Street Vendors in Bangkok, Thailand

On the Streets of Bangkok

In the morning hours, street vendors roll their carts along the roadway to where they will set up shop for the day in Bangkok, Thailand.

When Adam and I first arrived in Bangkok to visit Gary and Michelle Ford, it was late at night, and the streets were mostly empty. But then the next morning when we were out, I was surprised to see street vendors everywhere. Along almost every street. On every corner. Usually several of them lined up together, all selling their wares. Many sold food, some sold other goods. They appeared to do pretty good business on the bustling streets of Bangkok, where there always seemed to be people walking this way and that.

And then at night, they were gone again. It was almost a little eerie to see the empty corners and wide sidewalk areas when there had been several vendors there just a few hours before. But not to worry, because they reappeared again the next morning, as they did every morning.

Here, two of the vendors make their way to their spots for the day. The front vendor has a selection of fruits, while the back vendor has bags that appear to contain green leafy vegetables, among other things. And interestingly, their carts look to be almost identical, so I’m pretty sure they were obtained from the same place. Were they together, or was that just a coincidence? And did they go to the same place to sell or to different places? And if they went together, did the second vendor share his umbrella with the first vendor? Or did she have an umbrella stashed somewhere that doesn’t show up in the photo? Because you would definitely want to be under some kind of cover instead of out in the sun all day long.

While we are at it, let’s take a closer look at the fruit for sale:

Doesn’t really look like any of the fruit that we have around here, does it? I believe those are lychee in the front, and then rambutan (the fuzzy things) in the middle. Those may be longan in the back, although I am not certain. And from the sign, it looks like the fruits were being sold for 10 Baht, which is around 30 American cents. Can’t beat the price!

All the fruit that I tried was good, even if it did have a slightly different taste than what I am used to eating here at home. Sometimes it just takes someone saying, “Here, try this,” to get you to try something new. Especially if it is someone you already trust like Gary and Michelle who have tried all of it already. And then you might be glad you tried it, too. Because you don’t know until you try.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. - Galatians 5:22-23

About the Photo

This was one of the many, many quick shots I took while we were in Bangkok. Just about any time that we were out walking somewhere, I had my camera mostly ready to go, so that I could just put the viewfinder up to my eye and shoot. Sometimes, I had to turn the camera on first, because I had turned it off to save some battery life, but fortunately, this camera starts up really quickly, so that usually didn’t cause an issue.

I was trying to find some “human interest” scenes at various times during the trip, and this scene of the vendors was just what I was looking for. Something with a bit of a story behind it, even if we don’t really know most of the story.

Photo: A single Raw exposure, processed in Photoshop. Read more about photography tips, photo software, camera gear, and more at Steve’s Photography Tips.
Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M10
Lens: Olympus M.Zukio 25mm f1.8
Date: May 20, 2015
Location: Bangkok, Thailand