Thailand Travel 34: Nai Yang lunch at a surprise local market
Search and you will find. No need in fact to search. Just take a walk and chances are you’ll find a market. Fresh and local. The equivalent but down-home and just-how-it’s-always-been version of the San Francisco Ferry Plaza Saturday farmer’s market.
Thailand travel 30: Magical mystery Phuket Town outdoor market lunch
Old Phuket Town is cool to roam and the outdoor market is is a great lunchtime spot. I relish my final days of “freedom,” which is what traveling typically feels like. Not like I am not free at home. But traveling, I am free from most commitments, I guess. And there is freedom of seeing so much and doing so much when it doesn’t feel like doing but like “being” in a novel place.
Thailand travel 27: Wat Plai Laem, Mr Pong and the Big Buddha
My outsize shibori scarf is the most useful item in my luggage. You can use it to cover your shoulders at the Big Buddha temple in Koh Samui, sit on it on grubby bus seats, keep the sun off your arms and shoulders with it, don it in the evening to add a touch of elegance, dry yourself with it, wipe your hands on it when you’ve eaten, use to to keep you warm when the breeze comes up of an evening and lots more.
Thailand travel 26: Jungle Club, Secret Garden and Koh Samui friends
“You’re living a fantasy movie-set lifestyle,” I comment. My mind travels to where they could be living. In a village in England. OK. English villages can be charming. But this is exotic and there’s no fog and we’re outdoors and the beer is cold. Tables in the sand. Fire artists on the beach. Warm ocean for paddling. A Tiger beer and sixties music in the background.
Thailand travel 11. Chiangrai Saturday walking street food feast
Near the city gates in Chiangmai on Saturday night is a fabulous street food market frequented by locals and tourists that stretches on and on and has irresistible “everything” from whole fish being grilled over the fire, coated in coarse salt, to fat prawns and squid and — you name it. Smells, visual temptations and fresh fruit stands.
Thailand travel 10. To market, to market in Chiangmai and boomer no-buy joy
Walk down my side of the Ping River to upscale coffee shops and arty places. At some point across the Ping to Talat Warorot, which I now know is Chiangmai’s oldest and most famous market. Right next door to Talat Ton Lam Yai, which is the city’s fresh flower market.