Life is like eating in a thai market, you never know what you're gonna get. An obvious twist on a familiar phrase, but eating in a Thai market presents quite a challenge.

There are certain advantages to eating in the market (which I was determined to do at Chang Mai's large sunday market... in addition to finishing my christmas shopping, which I did). Anyway, the biggest is that eating in the market or on the street is far cheaper than eating in a restaurant. I guess simple stalls on the side of the road have far less overhead. Also, you get to see the food in advance. This is extremely important considering the other handicaps.

The biggest handicap is obviously language. In the market I was almost wholly illiterate, unlike in the Night Bazaar which caters primarily to tourists. So I can't read any of the menus and I can't speak the language to order anything either.

The next handicap is that I can't even recognize half the stuff! My old maxim was "if you can't identify, don't eat it." I have had to compromise this somewhat, but still... there are limits. Of course, there are also the things that I DO recognize, but will not ever eat... like for example... FRIED BUGS! I almost ran screaming, but then thought better of it, so just slipped away quietly.

Finally, the next problem with eating in the market is what to do w/ your garbage. All the vendors just have to put everything in atleast 2 plastic bags, but there is no place to throw them out. So you end up carrying it around with you for 30 minutes while you look for a trash can. By the end of "dinner".. which was corn, and some pineapple, and some orange juice... I had about 4 plastic bags, a plastic cup and the core of an ear of corn in my bag. I almost did a little happy dance when I finally found a trashcan at the very back corner of the market.

Anyway I just wanted to comment on the market food and say that tonight I definitely opted for a pricier "restaurant" with an actual menu. Course that didnt guarantee I would get anything fabulous either... fermented and grilled spare ribs. Fermented?