Markets and Food

Every Sunday evening, the brick road that runs past the end of our block is transformed into a large "walking street" market, that mainly serves the locals. It's fun to rub shoulders with the masses and eat all of the street food. The Sunday walking market is much more interesting than the famous Chiang Mai Night Bazaar to the SE of the old town. The Sunday market caters much more to the Thais although there is plenty to appeal to the tourist as well. One of the central attractions for us are the many food stalls in the courtyards of the Wats branching off from the main street. From banana rotis to squid kabobs to sushi, we eat like kings for just a few dollars. The photo on the right is from the courtyard of the Wat just down the street from our hotel. The one below that is of Zak with the two vendors from whom he purchased his Buddha necklace.


Ode to a banana rotee:

So brown, so sweet So delicious, what a treat,
You elicit great flair, when skillfully created, You are as fluffy as air, when savorly ated,
Your bananas are mushy but not overly so,
Your sugar it sprinkles like new fallen snow,
Then of course there’s the milk, condensed and sweetened,
When drizzled on rotis, it's soon to be eatened.

We've also learned that pretty much any kind of food can be sold from a cart mounted on the side of a small motorcycle scooter. I've seen them with meats on ice that can then be cooked over braziers mounted right on the motorcycle. Another popular treat is an ice cream sandwich although in this case, the ice cream is scooped directly between two slices of white bread - literally a sandwich.

The picture on the left is of a typical small open-air restaurant. This one overlooks the Ping River next to the Wararot Market. Perhaps not uncoincidentally, Zak is essentially passed out suffering from a stomach ailment. Maya and I tried not to let him get in the way of our meal.

One of our favorite food outings is to a buffet-style restaurant called Samsabai. The picture to the right is of us there with a group of friends. The main feature of the meal is to pick out the meat you want and then grill it on the aluminum grills in the middle of the table.