Sunday, June 08, 2008

Thai Market - Simply Thai!

Despite its similarities to Malaysia's, a journey through the Thai night market is still rather distinct and has its very own flavour.

I've seen so many new different things which makes their night market simply Thai... And this is not even the floating Thai markets!

Thai loves for pancakes
Going through this market, we've come across the many different types of Thai snacks. These are like pancakes - but Thai styled cooking.

thai night market, phuket, thailand - pancake
Just at this stall there are 4 types of pancakes - one sausaged wrapped, the other with different sweet filings.


thai night market, phuket, thailand - pancake
See the colourful filings of this Thai pancake


Thai Sancks
I can't differentiate these - I think they are like pancakes, but again, they are also Thai snacks.

thai night market, phuket, thailand - pancake
There are some sweet corn filings inside this snack


thai night market, phuket, thailand - pancake, thai snack
Now, this is the most popular Thai snack which has been even exported overseas


Roti Canai Thai Style
Some call roti canai/ roti prata as pancake as well. But, here, they don't eat with curry... instead sugary stuff again. They also don't cook with hand, but with some cooking utensils.

thai night market, phuket, thailand - pancake, roti canai
Like Mummy, like daugther - nice smile hehe


Corns
Ok, the Thais have more than just pancakes. Corns are also quite popular.

thai night market, phuket, thailand - corn
BBQ corn rather than steamed + all the other snacks


thai night market, phuket, thailand - thai salad with corn
Thai salad with the corn, all packed ready for take-away


Coconut No Same

thai night market, phuket, thailand - thai coconut jelly
We found this to be rather interesting. They actually scrapped the 'coconut meat' and froze it with coconut juice becoming jelly like. It was yummy!

Similar Yet Different
The rest of these look rather similar, but the arrangements, they way they lay their mats on the floor and all makes it rather different.

thai night market, phuket, thailand - eggs
Neatly arranged eggs


thai night market, phuket, thailand - fruits
Her basket of fuits & vegetables


thai night market, phuket, thailand - flower
Flowers - I think these are for prayers


thai night market, phuket, thailand - flower
Quite an abundant of live roses in humid Phuket!


Sarungs

thai night market, phuket, thailand - petai
Petai seller - her dress is like the olden days Peranakans


thai night market, phuket, thailand - sarung
More batik sarungs!


Actually, sarungs & batik is quite a familiar sight here in Phuket. Apparently, there is a strong Peranakan (Baba Nyonya) community here in Thailand, similar to that of Malaysia or Singapore, though I don't think they speak the same patois. But seeing them, one can just get mistaken... just like the old days :)

The Biggest Difference
And just before we left the market, the most interesting difference of a Thai night market... is this:

thai night market, phuket, thailand - yellow chicken
First, the yellow chickens!


thai night market, phuket, thailand - yellow chicken egg
Can you see the red eggs?


*We had love the night market so much that we went back the next day... but it wasn't held the following day.

*By being lost, we stumbled upon this night market. Truly, it is quite an atmosphere. The local Thais here were friendly and not the same as the other nationals or locals at the tourist spots.

We could simply snap photos (without getting scolded) and their smiles were genuine and very apparent. They would even pose should you ask them to.

This journey through the night market really got us close to the people of Phuket, understanding their lifestyle better and even to an extend, knowing them better (see what they actually buy and eat + the gestures with them). Yes, they have the Thai culture & friendliness that everyone seems to fall in love after visiting this Amazing country.

And it is here that I started to fall in love with this Thai island.

Next: Aroy Thai - Food that we've had that are simply delicious!

1 comment:

  1. u r in southern thailand. food is more malay influential. you'll see a lot of similarities with malaysia. you want some thing different go to northeastern thailand. home of the issan

    ReplyDelete

Oh hey, thank you for commenting! :)