Nang Loeng Market

This mornings mission was to Nang Loeng market which is about 3 kms away from our hotel. After the usual ritual of consecutively flagging down taxis until one knows the place you want to go we got one who agreed to take us. He instantly headed off in the wrong direction until I pointed this out to him. After showing him my map which he took we were back in track. After 10 minutes or so I asked him to stop as although I didn't have the map I felt we must be close. You can imagine that I was pretty pleased with myself when I looked directly across the road and saw the market entrance! If we were feeling happy with ourselves in finding the right place that turned to elation upon entering. It was a wonderful Thai style covered food court with tables you can sit down at. This might not seem like anything to get excited about but to us it was heaven. First we had some fried mussel cakes similar to the Vietnamese Banh Khot and they were delicious, a great start! Then some rice paper rolls which were very enjoyable. One it on my list was the Isan dish Som Tam which is the green papaya salad often served with grilled chicken and sticky rice. I was very happy to find a vendor selling this dish and it was a real pleasure to watch her put it together. She deftly pounded all the ingredients in her mortar and pestle and scooped it into a plastic bag. After opening all the bags back at out table we tucked in. The salad was beautifully crunchy and spicy and the chicken succulent and tender with a spicy sweet dipping sauce that was divine. A great meal to eat with your hands, the sticky rice is rolled into little balls and stuffed into your mouth. This also came with an unusual green vegetable that I had never seen before with a taste I can't describe. After devouring most of this we finished off with some golden threads that Charlie loved and found hilarious. We had read about a master smoothies maker but unfortunately she was closed however we did find a refreshing bottled version to cool down the heat of the Som Tam. Tina spotted a pulled tea vendor who pours a tea concoction from jug to jug in a grandiose fashion to aerate the tea. It is poured into a glass full of ice and between the three of us this was gone in a matter of minutes.