Tuesday 13 August 2013

Surat Thani - Night Market

On our journey from Koh Samui to Bangkok, Alan and I had a little time to visit the Surat Thani Night Market while we waited for our connecting bus.
As we walked there Alan mentioned that he didn't think that people here were quite as friendly as on Samui. Thirty minutes later our view was totally different.
We entered the market and looked at a few stalls. It was fairly standard night market stuff with a food section selling traditional Thai snacks including deep fried chicken, various meats on sticks, curries, noodles and rice meals etcetera. We did see some some foods that we had not seen before in particular what looks like a waffle folded in half with various fillings.


In that browsing period we spoke a few quiet words with some of the vendors, who were friendly enough. But then Alan decided to buy himself a new wallet. Once the transaction was completed you could feel a buzz of excitement go around the market, as we were now not just tourists but tourists who bought stuff. We could see and overhear the girl who sold the wallet turn to the next stall holder and issue a string of Thai with the word "farang" thrown in. Farang means foreigner or Westerner and we guessed that the gist of the conversation was that a farang had just made a purchase from her.
From that moment on as we walked around picking up little bits of foodstuffs from the various stalls people were eager to speak with us and show us their goods. One lady with very good English and she told us that she had worked in a hotel in Samui for some time. A man tried to encourage his daughter to speak with us and another lady showed me her baby.
A nice group of people, we left that market with everyone having their lives enriched just a little.
The Bludger was happy to spread some good will and enjoyed the food greatly.

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