Island Life / Moonrise Kingdom

Life on Ko Lanta, at least in the Old Town, is pleasingly slow after the hectic pace of Saigon and Siem Reap. The roving market came to town this morning as it apparently does every Sunday. It opens early and by 11am many of the stallholders have packed up and left. This was not a problem, as we were up for the (relatively cloudy) sunrise today.

Sunrise

The market makes its way around the island, taking place in different locations over the week. On Sundays, it is the turn of Old Town to host the traders at the pier. We joined the local people and carried away armfuls of fresh fruit and vegetables.

Lanta Old Town Sunday market

We also picked up a bunch of wonderfully scented lemon basil, known as maenglak (แมงลัก) and some yellow curry paste. Displayed in large mounds, we had the choice of red, green or yellow paste and a range of spiciness. We chose the hottest one.

Dealing at the market was a relief after the assault of Phsar Leu in Siem Reap and involved no haggling. Some items were even labelled with their price. Still, it made for hungry work and we stopped for breakfast afterwards.

The place we chose is opposite the Chinese Buddhist temple and had a shrine of its own in the front room. To get to the seating area on the deck at the back of the long house, we had to walk through the owner's accommodation.

As we have found time and again, tofu and vegetables are plentiful in people's kitchens and, as everything is freshly prepared, there is usually no problem in making substitutions. We both ordered soup, K's a spicy version of my clear broth with crunchy vegetables and tofu. While K's soup had conventional long rice noodles, mine had kuay jab (ก๋วยจั๊บ), translated on the menu as "paste of rice flour", which are square rice noodles rolled into cigar shapes.

We spent much of the rest of the day watching life on the island go by. Our neighbours performed maintenance on their longtail boats, oiling the engine and occasionally firing it loudly into life. As the tide went out, we watched the boats be gently lowered onto the shore by the retreating water.

Negotiation at the market had been tricky. When I had tried to split a large bunch of lemongrass, the lady was keen to point out that it was all or nothing. So, with an abundance of lemongrass to I threw some into a banana shake to give it a citrusy edge.

Overhead circled two fish eagles, spreading their enormous brown wings and baring their white chests. The fisherman must have beaten them to their catch, as they didn't swoop once to the water's surface.

Other life on the island was to be found in our kitchen, where a sizeable lizard with sparkling green and red skin slunk around. Hopefully, he was catching mosquitoes for us, but probably he was just staying out of the way of the eagles (although they primarily hunt fish, they are opportunistic predators).

Using the hot curry paste we had picked up at the market, I made a simple yellow curry with tofu, shallots and green beans. It was certainly 'Thai spicy' and was one of the best of its kind I have tasted. The paste did all the work, so it feels a little like cheating without hours pounding the pestle and mortar.

Moonrise

After darkness had fallen we ate dinner on the deck. Suddenly a thin, bright sliver of yellow light appeared from behind one of the islands in the distance. Within seconds, the moon - a large shining orange disc -  shot up from its hiding place, illuminating the water with its glow. As yesterday was full moon, this moonrise was even more spectacular than the solar equivalent this morning.

Over a baffling but lovingly constructed and shot film (Enemy, feat. Jake Gyllenhall), we sampled the odd sweet that we picked up at the market. This turned out to be similar to something we had tried in Vietnam - a steamed cassava cake (made gelatinous from the tapicoa), known as khanom mun sumpalung (ขนมมันสำปะหลัง), topped with coconut cream jelly, takoh (ตะโก้). It was chewy, yet cakey, and not too sweet.