.Mythmaker

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G'day All, Just back from my second trip to Thailand. This time entirely urban Bangkok, away from tourist destinations. The city is on a large,flat flood plain, criss-crossed with canals. Crossing one of the canals near my apartment I looked down to spy this compact backyard of a family that lived in a house built over the canal.

I doubt it will end up on many dt but I loved this intimate glimpse into a very different way of life to mine. The house is to the left, over the water. In the water you can see the very large black fish, perhaps Carp of some kind, not many of us have "pet" wild fish in our backyards! In this shot you can see the chicken and also in the central little hutch over the water are some black and white ducks. At night the chickens are in the hutch and the ducks sleep on top of it.

In the bottom left corner is the tiny "spirit house" that you see, not all of them so small as this, all over Thailand. This family's house doubled as a cafe/restaurant.

One of the things that impresses me about Thai people is the way so many people work so hard to find a way to survive by running whatever business they can grab hold of. People even have cafe's on their scooters. The vast majority of Thais would rather sell you something for five Baht (18 cents Australian.) than beg. All of this effort with grace and a smile and genuine friendliness.

The general disarray you see in this backyard is present most everywhere in Thailand, that I've seen. Many westerners would tend to interpret such messiness as a sign of laziness or something similar but I've seen how hard the Thais work and they sure as hell are not a lazy culture. Different cultures see things differently. It's dangerous to assume you know what something you see "means" in a very different culture and society to your own.

Enjoy.

Peace,

Mikel.