Market Friday: weekend streetfood market at New Road in Bangkok.

I had to do some shopping at the Robinson mall in New Road in the afternoon. The sky was clear and there was no sign of rain. These days I had to check the weather forecast before I went to town as the rainstorm would cause traffic jam. This old mall in New Road has always been my favourite place to do my shopping. Most staff in the mall have been working there almost twenty years so I had made friends several old staff and the atmosphere was very friendly and down to earth.

A big renovation has transformed to food court at the back of the mall into a very bright and clean hall full of streetfood stalls. The surrounding area also had a flea market selling clothes, electronic gadgets and cosmetics. I liked the lighting around this area in the evening. There was even life music on some evenings. It’s a nice place to stroll around without rush. This weekend I was surprised by the ‘walking street event’.

The side street was closed for the special streetfood festival. Perhaps it was a local campaign to boost tourism with the cooperation with the shopping mall. I was surprised by the number of people turning up for various kinds of street food. I hadn’t seen such a big crowd in one place for ages. The vibes were very vibrant and strong; people were very enthusiastic about these specially selected vendors. The officials seemed to have screen vendors for this occasion.

There were long lines of customers waiting for three street food stalls. I had to investigate what kinds of food which attracted so much attention. It seemed fried seafood pancakes and fresh sea food salads were the main attentions. Unfortunately, I couldn’t buy any of these yummy looking food as I was also a vegetarian. My digestive system wouldn’t be able to cope with such rich food. But it was very uplifting seeing people with money to spend on their special treats.

There were many tourists trying to decide what to get for their dinner. I was wondering if I could find vendors selling fried insects. After a few minutes, I found a stall with various kinds of insects: crickets, cicadas and other small insects and their eggs. People from the northeastern part of the country have been eating insects for years. They would dig up holes in the earth looking for crickets and using torch to catch grasshoppers at night.

Perhaps, life in the outback with problems of drought and poor quality soil had led their ancestors to find alternative food sources. In time of famine, people would try to find any edible sustenance for survival. Frogs and other similar kinds would fetch high prices at local market in certain months each year. People with more money would go for fresh seafood salads as oysters, scallops and crabs couldn’t be easily found together in local supermarkets. Customers would have to go to Chinatown for grilled seafood at reasonable prices. These would be too expensive in restaurants.

I couldn’t find any outstanding sweet stalls in this street food market. There were fresh fruit smoothies, pickled fruits, sweet roti, fancy iced drinks and Thai tea stall. I found one sweet Thai pancake which was made with coconut, but it wasn’t very original to me. So, my hope for some nice Thai sweet was dashed by disappointment.

The last stall I had to visit was the old lady with her vegetables. She has been selling vegetables with her mother since she was twelve years old. So, she didn’t go to school and had to work for her family till she was over seventy years old. Hard work has made her bones very strong and her personality quite different from other older people.

Somehow we struck a friendship, she treated me to an ice cream one day. I saw a young chap with his ice cream tricycle. She could sense that I would like to get one ice cream but I was still in the process of buying vegetables. The old lady bought me one ice cream and we had became friends. Perhaps she liked to hear my broken Chinese language. I was raised by my Chinese grandmother so I could speak Chinese when I was a child. Nowadays I had no Chinese relatives to practice my Chinese with.

My broken Chinese language has served me well in many situations whereby I could surprise older people or businessmen with my appreciation for my Chinese ancestors and old culture. I could strike up assistance from bank manager when I started talking about my favourite Chinese teas. So, I realised that drinking and knowing Chinese teas has always been a sign of good family background and education.

Younger generations had no knowledge about Chinese teas at all. The rich and wealthy Chinese tycoons all drank very expensive Chinese teas. This was similar to rich people drinking expensive whisky and vintage wine including brandy. Most people couldn’t afford the high quality food and drinks these days. The connerseurs of good life would soon disappear and printed food would replace natural food in the near future.

I looked around the street food stalls and was very grateful that we could still have ‘normal’ food and the good life when comparing with those refugees coming over the Burmese borders in the north. Internal conflicts in Burma has become much worse with heavy artillery and fighting. There could be plenty of food to feed everyone in this country at cheaper costs had the politicians and middlemen been abducted by the aliens to Mars. I wished and prayed that some friendly aliens would abducted all these corrupted politicians and businessmen to Pluto and Mars.

Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.

Stay strong and cheerful.

#marketfriday hosts by @dswigle.