Markets, Markets, Markets

Friday morning class was much better than Wednesdays. The different pronunciation of English is starting to be recognized by my brain, so I am finally understanding exactly what the teachers are saying. After the class is over, I head to run some errands for the university and eat some lunch. I get shrimp fried rice, and it was great! Now, I was missing the white shrimp sauce that SOMEONE has gotten me addicted to ever since I ate shrimp for breakfast, lunch, and dinner this past semester. But I just added extra spice to compensate.

We then headed to Kao San Road. This is the popular tourist destination for Bangkok. Everyone working the road speaks English, and westerners are definitely not the minority. The food is slightly more expensive, but you can buy almost anything (tattoos, clothes, massages, souvenirs, etc). You can see a picture of how crowded it is on the right. Something interesting to see, but I dont really want to spend a lot of time there. I hear a lot of westerners think it is the best place to be in Bangkok, but I would disagree. I did get my first Thai massage on Kao San Road. 100 baht for a half hour. She cracked my back more ways than imaginable (note that I do NOT crack/pop anything). I didnt even know it was coming, and then all the cracks were like a ripple of chills up my spine. The rumors are true... a thai massage does hurt a bit, but it is definitely worth it!

The next day we got up and went to JJ market. This is the largest market I have EVER seen. I didnt get a good picture above it, so I found this on on the web. Pretty much everything you see between the two roads is part of JJ. They literally sell EVERYTHING there. I went looking for a bath mat and came home with one. We found pets (from chicks to lizards to puppies to flying squirrels to spidermonkeys). Oh yeah, and we saw a cock fight. They had the spurs taped up, so I guess they werent fighting to the death. I really think they were being showcased to potential buyers. I tried to pet a lot of the puppies, but one woman swatted at me with her brush. and then yelled at me in Thai. Talk about traumatizing. On the sky train to JJ, we saw a family with 4 kids under 5 (the youngest was an infant). I couldnt stop thinking how crazy that woman must be to bring all of those kids to THAILAND.


We saw some cooked insects, and just couldnt pass them up. Josh, Steve, and I ate a larvae each. Then Josh snacked on a cockroach while Steve ate more larvae. I was done after one... well you can see for yourself from the video.

So those two days were completely consumed with shopping... crowded shopping. You can see my friend, Will, at the bottom right of the picture. Hes almost a foot taller than everyone else here, and the crowds were parting like the Red Sea for him at JJ. We stopped at a park on the way back from JJ and joined in on an exercise in the park party. The photo doesnt even show half of the total people who were exercising. It made me miss Katie Starr, for sure.

After the park, we went to a KFC. Just like back in America, but not really. They had a few different things on the menu, and I split a variety pack with Josh. It was definitely nice to have fried chicken and french fries, and NOT rice... for just one meal. Definitely overpriced at 150 baht each, but it was a treat. We thought it was interesting that we got glass cups, real plates and silverware at a fast food restaurant! Had a great couple of days just shopping around which inspired my new blog title.

Everything is cheap in Bangkok, unless you buy everything!