Food...a very important part of Thai culture...

I thought that you would all be interested in seeing what kind of food and drinks I am having here in Chiang Mai. We all love to eat, right? This will be a two-part blog as I don't want to give you too many pictures all in one. I am actually enjoying the food here even though my mouth has been on fire for a couple of hours after eating a few dishes. The school serves lunch for the staff and students every day. Three days it is Thai food with a salad bar and the other two days we have some "American" food along with a Thai option and a salad bar. 

These first four pictures are taken at the market that is 5-10 minutes away from my house.

 They use fans to keep the flies, etc off of the meat.

 You could buy your supper here at the market- they sell a lot of food in bags. It kind of reminds me of how you take home your gold fish from the pet store.

 Fish anyone???

Now believe it or not these next two pictures are not from the market.....

 As much as I really wanted to buy this pig head I decided it wouldn't fit in my freezer at home.
  There are a number of big grocery stores that when you are in them you can almost forget that you are not at your local grocery store in the US. That is what I was feeling until I got to the meat section and saw the heads and then the legs (picture below). While I tried to take these photos without anyone noticing, Gina proceeded to put on a glove and pick out pieces of chicken from a big tray and put them in a bag. I forgot to take a picture of that, but it made me smile as she picked out boneless chicken pieces for me to eat.

 When my roommate and I were at the market I was told that I HAD to try this tea. It is called chaa yen and is made up of orange tea and milk. It is cold and as you can see the bag is full of ice. Oh and yes it comes in a nice little bag with handles and a straw! In case you were wondering she was driving and taking a picture of me...perfectly safe!