My name is Bill and I live in Brisbane, Australia. During my first trip to Thailand in 1977 I met my future wife Mali who comes from the village of Ban phutsa in North-East Thailand. We married in 1978 and have one child, our daughter Natalie who was born in 1983. From our home base in Australia we try to visit Thailand at least once a year to hook up with family and friends and for a few short weeks kick back and re-connect with the culture of Thailand. Over the years I have visited most parts of the Kingdom and during this time have also seen and done most of the things tourists normally tend to do in Thailand.
But in the main the place that I am constantly drawn to when we visit Thailand is the village of Ban phutsa. Only natural I suppose inasmuch as this is where Mali was born and raised and where many of her family still lives. Its more than that however. For instance after visiting the village on and off for the past twenty four years I have grown close to many of the people in the village and feel that in a sense I have grown up with them. Some of these people were kids and teenagers when I first visited and many of them now are parents themselves.
I have always had an ambition to build a website on Thailand but have been thwarted over time by personal laziness, writers block, lack of note taking/diaries and ultimately what the focus of a website would be. It hit me during our last journey that perhaps the focus could be Ban phutsa itself. At first this idea seemed absurdly narrow - a bit like writing about a snowflake in a snow storm. But in the end I decided to chance my arm and plough on finally being convinced by the view that much of everything that I have learnt about grassroots Thailand can be sourced back to Ban phutsa.
In deciding to build this website, I needed to face an obvious fact- which is of course is that I'm not an expatriate living permanently in the village. I holiday there once a year and I suppose could be accused of not appreciating the full picture. My only real defence is that I believe the views expressed in these web pages to be honest ones or at the very least how I feel now and at times in the past (In the final analysis this truly is a personal website). Although I have accentuated the positives about Ban phutsa, I hope at the same time that I have avoided the trap of simple romanticism.
And finally I would have to admit that many people may find this website to be about as interesting as "whaleshit" but I hope that at the very least I strike a chord with some ( especially with Isaan tragics like myself).
Anyway If you are interested or just simply curious, please click on the truck below and drive into Ban phutsa.
by Bill Grimson - 30.01.2006
www.isanvillage.com
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