Bac Ha Sunday Market



Breakfast At Bac Ha Sunday Market

Duang and I accepted Mr. Sa's offer to take us down the hill from Sa House to the weekly market down the hill in the center of Bac Ha.  We rode down on the back of motorcycles driven by Mr. Sa and his brother who works at the hotel.

In no time at all we were at the intersection of the village road and the main road in town that leads on to Can Cau and the border with PRC.  The center of town, which was quite quiet and boring just 24 hours earlier upon our arrival by bus from Lao Chai was now teaming with people and the air was charged with the excitement often encountered when people from rural areas go into "the big city" for periodic shopping excursions.  However the difference here was the unique cultural aspects of this local market.  Most of the patrons of the market were hill tribe people - typically Flower Hmong and Black Hmong.

Flower Hmong People Selling Produce From Their Family Garden

There were two main reasons that they had come into town for the market - to buy things and to sell things.  People came to sell fresh produce from their family gardens. People came to buy things such as rice threshing machines, ready made clothing, plastic toys, livestock, and large translucent plastic filled containers.  Side activities included socializing and getting haircuts with perhaps a restaurant meal.



Checking Out A Manual Rice Thresher

Unlike the Can Cau Market, 20 km to the north, which is set in a rural location, the Bac Ha Market is in a more "urban" environment.  I have researched the population of Bac Ha town but I have not come up with any statistic other than the population of the entire Bac Ha District which is roughly 50,000 people.  My guess is that the population of the town is around 5,000 - small by many standards but large enough to have  a couple hardware shops where foot operated rice threshing machines can be purchased and where people can get their chain saws repaired if they choose not to buy many of the new ones on display in the shops.  Other permanent town shops offer goods and services that the rural people are unable to make for themselves.

The Bac Ha Sunday Market is situated in the town square area and like tentacles of an octopus or squid reaches out along side streets as well as alleys adjoining the square.  It seems that every open space during the remainder of the week is commandeered on Sunday - merchandise is sold off of tarps and sometimes just an empty rice, sugar, or fertilizer bag set on the ground tended by vendors squatting next to their goods sometimes under a handheld umbrella for protection from the sun.

In the more "developed" sections of the market, stalls are set up underneath large tarps, typically blue, Suspended from temporary wood columns and tied off to just about anything that the people can find.

Shelling White Corn At Bac Ha Sunday Market

Woven Baskets for Transporting Animals - Small Animals and Tightly Packed Animals

At the edge of the market is the area where animals are bought and sold.  There were only a few water buffalo for sale but there were plenty of ducks, pigs, chickens and even some small dogs.  The pigs were small and spent most of their time in a gunnysack.  When an interested buyer showed up, the piglet was pulled out by its hind legs and displayed for the potential buyer to checked out.  No matter if a sale was concluded or not the pig, often with some difficulty, was returned to the recycled  rice, sugar, or fertilizer bag.



Bac Ha Pig Market

Ducks as well as chickens were kept in either hand made woven baskets or commercially made wire baskets.

Bac Ha Poultry Market

As you will find at all markets in Southeast Asia, there are plenty of stalls, booths, and outdoor restaurants where you can buy a snack or a "sit down meal"  The sounds and smells of ethnic foods being prepared as well as cooked adds to the exotic atmosphere of these markets for foreigners.  You want to know what the local people eat?  Go to a market and watch.

Markets are also a great location to people watch and for environmental portraits - portraits of people doing what they typically do and where they do it - a moment captured as well as a glimpse into their everyday life.

Markets are also a family affair - often 4 generations of a family along with extended members travel together for their "day" at the market.  They arrive on foot, in the back of pickup trucks, in the back of stake body heavy vehicles, on the backs of motorbikes (2,3, 4 and sometimes 5), mini-vans, mini-buses, with a few even arriving on horse back.

One of my favorite locations at the Bac Ha Market was a section where a couple of stalls were selling bulk tobacco.  The vendors had large mounds of chopped new tobacco on their tarp placed on the ground.  This chopped tobacco did not look like the tobacco that you find in commercial cigarettes.  The tobacco at the market looked exactly like shredded tobacco leaves direct from the outdoor drying racks that you can find outside of the homes where it is grown.  I guess it didn't have all the 599 ingredients that American companies have admitted to using such as ammonia, Ethyl - whole bunch of different stuff, Dimethyl - whole bunch of stuff, grape juice, Sodium - various things, Sugar - not components of tobacco but things that they added to THEIR tobacco.

Customers Sampling Some of the Tobacco Mounds

Customers are encouraged to sample the tobacco that is offered for sale.  The vendors had 4 to 6 bamboo bongs readily available for their customers to use.  Smoking for many people in southeast Asia, especially hill tribe members, is very different than what many foreigners are accustomed to.  First of all they do not typically smoke cigarettes or even in what we call "pipes".  The people smoke the tobacco using bamboo and sometimes PVC bongs 4 to 6 inches in diameter.  They also do not use a great deal of tobacco when they smoke - about 1/8 teaspoon placed in a very appropriately sized small bowl near the bottom of the bong connected at an angle with a small diameter tube.  The tobacco is ignited and the user sucks in with their mouth and nose the prodigious amount of smoke that exits from the top of the bong.  The smoker savors the smoke for a short while and then blows it out through their mouth and nose.

After spending time at the tobacco vendors, we walked over to the edge of the market where two men had set up competing barbershops on the opposite sides of the footpath just down from the pig markets.  As we approached, one of the barbers and his customer enthusiastically welcomed us and motioned us to sit down on the small home made wood bench at his area.  After walking around for at least three hours with my 15 pound camera gear backpack on, I welcomed the opportunity to take it off and to sit down.  Duang, however, had other ideas.  He walked over closer to the barber and off to his side.  After the barber and his customer finally realized that speaking Vietnamese to Duang did not do any good, they realized that she was just observing and not interested in sitting down.  If I had $1 USD or 22,000 VND for every time that people thought that Duang was Vietnamese, I would be writing this blog entry from Vietnam on our second trip to Vietnam in a month.

Haircut Time In Bac Ha

Why was Duang so interested in observing.  Nine years ago she graduated from beauty school.  Since then she has cut my hair every month.  She does a very good job but she is slow.  I have often joked with her that if she had a beauty shop, she would go out of business fast - doing 4 haircuts a day at $3 each.  Duang cuts my hair mainly with scissors and finishes it off with electric shear.  Most of the barbers that I have seen use the electric shears and finish off with the scissors.  Duang has her way and I do not complain - when you are retired, what difference does it make if it takes 30 minutes for a haircut or 5 minutes?

We had a nice time - the customer and barber trying to get me to have my hair cut while I kept telling them that Duang cuts my hair at home - for free.  We all gave as good as we got.  I kept busy photographing while Duang was observing.

A Satisfied Customer  "Hansum" Man

The other barber across the walkway was doing just as much business.  He also had observers but unlike Duang, they were actual Vietnamese people

We have been home back in Thailand now for a month.  Duang has cut my hair once - applying the technique that she learned back at the Bac Ha Market.  She now uses the electric shears for most of the cutting and uses scissors to apply the finishing touches.  She is thrilled and ... much quicker now.

In doing my extensive research for our trip to Vietnam, I came across several blogs and websites where people wanted to know about which market was the best to visit and if you could only go to one, which would you pick?  Some of the answers as well as some reviews of the markets talk about the markets in terms of losing their ethnic flare, becoming too commercialized (hmmm - rather odd for markets?), and being crowded with tourists - Vietnamese, Chinese, and Westerners.

Well - here is my quick answer - "It is up to you"  Personally I would go to both!  One is on Saturday and the other is on Sunday.  An overnight stay in Bac Ha is not expensive.  My attitude is typically - this is a trip of a lifetime and when do you think or expect that you will return.  Getting somewhere is typically the biggest cost - spending an extra day or two to see everything is much cheaper than returning again.

As for guide books and Internet travel sites - I read them all the time and use them to plan our trips.  My wife and I are travelers rather than tourists.  Travelers?  Yes - travelers go places and do things that tourists do not.  Perhaps they are orientated more for tourists than travelers. Our travel style and preferences are shared in these blogs.

 As for the Can Cau and Bac Ha Markets being crowded with tourists - that was not per our observations.  I saw perhaps 10 to 20 obvious tourists - people who did not appear to be locals.

 I ran into the same issue in regards to attending the Poi Song Long Festival in Maehongsong - "crowded" according to the "experts".  Our experience for all three visits - 40 - 50 for the daytime processions but 4-6 tourists at 4:30 AM, "the best time", when the boys are dressed and have their make-up applied by family members inside the designated Wat.

Travel guides and some reviews advised against visiting the refugee camps of the Kayan people ("long necked women") referring to them as "human zoos" and "circuses".  I have been there 6 times and Duang has gone 4 times and did not have that experience.  We ended up making friends and learned some of their life as people without a country.  The key for us was to spend up close and personal time with the residents - not jumping out of a bus with 30 other people with 30 minutes to spend.

My research for a trip to Cusco, Peru for Inti-Raymi indicated that the city was crowded for the festival.  In reality, I had no difficulty booking my hotel of first choice, or watching the 12 hour parade in the center of town - crowds were 2 to 4 people deep along the parade route - overwhelmingly Peruvians.  Leaving the reenactment site for the festival was crowded ... but that is to be expected for event with thousands of spectators again the vast majority being Peruvian.  I considered it to be part of the event experience.

My use of travel resources is to determine locale opportunities and to develop my initial expectations but never to make a decision to go or not go to a certain locale or event.  My mind is made up, and my goals are defined before I start my research.  I have yet to be disappointed in not completely trusting travel resources.

The Can Cau Market and Bac Ha Market visits, eight years in the making, were work the time, money and effort.  For me a highlight of our trip to Vietnam was being told by my wife, who had vowed to never return to Vietnam 7 years ago - tell me out of the clear blue sky (well actually overcast sky) that she wanted to come back soon with our grandsons, Peelawat and Pope.

In the end, as Duang so often says "Up to you"

Can Cau Market




Water Buffalo Section of Can Cau Market

After seven years, my wife and I finally got to experience the sights, sounds and smells of the Can Cau Saturday Market and the Bac Ha Sunday Market in Vietnam.  I had planned on us visiting these two attractions back in 2008 during our last journey to Vietnam.  Unfortunately on that journey, our detailed arrangements were made through a friend and then through a travel agency that subbed it out to another agency.  In the end we ended up pretty much with a standard tour to the Sapa Region albeit a private tour but excluding our specific wish to visit Can Cau and Bac Ha.

This year I personally handled all our arrangements either through the Internet or through the hotels where we were staying.  It was all quite simple and - we got to experience exactly what we wanted.  Vietnam has changed a great deal in the past seven years.  The best change and most welcoming change is the growth and increased awareness for service in the tourism industry.  You still have to be aware of taxi scams and some "fly-by-night" travel companies but the Internet can greatly help you to avoid them and provide reliable and honest alternatives to them.

After spending 36 hours in Hanoi, we boarded the night time train to Lao Cai in the Sapa Region.  We arrived in Lao Cai at around 6:15 A.M. after a sleepless and restless night aboard our "soft sleeper" car.  We had anticipated not getting much sleep based upon our previous trip in 2007.  However as is often is the case in long distance travel to exotic places - the excitement and enthusiasm to discovery new experiences carries you through the day after a night of little sleep.

We exited the train station in Lao Cai to find ourselves in a  large parking area in front of it.  The parking area was filled with vehicles of all types, sizes and condition.  Many of the larger and newer vans and buses were there to take people up the mountain to the town of Sapa (Sa Pa).  Some vans as well as cars were from tour companies waiting for their clients to go to Sapa.  The older and less fit, buses were public transportation to the various towns and villages in the area.

We did not have a reservation and did not know what we were doing other than we wanted to go in the opposite direction from all the others going to Sapa.  That is not a problem.  You do not even have to speak Vietnamese.  But you do have to know where you want to go!  I spoke to a man who looked like he was available to take people where they wanted to go.  We headed across the lot with him towards a newer looking van, I finally got him to give me a price - $50 each.  I did not like the sound of that and told him that it was too much money.  I had read somewhere during the Internet research that the price from Lao Gai to Bac Ha was $18 each.  We wandered through the lot towards the main street at the perimeter of the area.  We encountered another young man and his price was roughly $40 for both of us.  We accepted his offer.  He took us across the street to wait with some people who were sitting around a couple of sidewalk stand selling drinks and food.  The people were friendly and pleasant.  We did not have long to wait before the young man reappeared standing on the running board of the doorway of a small mini-bus.  A mini-bus is a bus type vehicle with capacity for about 20 passengers.

Our mini-bus was most likely at least 20 years old and covered with dust.  It did appear to be in reasonable mechanical condition.  We entered the bus and walked around a beer keg that was in the aisle.  We walked past some seats that were stacked with cardboard boxes and cloth bundles.  We took seats at the back of the bus.  We were the only foreigners on the bus. It appeared that we were in for an adventure.

We headed off in the bus with the young man standing on the running board at the open doorway.  It was obvious that he was looking for more passengers to join us.  We drove slowly towards the outskirts of town and picked up a couple more passengers and their cargo. I was anticipating that we would be picking up crates of live chickens or even a trussed up pig but it never happened - somewhat to my disappointment. The people had been to the market and were returning to their villages and perhaps their restaurant with fresh food.

Twice outside of the town we stopped and the young man got out and talked with some people along the way. He then returned to the bus to retrieve a box for the people.  I was thinking that at our current pace, we would not get to Bac Ha.  After awhile the bus picked up speed to a normal pace and we headed up the hills to Bac Ha.  We made a couple quick stops to discharge people and their cargo including that keg of beer.  Our driver was a good driver and we were able to enjoy the surrounding countryside and sights as we traveled along.

Upon checking in to our hotel, Sa House, in Bac Ha, I informed Mr. Sa that we would like to visit the Can Cau Saturday Market. A quick phone call and 30 minutes later we were on our way to the market.

The Can Cau Saturday Market is located on the main road 20 KM north of Bac Ha and just 9 KM south of the border with the People's Republic of China.  The surrounding countryside is mountainous and punctuated with many rice terraces carved into the mountain sides.

The Can Cau Market is situated on the down slope side of the road that goes to the border.  On a promontory that juts out into the valley below, the Market fully utilizes the available space - the top of the jutting land, its slopes, and the land surrounding its base.

South Side of the Market

 The Market is roughly divided up into sections with each section dedicated to a specific type of merchandise and goods.  The North side of the market - the top as well as slopes and even the base of the promontory is dedicated to buying and selling of animals - mostly water buffalo and a few head of cattle.

Duang Passes A Muddy Water Buffalo On Her Way to Bird Market

At the base of the market, in a small wooded area was the bird market.  In the bird market, many nicely constructed wood bird cages were hung from the overhead tree branches.  Clusters of potential buyers stood and stooped around the cages observing and carefully listening to the songs of the captive birds.  Birds are selected for purchase based upon their beauty and singing skills.

Another section of the market is dedicated to hill tribe fabrics typically embroidered strips of colorful cotton.  In this section, coin purses, handbags, pillow coverings are also placed for sale - either hanging from bamboo poles or on makeshift tables constructed from rough wood or bamboo.



Hill Tribe Fabrics For Sale

Along the steep paths that lead to the various levels of the market, people had set cloths and tarps on the ground upon which they sold surplus vegetables from their home gardens or items that they had collected in the forests.

People Selling Some Produce From Their Gardens

At the east end of the upper market underneath and next to a permanent octagon structure were vendors of clothing.

Clothes Shopping at Can Cau Market

The market area, a conglomeration of some permanent structures but many more temporary booths created from bamboo posts and beams covered with either the ubiquitous blue tarps or recycled corrugated metal roofs, was the place for the local peoples to meet and socialize.  Shopping at local markets is as much a social experience as it is an opportunity to purchase what you need ... be it clothing, livestock, moonshine, vegetables, meat, fruit, knives, machetes, farming tools, tobacco,  kitchen utensils, snack food, and toys from China.

It was a very interesting place with plenty of interesting people and activities going on.

Across the road from the main market area, there was a temporary barber shop set up and doing a good business.  I thought of the old days back in Connecticut when men would get their hair cut on a Saturday morning too.

Scattered about the markets were open kitchens where people could sit down and enjoy a freshly cooked meal and a drink.  The smells of exotic foods and spices wafted through the market area.  Every where groups of men and other groups of women stood about in conversation. It is not the culture to rush in, get what you need and then make a fast track back to your home.  People spend quality time amongst themselves and the vendors.  Most of them linger until around Noon when the market starts to shutdown before headed back.  Like many of the locals, we left at noon to head back to Bac Ha.  Although we were headed back to our hotel, we were not rushing.  There were opportunities and people to meet along the way.  But that is another blog for another day.




Vientiane Talad Sao

The Busy Vientiane Morning Market

Two weeks ago, we took a special trip to Vientiane, Lao People's Democratic Republic (Laos).  Vientiane is a short 60 miles north of our home in Udonthani.  A forty minute drive transports us from our door step to the Thai border crossing.  After passing through the Thai Border Checkpoint, we take a 15 Baht (0.45 USD) bus drive across the Friendship Bridge to the Lao Border Checkpoint.  Duang has very little to do in crossing into the LPDR.  However, I must fill out an additional form, supply a passport photo, and pay $35 USD to obtain a visa to enter Laos. However once you get off the Thai bus you are approached by men offering to help you in crossing the border and drive you into Vientiane - for a fee.  The fee varies based upon a variety of factors - but is only a little more than the cost of a taxi into town.  The men fill out the forms for you, and shepherd you through the process.  After entering into Laos, they break from you to bring their car to you.  They drive their car up to you and load your luggage as you get into their vehicle.  They then drive the roughly 20 miles into town and deliver you to the door of your destination.

This trip was special in that I was having a reunion with a friend, a direct link from my distant pass, from my home town. We had attended junior high school, today's middle school, back in Connecticut.  We attended high school together and went on to the same university.  We had not seen my friend since 1971 and was excited to catch up life long experiences.  Duang was anxious to meet someone from my long ago past and from my far away boyhood home.

We stayed at a hotel that was a hop, skip, and jump from the current location of the American Embassy (That Dam monument).  The hotel was walking distance from the central city restaurant district, main tourist attractions and entertainment venues. Although not a hop, skip, and jump away from the central markets, the hotel was no more than 4 or 5 blocks form the them.

The reunion was great.  It is always reassuring to learn once again that we are not alone in our accomplishments, disappointments, challenges, and even our failures.  Despite taking very different paths, we share many common experiences and more importantly survived them.  We often feel that we alone and have suffered but if we reach out to others we quickly learn that our experience has not been unique.  Of course to Buddhists the realization and acknowledgement of our sufferings is no surprise.

Our time in Vientiane was limited to two days because Duang had to return to her home village to care for our grandson for the next two days while her mother went on a religious retreat commencing the evening of our second day in Vientiane. Given our limited time day, we spent our morning, the second day, at the morning market, Talad Sao.

We walked the short distance from our hotel to the morning market along deserted streets.  We arrived at the morning market at 7:00 A.M..  Although the area around our hotel was very tranquil, just 4 or 5 blocks away, it was extremely busy, bordering on chaotic.

A Very Small Portion of the Outside Morning Market

I estimate that the Morning Market is about two square blocks in area.  The market is a combination of small shops opening on to a large central open area filled with stalls, booths, and blankets where vendors sell all kinds of  prepared foods, live foods, vegetables, and dry goods.  There is a very large covered structure which was partially walled with a combination of tarps and block.  Adding to the confusion of the market were many passageways and stalls created by attaching tarps and sheets of plastic to anything that would support them.  Where existing structure elements were not available, the vendors had erected wood poles or bamboo to attach the sheets.

Organized Porters Are Used to Transport Goods From Market To Vehicles

To access parking areas for both vehicles and motorbikes, motorbikes, trucks, and cars jockeyed for position with pedestrians along the informal access lanes into the morning market area.  Adding to the confusion were many long two wheeled push carts propelled by organized porters.  Many of the patrons of the morning market are people buying goods for the much smaller markets that they run in their neighborhood or village markets.  I know that porters were organized because just about all of them wore colored vests that had a unique number on the back - just like organized motorbike taxis in Thailand.

Vegetables For Sale In Vientiane

During our foray through the Talad Sao, Duang and I were amazed at the amount and variety of vegetables available for for purchase at the market.  Although we live 60 miles south and and in a larger metropolitan area, our local markets have neither the quantity, variety or quality of vegetables as Vientiane.  During our journey to Luang Prabang Province in December, we saw many vegetables gardens. I have yet to a single large garden here in Isaan.  Many of our vegetables as well as fruits are from China.  I suspect both the closer proximity to China and the flourished commercial ties between Lao and China may also contribute to the quantity and variety in Laos.

Fresh Corn On the Cob

In Isaan, even along country roads, corn for sale has been cooked, typically boiled but sometimes grilled.  However at the morning market in Vientiane, the vendors shucked the corn at the market and sold it by the kilogram.

Egg Vendor

In the large covered structure there were countless vendors selling just about everything including eggs, beef, pork, chicken, canned goods, dry goods, clothing, cloth, toys, household goods along with booths where you could purchase and consume a meal.  It was quite busy and congested.

A Vendor Preparing More Pork To Sell

A Beef and Pork Vendor Tends to Her Stall

Meat vendors were mostly located in the large covered structure.  As is typical in Lao and Isaan the vendors sit upon a raised platform with a small spring scale at their side and behind the cuts that they are offering for sale.  Customers approach the vendor most likely engaging in some small conversation before inspecting the various pieces of meat before selecting their cut and informing the vendor of how much they desired.  Shopping is not an impersonal or quick process.  There is a great deal of interaction between the vendors and their customers.  I suspect that a great part of the effort is to build relationships.  At the market there are always several vendors offering the same goods for the same price.  Quality between the vendors appears to be the same across the market.  Given the lack of distinction between the vendors establishing personal relationships and providing better customer service is paramount for a business's success.  It also makes for a much more pleasurable and rewarding shopping experience for all.

Fish Vendor Along "Fish Alley

In our random wanderings through the inside market place, we eventually found ourselves outside in a very narrow alley that I like to refer to as "Fish Alley". "Fish Alley was set up on the side of the exterior wall of the inside market with tarps covering the overhead of the alley bounded on the other side by more open faced stalls created by poles and tarps.  Fish Alley was lined with vendors selling all kinds of fish.  The ground where it was not covered by pieces of wood, randomly placed concrete pavers or tiles was muddy from the run off of water from the stalls selling fish.  The fish was fresh and there was no odor that one would expect in such a location.

Preparing A Customer's Fish

Duang and I took advantage of the relative quiet and much less confusion of "Fish Alley" to talk to and joke with the various vendors. It was and is always enjoyable to learn about the work and life of the local people.  I also enjoying sharing with them about life in America which they are always very curious and interested in.

A Fish Vendor's Daughter Cooks Breakfast - Fish

As is often the case, the older women asked me about finding a foreign husband.  I am often requested to do so.  I do not know that many single men back in the United States.  I stopped at 98 with the number of requests that I have been given.  I now handle the situation by telling the women how many requests are ahead of them but that I will put them on the list.  I then tell them about some of the expectations the foreign men would have on them.  That always gets them laughing and we are able to move on to other matters.

Fish Still Life or Rather Dead Life

After one and one-half hours at the market, at 08:30, we left the market along with the vast majority of customers. Morning Markets typically become much less crowded by 09:00 or 10:00.  After an intense shopping adventure, the customers and their goods stacked on the two wheeled carts headed to their vehicles or motorbikes for the journey back to their home to complete the rest of the day.

Porter Transporting Goods Out of the Morning Market

Duang and I returned to our hotel carrying a large shopping bag filled with Khong Kao, woven containers to stored cooked sticky rice or to serve the sticky rice.

Additional photos of this visit can be viewed at the following gallery of my photography website:

http://www.hale-worldphotography.com/Laos/Vientiane-Morning-Market/36736541_rxMrB9

Morning Market - Sakon Nakhon

The Scallion Vendor At 6:30 A.M., Saw Her Again At 5:00 P.M. Leaving the market

This weekend, Duangchan and I drove two hours east of our home to a town called Sakon Nakhon to once again witness the Sakon Nakhon Wax Castle Festival which marks the end of Buddhist Lent which is also referred to as the Buddhist Rain Retreat or Vassa.

We had attended the festival last year, http://hale-worldphotography.blogspot.com/2012/11/sakon-nakhon-wax-castle-festival.html , but did not stay for the night procession of the completed floats or attend any of the formal events prior to the procession.  I wanted to return this year view the procession and perhaps some cultural events associated with the festival.

Using the Internet I was able to determine the dates of the festival quite easily.  However I had no luck in determining exactly what was the schedule of events for the festival.  I sent an email to the Tourism Authority of Thailand requesting specific information regarding the schedule of events.  I received a prompt confirmation of receipt of my email and was informed that my request had been sent to local chapter for reply.  Three weeks later and two days after conclusion of the festival, I have not received a reply.  Just about every Internet site that had some information on the festival provided a phone number to obtain information on the event.  I had Duang call that number four times - there was never an answer.  I then had her call the hotel where we had stayed last year and where I intended to stay this year.  From the hotel, we learned that the night procession was on 18 October, so I decided that we would arrive on the 17th and leave on the 19th.  We had time constraints this year - the 17th was Duang's 50th birthday and she wanted to make special merit in the morning with the forest Monk.  On the 19th she wanted to make her third and last night of women's retreat at Wat Ban Mat.

We arrived in the afternoon of the 17th.  That night we watched many of the wax castle floats being set up in one of the large assembly areas.  The floats were transported on roads from outlying Wats to Ming Muang Ground.

For whatever reason, I woke up the next morning at 5:30 A.M.. Our hotel was located two blocks from the morning markets in central Sakon Nakhon.  I had mentioned earlier to Duang that if I woke up early enough on the 18th or 19th. I wanted to go to the markets to take some photographs.  Having woken up early, I headed down to the markets - alone.

My first stop was at the Municipal Daily Fresh Market on Yuwapatana Road.  I immediately realized that although it was around 6:00 A.M. the market was not really up and running like so many of the other Talad Saos (Morning Markets) that I am familiar with in Thailand and Lao.  Some meat vendors were just setting up their booths and stalls in the market.

Pork Vendor setting Up for the Morning

I commenced to photograph the vendors and their activities.  From the vendors I learned that the market did not really get going until 7:00 A.M. From one vendor I learned that there was much more going on at the next door market, Tor Kam Kar Daily Fresh Market.

All Parts of Animals Are For Sale At the Market

Making Fresh Ground Pork

I have enjoyed and utilized the local markets in Thailand, Malaysia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Cambodia, and Vietnam.

I have always been fascinated with the markets be they morning, wet, fresh or evening since first coming to Southeast Asia in 1999.  The markets here are very much different than the supermarkets in western countries.

First of all the markets here, where most locals shop, typically do not have walls.  The roofs, under which the goods are offered for sale, are often a combination of corrugated metal of various degrees of corrosion and other materials such as clear plastic sheeting, tarps, recycled political or advertising plasticized fabric signs and sometimes thatched panels.  The floors of the markets are usually concrete which is often wet from the marketing activities.

Secondly the markets are not creations of large corporations but are rather amalgamations of individual vendors.  Each vendor rents their space from the market owner.  In Kumphawapi, a small space costs $1 a day.

Goods are displayed on raised counters constructed of wood, metal. or tiled concrete.  Quite often the vendor sits on the same platform surrounded by their goods.  Outside of the markets, you will often find vendors sitting on woven reed mats placed on the ground.

Patrons of the markets do not have grocery carriages or carts.  Some people will go to the market carrying a woven bamboo basket to carry their purchases home.  Most people leave the market carrying several small plastic bags in each hand.

Refrigeration is sparse in the markets.  In the case of fish, there are two methods of keeping it fresh.  The first method is to keep it alive.  In the fish section of the markets, the floor is often covered with large plastic tubs of water and fish.  Some of the tubs have air injected into the water through small stone aerators attached to aquarium pumps.  The second method of keeping the fish fresh is to display it on tiled, marble or tiled topped platforms or stainless steel tables and periodically pour water over them.  For me there is a paradox in marketing perishables in this manner.  At first this practice may be disturbing to people who are accustomed to shopping in brightly lit, cool, antiseptic plastic wrapped merchandising temples of the western world.  OMG. Oh My God - how can they shop and eat food in those Asian markets? most likely are in thoughts of many people.  But here, for me is the paradox, in the more primitive conditions people are exposed to fresher food. How?  If the food is not fresh you sure can tell by the way it looks and smells. Having discovered too late horrible spoiled fish from a well known grocery store in California, I am well aware that modern sanitary conditions, specialized lighting, foam and plastic packaging, and utilizing nitrogen gas are no guaranty of freshness.

Pork For Sale

The pork that was being hung from large meat hooks in the Municipal Daily Fresh Market was definitely fresh.  I know because I went up to the meat and smelled it - no one objected because that is how you shop - looking, smelling, and sometimes even touching.  The Asian shopper takes responsibility for what they purchase and bring into their home.

Butchermen of Sakon Nakhon

Since I was pressed for time, our hired driver was picking us up at 8:00 A.M., I did not spend much time at the first market.  I moved down to the next market which was a bee hive of activity.  It was everything that you will come to find in a Southeast Asia market.  It was crowded.  It was noisy.  It was, in certain areas, smelly.  It was interesting.

Outdoor Charcoal Grill - Fish On One Side, Fish On the Other Side

As much as it was a market, it was also a huge restaurant.  Charcoal grills were cooking fish and chickens.  Propane burners were fueling the local versions of deep fryers.  Smaller table top sized grills were used to cook small kebabs of pork or chicken parts. The pungent odors of charcoal, fermented fish sauce, and spices permeated the atmosphere.  Although it was "breakfast" time, patrons were very likely purchasing grilled fish or even chicken for their first meal of the day. Here food is food without distinction of when it should be eaten.

Sidewalk Grilled Chicken Vendors

Inside the covered market, vendors were selling all kinds of goods.  Selling goods was not their only activity.  Vendors were heavily engaged in socializing with other vendors as well as their customers.  Markets are wonderful places to catch up on all matters, great and small.

Chilies, Tomatoes, Limes - All For Sale

The Cabbage Lady

It Would Not Be A Market If There Were No Rice For Sale

Since it was around 7:00 A.M., there was an opportunity to photograph a local Monk on his morning alms walk.

People Make Offerings of Food to Monk

I have often written about the ways things are supposed to be and the way they actually are.  I have read about Buddhism and how the Monks are to receive alms.  From what I have read and understand the giving of alms is not a quid pro quo exchange.  The laypeople offer the food for the mere act of kindness.  They should not expect anything in return for their act although the pure act itself earns them merit.  The Monk is supposed to accept the food as it is offered without judgement and without reward to the donors.

I have seen many Monks just very slowly walk by the people so that they could drop food in his bowl.  They would not stop.  I have also seen Monks in Thailand stop in front of donors and recite a chant upon accepting food - I presume that it was a sort of blessing.  In Lao People's Democratic Republic, I have witnessed Monks accepting food, walking past the donors, stopping in front of the people's home or business and then chanting as if blessing the structures.

Monk Chanting After Accepting Food Offerings

In Sakon Nakhon the Monk, after accepting food offerings from a group of people, stood before them and chanted before continuing along on his alms walk. I point this out to demonstrate that things often are not what they appear to be or should be.  Examples such as this, for me, are reasons to be more open minded and tolerant in trying to understand things.  Things are often more complicated than is conveyed or communicated.  Often it doesn't really make a difference.  It is often a matter of personal experience and perspective.

The Egg Lady

One of the vendors that I photographed several times was the "Egg Lady".  Eggs are handled very differently here than back in the USA.  Eggs are not refrigerated here.  Our weather here is either hot and dry or hot and wet.  How hot is hot?  Typically our highs are 90 to 95F.  During our really hot months the highs are 95 to 105F.  During our cool month the highs are 85 to 90F.  No matter the month, you will see pick up trucks stacked high, high as in 6 to 7 feet high, with compress cellulose flats of eggs.  Once they arrive at their destinations, the eggs are offloaded and displayed in the open air for sale. We shop at an English multinational grocery chain and even their eggs for sale are not refrigerated.  Customers keep the eggs that they purchased on a counter in their kitchen or outside area where they cook.

The Egg Lady at the Sakon Nakhon market was no exception to the normal practice. Her eggs were stored at her side in the open air.  Many of the eggs were flats that had earlier been on one of those pickup trucks speeding along the roads and highways.  Part of the vendor's tasks was to take eggs from the flats and place them in small cellophane bags for sale.  The eggs were carefully placed in the bag so that they formed a small pyramid - I don't know if that was for cosmic energy or for style but it is stylish in my opinion.

Chicken is also not given the special attention that it gets or is supposed to get back in the USA.  When Duang and I were in the USA, I read the warning labels on the chicken that we purchased in the supermarket and along with all the news stories of people getting sick from contaminated poultry, I wondered why we or any one else would buy let alone eat chicken.

Here in Isaan, especially during holiday periods, you will find steel half barrel charcoal grills along the roadside where grilled chicken is offered for sale.  The chicken is grilled in three different methods.  In the first method, a chicken half is flattened as if by having been rolled over by a car and skewered on one or two bamboo sticks sort of like chicken satay.  The chicken is not flattened by a car but rather by a heavy wood club.  The second method is similar but involves a whole chicken and two bamboo skewers.  The chicken is butterflied and flattened  with the club so that it resembles a desiccated bat or sting ray.  It is placed on two skewers and typically grilled in a somewhat vertical position.  The last method is where a whole chicken is skewered by a long bamboo pole about 5 to 6 inches in diameter.  Several chickens are placed high above a charcoal grill in staggered arrangements.

These roadside kitchens have neither water, let alone potable water, or refrigeration.  Once the chickens are cooked, they remain exposed to the air off to the side on a cooler part of the grill.  I have written before that I often write what I have observed and do not necessarily understand or necessarily believe.

The handling and storage of poultry and eggs here in Isaan is another example.  I don't understand why we are not all dead yet or at least hospitalized every month due to our practices.  Perhaps the lesson is that there are alternatives, alternatives that are vastly different than western standards, that do not necessarily condemn one to sickness or misery.

In a dark and narrow corridor, chicken is processed

Prepared Foods For Sale

Market Girl