Markets

In every town there are several types of markets: morning markets, regualar daily markets, night bazaars and your everyday-type stores. We've been to several morning markets. Each one is different.

The first moring market we went to was in Chiang Rai. It felt very foreign. It also stunk. There were pig parts (including a pig head cut off at the neck) on one table and live fish at another. We went to one food vendor to get breakfast and when Scott asked him if there was anything that was not hot (sounds like "my pet") the vendor and one of his customers laughed themselves silly. He then pointed us toward a different vendor who sold us fried rice. I got really uncomfortable when an older woman was pointing at Phoebe and indicating that she needed sleeves on her sleeveless dress. Oops.

A few days ago, we were awakened in our bungalow to Muslim prayer being brodcast by microphone into the town of Mae Salong from the local mosque. We got out of bed and got dressed and walked just down the street to the morning market there. The specialty in that market is doughnuts. They are rectangular and nothing but dough boiled in oil. They were plenty tasty for a different kind of breakfast. The kids are often offered Ovaltine with a ton of sugar added. Our coffee was once again made with Nescafe, but this time, it had creamer and sweetened condensed milk. Actually it tasted pretty good. The weirdest thing we saw here was chicken feet.

The night markets, called Night Bazaars, are very interesting. People get set up in the late afternoon and bargain with customers all night. They stay open until midnight. There are so many people there. It's very different than the U.S. Everyone is up very late. It doesn't matter what day of the week it is. I like the items being sold at the Chiang Mai Night Bazaar, and the food was great at the Chiang Rai Night Bazaar, with a gigantic seating area with neat metal yellow tables and chairs.