The market

So I talked about food but did not mention the market. Basically the market was where everyone went for just about anything. it ran twice a day, morning and evening. Supijit went both times before breakfast and dinner to get what she needed for that meal. It was right down the road. I liked to go with her in the evenings. It was very different from any market I have experienced. It was mostly women selling stuff. They would put their stuff on a table and some of them would sit on the table behind the food or sit in a chair. Some tables were full of fruits, vegetables, and herbs and others would only have one thing, such as mushrooms.

My favorite moment at the market was when we bought fish. there was a woman with a small bucket of fish just caught from the local river. they were still alive swimming around bumping into each other. She picked one up, placed it on the cutting board, wacked its head with the side of a knife, and starting shaving off the scales sending fish "juice" right and left. She then cut the fish into three equal pieces, placed them in a bag, and handed it to us and we were off. That is when I decided I would eat fish while I was here. By the look of my face, Supijit could tell that that was not a normal experience for me. She asked, "Is that not how you get fish in the US?" "Um, not exactly. Actually, that would be illegal."

There is one thing for sure: there is no food safety inspector in Thailand. I don't say this with complaint. I have had no trouble or problem with the food. Many of the citizens would be without a job if there was such an inspection. There are food stalls, vendors, fruit stands, drink vendors just about every which way you look one after another. I dont know what you have to do to sell food, but I don't imagine it's much. Many people just cook out of their home and set a table on the road selling food to passerbys.

Oh yeah, one more thing for sure: Thais eat a lot of meat. There is not a food stall that doesn't have some sort of meat product. When we were traveling on the bus, people would hop on with these huge sticks with half a roasted chicken on it swaying it in your face and shouting something that I couldn't understand while I just sat there with my eyes closed shaking my head no. It is hard to be a vegetarian here, but I've had to be flexible. But it should be noted that there are many vegetarian dishes on menus and occasional vegetarian restaurants. I'm still learning how to say "no meat" in Thai. It's harder than you'd think.

Anyways, the market is fabulous. I definitely felt like an outsider when I was there but by there third day people were getting used to me. I loved getting fresh soy milk and fresh cut fruit (much of the fruit was pre cut because of the hard and volumious exteriors - like durian). there are pictures that can show more than I can say.