Fresh fish or feet Sir? (22 March 2010)

The village behind the beach here in Khao Lak is probably a kilometre long with loads of shops, restaurants and cafes lining each side of Highway 4 which goes north south along the coast. Plenty of choice for food which is nice and loads of stalls to wander around, selling all the usual suspects – fake bags and sunglasses, Thai souvenirs, carved soap and the beach fashions which haven’t changed since I first came here about twenty years ago! There is little sign here of the other “usual suspect” – the dicey massage parlour and the other associated businesses. It looks like the large bottles of massage oil on sale everywhere are for the more legitimate side of the massage trade and beauty spas are everywhere. It’s a first – a Thai resort area that seems to be just that with not a girly bar in sight, and no sign so far of fat Europeans with tiny Thai “girlfriends.

But I am at the seaside so I thought a nice seafood dinner would be in order. I wander along and find a nice looking place that had quite a crowd around the entrance. They had loads of fish in tanks that you choose and they cook for you. But then I realised, the crowds around the entrance were looking at something completely different. Another large tank of small fish, with people sitting on the edge dangling their feet in. The tiny fish nibble way at the dead skin on your feet.... someone should tell them about “adjacencies” in merchandising. My stomach is still turning at the thought – which tank do they cook the fish from? A lot of other people obviously felt the same way – whilst the front was busy, there wasn’t a soul eating in there....