Walmart versus Thai Grocery Store

Grocery shopping in Thailand is not an enjoyable process. Neither is shopping in Walmart. For those of you who find Walmart too bright, too crowded and too thrifty....be thankful.

First of all, I have to call for a taxi and wait in the 95 degree, humid weather. Then the cab ride can be interesting, depending on how much english the taxi driver knows...and what else may be in his system. Thank goodness it is only a 10 minute ride.

I arrive at the warehouse- type of grocery store and am instantly hit with the smell of exhaust mixed with humidity in the parking lot. I enter the building and go by many food stands with a variety of unrecognizable food items that all seems to make me nauseous. I make my way up the escalator and enter the "Walmart zone."

To this point I have yet to year a word of English and now I am overwhelmed by people speaking Thai and a Thai radio blaring commercials. The other day I asked 4 employees where the sparkling water was (it had been moved) and I even used my poor Thai, "Chang nam?" No one could help me. I went home with out my favorite drink.

If you are reading this post, you are able to shop in a grocery store and read all of the signs....I am not so lucky. 98% of the signs are in Thai, the currency is Thai baht and the metric system is the only system. As a result I have no idea how much I am spending until I get to the check out AND I have to pay cash. I really should bring a calculator.

Now the smells are the biggest challenge, especially in the meat/seafood department. A few things are packaged but most are in an "open buffet" set up. I have never seen so much raw meat in one place and much of it is not unfamiliar and some of it is downright scary. You just scoop some up, throw it on the scale and the tag is printed for you: in kilos and baht of course. The seafood is incredible, so many things and so very pungent. I quickly buy my package of chicken breasts and smoked salmon and head on my way, to a safer, less stinky section.

I had no idea there were so many kinds of rice, or noodles...or milk in a box! There are only 3 aisle that I frequent- those that cater to expatriates. A few familiar brands are there: Prego, Pepperidge farms, Nestle, Laughing Cow but we are beginning to branch out a bit. There is also a small selection of European products which sounds interesting but actually they just confuse things for me. Now there are Thai, English and French labels to decipher!

Wait- the fun isn't over yet. There is the check out line, which moves INCREDIBLY slow. Slower than Walmart. Apparently folks aren't being timed and so why hurry? The cashier is the bagger, like at Walmart, so no hurry there either. Then I pile all of my bags into the cart, go down the magnetic escalator- kind of cool, head to the curb and hail a taxi...but you have to find a driver that knows where I live so that usually takes two tries, using a mixture of Thai and English. I land in the taxi, and try to decipher the smells for my ten minute return trip. Then I am dropped off in the parking lot, unload the groceries, haul them up 10 steps, load them on a cart, into the elevator, unload them into the apartment and finally return the cart back to the main floor.

Ugh! Walmart is looking pretty good to me these days, I will approach it with new eyes next summer.
Kristy