IN AND AROUND THUNG SONG: MORNING MARKET

Up next in my series of local sights is the morning market. I took these photos months ago, on a Saturday morning tooling around on scooters with my friend Vicki. We never wake it up early enough to catch the market in full swing, let alone to figure out what time it kicks off . . . But I do know that Thung Song usually gets going obscenely early, so it's likely the market gets set up around 5 or 6 am.

Fruit lady with apples, grapes, dragon fruit and snake fruit

Mangos, rambutan, grapes, and mangosteen

Fruit stand ; vegetables galore

  Guava, tangerines, and mangosteen

  Flower stand

So many veggies

  I couldn't identify many of these green things

A woman and her vegetables

Bowls of chilies

Gorgeous reds 


The market happens every weekend, but since I have school Monday - Friday at 8 am, I'm not sure if the same market takes place on weekdays as well. I do suspect that there is some type of market every morning though, because most Thais don't cook - they usually go to a market to get fresh takeaway from a cart vendor. This specific morning market didn't have any cart vendors, but it was around noon at the time so it's likely they were there and finished and went home with the crowd. It was quite lovely going late in the morning though, there were hardly any people so we had free range to stroll around, take photos, and not have to deal with the usual stares associated with being the token foreigners. 

HAIR CUT

Despite all warnings from friends, family, and every foreigner I can imagine, I decided to get my hair cut in Thailand today. Actually, my (farang = foreigner) friend Lindsey recommended the woman that she and our Thai friend Vallapa go to, and my hair was so beyond gross that I figured something was better than nothing. 8 months with tangles, humidity and split ends was creating desperation. Luckily, it turned out really well!





Only in Thailand does the hair salon double as a wedding gown shop and a dry cleaners. And only in Thailand does my view from the chair contain shabby store fronts, tin roofs, and banana trees.

IN AND AROUND THUNG SONG: THE RIVER

This is the first in a series I'll be posting the next few weeks called In and Around Thung Song. I've got a couple of posts lined up that deal with the sights I see on a day to day basis where I live. Then eventually, I'll get around to posting pics from my travels :)

A few weeks ago my friends Pieter, Leandi and Terri took me down to the river for the first time. It's about a 20 minute drive out of town, an interesting and picturesque drive with plenty of typically Thai sights to see. The last time we went out there I noticed a child with a kite that was soaring 20 meters in the air easy, a cemetery, a handful of men walking their cows down the side of the road, a brand new mansion complete with a fountain out front, a graveyard of scattered and broken spirit houses, and a house with a monkey chained outside. You know, the usual. I'll try to follow up with a picture post of the drive there because all jokes aside it really is a scenic drive that is so lovely and typical of the the gorgeous Thai landscape. 

So these photos are from two separate occasions, when I went out the first time and Terri's birthday. On the latter occasion, we brought beer and paint supplies; the boys bantered back and forth on the rocks while Louise, Terri, and I produced some beautiful art work! It was a lovely afternoon spent in a great spot and I must say we'll probably return often. 

THE ONE WHERE WE USE THE BALCONY AS AN OVEN

Alex and I share a tiny studio apartment so we often have to get creative with how we use our space and appliances, or lack there of. We have a fridge, but for cooking all we have is a panini press (a hand me down - don't ask).

Yesterday we wanted to eat the baguette we froze, but we didn't want to wait for it to thaw, nor do we have a microwave/oven to heat it up. Thai improvising: let's hang it outside in the sun to warm it up!


McGuyver over here, setting up our contraption:




Check out that Thai engineering: And here's our multipurpose balcony / bakery / laundromat / greenhouse:




The best part is, it totally worked! Within 45 minutes our bread was thawed, warm and ready to eat.


(Points to you if you got that the title was a reference to Friends, which we've been watching a lot of lately)

NEW YEARS EVE

For New Years we had a five day weekend, so Alex and I took off to Ao Nang, Phi Phi, and Phuket with our friend Richie.

I didn't take many photos because I already have a lot from those places, which I'll put up eventually. ^__^
Phi Phi was lovely, albeit crowded for New Years. Yet again, on Phi Phi we end up feeling like we're on Mount Olympus - I don't know why but for some reason it feels like the worlds most beautiful people only hang out there. As usual, the highlight of our weekend was the food - so many good dishes we don't usually get. We stumbled upon an amazing Middle Eastern place and chowed on hummus, falafel, and salad - and in Phuket we found a great Irish place that served pub type food, but for someone in desperation for french fries and gravy it was essentially the best thing I've ever eaten.

We also rented scooters in Phuket and tooled around to some of the other beaches, where we tried and failed to play beach paddle ball.




It's always an adventure in Thailand - this weekend's shenanigans included a lack of any running water for 2 of the 3 nights we stayed in Phuket, so we ended up taking baby wipe showers on NYE. 2014 - or the year I learn to be low maintenance :)





We went to a party on the beach for New Years, and it was crazy busy - but in a good way. People were walking around selling fireworks, so we bought one and set it off. So did a lot of other people near us, which resulted in a stunning fireworks show that also had you slightly concerned for your life. Mai pen rai, this is Thailand.

Here's Tom setting off the firework we bought:

Lighting our Firework NYE '14 from Nikki Elizabeth on Vimeo.

And here's video of the crazy fireworks show.

NYE Fireworks from Nikki Elizabeth on Vimeo.

SUGAR RUSH

Thai goodies from 7 eleven. And all of this only cost 47 baht! Or - $1.46.

SHALL WE BUILD OUR ARK?

As promised, here are some visuals from the flooding this past weekend. The first two photos were taken in the morning, in the neighborhood we pass every day on the way to school. The rest of the photos are from the local park - some show the flooded roads and some show how intensely the river was flowing.




And here's some video. This is the bridge we cross on the way to school every day.

River Flood from Nikki Elizabeth on Vimeo.

And this is the flooding at the park.

Flooding at the park from Nikki Elizabeth on Vimeo.

The best part is all the water has completely disappeared, so Thung Song is slowly getting back to "normal"