While I’ve been working remotely in Bangkok, a new project emerged, a YouTube channel and a Facebook page about food called “Saranokchan” with my sister, Chef Purida, and ex-colleagues. It gave me a chance to pick up the DSLR camera and walk around with them from pier to pier—Tha Phrachan to Tha Tian.
The locations were my own turf, kicking off at Tha Phrachan, where I spent the uni time. It was eerie not seeing many people. One of the original shops opened—the martabak. They’ve been here for generations and their martabaks tasted the same. The owner kindly showed the Chef how he made those yummy martabaks from the fillings to frying the pastry. Whereas a veteran vendor, making and selling Khanom Rang Nok (candied shredded taro), displayed her knife skills, beating the Chef.
We walked to Tha Maharaj. Then we moved on to Tha Tian Market. Back in those days, my friends and I were only here in the evening for drinks. And I was oblivious to the market until they took me there. It’s a dried food market: dried fish, spices, fermented fish—preserved foods. Again, the space looked empty with some vendors still opening. Sign of the time. Nonetheless, we got to talk to some shops there.
The previous street photography was six months prior in DC. It was the first photo walk in Bangkok since the last one in 2019, before the pandemic. Fortunately, we did this in June when we could. It will be some time until we can do this again.