OznAsia

Fruits are one of the delights in my life. I like so many fruits it is hard to decide which one is my actual favourite but I'd put both mango and lichee on the shortlist.

A few weeks ago sweet yellow-skinned mangoes started to appear on the market stalls. I was happy to get them at 50 baht a kilo. That's about A$2. Since then I got some lichees at 30 baht a kilo. They weren't the best I'd ever tasted but at that price I wasn't complaining. Since then the price has come down to 20 baht and the quality has gone up—such beautiful texture. Mmmm mmmm. Mangoes have also come down. They put little bundles on the stall—probably around a kilo each bundle—and sell them for 10 baht. I'm in ecstasy.

I've been watching the price of durian. I look for it to be sold in a single serve because you're not supposed to eat too much at one time. It's been selling for quite a bit more than I was paying in Bangkok last year but last night I got a serve for 30 baht. I'm happy with that. It made a nice dessert after the BBQ fish I had for dinner. I saved the lichees for breakfast.

Labels: Asia, fruit, Mahasarakham, market, thailand

A few years back on one of my early visits to Thailand I visited Chatuchak Market in Bangkok for the first time. It was an amazing rabbit warren filled with stalls selling just about anything you can think of. And there were some real bargains to be had. Since then it's been rebuilt. It's still a rabbit warren. You can still buy just about anything. But bargains? Perhaps you'd be better off in a shopping mall. At least it's air conditioned.

On my previous visit to JJs as it is sometimes called. I went looking for something in particular. I got what I wanted, eventually. And ended up paying far too much. But after searching in the heat for several hours I had reached a point where I just wanted to get the goods and get out of there.

One of my friends called me yesterday morning and asked if I'd like to go to Chatuchak with her that afternoon. It sounded like a good idea at the time so I said OK. There were one or two things I needed but was not committed to buying. Other than that I was prepared to just enjoy being there and having my friend's company. Besides, markets are among my favourite places for candid photography. Finding interesting subjects and clicking without being noticed can keep me amused for hours.
My friend wanted to buy some of these beautiful pieces of crockery. When you consider the fine detail in them and that they are each hand painted, they are still a bargain. I became aware of them on another of my early visits to Bangkok. One was given to me as a speaker's gift at a conference at which I was presenting. My friend bought quite a few pieces and as cheap as it seems for one, after I converted it to dollars, the total was quite high.

We wandered around some more. She bought some more things. My sense of fair price has been influenced by my time in Cambodia so I bought nothing. But I got a few interesting shots. Keep an eye on my flickr pages over the next week or so.

If you're visiting Thailand looking for Thai arts and crafts you can get much better prices in the country villages where the stuff is created. But that takes time (enjoyably so) and it would help if you knew a few of the locals.

We had left my friend's goods at the crockery stall and chatted with the people there when we went to pick them up. She mentioned to them that I was learning Thai. 'Oh, if you speak Thai when you buy from us, we give you a better price,' the proprietor said. So, there's a tip for you. Learn to speak Thai before you go shopping at Chatuchak.

BTW, Chatuchak is sometimes spelled Jatujak (and perhaps a few other ways). It's the same place.

Labels: Asia, market, photography, thailand, travel

The most readily available meat here is pork. It is not sold under hygienic conditions. There is no refrigeration. Meat sits or perhaps hangs in the open on a market stall in the heat and humidity. The ground below can be pretty disgusting at times and I've seen meat that falls from the bench picked up again and put back. The person who buys it won't know. The seller usually sits crossed-legged on the bench, her feet very close to the meat she will sell for your dinner. The pigs here are bred to be fat. People here appear to be blissfully unaware of the dangers of eating this.

Having lived as a vegetarian for many years it is not difficult for me to bypass pork. I get my protein from either fish or tofu. There are perhaps hygiene issues with both of these too but I see them as lesser evils.

I am aware that my dog needs raw bones to chew on to provide calcium and to keep her teeth in good condition. However, I found that with pork bones she was constantly having trouble with worms. Now she too gets most of her protein from fish.

When I eat fish I buy a slightly bigger piece so there is some left for her. I usually buy one of the more expensive varieties. Perhaps it is a little extravagant for her but is still usually works out at less than $2 for both of us. On the days that I'm not eating fish I buy some of the smaller, cheaper ones for her.

The first day I experimented with this I approached a stall. There was a young woman with three kids selling fish similar to what we in Australia call bream but only about five centimetres long. The oldest child, a boy of about eight, was busy gutting and beheading the fish. There was also a little girl and a baby.

I asked the price. It was quite cheap so I ordered a suitable amount. As she handed them to me she asked, in Khmer, if I would use them to make soup. (People are always interested in what you are eating and how you are going to cook it.) 'No,' I said. 'They're for my dog.' She looked quite shocked. I understood. To her this is probably about as good as she can offer her kids and I'm feeding it to my dog.

Later that day I was having my Khmer lesson. Even though I pay Esther to teach me Khmer I'm teaching her a lot of English on an incidental basis. Khmers seem to have difficulty understanding the difference between 'shy' and 'ashamed'. I was trying to explain this to Esther. My mind was seeking a story to explain 'ashamed' when the little episode at the market that morning came into my head. I told her the story and ended with 'I am ashamed because my dog eats better than many Cambodian children.'

Labels: Asia, Cambodia, Kompong Chhnang, market

I recently received an email from a friend in Australia which said '...you need to be very cautious as the population obviously thrives on fleecing tourists'. Please friends, don't lose any sleep over my challenges in Vietnam.

I wonder if my recent blog 'Hanoi hawkers' might have been an overreaction. Did I bring my friend to this belief? If so, I need to revisit the subject and put it in a different perspective.

When one arrives in Hanoi everything is new. Even though I've spent much of the past four years in Asia, this is different, so I walk the streets with eyes wide open. I see the hawkers in the street and stare. Naturally enough, they zoom right in on me. I am unfamiliar with Vietnamese prices, or at least that is what they expect, so some see it as an opportunity to milk as much money as possible from me.

However, this is not all hawkers and lets face it, only a small proportion of the 3.5 million people living in Hanoi are hawkers. Most of the people I've spoken to here are friendly and helpful. Some of the hawkers have even got to know me and say things like 'Oh, we are friends now and still you won't buy anything to help me.' Guilt manipulation? Perhaps, but with the tongue wedged in the cheek.

What is a fair price? We in the west are conditioned by the concept of the 'recommended retail price'. We think there is a correct fair price for everything. If we pay less it's a bargain. If we pay more we've been ripped off. This is our culture. Please excuse the people of Asia if this is not theirs. They have a right to their own culture.

So, when you visit an Asian country the first thing to remember is: There is no such thing as a fair price. The second thing to remember is: The correct price is whatever the customer is prepared to pay and the vendor sell for.

When a vendor sells their goods to a local there is no point in asking a highly inflated price. The local either can't afford it or simply won't pay it. So they ask a reasonable price, perhaps a little higher than they expect to get. The buyer makes a counter offer, a little bargaining takes place and a price is agreed on. Correct? Fair? Who knows? It is simply the price that both buyer and seller have agreed on. Both had the option to decline at any time.

When a vendor sees a foreigner they know either from experience or hearsay that foreigners are crazy and will pay anything. Think of a number and multiply it by ten. Is that the correct price? It is if the foreigner is stupid enough to pay it. You have choices. You can make a counter offer or you can walk away. You don't have to pay it. If you choose to do so, don't blame the vendor. You have a choice.

After spending a little time in a country a few things happen. First I stop staring, second I start to get a feel for the usual (I almost wrote 'correct') price for the goods. I hate bargaining. Therefore I probably pay more than the locals. Occasionally I get ripped of badly but usually we are talking about a few cents. In Australian money I am still getting a bargain.

I walked up and down the market this morning comparing prices of mangosteen. I love this fruit and it is said to be very healthy. The first vendor asked for 20,000 dong per kilo. I immediately compared this to what I had paid for lichees, 5,000 dong, and was shocked. I tried other vendors. The best price I could get was 25,000 so I went back to the first vendor and bought my kilo. I was disappointed when I got home. Half of them were off and I had to throw them out. But it's not a big deal. The whole kilo cost me a total of $A1.50. Mangosteen are rarely available in Australian supermarkets and when they are there is no way I can buy half a kilo for $1.50.

Is our culture more moral than theirs? What did you pay the last time you bought a t-shirt? I've seen t-shirts in Australia 'on sale' at $79. On the other hand I've paid as little as $A2 for t-shirts in Cambodia and Malaysia. Who is making the big profit? Certainly not the vendor in an Asian country. When Billabong buy there t-shirts in bulk from an Asian factory what is the price they pay? I don't know, but my guess is that it is less than $A1 a piece. What price do you pay for that same shirt in Sydney or Brisbane?

Mr Billabong sleeps in his extravagant beachfront mansion on the New South Wales north coast. The Asian hawker probably sleeps on a rattan mat on a concrete floor. I wonder who sleeps more soundly.

Labels: Asia, Hanoi, hawker, market, millionaire, money, ripoff

I had been living in my present home in suburban Melaka for about three weeks or more before someone told me there was a night market every Thursday just a few blocks away. I enjoy markets, not that I have a great urge to spend money. I just like the environment of traditional markets. My friends took me to the market that week but I didn't take my camera. I enjoy candid photography and markets create good opportunities to indulge this hobby. It was about two weeks later before I had a chance to return to the market with my Panasonic fz20.

The fz20 is not a small camera. It's a bit hard to hold it up to my face to frame a shot and not be noticed. People either smile, stick their hand up in one gesture or another or run away. The picture on the left will help you see my set up for candid photography. The tripod is fixed to the camera but compacted. It is only there to give me something to hold to keep the camera steady. The camera sits hanging from my neck. The remote shutter button is inserted and the cord for this goes around my back. In this picture I am releasing the shutter with my left hand while I sit looking in the mirror. After a while I get used to taking shots like this and can get a pretty good idea what I'm taking. BTW, I don't usually look directly at my subject. I look to the side of them and frame the picture in my peripheral vision. If I am concerned about shutter noise I either turn that down or off. I want nothing to suggest to people that I am taking photos of them. And of course using a digital camera means I can take as many photos as I want and discard the duds. Surprisingly most of them are quite good. I don't worry too much about settings. I leave the camera in auto mode and let it take care of that.





This was one of the early shots. It was late in the afternoon but there was still plenty of light so the photo is quite sharp. Do you think the girl and the guy in the helmet are on to me? Or are they just staring vaguely while they wait to be served?






The market does attract its share of beggars. This young woman is not one of them. She is blind and is selling small packets of tissues.






I'm not sure if she was onto me but this girl seemed to be trying to figure out what I was doing. Then again, I was probably the only foreigner at the market. She probably didn't realise that while I appeared to be staring at a stall on the other side of the road I was actually taking a photo of her.






The woman on the right is making vegetarian popiah (spring rolls) and there's a queue. I came back later and got a couple for my dinner.









By now it's quite dark so the image is a little blurred but I love the blue colouring in the sky.





This girl is making some kind of coconut confectionary, she inserts the mixture in bamboo tubes and her mother cooks it. It must be good because there's quite a crowd waiting, so much so that I can't get a shot with my usual process. This is the only shot that night for which I held the camera in my hands. I had to, to get it over the shoulders of the people in front of me. But I still didn't use the flash. The EXIF data tells me the exposure was 1/4 second. Between the anti-shake in the fz20 and my steady hands, I was still able to get a reasonable shot.




For this one the camera is back in the dangling position but this stall is so well lit that the camera can get a sharp shot with a 1/10 sec exposure.

You can see these photos a little larger by clicking on them. If you'd like to see one or two more from this night, take a look at my photo page (see sidebar).

Labels: Asia, camera, fz20, Lumix, Malacca, Malaysia, market, Melaka, Panasonic, photography