The light at the end of the tunnel pt1 a 6 week adventure story

It started getting hot, so I did something I have never done before.
I drank right out of a coconut!



DSC_3777 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr


It has all kinds of potassium and lipoic acid, I felt a lot better afterward.




If it had an umbrella sticking out of the top, I'd have walked away..
But this was a coconut "straight up"



DSC_3779 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr




The floating market was nice, albeit touristy.



DSC_3795 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr



DSC_3798 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr


I asked this fellow if he knew "the devil went down to Georgia"
Apparently he did not.





DSC_3796 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr





DSC_3799 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr





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This is a place where can get what you want and take it to an eating spot and eat it all.


So we had a little lunch.



DSC_3809 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr




Then we had a little more



DSC_3811 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr







DSC_3801 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr
 
Here is a new way to use your worn out old devlin.



DSC_3812 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr




Thought I should get you a photo of the bow of this one. In case you want to make one of your own at some point.



DSC_3815 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr




The girls wanted ice cream...


sure, why not?



DSC_3817 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr


this has more ice crystals than our US Smooth creamy kind. It also has sweet rice and peanuts in it. It wasn't terribly sweet, but very good on a warm day.







DSC_3823 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr





DSC_3831 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr




Here is an example of the type of kitchen Anya's grandparents had.


That heavy stone on the left side is a grinder to make rice flour.

DSC_3834 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr




Here is anya cooking it up.

DSC_3836 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr




That contraption in the front with the blade on it is used to shuck coconuts.
They use a Mortar and pestle for all kinds of sauces, papaya salads and spices etc.

DSC_3837 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr


this place gets crowded like you wouldn't imagine on the evening during the weekends.



DSC_3845 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr


here is a houseboat of historic design.





DSC_3851 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr
 
People in Thailand are up early.


I was up at 0400 and so was the rest of the town.




Me and my sisters waited out back in the alleyway under the moon.
The monks worked their way to us and we gave them some rice.
Then they blessed us and prayed.
I prayed for my little sister's new business that she was starting today.




We left the house before dawn and all of the businesses were open.


There were food stands cooking,
welders welding,
people riding 3 up in every direction..






The dock was alive and motors churned the big river.




We went about a quarter of a mile to an industrial ice plant.
They ice the holds on the fishing boats, and Pim was able to secure a big cooler of crushed ice for 20 cents.


soon we were at her new stand location (some assembly required.)







P1030590 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr




Pim lived with me and Anya in the states and helped at our restaurant for about 9 months.




It is hard to live with in laws sometimes, (for everyone)


She really missed her hounds and her life back in Thailand.






So I am wishing her the best of luck in this new endeavor.



P1030595 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr




We were her first customers.





P1030597 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr




We gave her $100 for good luck and a solid start.
That is about 10 days wages.


She was elated. And we got a good drink too!
 

P1030602 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr




We left Pim and Paew to run the stand, and went to the Queen Mary of street Markets.


Anya said "I want to show you where the locals go to get their food"
I said "Ok, lead on"


What I witnessed was the greatest spectacle of food I have ever witnessed.


It was strange being about 9 inches taller than everyone,
I didn't see another white person all day.


This town is a working town, tourists don't generally visit it, and a lot of people are curious about "farang" that means "westerner"


There are a lot of photos, and If you are hungry, don't look.




This guy had a bunch of bags with fish in them. some were for pets, some... I am not sure.

P1030606 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr



P1030604 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr


I finally saw some ducks today.



P1030609 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr






These are egg layers. Duck eggs are as available as chicken eggs here.


Before anya's mom ran the fishing fleet operation, she had over 700 ducks.


Business was booming and then one got sick...
they were all dead within 1 month.




We got some of these sweet snacks



P1030614 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr


some 5 spice with duck eggs





P1030615 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr




This was a sweet dish,
it is covered with Thai Honey bees.


They are about 1/2 the size of the ones we have back home.
they do not seem to be aggressive.



P1030620 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr


we got some of this





P1030617 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr


Had to get some soup too.

P1030611 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr
 
There was a bit of fruit around.



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This vegetable stand was doing well.



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got to get some flowers!





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green mussels are alwys good.


The exchange rate is about 32 baht per dollar.





P1030633 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr


Anya took me over to the ferry dock,
They just crushed right on through the huge mats of floating plants



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there is no safety guard, you just get on and get off and go about your life.




I like that.



P1030645 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr


here are some of the boats at the dock.


Anya's mom ran a fleet of 7 of these. With 150 men working for her.


She was a tough woman.





P1030648 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr
 
We did track down some Mantis shrimp.
These things look a little like something from a Hollywood production.




P1030664 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr

Didn't Sigourney Weaver fight these things in a space colony?





P1030657 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr






The lady at the stand said to eat them fresh and raw after soaking them in fish sauce for an hour or so.


Fish sauce is what the Locals use instead of salt, or rather, all of the salt they use is in the form of fish sauce.
 
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We encountered this avalanche of squid nearby.


The folks that do these markets are here at 0200 and open by 0300hrs.


Those rival duck hunters early mornings.


My hat is off to them.



[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/seaduck/12144956694/]P1030664 by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/seaduck/]Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr




There are 4 different grades of shrimp here.
These are river caught and wild shrimp (not off of a farm)




[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/seaduck/12144952684/]
P1030666 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr






When was the last time you had horseshoe crabs? ... Me Neither,

 
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all of these are dried fish of different varieties.


there are a zillion of them.



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by 1000 hrs, the joint was jumpin..


Cars, rickshaws, bikes, Mopeds trucks all going in different directions in the same strip of fishy pavement.



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I had to remind myself that although we were 40 miles from Bangkok, this is still an area of extremely high population density.



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I love frog legs


I used to hike up into the hills above Medford and there were a couple of ponds where a guy could use a red bobber and about 3 feet of line and snag some big ones in april.




These ones have been semi eviscerated, it looks like their livers must be the part that everyone is raving about.


I reckon I'll stick to the parts I know best.







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of all the places we visited
this was the only basket I found of these snails



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They were good sized ones too
As big as an apple off a crabapple tree






They will hack off chunks of these squash for you if you just ask them to.









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There is plenty to eat here.







P1030694 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr
 
This morning, me and Anya took a walk through the ancient alleyway behind her main house.


We went downriver.


We met some folks that remembered her when she was little. They talked a spell, and reminisced.


People from this place seldom move away.


Families have been here 4-6 generations.




There is a lot of Chinese heritage in this place. I suppose that it is similar to the SW portion of the USA and the Mexican heritage there.







DSC_3897 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr


The heat is extreme when it gets stoked up in April-June.


Then come the monsoons and flooding rains and massive thunderstorms.








it is hard on buildings.



DSC_3898 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr




When I was a boy,


I used to catch lizards up at Mrs McCurdy's place on the hill.
Sometimes I'd get a blue bellied, sometime Id get a "whopper" 8 inch alligator lizard




As anya and I walked along, I heard a splashing, and what I saw was a the second dinosaur of the day.


I'd guesstimate this lizard at about 8 feet from snout to tip of tail. probably will go 160 lbs.


This is what keeps the cats and dogs carcasses off of the streets.




seriously

DSC_3901 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr
 
There are two of them in the shot above.


one in the creek, and one up on the grass by me!


The big one was slogging upstream and looking for food. He was totally unconcerned with me.



DSC_3901 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr


I suppose that this is why the kids don't play in this particular creek.



DSC_3909 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr




These guys were mending their nets when we walked by.







DSC_3913 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr




I have always appreciated when total strangers smile and wave,
Because it makes us that much closer to not being strangers anymore.
 
Todd,

I'm really loving your pictures and descriptions of Anya's place. I am getting a real sense of your own personality and the respect you have for the people and places in your pictures. More and more I realize I need to visit Thailand and experience it myself. Thank you again for taking us along on your journey.
 
Thanks Pete,


I try to be respectful of their traditions and their culture. I am the visitor here. Some of these folks in Anya's village have only seen white people in the movies.
On the bus the other day, a very old man came up and squeezed my bicep to see if I was flesh and bone, because he'd only seen white people in the movies.


He said, You actually are real, you are not just on the big screen.


I got a kick out of that, he swatted me on the back and we laughed about it.


The first time I came here, I was uncomfortable because of all of the stares I got. People are curious.
These are not hateful glares, they are just curiousity.




In the states, if a stranger from a strange land walks by a bunch of kids, they might laugh after you passed by.
The kids here do not do that.


least not yet....


99 times out of 100, when I smile, they will smile right back.


That is a much better Ratio than I get back home.






I
 
Ran into Bkk today to meet with my Neurologist. traffic was pretty heavy.


Things are much better than they were 2 months back, and I am grateful to him for helping me out with incapacitating pain.


After that I saw a few things worthy of sharing.


The Thai people really love their king, I mean, they ADORE him.
He has done so many things to make this country a better place. He has fostered economic development, is one hell of a musician, Has strived to make sure that his countrymen have water, electricity sewer.


He was actually born in Boston and was the son of a Dr. His mom was a nurse.

DSC_3869 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr


People here would die for this man.


The paint says "Never Die"
and below it "Great King"




My doctor said I need to really lay on hard with natural potassium because of some of the medicines I am on. so More coconut water was in order. It has about 20% of what you need for the day.


One of these costs about $1.

DSC_3883 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr


Here is the Tickelli bird


The vendor has their eggs and cooks them right up for you. It looks like a cross between a jungle fowl and a quail of some kind.



DSC_3882 by Duncan Tennyson, on Flickr
 
I like what you had said to Pete.

"99 times out of 100, when I smile, they will smile right back.


That is a much better Ratio than I get back home."

So true and very evident in your pictures.

Take good care of yourself. Glad that the coconut water is so available. Thanks for sharing, Todd.
Al
 
Neat Stuff! I am enjoying reading about your trip and really love looking at the street photography... When i read what you wrote about asking the fiddler if he knew "the devil went down to Georgia" I damn near spit all over my monitor... LOL Stay Safe and I look forward to the next posting! - Vic
 
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