Farang market??

[BangkokButcher]

Had an email from a friend today, apparently he has heard from someone in Harry's bar that there will soon be a farang market opening up in town, apparently selling the harder to find farang stuff that some might miss.

Anyone heard anything about this??

[thethailife]

On one hand it is good that people will be able to get what they need but it makes me think that by the time I retire I will be surrounded by WalMarts and Blockbuster. I hope not. I love Udon and Thailand, but I come to get away from "the farang life" and most of it's associations. No BB I haven't heard about. Can anyone give me some cheese to go with my wine?

[JimboPSM]

Maybe some of our longer term expat members would let us know what (if anything) they really miss and crave for from home and what they would like to find in such a shop/market?

Over the years I have been asked to take Vimto, Branston Pickle, Cadbury Milk Chocolate and Eccles Cakes to friends living overseas.

When I return to UK I like to have a good mug of tea and baked beans on toast asap and then have the luxury of being able to use tap water to clean my teeth without curing constipation and reducing my life expectancy ; otherwise there is little that I miss.

[Paul]

To be honest I wouldn't think they would be a busy place - certainly not enough to open a market - or did u mean like a mini mart? Are there enough foreigners here to make it worthwhile?

I miss things but not enough to pay stupid prices for them which most things from home seem to be.

In my opinion what I cant get here - I have learned to live without, however when I went home I brought back Cadburys chocolate, (its not the same here from Malaysia or Australia), Maryland chocolate chip cookies, Tetley tea bags, tomato soup, jif (or cif) cream cleaner and J-cloths, Solvol Autosol metal/chrome cleaner, T-cut scratch remover (much needed here).
None of it I would consider essential but makes life easier (and makes you appreciate the things you always took for granted at home.)

Paul

[BangkokButcher]

I have no idea as to the actual concept of the place, he just called it a market, could be a shop or maybe just a market stall or something.

I did actually wonder as to the viability of it but i s'pose if he wants to give it a go then the best of luck to him.

I'm just curious to find out if marmite is available

[laphanphon]

i wouldn't mind have a Carfour buit on southern end of town, like the hyw #2 and bypass intersection. sure make life easy for me. visited the carfour in pattaya, seems like a nice store. especially bakery/bread and prepared foods. with more realistic prices for tasty looking bread. few more farang selections. then i think the saturation point might be met for couple years. major stores aren't real busy here till weekend, which i never visit then, during the week, easy in and out.

as far as stuff i miss, don't think i'll get them here

philly cheesesteak, water ice, soft pretzels
i under stand fajitas are available at mojo's, but have yet to see them, maybe the new mexican place will have good ones.
and just one cheese cannoli would be nice, better than a short time, lol.

[banpaeng]

There is a string on thaivisa asking what folks want. Seems to be getting a few replys

[Dakoda]

A USDA/Prime Meat Market! yes!, yes! and of course relish & pickle's!

[valentine]

The story may have originated from the Business papers.
Waitrose , the British store chain are introducing some of there more popular own brand products into the stores in Bangkok, which are of course operated here as TOPS. It is a limited product selection, but does include Gold tea which will be a welcome change from the tea bags we currently get.Don't know if it will get as far as Udon though. The local management are not aware of the move.T I T

[businessman]

As a rough guess, how many farang live in the Udon area?

If there are not enough to keep the bars going then i doubt if a farang store would pay its way,unless it was house based and thus had no business overheads.

[laphanphon]

i don't think there are enough farangs now for what is offered. tops/lotus/big c all have some farang items, such as non thai mayonaise or my choice miracle whip and they are aways near the expiration date or past. many farang versions of condiments are the same. but prepared foods and bakery that i saw in carrfour in pattaya i think would do good, freshly prepared, even thais would sample and enjoy some items. big c carries little farang items, lotus just a bit more, tops small supply of larger selection but you never see anything sold out or expiration dates more than a month from expiring. i wouldn't expect any farang markets in future, there are as thai, farang specialty restaurants/markets, such as butcher shop off 1st roundabout coming north, raunch kate offers menu items for sale and such like that. but that's about it for now, and the forseeable future, i would think.

[businessman]

It looks like the idea of a farang market was conjured up by ray on the thaivisa forum.He loves to think through various money making ideas.

[laphanphon]

falls under market, didn't want to start thread just for this. anyone find cream in any markets, as in for coffee. real milk cream, tire if using coffeemate, poor substitute. and if anyone has found flavored creamer, as in hazelnut or irish cream, i know, i'm dreaming, a pint on me.

a thought, anyone ever use whipping cream for coffee, if so, how did it taste?

[banpaeng]

If you are talking about the stuff in the carton you buy in stores it is good cream. If you are talking about the stuff in cans that is pressurized it will work but use a bunch as it is got a lot of air in it. Remember back in the states when you got hot cocoa and they put the whipped cream out of the pressure cans on top and you stirred it in and it made the cocoa a bit creamer same stuff. If trying to amke cofee a lot more creamer you got a lot of stirring to do with the pressur stuff. Hope you meant carton.

[businessman]

Sean,heard anymore about the market and when it might open?