#19 Fresh Market

You'll know when you've entered a fresh market by the nauseating smell of raw pork and chicken neatly organized on tables with buckets of live fish sitting on the ground.Women will have their machetes in hand hacking away at a pig head or sorting through the intestines of the latest slaughter. When I first moved to Thailand I was shocked by the openness of the fresh market compared with the US where you aren't even allowed to see how the animals are killed. I was also shocked by how the meat lays out on tables for hours in the hot sun with the women having a contraption of a plastic bag attached to a stick swishing away flies. Along with the meats they have an incredible spread of fresh vegetables, herbs, spices, and fruits that are brought over from the local fields. Although I don't do any cooking in Thailand, since my Thai roommate so generously buys my food and cooks, I rarely actually get to purchase anything from the fresh market other than a piece of fruit for a snack. I do love walking through it looking at the latest fruits and vegetables that have come into season or the whatever strange fish or animal they have laying about. For example there was ant egg season and spread across tables where leaves with live ants and their eggs that you could scoop up and buy, quite a delicacy here.

There is nothing to hide in Thailand when it comes to food. Everything you buy and eat is killed and cooked right in front of you.

#20 Thai Competitions

One thing about Thai schools is that they love competitions. This can range anything from the week long sport competition we had in December to an academic spelling bee or writing competition. Today though, I experienced my first school cooking competition between local elementary schools. Of course it starts off as any normal event would for me having no idea what it is for, where we are going, and what we will be doing. I've learned that sooner or later in the event I'll figure it out or at least get the gist of it. My scheduled pick up time was 8:30am so naturally they arrive somewhere around 9 am with a truck load of students piled in the back of someones pick-up truck. I jump in and see what the day has in store for me.

My 6th grade students are some days in charge of preparing all the student and teacher lunches, so I was pretty confident in their cooking skills and would fare well in the competition. They got started right away chopping up vegetables and preparing the fire that the meal would be cooked by.

Of course there has to be some entertainment while the students are cooking so all the pre-school students were invited to have some sort of dance competition. Many of these little ones are my student's younger brothers and sisters. They basically stood up on stage swaying back and forth or even one group hula-hooped their way through a song while the adults stood and laughed at their cuteness.

The end product was a lemon-grass streamed fish topped with garlic and a side of laab (minced meat salad). I am amazed at their skills knowing that when I was in 6th grade the only thing I would make was boxed brownies or chocolate cookies. That brings me to my next point. Although I have many issues with how the thai school system works I think they do a wonderful job in teaching the students life skills and things that they will be using in everyday. For example PlaPak Noi school has a student run garden and rice field, fishing pond, and cooking lessons. 2 hours later the food was ready to be sampled by the judged and the verdict read. PlaPak Noi came in second place getting to take home a trophy and 1,500 baht! yahh. The students piled back in the truck and we are on our way back to school.

#21 Night Market

Night markets are definitely in the top ten things I love most about Thailand. Watching a mile long market unfold within a few hours slowly covering the street is quite amazing to witness. Then after a few hours open the vendors again slowly pack up their merchandise and the market vanishes again. The people do this EVERYDAY. If it is a food stand you can see them wheeling their cart over to the designated street or a clothes outlet where they first construct a wire rack then perfectly assemble the clothes. All to be taken down that same evening.

Night market food can be some of the cheapest and best options for a quick dinner. The variety of food is endless and you can pick up a dinner for about $1. In my village we have a small night market every wednesday night that brings everybody together as that nights dinner is picked up, peruse the clothes, or just to grab a bobo tea and socialize.

One of my favorite night markets is the Chaing Mai Sunday walking street market (pictures left). The hippi- style city produces a market filled with it's famous handi-crafts, art, and endless souvenirs for backpackers. I went there when my parents where visiting me in Thailand and if anyone knows my mom you can imagine the endless hours we spent at the markets driving my dad to retreat to the hotel room with a beer.

Pla Pak Wednesday Night market (below)

**Pictures by Jackie :)

#22 Fruit

Hands down Thailand has some amazing fruit! Fresh fruit carts line almost any street you walk down making a cold, sliced mango or watermelon a perfect snack on a hot day. Throughout the year I was introduced to many fruits I had never seen before as they came into season. Here are some of my favorites:

Dragon Fruit, the most unique looking of all the fruits, has a rather bland but refreshing flavor. Maybe a cousin to a Kiwi.

On the far right we have rose apples, which in my mind taste exactly like their name. Crunchy like an apple but with a subtle sweet rose flavor. In the middle, one of my favorites from the states and Thailand, Mangos. Top left: Dragon fruit again and Far Left: classic oranges.

Yummy classics Bananas and Watermelon!

Pictures taken from Kerry because I'm too lazy to take my own pictures..

I ate these for weeks, Rambutans! They are a spiky soft round fruit with an egg-like center. The fruit is very sweet and I can devour a bag within minutes. The only nuisance is an almond shaped seed in the middle that Kerry describes perfectly as a "wood chip" since the shell of it peels off when you try to take it out tasting similar to a wood piece.

These might be my favorite fruit in Thailand, Mangosteen. They came into season a few months ago and have now past..sad! They have a doily type top and thick outer shell. The middle contains a soft sweet fruit with a few big seeds. Unlike the states fruit is only available when it is season and most of it grown in a field next to where they sell it.

Fresh and delicious Arroy Mak Mak!!

**other fruits not pictures but are worthy of mention: Guava in thai called Farang (the name they use for foreigners), Tarmarind- similar to a dried apricot and the fruit that just came into season full force Longan a small ball shaped fruit. .