Some of you have asked me for more pictures of my neighborhood and so this morning, while taking my walk, I shot some. I hope you enjoy them and if you have any questions just fire away! This is mainly a picture of a building, apartment house, and restaurant. I took it mainly to show the cable and electric wires. Nobody seems to remove the old lines but keep adding new as needed. The technicians will use a bamboo ladder and just lean it against the wires. Never saw one fall or get shocked so I guess they know what they are doing! There are many used “stuff” shops. The lady who runs this one has a great turnover and I always wonder why as most of her things can be purchased new for the same or lower price! Here is where I buy most of my produce and meats. The lady is a real character and I have developed a great rapport with her. Even thought her prices are about 5 – 10% lower than her competition, I always tell her, “Khun Kamoi Farang Mak Mak!” (You steal very much from foreigners). And yes, those are used toilets next to her shop. Stored by the “used stuff” shop mentioned above. This is where I get my coffee in the morning towards the end of my walk. It is also a small laundry! She is the one who introduced me to the glass of tea after drinking the coffee! Strong brewed coffee with evaporated milk and tea for about 45 cents! This is a very old wooden mill that is part of the outer decoration of a coffee house. In the seven years I have been here, I have never seen it open, but from time to time the décor changes! This is Thailand and it is never worth the time to think why…just observe and enjoy! A vendor cart early in the morning. The fish are sun dried and provide a tasty snack later on in the day or evening. Most everybody from children to adults have cell phones, but you can always find a pay phone in an emergency! Construction workers at a new building. Most of them will reside in the building until it is complete. Then on to the next project. There are tons of outdoor restaurants in my neighborhood. Everything from a rundown little shop house to just a one or two day stand in a vacant lot. And that is some of what I looked at on this mornings walk!
Your walk path is very interesting. Thanks for sharing. Those power poles look like they could not have one more line added without causing some problems.
What an interesting variety of pictures, and a glimpse into your life in Thailand, Richard. So many little shops, and all with their unique character, rather than all-look-alike stores and shopping malls that we have here in the United States. And barefoot shop owners, I love how casual and comfortable that lady looked. I think that i would enjoy living in an atmosphere like that, too; but would probably never learn to pronounce the dialect like you seem to be able to do. Are those eggs really chicken eggs ? They looked HUGE, like they were from one of those Muscovy ducks that came to visit you.
I really prefer the small markets to the large grocer stores we have here in the U.S overall I think the quality of the food choice is so much better, although small and limited. The thing with the stores here (in this part of NY) is most of them now are owned by giant corporations and they are cookie cutter versions of each other. There is something to be said about small stores and even things like the young woman that does the laundry. I would so hire someone like that! I wish we had more small business, even if they did appear in a vacant lot. The picture with the wires I totally understand, we are seeing this more and more here. I just noticed last weekend that there is a new giant wire strung very low on the poles. I suspect that is probably FIOS. We have so many wires that cross the streets it never fails they get hit and taken down when a large profile truck goes by. I had to have the power lines moved up and now that I no longer have cable that has since been removed. My neighbors is so low I am certain they will be hit in the near future.
Happy that you enjoyed the pics, Yvonne! My Thai language skills are really terrible! I know a few hundred words but my pronunciation is pretty bad. As far as the eggs, yes, the are from chickens. All of them have brown shells and what is really nice is that when you crack one open, the yolks are so bright! Most likely because they are all free range and not injected with chemicals. They are not refrigerated and that took me a while to get used to, but I usually only buy five or six at a time. They cost about 15 cents each. I forget the cost in the States. I did find out that you should not clean the shells because they have some kind of natural film (?) on them that does not allow bacteria from entering them. I think the white ones are duck, but they sell them already cooked. The pink ones I have not (to my knowledge) tried yet.
I do not know what FIOS is, Jenn. When I lived in New York as a kid, all I remember is "Con Ed." I do not use my coffee lady's laundry as I have a different service. Free pick up and deliver and I get 80 pieces done for about $15.
@Richard Paradon , from what I have read, the United States is one of the few countries where eggs are refrigerated, and that is probably because of our regulations that the eggs have to be scrubbed, and the protective coating does get washed off. Chickens (and some other birds) will lay a dozen or more eggs before they even start to sit on the nest and hatch out the eggs; and the eggs are just sitting unprotected on the nest for all of that time, and also while the hen is "setting", if she is allowed to hatch out her eggs. In order for the eggs not to spoil and rot, they have to have some kind of a natural protection. I would also guess that the eggs you get are fertilized eggs, which I think last better. Most of the commercial eggs we get here , the hens are kept in a cage, and the eggs are all infertile. Eggs from chickens that are loose and can eat leaves and bugs will be much healthier than the ones we get here at the grocery stores. If we were allowed to have chickens here in town; I would definitely have 2-3 hens just for the fresh eggs.
@Yvonne Smith I am right there with you , I would have chickens if I thought that the municipality would allow it. I have the space, but sadly the area is becoming so over built I doubt that chickens will be tolerated. we used to have small farms in this area but they seem to be under attack these days. The animals seem to somehow manage to "escape" and after great fan fare in the local media they are trying now to make it so that you cannot have livestock. I agree though I would have a few hens and a rooster. The enclosures are not that much bigger then my rabbits hutch. And no I do not raise rabbits to eat, this is my pet. I have to laugh at the refrigeration comet, when my sister married her first husband he was from Germany and his family came for the wedding, they stayed at my sisters house. imagine my surprise when we went to visit and there were all these eggs out on the kitchen table. as Americans we always refrigerate eggs. I thought for sure they would get salmonella but they didn't. i had no idea that we scrub eggs here, they really might have got sick. Funny because they felt we were weird because we refrigerate stuff. they also had commented on the vast use of plastic in this country. @Richard Paradon FIOS is a product from Verizon, it is high speed internet, I thought they were going to run this under ground but I guess that is not the case.