Usually I eat dinner at the night market, but this week I’ve renamed it the psyche market. The night market was completely transformed for the past five days. It was almost unrecognizable. Where stalls, stands and carts once stood there was a parking lot full of cars. The usual stands had been pushed to the perimeter of the night market lot and across the street huge tents have been erected. Under these tents there was a mix of prepared food, packaged food and merchandise for sale. Dozens of vendors I’ve never seen before were telling me to sample their food and look at their crafts. Some of it was tempting, but I just wanted my smoothie and Pad Me Hong Kong Kung, so I headed back across the street to the weird configuration that was once my daily dinner spot.
I walked up and down the rows of stalls several times, but I couldn’t find my smoothie lady or my Pad Me Hong Kong guy. I wasn’t in the mood for this; I didn’t want change. It was Tuesday, which meant I was without my comfort food since last Thursday. I decided to try out another smoothie stand, which turned out to be pretty good although my ordering skills weren’t up to par. I accidentally ordered two smoothies, a banana and a pineapple instead of both of the fruits in one smoothie. Since they were only 45 cents each, I wasn’t worried about it and handed one over to Saleem. Next I searched for a suitable dinner. I saw my regular Pad Thai peeps, but I really wasn’t in the mood for something heavy so I ordered a dish from a stand I’ve eaten at a couple times. I have no idea what it is called, but it’s a delicious mix of veggies, glass noodles, and a little spice. I always just point to the shrimp and say kung (shrimp) and then point to the plates and say jaun (dish) so they know that I don’t want it in a soup form. My smoothie and dinner was good, just not what I had originally wanted. I was hopeful that the market would be returned to normal by Wednesday evening.
When I walked to school on Wednesday I saw signs that I think were advertising the market. All I could read was the date of the market and according to the sign today was the final day. Ok, I thought, I can handle this, only one more day of this insanity and then all my delicious food would be back. I actually embraced the new market on Wednesday evening by buying food from ‘the other side’ and taking a look at the stalls, but I couldn’t help but crave my usual dinner dishes. I searched my old market again, but still no sign of my favorite food stalls. I got another smoothie from the same stand I ordered from the previous night and this time I was able to correctly order two fruits in one cup. A small victory. While enjoying my smoothie, I watched some break-dancers. They were pretty good and definitely entertaining. A big crowd was gathered around watching and taking photos. When we left I made some type of comment about how I was excited to have things go back to normal so I could eat a good dinner before the long weekend.
Unfortunately Thursday was a big bummer as well. Not only was the huge market gone, but the normal night market wasn’t back in full swing. It was bare bones. No smoothie lady or Pad Me Hong Kong Kung stand, no sushi. I couldn’t even find ice cream at the end of the night. Talk about a psyche market.
Although this entire post seems like a big complaint, I’m really just expressing my love for the night market in a backwards way. This one week of change made me realize how dull and literally flavorless my dinners would be if it wasn’t for the night market. For over a month I’ve been eating dinner there every week night. Not only is it cheaper and tastier than the restaurants in Chonburi, there’s much more variety and activity there. It’s like a little beehive of activity: lots of people working and making a living and even more people eating, enjoying themselves and socializing. I cannot wait to go for a long run by the water tonight and then reward myself with a smoothie and delicious plate of food at the night market. I wonder if my smoothie lady even remembers my order.
