Monday, May 9, 2016

Phuket Adventures: Sunday Night Market

After a relaxing morning and a massage, we decided to have a bit of an adventure and visit the Sunday Night Market in Phuket Town. We've been to markets before - Vietnam, China, Morocco, Sri Lanka, so we knew what to expect and we knew we'd need to brace ourselves for the crowds, the smells and the unexpected.

After finding a place to park, we jumped right in and started to wander the aisles. Everything from clothes to cosmetics, CDs to car parts. I guess things are somewhat organized, but heck if we could figure out where to go for what. We just wandered - not really looking for anything, just enjoying the adventure. We were quite early (around 5pm) so things weren't very crowded yet, thank goodness!


But it was hot, and steamy, and smelly. Temps around 90+F and humidity so pretty uncomfortable to be walking through what looks like a rusty tin cow shed with stalls. I don't understand how some of the merchants in the middle can stand it. Yes, there are fans blowing, but that just wafts the hot air and sewage smells around.

We decided to see if we could find the food area, thinking we might pick up some yummy street food and munch our way through dinner. But before we hit the food stalls, we stumbled across The Leather Man bar. Or at least I guess it was a bar, and a leather store, and a leather working workshop, and a very surreal place to hang out for a cold one.


A couple of ice cold Tiger beers and Hank Williams Jr. followed by Phil Collins songs later and we were fortified enough to continue on.

The food stalls always take the adventure to a whole new level. Colors and odors and textures collide as you wander around looking for something familiar or something that looks inviting. The fried insects booth was NOT what we were looking for. Nope, not in a million years, not for a million dollars.


Cockroaches and crickets and grubs, oh my! And look how many there are? You don't fry up that many if you don't think you'll sell out.


Luckily we found some nice tame pork satay (skewers) and chicken spring rolls to satisfy our hunger. And I know what your thinking, "pork? chicken? are you sure? could have been dog and monkey for all you know!" And you would be absolutely right.
 

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