At the moment I am living and working at Mahasarakham University, Khamrieng campus. Khamrieng is a village in Mahasarakham Province in north-east Thailand. If I head from here towards the city of Mahasarakham I cross the Chi River and pass through the village of Thar Khon Yang. This village has a very busy market which I visit on my bicycle two or three times a week to buy fresh fruit. On this page I share with you, some of the treats that are available from that market.
There is quite a good range of fresh fruit and vegetables—but not necessarily the ones I am used to back in Australia; fresh fish alive in basins; I saw tadpoles that were almost grown the other day. I guess some people eat them. Why not? You can buy an assortment of insects and grubs that are apparently enjoyed by many. Fresh meat sits in the open with no refrigeration. The vendor swishes a plastic bag on the end of a twig to keep the flies off.
As I walk around, some of the stall holders say hullo ‘Sa wat dee.’ Some just smile. Others are shy and say nothing unless I talk to them first. Then there are the ones who babble on to me in Thai, or maybe a local dialect and I have no idea what they are saying. One of these is a woman who is, I guess, about seventy. She sits, as many of the vendors do, cross-legged on the table with her vegetables. She always has a big smile and talks away. All I can answer is ‘Phom mai kao jai.’ ’I don’t understand’.
But last week I did manage to pick up ‘Phut passa Thai.’ I think she was asking ‘Do you speak Thai?’
‘Phut nit noy’ — ’a little bit’ — I answered.
And she shot back, ‘Mee fan mai ka’. I knew what that meant, ‘Do you have a girlfriend?’
So I answered (grammatically incorrectly I realised later) ‘Mai fan.’ — ’No girlfriend.’ This brought laughter from all the stalls around.
I finish strolling around and make my selection — mangoes, I love mangoes. The ones that are popular here are usually eaten green. Can be a little bitter but not bad once you get used to them. Still I do prefer the sweet yellow ones. Because they are less popular, they are often cheaper. I might buy 4 or 6, sometimes more for 10 baht. Only yesterday, I was offered 18 mangoes for only 10 baht. Nice ones too. A bunch of bananas, about 1 kg, costs 10 or 15 baht. Sometimes I buy something expensive like rambutan or lychee—a whole 25 or 30 baht a kilo!
I have no refrigerator in my apartment. I used to go out to breakfast. But that meant showering and getting dressed early. Now I eat fruit for breakfast. Why not at those prices?
Note: At the time of writing 1 baht is approximately equal to 4 Australian cents.
Photos from top
Many stall holders sit cross-legged on the table with their produce.
Fresh fruit
Meaty snacks on a stick, being steamed over a charcoal fire
Lotus buds
Meat stall. I think that is blood in the bags at the front.
It was hard for me to make out what was in this mixture of something, vegetables and herbs steamed in banana leaves. The stall holders seemed keen for me to try it. I kept asking ‘Nii arai krap’ — ‘What is it?’ Eventually I heard the word ‘gop’ — frog. ‘Gop mai krap’ — ‘Is it frog?’ I asked. Could I see little legs in there? They nodded and smiled. Yes this is stewed frog! ‘Phom mai kin gop.’ — ‘I don’t eat frog’, I answered.
A local delicacy—ant eggs. No, I didn't try these either.
Beetles, another local delicacy. No thanks.
Not sure about this one. Look like little fish to me but they kept insisting ‘Mai gop’ — ‘Not frog’, which made me wonder if they were tadpoles. On my next visit, when I didn't have my camera there was a large plastic container full of what looked to me like live toads—they called them ‘gop’.
This man is making sweet pastries.
