Tha Thom's One-and-Only

Shivering at the entrance of the That Thom market, wearing my blue sweatshirt and traditional sihn, I feel about as awkward as standing on a California beach wearing a bikini. Being the only female foreigner in town makes it difficult to ‘blend in’ no matter what I wear or try to say.

‘Where is Lamphoon?’ I kept thinking to myself. Jeffrey and I had finally moved into our new home, the kitchen was finished and I was excited to start cooking on my own. But the difficulty lay in the fact that the one and only fresh produce market in town is open for business from 4am to 7am. Being still new to the area, I wasn’t quite ready to attempt the market, with local dialect and prices, half asleep and by myself, which is why I had asked the MCC Housekeeper, Lamphoon, to help me out. In our three months in Tha Thom, she’s been a great companion, showing me how to make traditional Lao dishes, and teaching me new local vocabulary.

‘But where was she?’ I just came from the office, where I thought we were to meet, but it was as dead as the rest of town, except for the small bustling market in front of me.

A women’s voice jolts me out of my thoughts,
‘Jao seu pea leur?’
‘Ha?’
‘Jao seu pea leur?’
‘Eu… Khoy seu Nalie.’ (My name is Nalie.)

She smiles and walks off, but the quizzical expression on her face makes me think I didn’t quite answer that one correctly. Why does this language have so many words that sound the same! ‘Seu’ said by inflecting the voice downwards means, ‘to buy,’ but ‘seu’ said by holding the voice flat means ‘name.’

Watching the woman disappear into the morning darkness, I realized that she actually was asking me what I had come to the market to buy, not what my name was, and I in my blumbering ‘pasa Lao’ told her I was going to buy myself!

‘Well, I’ve been standing at the entrance of the market for 15 min now, waiting for Lamphoon who didn’t seem to be coming, I’d already tried asking some women at the market if they’d seen Lamphoon today, but they hadn’t… I think it’s time to do something!’ I decided to give it a try ‘pu de-ow’ (by myself) and dove into the marketplace.

Shopping at a Lao market is an adventure in itself. Being part of a friendly, non-confrontational or pushy culture, the Lao market mirrors the people exactly. Oftentimes while shopping in the Capital, I will have to wake up the Lao shopkeeper to ask a price or buy something. Bartering seems to be more of a friendly conversation, then actually trying to get a killer price. Though common in the cities, I’ve hardly used it in the country. Here in Tha Thom shopkeepers usually give the rock bottom price, and I’m not too concerned about getting ripped off.

Walking through the market, I observe all the tables with neat little piles of mint, basil, chili peppers, forest flowers and other garden produce. There are also large piles of cabbages and pak choy. Some vendors are also selling baked goods such as fried fish and deep fried rice donuts. The market’s meat section consists of a single table, on which is heaped whatever animal was slaughtered the day before. There’s not much choice on the cut you would like, just poke around the pile and find something that looks good! Fish is also available at the market, though you have to arrive early to find it; once they’re sold out that’s it for the day.

‘Hmm… what to buy!’ I chose some cilantro, chili peppers and green onions. Buying is actually easier than I had thought, due to the fact that most produce is piled or bundled into neat little bunches, and each is 1,000 kip (about 12 cents). There isn’t much for fruit at the market, but I spy some nice bananas and buy them. I also buy some fried fish, a bit more expensive at 5,000 kip per kilo, but they would make a nice breakfast.

In a few minutes, I leave the market, my arms full of bags of produce, meat and fried fish. It’s a satisfying feeling to be able to have a simple conversation with the Lao vendors and to feel like, ‘Hey, I can do this!’ I hum a tune as I walk down the road to pick up my bike at the MCC office, not feeling half as awkward as I had in my sweatshirt and sihn. Returning to the office, I hear rustling in the kitchen and Lamphoon pokes her head out. I show her the things I had bought and she shares that she slept in this morning.

As she gathers her things to head out to the market she asks,
‘Bai ek bo?’ (Well, do you want to go again?)
I look at my cell phone, its only 5 am! What a morning! I’ve already conquered the market once this morning, why not do it again!
‘Bai ga dai!’ (Sure!)

Posted by Kaarina