The streets are lined up with vendors fighting for space. I saw them set-up this morning as I was walking. They set-up everyday. It seemed like different people were set-up in the spots. It made walking down the sidewalk tough, but interesting. It seemed like more food vendors came out at night to cook. They would have their woks going by hot charcoals, they would wash dishes in the tubs in the streets. Dogs, mangy looking things are all over. They don't seem fierce, but I wouldn't want to pet one.
One thing I noticed though was the pride they had of their space. They were always sweeping or washing their sidewalk space, or washing windows if they had any. If you looked at something in the rack they would make sure that it was hung right and put in the right spot. This is an interesting place with interesting people. They don't seem to make a lot of money, at least in US terms, and they don't seem to have much, but they are happy people. I think they feel that if they have their faith, they have everything.
April 18, 2003
It is 6:00 pm and I am sitting at an outside cafe listening to the music and watching the people. This is a great place to people watch. It is such a neat place. I just can't describe it. People walking the streets with backpacks because they have just arrived in town. Girls are outside trying to sell some handicrafts. The motorcycles are trying to weave their way down the streets. There is a bar across the way with a big screen and everyone is sitting with their eyes glued to the screen (that's just an expression). People are standing in the streets watching the TV also, some action movie.
Laurie is in one of the internet cafes and I am waiting for her. This place has American food and I think I want a burger. In the mean time I will just write my notes.
Nimit, our tour guide for the day, picked us up about 7:45. We were on our way to the country. It was just Laurie and I. I felt bad that there weren't more people. Then I felt we were able to do things easier than with a whole lot of people.
We got out of the city and we were in the country. I saw this mud field and I asked Nimit what it was. It was a rice field. There are actually 4 right together and the fields were all in different stages. One was the mud stage. They have what they call an "iron water buffalo" that prepares the soil. Then they have people "split" the seed which is just throwing it on the ground. The next stage is about 4 inches of green leaves, looks green and smooth like a golf course. Then the other field was taller grass and then it turns yellow and it is ready to cut. Once they cut, they dry, and then they go in the sacks ready for shipment. Nimit also showed us the different fruit, papayas and mangos. The other vegetables growing here were sweet potato. They also plant and use for cooking, morning glory and lotus. I also saw galingale which is a root they use for cooking. It looks like ginger a little bit. We saw these women from teenage to grandmother cleaning these galingales. It is a job. Actually all of this work in the fields looks very hard. From here we stopped at someone's home/farm. The ground level is open and has a dirt floor. They have pictures of the king all over. I don't know if this is considered a garage/workroom. I was surprised to see a phone on a wall and electricity. There were wooden stairs leading upstairs. I would have liked to see the upstairs. The woman was showing how they climb up the coconut tree and they cut the young coconut which just look like long off shoots. They attach a can then and leave it for at least 12 hours. Afterward they take the can down and boil down the juice to make sugar. In their garage/workshop they had a large oven and large wok like basin where they boil the juice. The other thing was a large ceramic and I mean large urn. This is where they keep their water. The water they use is rain water. It is collected in gutters and pours into the urn. Laurie checked out the bathroom--yes, I have a fascination with bathrooms. She came out real surprised. She said it was quite nice. Marble floors, nice toilet. I guess we didn't expect it to be nice considering the way everything else looked.
We moved from here and our drives took us to the place that is a floating market on the week-ends, but we went there to go for our boat ride. We had something to drink waiting for our boat. This boat is operated by man power. I don't know what it is called. The operator stands at the back on a flat surface that extends from the back and he has an oar that he paddles with. We sat down on the floor under a wooden roof. The ride was very peaceful. We got dropped off in a village that is a Chinese-Thai mix area. We walked through the narrow alley ways where the stores are. We saw a woman drive up on a motorcycle with a baby in the front and a toddler on the back. She stopped at the store. It is so small she didn't have to get off the bike to get what she needed. We also saw a man standing by ironing at the laundry service.
When we walked out of the village, our driver was there to pick us up.
We then proceeded to our cooking lesson for the day. It was in this man's house. It was very nice. The porch was where he was set-up to cook. He first brought us coconut juice in a carved coconut. I really didn't care for the taste.
Nimit showed us all of the different things going into the food. We had Phai Thai, and two soup dishes. Some of the ingredients were eggplant, lemongrass, chicken, curry paste, oyster water, morning glory, shrimp, coconut milk, chilis. There were many more but I can't remember them all. Laurie did the cooking. After all was cooked, we sat down and ate. For dessert we had this sticky rice which is sweetened and mango. Very good. We were then given a Thai cookbook for when we get home. It was all very good, but my system didn't like it. I wanted to find a bathroom. We stopped at the Orchid Farm and I went into the bathroom. Laurie warned me about these bathrooms. She says they are like French bidets. Instead of using toilet paper they have a hose spray, like what you would have in the kitchen. My next problem was that I didn't see a handle for a flush. I only saw a bucket of water which I assumed is what you use to flush with. I decided that I could wait.
We walked through the orchid house. It was huge. I couldn't see all the way to the end. This farm is suppose to be the biggest in Thailand. They start off by putting seeds in a glass bottle on top of some gel. This is where they would germinate. I didn't know if I understood or not, but I think he said the whole process would take 4 years. When we left, we got an orchid bunch. The whole day was wonderful. We were back about 2:15.
For the rest of the day I read, wrote post cards and used the internet. I have since left the cafe after eating and it is now 9:45 p.m. I need to pack stuff as I am off to Nepal tomorrow. I wanted to mention one thing that I neglected. They have a very limited supply of Diet Coke. Some places don't have it. I saw one place that had it, but charged more--Imagine that!
