When I made my first journey to Asia in 1977 I bought a travel guide on Thailand  in a Singapore bookshop. A few years later after I had made my first trip to North East Thailand, I took the book down from my bookcase (where it still resides today) and read its opening comments on Isaan (quote) - " A Thai Village of little romantic appeal: a tired looking, dusty place where a few scrawny chickens peck in the shade of mean houses; not the sort of place likely to appear on any picture post card" (unquote)

That opening observation in the APA Photo Guide to Thailand mirrored many other rival guide book observations both at the time  and even some today although these are a minority. I would have to admit that observation still has some truth in it. Isaan and its villages (including  Ban Phutsa) are not the most photogenic places in Thailand and many today would still fall under the description from my 1977 guide book.

Yet in the last twenty four years I have witnessed many changes not only in Ban Phutsa but right across Isaan and Thailand in general. Of course change is naturally expected but we continually seem to be surprised by it. Memories of my  first visit to Ban Phutsa in 1981 are in the main quite vague except for one incident . The memory is of the first night I spent in my father-in-law's old timber house. It was a hot night and sitting on the floor with the only light coming from a kerosene lamp (electricity in the village was three years away) I was surrounded by a group of villagers who all wanted to touch my beard and hairy legs.  I certainly was not the first Farang they had ever seen but our visits were still rare enough for me to be an object of curiousity.

Wind the clock forward twenty four years and of course Farang oddities like myself are now part of the landscape (scratch the average Isaan village and you will find a Farang living there) just as are shiny new cars, 7/11 outlets in the nearby towns and Mobile phones.

The material changes over the past twenty four years probably come to mind first when considering what is the difference between the rural scene in 1981 and today in 2005. In that time the Buffalo cart has given way to shiny Isuzu/Toyota utilities , more money means more children are seeking better education in nearby towns/cities and beer is becoming the tipple of choice over rotgut 40 degree whisky.

But its at the human level that I have noticed the most fundamental changes over the past twenty four years. In 1981 Thailand was just beginning its involvement in the "Asian Economic Miracle" and most families focused totally on the all important rice harvest. There was little or no disposable income in Ban Phutsa and of course without electricity which did not come until 1984 all the televisions and other white goods were well into the future. People sought solace in family and friends and their traditions that had sustained them for generations.

When the Thai economy boomed in the eighties, many people left the village to work in the factories and construction sites around the country and even on overseas contracts to countries such as Taiwan , Brunei and the Middle East. Even though these jobs were in the main low paying it created a cash flow when workers sent money back to their families in the village.

This money turned out to be a mixed blessing. The extra money raised the material standard of living in the village, with new cars, televisions, refrigerators becoming increasingly commonplace in village households. Their economic and social horizons were also raised when many started businesses and sent their children to higher education. The downside of course is that the people of Ban Phutsa have climbed onto the treadmill of modernity - more stress, more debt, more need to "keep up with the joneses". Their houses are gradually filling with electrical goods and their kids have enough money to buy a 7/11 slurpee when they visit the nearby town but it still creates the necessity for more people to leave the village to earn more to keep up with the treadmill.

The great impact of all this change can be observed at the human level. In 1981, the village was crowded with people. Each household on average had its full complement of parents, grandparents and children. A more traditional lifestyle meant that people lived their lives within the boundaries of their extended families and friends. Looking at the village today and you get the feeling of quiet and smaller family groups. With so many people working outside of the village, many of the village children have been left in the care of grandparents whilst their parents seek work.

But for all the change, many things have remained the same - the smiles are just as broad, filial loyalties still as strong and even in the middle of an increasingly busy lifestyle, people still have time to sit back, eat and drink and in the main celebrate life.

I will end this chapter with an issue that has niggled me for the past few years which is that the people of Ban Phutsa don't seem to dance anymore. That probably doesn't sound like a big deal but I find it significant. Up to the last few years, you only had to have a party or social gathering and within minutes somebody would pull out a radio or ghetto blaster and rhythmic Isaan/Lao music would fill the night air.

People would get up and dance to the music. At parties and gatherings today, people seem to have just as much fun as they ever did but remain rooted to their chairs when the music starts. Possibly dancing is seen to be old hat or could have something to do with the greater availability of alcohol - who would know. My only concern is that this change of mood will have its effect other aspects of the village feel.

But at present life is still great in Ban Phutsa