Text 9002, 97 rader
Skriven 2014-01-21 06:21:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: night & day 84
======================
Yesterday we went to one of the two big regular markets in
Chiang Rai. Here, the day market is an area of several blocks
that I think may once have been open to the sky but now are
covered with I believe but couldn't see tin roofing. Underneath
is a noisy and somewhat gritty commercial area of little stalls
selling mostly household items and basic clothing, with a food
market with fish, fresh and dried, and pork in various states
of undress. I particularly liked and would have enjoyed
experimenting with a big pile of offal - kidneys, hearts, livers,
and skin - that was sitting there with nobody even here in this
city with a substantial poor population taking a look.

There were beggars in the aisles - some children or with one
tagging along; itinerant buskers singing to a tinny recorded
accompaniment; one guy - I don't know whether this was effective
- just flopped down in the middle of the path, misshapen limbs
sprawled around.

Food stalls featured stir-fried veggies with small amounts of
pork or fish with hot sauces. I'd maybe have tried something
but for the dubious hygiene (no running water at any of these
places - the cooks have to truck it in from someplace else,
and who knows how many times the plates have been used with
only a wipedown between. The smells were pretty good.

Clearly this was reality, neither pleasant nor picturesque, but
a slice of life. We didn't buy anything.

About 8 hours later, we visited the night market, a completely
different affair. These used to be conveniences for the teeming
masses who worked during the day and couldn't get out to buy
stuff from other day enterprises; they have certainly evolved
a lot, and even though they bustle with the same energy, the
clientele is obviously more well-heeled, with a substantial
tourist presence: we saw just two or three white people,
counting Lilli, at the regular market; here, a half mile away,
you could not look around you without casting eyes on a farang
or three. The merchandise is pretty upscale - jewelry, artisan
stuff from the hill tribes, electronics, a lot of lingerie and
(interestingly) silk ties, which were going for 99B ($3). The
food was more interesting - seafood served in big portions,
sushi!, lots of good stuff. I had a sausage made of pigskin
and lard minced together and spiced like a Chinese lop cheong,
i.e., a touch of star anise, garlic, sugar, saltpeter, and
red coloring: it was one of the most delicious things I'd ever
eaten, and I was so enthusiastic that Lilli accepted a taste.
She excepted it as well, thinking it yucky. Speaking of which,
bugs are available here but not at the day market: I guess that
they're really poor people food, foraged for by those who can't
pay for market protein, and the working lower classes avoid
them, saving their portion for the upscale people such as myself
up for a cheap thrill. I got a portion of mixed silkworms and
crickets, the former tasting like mushy edamame (I guess that
even though normally living on mulberry leaves, these must have
been fattened on soybeans); the crickets would have had a nice
shrimpy taste except that they'd been soaked in bad soy sauce
before frying. Also available were cicadas and grasshoppers,
but I figured six ounces of greasy fried insects was more than
enough (I ate only half of them). The sausage cost 15B (45c)
and really filled me up. The insects were twice that but were
quite a large serving.

No beggars; a number of hucksters whose eventual offering might
be just as illusory, but the cops (not usually too visible)
kept the bottom of the bottom away.

I got a knit hat for 100B. It had been quoted as 120, but after
some hesitation on my part, the hawker cut the 20. I bet the
going rate for natives would be 50 or 75, but I can't find my
knit hat, and it'll be cold when I get back to the Northeast.
Anyhow, 100 is the size of the commonest bill.

As we were looking for clean restrooms, we eschewed the public
ones (admission fee 2B) and had a drink at the Sawaddee
restaurant, which had not first-rate but reasonably clean ones.
Leo beer - a picture of a leopard on the label - was average
light Asian pilsner; it's made by Boon Rawd and tastes pretty
much like stale Singha (which means lion). There also appeared
on the table a glass of a quite smooth and respectable Thai rum
called Sangsom.

Sabai sabai
cat: booze, Thai
servings: 1

1.5 oz Thai whiskey
1.5 oz fresh squeezed lemon juice
.75 oz simple syrup
1 pn Thai basil
club soda to fill

Combine over ice and fill with soda. Stir and serve.

intoxicatedabroad.com
___ Blue Wave/386 v2.30
--- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
 * Origin: Fidonet Since 1991 Join Us: www.DocsPlace.org (1:123/140)