Thai baby spicy

1 week in Chiang Mai. Needless to say time flies by. And yet, it feels strangely like home....like with the warmth in the air, the smiles on people's faces, or all the pick up trucks I see on the road. I know I said China was a place of contrast...well the contrasts evolve but somehow remain. A little bit like life, I guess. Nothing is ever one colour, is it, and sometimes the sun and the rain coexist and form a rainbow. I guess that's a bit like what it feels like here. I ventured out on the bike today again (I'm getting hooked on the 2 wheels!) and decided to loose myself in the city and one of it's many markets... this time it was the one for the "locals". (I thought my phrase book would make up for my crap pronunciation). Now here's a thought: How many times has a foreigner come up to you asking directions in a language you didn't speak, and yet, since you knew a friend who did speak that language (german, for example), you phoned them up on your mobile so that they could talk and understand each other? Well, that's what happened to me today. Some old lady took out her mobile and dialled someone who apparently spoke English. I never got around to speaking to that person cause he/she did not seem to be in. But still, you get my drift.

I was looking for dried Kaffir Lime leaves and dried Galangal to send home for my upcoming dinner parties. So I've learnt the word for dry...and it took me 2 hours to find a place that sold them to me dry. In the meantime and beginning to despair, I buy the fresh stuff and wonder whether it'll make it past customs. ...just in case. Well, now that I found the dry stuff and negotiated it for half the price on the tag, I'll be scattering the fresh kaffir leaves all over my backpack cause they smell sooooooo good!

Anyway, markets... the thought that crossed my mind today was that if this was called the "cool" season in Thailand, Iwhat must July be like!??! I loved seeing an old lady thumping away chillies, garlic and what not on her stone mortar for green curry paste, or smelling fresh ginger being peeled and shredded. I also amazed at watching a woman lift some live fresh water fish from a rubber pool beside her stall, drop them on the floor and give them a good clubbing! She then quite nonchalantly lifted them up onto her wooden chopping log and began cleaning them out in prep for display. I have never seen so many variations of rice, dried fish or sweet stuffs in my life! It's like a candy shop, only you come up close and realise there are fins on the things! The market is fascinating. It goes from large inner covered warehouse looking spaces, to little alleyways. The light there is orange and red and green as the sunshine traverses the paper parasols covering the food. Sensational. And then I spot a monk, coming through with his orange robes, with orange light shining on him and eating what looks like an orange pomelo, and as I step aside to let him by and near the chilli stall, a thai old lady with wrinkles under her eyes attempts to sell me a bag of red bird-eye chillies.....ha! ... The image is surreal and I wish my eye were a constant camera taking snapshots. I find time flies by in the smells and sensations of the market. The floors are wet, and filled with pot-holes so I have to mind my step in an attempt to keep my feet relatively dry. There are flies everywhere, mostly on the meat. And the smell around the beef stall is pungent and distinctive. I learn how to spot good meat from bad, and I subconsciously move away...inching slowly towards the fish stalls where the smell is fresh and for a split second, I am transported to a rock by the seaside. I think back to the shiny, plastic trays with insipid foods sold in western supermarkets and wonder whether we're so obsessed with microbes and hygiene that we're missing out on all the rest. Surely, if Thai people eat this and keep happy and healthy, so can we, right?

My favourite phrase is the one the cooks at the cookery school ask when they're about to drop chillies into a mixture. They ask whether we want Thai spicy (7 chillies) or Thai BABY spicy (3 chillies). It turns out, babies here are fed spicy food pretty early on. Do we really need to take so many precautions? And precisely at this moment, my idealistic traveller "questioning our habits in the west" phase is rudely interrupted like a scratch on a vynil record cause I gotta get to a toilet NOW! and I am in the middle of the market and haven't a clue where to go. After being refused at a nearby 7Eleven (they're everywhere) and told to go to the market toilet (yeah like WHERE!!!!???) I eventually find my way, quickly and nervously dig out 2 baht from my bag, and re-enter the world of squat toilets and water fountains, JUST IN TIME! ....Can I say one thing? THANK GOODNESS for the water fountains, hahha, yeah, I laugh now cause I made it by the skin of my teeth, but you know, wipes just aren't enough sometimes! Water fountains...that's the way to go. So there I am, squatting in true Asian fashion, with my left hand holding my purse, the dry f***ing kaffir leaves and galangal, AND my thai pants (they're brand new for goodness sakes!) which I've managed to roll up over my knees to prevent them from getting wet cause the floor all over this toilet is wet like they'd left the tap open, and then my right hand finds it's way onto the wall....just to hold myself in place cause I'm totally unbalanced here and scared I'm gonna splip on this floor, fall inside the aquat hole and disappear! And with all that, I somehow manage to hold my head at one stage and exhale! I lack the photo....but I think you get the picture.

So yeah, maybe our hygiene precautions with food in the west ARE worth something....or maybe I just got carried away with adding 7 chillies to my food yesterday and it's come back to haunt me!