Volcano Shrimp
Originally uploaded by MadeByMark
(See also: Today in Pictures on Flickr)
After a morning at the Floating Market in Ratchaburi province, Bobby delights us with a trip to meet his mother in a nearby town.
His mother runs a small grocery — what we would call a convenience store — built into the front of her nine-bedroom home. The store itself is a crazy-quilt of merchandise, with Bobby's dad's whiskey collection stacked on top of display cases containing diapers, wet wipes, coffee, and motor oil. There's no rhyme or reason to it — unless you're Bobby or his mother, who seem to know right where everything is.
Out back of the house — once you get past the two affectionate dogs that follow Bobby's mom everywhere — is a labyrinth of a garden, with pots and pools and birdcages and palm trees spiraling off in all directions. By the time we find our way back in, Momma has set out a half-dozen plates of fresh fruit: rose apples, papaya, and guava, along with tiny cans of Coke.
After many goodbyes, we head for a brief visit at Bobby's brother's house. Outside, it looks like a low, concrete bunker sealed off with metal bars … but inside, the magic begins. This could be a knick-knack store — if Liberace ever ran a knick-knack store. There's the Doll Room, where hundreds of plastic dolls peer out from cotton-candy display cases … and the living room, where the jewel-draped chandelier sheds light on hundreds of identical Buddha statues, antique clocks, a working Victrola, and thousands of other collectors items obsessively sorted by color and size.
From there, we're off to lunch at a local seafood place famous for its volcano shrimp: a mountain of monster prawns arranged on the plate to form a steaming peak. The table attendant shells 'em — so all you have to do is eat them. This, along with steamed fish, a crab omelette, and Thai spinach make for a tasty lunch!
Then it's back to the tailor for the second fitting. My two suits are already looking smart, and I discover that there's nothing quite so comfortable as a dress shirt made fit my neck and body perfectly. Everything will be delivered later this week, fine-tuned, and then handed over for the long trip home.
Tomorrow, it's off for our first trip ever to Chiang Rai, where the Mirror Temple and the night market are high on the list of things to do.
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