Food for thought

Hello again,

Well we felt like this was becoming a big captains log of where we have been and how we got there... and it will be again but that gets a bit tiring to write and I'm sure a bit tiring to read... to be honest we were never sure what we wanted this blog to be for or about... initially we thought of it as a postcard to whoever wanted to read it, then it became a place to tell stories that we wanted to remember and something we would look back on as a way to remember the trip... we're still not sure what it is but we'll carry on regardless :) .

Well the subject of this entry is markets. Markets in this part of the world are generally the social and commercial centre of any town or village. The range of produce is often overwhelming and it feels like the whole town is there bartering loudly and examining various items for sale. When we first started this trip we were a bit timid in these places, we felt a bit out of place and frankly couldn't identify some of the things for sale (when was the last time you played 'what animal is that' at the butchers counter in Tesco or Sainsburys?). Over time we've come to feel more comfortable and have tried things and chatted to people and have fun guessing at least whether something is animal, vegetable or mineral... so now whenever we get to a new town one of the things we want to see and explore are the markets, whether it's textiles in Laos, military surplus in Vietnam or frogs, strange cat like creatures and live fish in buckets in Cambodia it's been a good way to get the feel for town and watch people bustle around like the cultural voyeurs that we have become.

This fascination with markets has another advantage besides allowing us to peer into the lives of the people around us...when we first started this trip we would board buses or boats clutching a couple of packets of crisps, some oreos and a couple of bottles of water all purchased from a 7-11 or similar, now we head to the market if we can and clamber aboard clutching lychee like things, some small bananas and green oranges having spent the afternoon trying to barter away the inevitable tourist tax! A lot healthier, cheaper and more satisfying :) (we tried a mango once but if anyone knows how to eat one of those on a bus with a penknife without covering yourself and those around you in juice please let us know!)

The colours, smells, sounds and life of an Asian market has to be seen to be believed, all the exotic fruits from the supermarkets back home actually grow here and a heaving fruit or vegetable stall just looks like something put together for a photo shoot, not sure if I'd trade in supermarkets just yet, you'd never get a trolley down the aisles here and some of the smells would probably get them shut down in a second... but I think whilst we gained in hygene and convenience we lost something as well (botulism probably).

Next update will finish of our Cambodian adventure and see us into Vietnam where we've been for the last week already.