อี้จิง Tales from Thailand อี้จิง: Kura Buri

Over the weekend I visited the Saturday morning market and bought a few items for the house: a couple of small carpets to wipe my feet, some Tupperware, basic silverware, and a siphon to transfer drinking water out of huge 5-gallon bottles. I explored the food market and bought all kinds of fresh fruit, including something I thought was melon but actually turned out to be a very disappointing dry squash. The fruit here is all local, fresh-picked, and unbelievably flavorful compared to the bland mass-produced variety we have at home in the States. I am happy to report that lychees are my new favorite food. I bought a huge basket of the prickly red fruit and then spent a blissful half hour in the shade consuming the delightfully sweet white insides.

Kamphuan Market (1 block from my house)

While running errands, Chris gave me a little tour of Kura Buri – the neighboring Buddhist town. We stopped at a little coffee shop where I had what may have been the best iced latte of my entire life (sweetened condensed milk + iced coffee = pure joy). On our way out of town Chris interrupted our conversation with a startling “Oh NOoooo!”. I worried that the car was about to break down or some other tragedy was soon to befall us, when I realized he was referring to some kids on the side of the dirt road. They were trying to climb a tree where their bright red kite had lodged itself. We pulled over and spent the next 10 minutes using bamboo poles to dislodge the kite. We somehow managed to pull it down without tearing it. It felt so good to hand it back over to the chubby little boy at the bottom of the tree. He and his friends were appreciative if a little bewildered by the sudden appearance of these two helpful Farangs. Finally we moved on to a big dam that drains into my project area and spent an hour climbing over slippery river rocks and waterfalls. The cold water was such a welcome contrast to the hot, sticky, tropical air.