It's market day again YEE HAA

 Thursday morning ,and I can hardly wait to finish my cup of 1,2,3 coffee and jump on the Honda Wave, and head on down to the edge of our little village near the rail road tracks, to a open field and watch it transform into a unbelievable fresh food and sellers market.Vendors will come from all over the country to set up their tables of food and wares,and bar-b-que grills,and fry pots,and fresh fish stands and pork and beef butcher tables. What a sight to behold , just like a well orchestrated band all tuned and set up and ready to go at the same time .I have spent many a hour just watching them do the same old thing everyday of their lives to make a living for themselves and their families moving from village to village on certain ,set days , bringing with them all the necessities of life to the people who look forward to them every week. and the most amazing thing is that they do it with a smile.

Ciejay and me had already decided that market day would be my house whole duty. She hates the dirt and dust and almost every time you just get there it will start to rain.
But what she does'nt know is that market day are the high-lite of my week.

I am amazed at the never ending variety of food and anything else you can think of for sale. Fruits,vegetables,meats,cloths, cell phones , dvd's ,pots and pans and furniture and tools of all sorts , just to name a few of the things for sale or trade.
Pork and beef cut to order right before your eyes, fish cleaned and scaled for you on the spot.All of this done without any worry about the hot weather or the fly's and bugs, not to mention the half dozen or so dogs wondering around under foot looking for a handout.

I remember my first trip to the market, Ciejay went with me to translate(really a little hand signs and a few fingers 1 or 2 and tow rai and you're all set)Well I saw this really fresh ,live, big fish on a table in front of me and commented to Ciejay that we couldn't take the whole fish , but I would love to have a couple center cut steaks . Ciejay said something in Thai to the ladybehind the table and the next thing I know , I see this big knife coming from under the table and with a chop ,chop I had 2 of the nicest center cut steaks you have ever seen and the head of the fish was still alive and flopping around on the table.Something you would never see in the good ole US of A.

There are live eels , and live frogs and birds and fried and dried bugs and insects , and anything else you can think of . I even saw one vendor with roasted scorpions on a stick , and to my udder amazement people were buying them. All of this to cook ,clean, fry ,grill, boil , whatever ,and put in a plastic bag or on a stick for you to take home and enjoy.

I can't believe that back home we use to worry so much about sanitation, temperatures,refrigeration and fifty other things so much. We had to worry about salmonella, e-coli and anything else that they our friends and family and the good ole health department could scare us with. Why is it that no one seems to worry about those things here in Thailand , it doesn't take long till all us transplants stop worrying too, or knowing things are not going to change in the near future , just go with the flow or so it seems to me. I don't hear to many complaints, just a lot of" man this Thai food sure is good."

Didn't take me long to figure out that a good hot stove and lots of spices and a whole lot of praying that all that worrying was a big waste of time .

The market I love it , the vendors , I love them, and what a great place to see and meet people. And maybe just maybe if I'm lucky , there just might be a visiting tourist that speaks English and I can loosen up my tongue and get my brain back in the right gear and have a good ole English conversation, what a real treat that would be .And who knows what new surprises might be in store for me next week at THE MARKET.