Morning Market

Khilek, Mae Taeng, Thailand

I must be in a rare mood, because instead of sharing a bunch of my thoughts and opinions (about the global marketplace and just commerce in genera, yawn), I just want to share some snapshots of what it was like to be in this little market. I will, however, also share with you a few things that were running through my head at the time:

1. There are a lot of conflicting smells here, not all of them pleasant.

2. I feel like a lot of the stuff I see lying out really should be refrigerated, but it isn't.

3. Would any of this be safe for me to eat? I love being adventurous, but I also don't want to be trying to find A TOILET every 10 minutes...

4. A lot of the nonperishable items look as if a Walmart exploded and then reconstituted itself here in this pavilion.

5. And finally, my most memorable observation of all -- that they are using wicker baskets over pendant lights. I've been seeing this everywhere! I wonder if this is where it all started, if they have been doing this for eons? I also wonder if they know it has become all the rage in America for interior design, and that upturned baskets hanging over lightbulbs are selling for hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars?

For some reason, in catalogues, when they are hanging above a kitchen island instead of sweaty, outdoor market meats, these wicker basket lights are thousands of dollars. Hmm.

Even now, while I consider different lighting options for my new house, I can't stop thinking about whether or not I could just make my own light fixture using a traditional basket and a lightbulb on a socket cord. That sure seems to be what they have done here in Thailand...

Or does the basket perhaps need to be coated in some kind of flame retardant? Is that why some of the light fixtures that I've been seeing recently are so expensive? Because they've already done all that? Or are they just so pricey because it's a trendy fad, and one that I could just as easily achieve by grabbing a bunch of the wicker baskets we sell at COVINGTON'S NURSERY and simply wiring them with lights?

Yes, of all the things happening here in this market of sensory overload, I think I spent the majority of my time stuck on how/if I could create my own rustic wicker basket lights.

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