Shopping in Thailand

As with everything else, shopping in Thailand is an adventure.I think I've mentioned before the difficulties of shopping when you can't actually read the packaging.The other day I was looking for stain remover for my laundry (sweat stains are an unfortunate reality here) and was terrified of accidentally getting bleach. I mean, many things have English on the packaging (if you can find it) but apparently not the laundry supplies. 

Thai marketing is also pretty entertaining. Case in point, I needed a mug for coffee and tea. This is what I found. 

As far as actual food is concerned, If you're not getting food at a street vendor or a restaurant, which is what I have to do about 75% of the time, the place to go for groceries is Carrefour. It's a challenge. I get so disoriented there. There are at least two sections for everything (possibly more). The two I'm aware of are imported and domestic. Two cereal aisles. Two dairy sections. Two produce sections. Price comparison is really fun this way. It's like a relay race. 

Carrefour has a huge area in the middle of the floor devoted to rice. And allow me to introduce: the soy sauce aisle. 

One thing about Carrefour that I have yet to experience but can't wait to witness is that apparently the employees do a dance routine at a certain time of the night. Although maybe that is just the other CVs taking advantage of my gullibility. 

And Carrefour isn't just for groceries. It's more like Wal-Mart. In fact, it's kind of like the French Wal-Mart. Except that's changing now and it's being taken over by something else. In any case, I was rather surprised to discover apples bearing the Washington sticker. They were the same price as all the others, so I went for a taste of home. 

Anyhow, just a few tidbits of my everyday life here. Also, I have finally managed to take a few snaps of campus. If you're interested in seeing what that looks like, click here.