I'm usually an early riser and the early morning is a great time to hit the streets here. You see a lot more of daily Thai life. The flower market is down by the river and has a busy road in front of it. Some people actually do drive by shopping! The vendors were all arranging their flowers on the sidewalk while munching on their morning meals. The young woman in the pictures was laying her garlands on ice and was gracious enough to allow me to take a picture. I think they are offerings which are taken to the temples but I am not entirely sure of this.
I rounded the corner after enjoying all the flowers to find two men in a tiny shop about six feet square. One was busy making fancy and detailed arrangements about two feet high, involving folded leaves and flowers, all while sitting cross legged. The other was a burly fellow who was making the delicate garlands in the bottom picture by folding the petals of flowers and stinging them together. They didn't speak any English but they were very friendly and allowed me to take some pictures. I just took a few quick snap shots because I didn't want to take too much of their time. People here must be so tired of tourists sticking cameras in their faces. Because they were so friendly I decided to go and buy them a treat in the market. I had noticed a cart that was frying some kind of dough. As I was waiting in line wondering what they were and how to order them, a young hip looking Thai man joined group. I asked him if he spoke English and luckily he did. He explained which were sweet and which were not and how they were eaten and that I had chosen well for this was the best of it's kind!
They were puffy disks about two inches across with black seeds in them and light as a feather. Six of them cost about 30 cents. I took them back to the flower guys and they were tickled pink! They smelled so good that I went back and got some for Philip and I. They tasted like a doughnut but a little less sweet and a lot lighter, crispy on the the outside and chewy inside.
The food here is amazing and there is street food everywhere. The downside is that there is so much of it and you could eat all the time. There are also quite a lot of deep fried wonderful foods so you have to be a bit careful. For instance at the end of the day yesterday I was calculating how much it cost me to eat for the day and I think it was about $7. In the morning we went to a lovely outdoor courtyard we've been frequenting for breakfast. I had a coffee with steamed milk, a huge plate of fruit some of which I don't know the name and a grainy, toasted english muffin, all while relaxing and reading the Bangkok post in English. At lunch I walked to a market and had deepfried tofu chunks with a sweet and fiery sauce sprinkled with crushed peanuts. On my way back I had a pineapple shake. Dinner was a paypaya salad called som-dam, and sticky rice. Both are real staples here. It's made from grated green paypaya, tomatoes,, raw string beans, chilis, peanuts, lime juice, cane sugar and a few mystery ingredients and it's to die for. The ingredients are all crushed in a large wooden mortar and you order by the number of chilis you want in it. The sticky rice is to dip in the juices. Because there was a huge market last night we knew we would eat later as well. I had pad thai at a market stall. All this wonderful food for so little.
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