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Thailand

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Words by Jane Hodges Photography by Maree Azzopardi After a late night feast in Bangkok’s Chinatown, we came across Chak Phet Rd and its surrounding streets, which are home to Pak Khlong Talat (canal mouth market), a fresh produce market and also the cities largest and most vibrant flower market. Like all 24-hour markets, visiting late at night or in the wee morning hours is best. There are fewer people – usually no tourists – and most deliveries (by boat and truck) happen between midnight and 4am, so the stalls are at their brightest, most fragrant and bulging best. Bunches, bouquets, wreaths and garlands were crammed into every inch of space. Men hefted armfuls of blooms onto trolleys and jostled down narrow alleys. Busy hands were hard at work. The many Thai and Chinese festivals and religious celebration days ensure intricate malais (garlands) and dok mai (exquisite assorted arrangements) are…

When it comes to dining, Bangkok is a minefield of choice. Not in a bad way, more in a too-many-choices-too-little-time way. After photographing a seafood market one afternoon, all we knew was that we had a hankering for local river prawns. It took about three seconds for Phitak Srisawat, Assistant Chef Concierge at Bangkok’s luxurious Four Seasons Hotel to point us in the right direction… ‘Go to China in Bangkok,’ he smiled, “Take a tuk tuk to Chinatown’s Seafood Street.’ Yaowarat Road is Chinatown’s main drag but we were headed to Soi Texas (Texas Street), a narrow lane lined with scores of makeshift pavement seafood cafes where happy diners perch on little plastic stools at utilitarian stainless steel tables. There’s no decoration or pretence here, it’s all business: people are here to eat and eat well. All manner of sea creatures sizzle away on open air grills, woks hiss and clang,…