Dinner at Surasri Market in Kanchanaburi, Thailand

2015-10-12 · Updated: 2026-08-11 · Original (Korean)

This article was translated from the original Korean post with AI assistance. Read the original Korean post →

The happiest part about traveling with local friends is that I don't even have to look for places to eat; they figure it all out for me. By now, it's become a given that I just crash and sleep in the car while everyone else chats excitedly on the road, eventually dropping us off at some place that looks like a local pop-up market to buy dinner. Anyway, why is this market so small...?

I guess I'll just have to fill this post mostly with photos. No matter how hard I scratch my head trying to put this moment into words, all I can remember is drooling while watching our dinner being made, and blankly staring at clothes while the others were shopping.

Several stalls and blue tables are set up in an outdoor market in front of a white building with a sign written in Thai.

Motorcycles are parked along the market street, and people are walking in front of a covered shopping arcade. — Honestly, I wondered if they could even make a living with this few customers.

A street food stall where skewers and pieces of meat are grilling over a charcoal grill.

Clothes with colorful patterns are displayed on hangers at a shop inside a covered market.

Short-sleeved shirts with colorful floral patterns are densely hung on a shop display rack. — Wow... I can think of someone who would love these clothes. What a shame.

Behind a stall selling fried food, the inside of the market is visible, selling various groceries such as watermelons and other fruits.

A vendor is trimming flowers at a stall displaying fresh flowers and wreaths made of yellow and purple flowers. — This is the photo I felt best about taking. It perfectly captures the flowers and the heart of a woman who loves them. But she didn't buy them because you can't eat them -_-

A fruit stall with a large pile of yellow mangoes, next to which packaged sticky rice and coconuts are displayed.

People's hands picking out green mangoes piled up on a market stall, and a heap of fruit. — Mangoes!!! Surprisingly delicious when eaten as a side dish!!!

A hand holding a clear plastic bag filled with ice and a dark brown drink. — Cola in a plastic bag, which seems like it has a patent in Southeast Asia. Maybe cups are too expensive, but they always give it to you in a plastic bag.

A street food stall with a vendor cooking a stir-fried dish and another vendor counting money. — Dinner. It was way cheaper than eating at the hotel, so we got everything to go. I felt pretty bad just standing around scratching my belly like a piece of luggage while they were budgeting so well for the trip.

People walking past an outdoor market stall displaying various vegetables such as cucumbers and cabbages.

Vendors selling bananas and various goods, and a person riding a motorcycle in a covered outdoor market.

A market seafood stall displaying various types of fish in metal trays and basins.

Children waiting for food and a vendor handing over food at a stall selling grilled skewers.

I'm not a great writer to begin with, and I don't have the ability to write endlessly about a market that didn't leave a huge impression on me. If I just write what I saw, it's that people looked at me with curiosity, and unlike Bangkok, there was absolutely no touting. It was a typical rural market where vendors would happily chat away, hand you something if you asked for it, and grill something up if you requested it. And as always, the true masters of the market are the world's prettiest little kids staring intently at a piece of junk food.

A meal of mango sticky rice, fried rice, salad, grilled chicken, and beer set on a table covered with newspaper. — Inhaled everything once we got back. We walked so much today that I easily scarfed down Southeast Asian food, which usually doesn't suit my taste. I guess everything tastes good when you're starving.