The Kuankaew family sees no contradiction between Buddhism and attempting to placate the possibly malevolent spirits of their land, a tolerant stance that seems to go along with the wonderful natural abundance of this country.
I loved all the fruit trees in the Kuankaews' yard. Just around the house were bananas, coconuts, mangos, lamohts (which resemble big kiwis), jack fruit (huge pulpy things with a sticky fruit inside), and rambutans (which look like red-skinned lichee nuts). I was there for the first hard rain of rainy season, when inch-long red ants called maeng man emerge from their burrows for their mating flight. All the Kuankaews squatted in the steaming heat as the insects emerged, grabbing them just before they took off. There was an art to it--the ants are covered with tiny white baby ants, and the baby ants bite, so you have to shake them off quickly and drop the big ants into a bottle.
Afterward, Bourphet stir-fried them. They had this great junk-food taste, like bits of fat that crunched in your mouth. The Kuankaews were really tickled that I helped them pick ants. I was the first foreigner they had close contact with, and at first everyone was cautious.
My first two visits to Jiraporn's school were canceled when her shyness led to tears. The third time, I watched the flag-raising that begins the school day. A thousand kids in uniform lined up to hear the principal lecture them with a bullhorn. Then a gym teacher walked through with an electric hair-clipper. Any boy with hair longer than a crewcut got a hack job on the spot.
