Rice Farmer Street Party

I am in love with Northeast Thailand, the region otherwise known as Issan: the land of rice fields, rice whiskey, elephants and mor lam music. On May 10th, the village of Baan Talad was sending their 20 year old boys to enter the Buddhist monkhood for three months, a tradition all boys in the village follow. It is one of the biggest parties of the year, involving a three to five hour street procession where the soon-to-be monks are paraded around the village on the backs of elephants; a truck is packed full of instruments and musicians rockin the music of the country.

Issan culture is often looked down upon by the rest of Thai society and the people from this region are characterized as being uneducated country folk. The various forms of music that come from the Issan are often not given due credit. Yet, beginning about six months ago, an Issan mor lam song was being bumped all over the country, including high-society areas of Bangkok. The song, "Man Tong Thon" by Poifhai Malaiporn, is about getting so drunk and having a serious hangover that the only thing that can cure it is to drink more.