fried worms

pig nose and tongue

A few nights ago I went to the night market in Phuket town. As beautiful as Nai Harn is, it was refreshing to get out and made me feel like I was actually in Asia. I had been surrounded by tourists in a tropical paradise that could have been in so many places in the world, but this market was uniquely Thailand. We were immediately overwhelmed by the amounts of stalls...and our hunger...so, led by our taxi driver Kai, we headed straight to the food. Even foods that looked familiar tasted exotic and so different than I could have imagined. We started our tour de food with a sausage on a stick that was stuffed with immense amounts of garlic. Other foods we tried included chicken liver, fish cakes, spicy mango, pigs in a blanket on a skewer, and to top it all off....a worm and a grasshopper.

The entire market completely overwhelmed us with various sights, smells, and sounds coming from all directions. After sampling the exotic assortment of food, we headed to the other stalls that sold just about everything including makeup, animals, clothes, and electronics. I had my first bartering experience by talking down a pair of fake Ray Ban sunglasses from 100 baht to 50.

about to eat our fried grasshopper and worm.

Overall, it was an incredible experience. The market was mostly Thai people, but there were quite a few white tourists as well. It was a good introduction, as I'm sure the markets I frequent in my placement will be similar in crowdedness, but not as familiar with foreigners. I will definitely have to work on my Thai numbers if I am going to succeed in bargaining in non-tourist areas. 

I just got back from Ko Phi Phi, which is the most beautiful place I have ever been in my entire life. I'll write a post about it tomorrow and upload many pictures!