Sarm Chook Market

It's been a long while since I updated my blog and I blame it on my master degree course. I actually just got back from Chiang Mai a few days ago for a field trip. It was more like party trip rather than educational trip. It was a good experience though apart from an unpleasant hotel that we stayed... oh well just leave that behind. Anyhow, today is my day off and I used this opportunity to visit 100 year-old market in Supanburi Province. To be honest, I didn't plan for this trip it just came out of the blue plus I've heard about this market from various channels and why not just go today since I have nothing else to do (actually I do, but you know me...hahahahaha).
It takes around one or two hours to get to Supanburi by car. The length of travel time depends on how many stops you take. For me, it only took me around one and a half hour due to toilet stop and visiting King Narasuan Monument. When I was young my dad used to bring me to Supanburi at least twice a month because of his business matter. So i adopted the accent from Supanburi people and I was quite fluent actually. However, my mom couldn't stand it and she asked my dad to stop taking me there with him, if my mom didn't do that I'd probably still can speak Thai with Supanburi accent.

The 100 year-old Sarm Chook Market is very unique with its own cultural diversity and friendly vendors. I stopped there for a nice lunch, Yen Tah Foh is a must-try-dish there. It was worth the wait, the flavour is just right and most importantly it's pretty cheap. Only 25 baht per bowl...big bowl. There are plenty of old style toys, antique lamps and Thai traditional food/dessert. What this market tries to represent is the uniqueness of the old style shops and restaurant. Just like 100 years ago, so the new generation could learn about the past and the mixture of cultures. It's obvious that there is a lot of Chinese influences in this market, especially at the coffee shop. It's an old wooden house with heaps of Chinese letters and people in the shop also wear Chinese costume. My maid was quite mean when she made a comment that actually this market is old because of the shop owners, not because the age of the market....hahahhaha... I just laughed my arse off.


The highlight of this trip would be 'The Coke House'. Basically, it's a gallery of Coke products. The ownder has a fond of coke products, it's not only because her name is Coke (for real) but she likes Coke merchadises as well. The entry fee is only 5 baht per person which is pretty cheap and it worths every satang (cent in Thai). So make sure you visit this place when you visit Supanburi. Oh another recommendation, the Thai dessert shop outside the old coffee shop. There are 16 kinds of Thai desserts and I already tried almost half of it.