Back from the Farm

I drove back today from Bang Saphan Noi (took me 7 hours) in time to check the news on a big anti-government demonstration in Bangkok.
What a difference seven hours make - from a peaceful place with bright blue skies and coconut trees swaying in the breeze to ugly political confrontations among uninspiring self-aggrandizing people.
Fortunately, the day is ending without violence.
Out in the provinces, the turmoil is more economic and financial than political. A village chief in Banrai called to say that a villager would like to sell me all the wood that his house is built with so he can use the money to pay a loan shark who is threatening foreclosure action on his entire property - house and land.
So if I bought the house, it would have to be torn down, which would leave the seller and his family, including his father and mother who look to be in their seventies, without a house to live in, all this because of a debt with interest of around 40% per annum. This is the kind of constant violence local farmers face. It's a relentless economic and financial strangulation, and it's widespread. There are no easy solutions, though one thing is certain: on-going political struggles in Bangkok, which essentially pits the rich against the rich, will only make things worse for the poor across the nation.

Photo location: Bang Saphan Noi, Prachuab Khirikan province