Thailand Again!

My second trip to Thailand for research was from Dec 15 to Jan 6. I had a fair amount of anxiousness about the trip. What would happen? What would I be able to accomplish? Who would I meet in rural Thailand that could help me better understand the project I was researching?

Before delving into all the questions though I had a weekend in Bangkok to easy back into Thailand and get used to the much more lax pace (compared to Tokyo) and more spicy food (yum!). On my first day in town I met up with a friend from my university in Japan, Suvisa - a Thai Ph.d student. Suvisa is wonderfully wise in own unassuming, sweet way. I learned her theory of threes (ladies if you want more details email me ;-)

After a fabulous lunch with Suvisa I headed out to the famous Chatachuk Weekend Market located about 20 north of the city center by the SkyTrain. This market makes all the other ones I have been too (even Porta Portuese in Roma) look like a kids lemonade stand. This market is enormous, with literally 1,000's of stalls some inside a warehouse-like buildling, some outside in the blazing Bangkok sun.

Although I enjoy having a travel companion, it was fantastic to be at the market and have the freedom to wander with out worrying about loosing site of someone. I wandered for hours, bought little but observed much. You name it you can find anything at this place food, mugs, rugs, pets, pots, bags, shirts, plates, glasses, plastic flowers, beads, ribbons, sausages, snacks, really - anything and for CHEAP. Amazingly cheap. I got two shirts for about 200 baht which is less than $6!

It was hard to select from the several pictures I took but here are a few.

































I really liked this popsicle making contraption. The metal tub has a block of ice in it and they pour juice and soda in the little popsicle molds...
















and voila, cool summer yummy-ness!