This morning I was up at 5:30am as usual. My sleeping schedule isn't great yet but I'm sure it'll get on track. Jenny was up early as well and so we decided to go exploring a bit of Nonthaburi together. We took the bus down Chaengwattana to the very end where the river is and walked around the markets. The markets are quite large, they span street blocks and are both indoor and outdoor. They are everyday markets, unlike the one I went to last Sunday which only runs on Sundays and Wednesdays, you can tell that they are very well established and are the way the community buys its foods and goods. These markets aren't in an area that are usually visited by tourists and so it was really interesting to walk around and get an idea of community life. My roommate is half Navaho and the Thais often mistake her for Thai and talk to her in Thai, as for myself it is obvious that I am farang (white) and they stare at me with open curiosity. It doesn't really bother me but sometimes I forget that I'm the minority and realizing that everyone is staring at me kind of surprises me.
So, the market: They sell absolutely everything. I noticed they often display the fruit and the flowers (and have restaurants) on the outer edges where the people are likely to walk by on the sidewalk and in the alleys. Behind those you'll find the clothing tables starting with the shirts and pants and moving into bras and underwear, after that there sometimes were knick-knacks tables but then after that you get into the meat and the smelly part of the market. The meat is kept under the roof and right at the center of the market probably to keep it out of the direct sun, however with so much heat outside the area under the roof becomes extremely humid (more so then outside) and the smell of the meat is everywhere. This is cooked and uncooked meat and it isn't always a pleasant smell, I walked by a table of giant (and I mean Huge) pig heads, it was like they were all staring at me and it kind of brought to mind Lord of the Flies (most unpleasant). I couldn't tolerate the smell in the meat section for very long especially around the fish and pig heads (though the latter may have also been due to the unsettling image) even though they hung many chains of jasmine flowers to minimise the stench. I have always been told that around bad smells you should breath through your mouth but in this case, due to the humidity, I found that if I breathed that way it was like I was tasting the smells and I felt more sick and so I had to breath through my nose as the lesser of two evils. I do have to say though that the market is fascinating and the food is cheap, we bought a bag of rose apples while we were there and they were very reasonable priced.
We also went out for lunch while at the market but it was quite difficult due to the language barrier. Luckily the server found someone who spoke some english and he ordered us a chicken and rice dish. It was a very simple dish with very little spice or flavor and a side of chicken liver (or at least that's what we think it was - I tried it, ate about half even, but couldn't finish it... ecky ecky). I need to learn some Thai soon so that I can order something, I do know what rice and chicken are now and someone told me what cashews were (ma-moo-ang I think?) so I do know some. I saw snake head on a translated menu the other day and so I want to know enough that I'm not eating one of Caesar's relatives any time soon, especially not it's head.
After lunch we walked around a little and went back to our apartment, it was pretty hot and and we needed to seek the refuge of an air conditioned room.
I did some research for my youth programs and wrote an email and then Lynne (I don't know if I've introduced her before but she is very nice woman who is also pioneering here) picked me up to take me to the supermarket.
The supermarket was another interesting place, it was massive and sold everything under the sun (kind of like a Superstore or Walmart type place but twice as large). Lynne told me what was and wasn't a good deal and what was better to get at the markets, she was very helpful. We met up with Jenny afterwards (she would have come to the supermarket but she had an appointment) and we went for dinner. After dinner we had a Baha'i study circle where we studied lesson plans for children's classes and discussed the life of Baha'u'llah.
Now we're just discussing what our plans for tomorrow will be, I think we're going to visit the Royal Palace in the morning and early afternoon and then meet Lynne when she is done work and go to the pool.
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