Shopping Thai Style

I have had this experience with 3 different Thai families, so I am thinking it is the norm.

The men take the women where they want to go, the market (which in Thailand includes clothing, food, trinkets, household items,phones, music, etc.) or a place for sight seeing.  The car is parked and the women go shopping.  First we look at clothing, maybe get a soda to take with us. We are not in any hurry and take our time looking, trying on, bargaining with shop keepers.  Next, we browse the food stalls,  This is an adventure in itself, there is so much and such variety.  You can buy vegetables, fruit, raw meat and fish as well as cooked meals.  The cooked food is placed in a bag and they have a unique way of putting a rubber band around the top (with air in the bag) that is full proof against spillage.  The food stalls are interesting in the variety of people cooking and serving.  I am guessing many are family affairs.  I have seen young men, stirring and bagging food. On our weekend trips to the big market, we get enough of some things to last several days, maybe a week.  When we are done, we find the car and the men are waiting patiently to drive us home.  I cannot imagine that scenario happening in America.  Af first I worried that maybe we should be hurrying, but the men seems quite content to wait at the car, maybe listen to music or who knows maybe they take a little nap.

The time in Singburi is winding down.  I am really going to miss Kun Kanya and Kun Sutin.  As time has passed, I feel more and more at home.  We are much less formal with each other and we laugh easily.  They still talk way too fast for me to get most of it, but with patience and the dictionary we can communicate pretty well, even joke with each other.  

The rice has been harvested in most of the fields. Seeing all that green was one of the first things I really liked.  Now the fields are brown and/or barren.  I am including a picture of a harvested rice field.