Pon's Family

The thing that always amazes me about Pon's family is they are so happy. Pon is generally happy and good fun and it seems to be a trait that runs in the family. She still has her mum ('khun yai') but her dad died a long time ago. She used to have two brothers and three sisters. The eldest brother and sister have both also died. That leaves her with two elder sisters and one younger brother. You will rarely see them without big smiles on their faces.

The elder sister is Daeng. She has three children, two girls and a boy. The eldest girl has just finished university, the younger is still at university while the boy is 13. All three of them smile a lot. Their dad died quite a few years ago - death somehow seems to be more common in Thailand although statistics say their life expectancy is almost the same as in the west.

Daeng is very funny. She beavers away working at her restaurant all day but always with a smile on her face. In the evening, the Thai whisky often comes out and she gets wobbly drunk. For some reason, she does not understand a word I say. I know my Thai is far from perfect but most Thais seem to be able to understand it. Daeng always looks to Pon for an explanation of what I have said. Apparently, in her younger days she was very pretty but hard work, bearing three children and drinking whisky does take its toll.

The younger brother is Gah. He is very funny with an infectious laugh. He is a motorbike mechanic. This week he entered a motorbike race. I took the rest of the family and we followed him. We drove for an hour to find the dirt race track. It really was in the middle of nowhere along potted roads and dirt tracks. He got lost several times and arrived late. When we arrived there was a comical race to get him to the starting line on time. The race started and Gah was at the back of the pack for two laps. Then his gears failed and he was out of the race. Gah came back to us laughing and the whole family was in hysterics. We all pottered off back home.

Gah has a wife, a young boy and two step children from his wife's first marriage (her previous husband died).

The eldest sister is Dan. She lives in Trat. Two years ago we were in Nakon Nayok waiting for three weeks for the British Embassy to process a birth certicate application for Ben. I didn't want to stay in Nakon Nayok for three weeks so I said we should go somewhere. Pon said they had a sister in Trat and I fancied visiting Koh Chang so off we went.

As we drove I asked when they had last seen this sister. I was surprised to hear it had been 12 years. I asked when they last spoke to her on the phone - they did not have her phone number because 12 years ago nobody had phones. So they had not had any contact for 12 years. How the hell are we going to find her, I asked. She had a stall at the market, they said, we will go there. I figured we had no chance of finding her but we went to Trat market and amazingly, there she was.

It was a lovely seen - a bit like those heart-tugging TV reunion shows. Her face dropped as she saw first Pon and then her brother. She could barely talk as she struggled to hold in the tears as Daeng and Khun Yai arrived. The family she had not seen for 12 years and probably did not expect to see again. Now they are all in contact again and call each other often.

Finally there is Khun Yai (Thai for Granma). They are not sure exactly how old she is but it is 70+. To be honest she looks much older. I wouldn't say a bad thing about her to the family because they adore her and she is a lovely old lady. However, she is hideous to look at. She still has the old Asian habit of chewing betel nuts with tobacco. It turns their teeth black. Add to that a generally hard life and what you have is a wizened old lady with a handful of pure black teeth and a mouthful of tobacco and betel. It is not something to look at while you are eating your food.

Still she has obviously done a great job of raising her children who are all so happy and well-balanced.