when we lived in Sa Kaeo province (48km to supermarket if that is a measure of civilisation), we'd see a succession of pickup trucks selling a variety of items.

every day around 6.15am and accompanied by a blaring loudspeaker system, the food vehicle. A pickup with two freezers on the back, loaded high with racks selling pork, chicken, squid, prawns, fish from the refrigerators, and fruits, vegetables, chilis (always chilis), eggs etc. They started there day at markets about 30km away which opened at 3am and spent the day driving/stopping at regular places/times.

The food one was the only daily sales truck, but others we'd see included

- clothing; adults/childrens on a credit scheme, hire purchase where they sold to people one week and took small payments in the following months. Was told they were very expensive

- mattresses; pickups loaded ridiculously high with mattresses, some with bed frames too. At 187cm tall was definitely the odd one out, tried one for size once and it was less than 180cm (6ft) long. No thanks

- furniture; in Wang Nam Yen (on highway 317) there's a large furniture making co-operative village, good stuff too, and occasionally they load up big trucks and cruise the rural roads. Couple of pics here from the WNY showrooms



- plasticware for dogs; innovative scheme where plastic items, buckets, bowls etc are exchanged for stray/unwanted dogs, headed for across the border and human consumption.


more to follow . . .