10 Baht Buffet? Incredible Street Carts at Thai Malaysia Border (“KHAO YAM” BLUE RICE)

I think the Southern recipe of 'Herb Rice' (Khao Yam) has to be one of the all-around PRETTIEST dishes you could ever hope to find. The vibrant colors, the great aromas, and the unique blend of raw, fresh-cut leaves and fruits mixing with the dry roasted herbs, chilies, and coconut, its truly incredible to ALSO have food like this for the cost of LESS than 1$US... and in this market, its actually quite a lot less than a dollar!

I was so excited for this dish all on its own, how could I expect to be rewarded with an entire market-basket-ful of delicious local Thai-Malay recipes to go with it?

Only in the town of Sangklaburi (on the Myanmar-Thai border, in Kanjanaburi) can I ever remember having a meal of this diversity at such an amazing price - in total today our meal selection including more than 10 dishes, in the end the food cost about the same price as the petrol we used to make the trip (about 6$US), but it is a meal experience that I will remember for a long, long time...

This truly is a meal of travel dreams.

Padang Besar is a town you'll find directly on the Thai-Malay border, and the side we visit today lies in the Southern Thailand province of Songkla. The Malay side is a much larger town, while the Thai side is dedicated mainly to wholesale transportation and shipping. The morning market on the Thai side though is INCREDIBLE, and although we arrived a little late to see the entire market in action, this was still one of my favorite single market visits of this entire year so far.

The unique blend of culture, the wonderful mix of foods, and the complex histories that exist in border areas excite me to no end - I love the chance to visit yet another new corner of the BEAUTIFUL country of Thailand.

Thank you for hanging out with Li and I today, on a (roughly) 150km round-trip motorbike ride to Padang Besar.

LOCATION:
The morning market opens near this marker.
(Google Maps) https://goo.gl/maps/VcxmKBZp61Csgk2h7