To Market, To Market

We go the the market, or "talaat", in Thai, to eat most Sundays after church and often on other days when we're in the neighborhood of the office. It's quite the place- produce, meat, fish, lots of stalls where foods of all types and descriptions are sold, and place after place selling almost anything you could wish to find- from religious ceremonial items to pots and pans. It's all open air, but covered, and the food area has fans, which helps with the heat. The food is actually quite good, and a plate of food generally costs about 35 baht, or around a dollar. You can't beat that. And, the very best thing is the fruit shakes. The lime shake is perhaps the most refreshing thing I've ever tasted, and you need some refreshment in this climate!

One of our church girls took our camera a couple of weeks ago and took this photo above. I love it because I think it really captures our little girl's spirit!

We had the absolute pleasure of hosting our friends Dan and Laura from Atlanta for a couple of nights recently, and it was such a treat for us to have friends here from home. They went on to a fabulous Thailand vacation...Here they are standing by the produce at the market. Laura was a big fan of the dragonfruit, which is pink and dragon hide-like on the outside and white with lots of small black seeds on the inside. Tastes a lot like kiwi, but not as sweet.

I wish I had some pictures of the meat part of the market. Em and I walked through it yesterday on our way to buy some produce, and it is a sight to behold. The raw meat is just pretty yucky out in the heat, but we were fascinated especially by the fish. We saw lots of big whole fish, some still swimming in a container, catfish breathing their last, huge prawns, eels in a bucket, all kinds of interesting things. Oh, and we saw whole chickens and ducks without their feathers (but with their heads and feet), which was eye-opening for Emmy. She's getting quite an education. So we're convinced now, Christy, that chicken breasts do not grow on trees...

And here are our babies in the sweet clothes Dan and Laura brought for them. Just perfect; thank you, friends!