Bangkok, Thailand, 13-16 Jan 2007: Chatuchak Market After The Bombs, Business As Usual

Two weeks after the 2006 New Year's Eve bomb incidents, our intrepid group of 7 arrived in a Bangkok unshackled from the fear and uncertainty that had gripped the city only days before. Business was as usual. Chatuchak weekend market spilled over with shoppers. Stalls hawked everything, from the banal to the exotic - tee-shirts, trinkets, lotus flowers, etc.

There were thousands of food stalls. Some sell cooked meals arrayed buffet style; others, dried seafood, stirfries, fruits, etc. Watch out for a young boy, barely ten, intently cracking tiny quail eggs over a burner, turning each expertly as it cooked. He then gingerly plied them into polystyrene saucers. Doused with fish sauce, 20 for a buck. Any takers?

We were surprised to find the (in)famous pet market still open, having read news of a recent clamp down on the animal trade. See, hear, smell and touch yelping puppies ("Pick me! Pick me"), screeching parakeets, jittery squirrels, etc. Not to everyone's taste, I guess.