We then went back downstream and joined the others pulling in a large net.

The net had several very small fish (in America I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t throw them back, but here they fry them and eat them whole). When the net was almost the whole way in a large fish made a big splash over in one of the corners. Everyone rushed to finish bringing in the net, taking care not to let the big fish escape.

When we got back to the pavilion by the waters edge we weighed the fish: 9.8 kg. We (minus the they I’m about to mention) then sat around talking and snacking on peanuts while they (those of us who were not sitting around) prepared the fish. They grilled fish steaks. They made fish soup. And they made fish lap (pieces of fish mixed with seasoning and chilies). It was all quite wonderful.

By the time it was all said and done, I had spent 8-15:00 having a good time, eating good food, and improving my isaan (the dialect spoken by natives of the region where I am staying).