Adventures in demolition
Yesterday emerged straight out of a Smiths song – a Sunday, silent and gray. “Hide on the promenade, etch a postcard,” I hummed to myself as I sat at the computer trying to find an ending to a new story. I wondered if maybe today was the day I’d get to experience the often referenced ‘mango rains.’ I dearly hoped so. Not that I wanted rain so much as I longed for an excuse to not shut up about ‘mango rains’ this and ‘mango rains’ that for weeks.
However, as these things happen, I got racket instead of rain. A crew of workers descended at about 8:30 in the morning and promptly set about dismantling the house next to mine, by hand and with the maximum amount of noise and chaos. Apparently when they said they were going to “knock down” the house next door “in April”, they meant they were going to “dismantle” it “in January.” Same dif, right?
I was surprised to see how quickly a house can be ripped apart. Within a few hours, the walls and roof were gone, with the materials stacked into neat piles. For those of you who’ve never seen one, Thai houses are made out of sticks and bits of things. Living in one is an adventure in “indoor/outdoor living,” as my friend Jessica phrases it. Basically the only thing that separates you from the great outdoors is a layer of thin planks that don’t quite sit flush and have a lot of holes in them, which leads to all sorts of fun. Turn your back for five minutes and there will be plants poking their way in and growing up your walls.
Anyway, so now there’s a big pile of rubbish left in my yard from where a house used to be. That’s cool. At least I have a better view of the river.
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File under: What Passes for Excitement in Nong Khai – this morning two jets passed overhead and I ran outside all excited, not having heard an airplane let alone a jet in three and a half months. Other things I haven’t heard: a car alarm, a siren, a helicopter. Things I have had my fill of hearing: roosters, my neighbor’s radio tuned to a Thai station that apparently only plays the same three songs over and over, soi dogs trying to kill each other and/or barking at nothing for hours.
Tags: Nong Khai, Thailand
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