Trip: Thailand
Place: Bangkok
Date: September 12, 2006

So I am now staying up to at least 8pm which means that I still wake up early. Which I have decided is a good thing because a) the roosters would wake me up at 5am anyway b) if the roosters didn't wake me at 5, then the alley cats would wake me at 6am and c) this way I have some time in the morning to either write a blog or work on my picture slideshow. (It takes TIME to put together those lovely presentations you have come accustomed to!!)

There are a couple of interesting things that I have noticed about Thai cuisine/ eating habits. First, every meal comes with a fork and a spoon. You are actually supposed to use the fork to push the food into the spoon because apparently it is uncouth to eat with a fork (barbarians!) Second, I still can not get used to the napkins which are tiny little single ply five inch by five inch paper squares that dissolve in the sweat in your hand. You must eat carefully, because that little napkin will definitely not protect your lap! Third, there are all kinds of super cheap fruit stands along the road. My favorite is the 10 baht (30 cent) pineapple stand. The guy there carves the pineapple into these intricate shapes which is not only aesthetic, but actually makes the pineapple easy to eat, because small pieces break apart easily and you can eat those with the extra long toothpick that they give you. (For those of you who don't know, the Thai are actually very well known for their fruit carving.)

Today I went to the Floating Market. The idea of it was very neat, but it is now more of a tourist trap than a true Thai market. I did get a chance to taste some of the more unusual fruits there though.

These are rambutans. They have a lychee nut texture and a sweet taste and they have a pit like an almond (you don't eat it though...)

You peel the prickly outside away to reveal the fruit underneath.

These are longans. They also have a lychee nut texture, but have a pit like a cherry. They taste kind of like green grapes.

Again you have to peel off the hard outside.

I don't know what these are called, but they are really pretty and taste like kiwi fruit.

They are pretty on the inside too...

There are a couple of more on this woman's boat that I wanted to try, but unfortunately, while our boat stopped every place that was selling cheap tourist souvenirs, we just barely slowed down next to all of the cool food boats, so I didn't have a chance to buy more.

Here is one more that I saw in Chinatown. It is called a "durian". I really wanted to try some, but I was on my way to Vimanmek Mansion and I didn't want to lug the large fruit around with me. It was my intention to pick one up on the way back, but by that time my feet were really sore, so I decided to take a cab back... Maybe tomorrow in Chiang Mai...

UGH!! Sorry guys! The photos are not uploading again... I will try again later.