Days of my parents: Working in Wet Market Singapore

I'm not sure if anyone would be interested in this but I wish to share a lil bits of a life of a stall owner in a wet market. Reason being? I wanna share the work life of my parents. Currently, my parents own 2 stalls in a rather popular wet market. Frankly speaking, I used to be ashamed of my parents occupation when my classmates would to ask me when I was really young (primary school, I believe) because I had a perception that they would have a perception that wet market is dirty or are only run by crude people. I'm glad my mindset changed. Why was I ashamed then? My parents are making hard earn money. There's nothing to be shameful about.

Anyway, I'm sure not many would know this. My dad actually had to leave home at 11pm everyday (except for Monday) to head off to Pasir Panjang wholesale centre to purchase the veggies. He would then picked my mum up at around 115am and they would head off to the market to set their stalls up.

Once, they reaches the market, my parents would unload all the goods from the truck. I tagged along a few months back as they could not manage to hire an additional hand to help them up but I'm glad they hired someone hardworking to help them out now.

My mum on the other hand would open the stalls. You could see how empty the market is. 

And here's my job if I was to tag along with them at 1am

To open all these white styrofoam boxes and red bags and packed them

If you ever go to the wet market, don't assume that all these veggies are pre-packed from the wholesale centre. Its actually the effort of the stall owner to pack them. (2 advantages for doing so:  1. Able to tell the customers how much does each pack cost  2. Able to tell the customer the weight of each veggies) As a whole, all these are done to save time. For each box of veggies, I believe i spent about 15 minutes packing them. Its not an easy job too! I have to place them neatly in the bag, pick out any yellow, rotten veggies and staple them.

My parents working hard on the other hand to sort and tie the veggies in rubber band. What else do they do then? Cutting, giving culinary advice, recommending, foster good customer relationship, setting aside/keeping veggies for the regular etc. O, my dad also does delivery of veggies for some shops too. Which means they also have to take orders from the clients a day before and packed them on the day itself and deliver them to their respective shops.

Snapshots of how the stalls look like when its almost set up:

Its a long hour work as a stall owner of a wet market. My parents had to work all the way to 12+pm (weekdays) or 1+pm (weekends). Thats more than 12 hours of work! You could say its because my parents are hardworking as they choose to pack those veggies which some may think its unnecessary. But you really got to save time when you starts your business. Sometimes, my parents don't even have the time to eat or go to the loo! Their hands, mouth and brain never stops working. I would say my parents are a pro in mental sums. 

Anyway, just some additional insight of the life in the wet market. Don't despise some of the store owners. There are a few are pretty well to do. They stay in landed property. I have seen a few in the market my parents are working side to side with. Disclaimer: My family are not well-to-do. We are just average. Those well-to-do one would means they work longer hours, sell a wider varieties of stuffs etc. 

If you want to get cheaper goods, get them to reserve/keep the best goods for you, its always nice to foster a good relationship with them. Here are a few to do, which I notices:

~ Be a regular of a stall of a particular good, this would makes them remember you and thus would allow them to make an effort to keep you buying goods from them by giving you a discount.

~ If you are an extrovert and like to mingle with people, you could talk to them too e.g about your personal life, etc. But relatable of course.

As I do make an attempt to try to head down to help out, here are a few not to do (sometimes, it really pissed me off):

 ~ Ask for discount when you merely purchase a few bucks item! 

~ Try to gather their attention (cut queue) among the crowds. There's are actually queues too. Wait for your turn.

~ Be very picky! Please, there are hardly a few things in the world are perfect! It really gets to my nerve when I show you everything I had and you still picking out minor flaws. In some cases, there aren't even flaws. 

~ Tell lies and said the other stall sell me cheaper, could you sell me at this price too? Hey, if they really sell cheaper goods than us, you could get it from them isn't that so? 

~ Be rude! 

~ Steal. Yes, it happens every weekends. I don't get it? Why must one steal veggies in our case?

Its really is tough for my parents. They have to work every single days and their only rest days are Chinese New Year. For merely 3 days! Its been many years since my dad even travel oversea. Its just not possible. Even though, they are the boss, they also have to account to their clients! Just a few years more before my parents would retire. I really hope they would retire soon, to work in a wet market really isn't that easy. But my mum are enjoying it. She said she loves her job! Weird urh?

Thoughts

"And I will swallow my pride,

You're the one that I love,

And I'm saying goodbye"

 

Bangkok trip with the girls- Part 2

Merry Christmas everyone! Keen to see how I spent my Christmas eve? Click here Blogging at Dayre, sometimes I feel its easier. At least I do not have to export my photos.

So back to part 2 of Bangkok trip. On the third day, we had our usual breakfast at the hotel lobby.

An example of how our breakfast looks like. Its almost the same old food everyday.

We headed off to Platinum at 11am. It was a short walk from our hotel to Platinum. Roughly 20 minutes walk.

Did I mention? I got myself less than 4 hours of sleep each day during my stay in BKK. And that explained the ultra heavy eyebags I was having then.

Tip for shopping in BKK, its always wise to bring an extra large tote or recycled bag to avoid carrying too many bags especially for us girls

And how ridiculous it was, we actually shopped till the shops start closing. And you can't blame us for this, there are 6 whole levels in the mall! We were merely done with half of level 4 by then.

Thus, we had no choice but to call our shopping to an end at Platinum. We ended up having our dinner at a Thai restaurant nearby which was surprisingly filled with 50% Singaporeans then. Its pretty easy to spot ourselves. The ascent and slangs we used.

And we waited really long for the food. Close to half an hour I believe.

We wanted to wait for the final dish; Sambal kangkong but we couldn't resist our tummy and start sweeping the food before it came. Tom Yam gong, stir-fried basil pork, grilled squid were what we ordered. 

And guess what? We continue shopping at the night market nearby! Tsk us, girls! 

 And looked at Julia! That's exactly what we did right after we reached the hotel. Placed our shopping bags down and used the wi-fi.

During day 4, we headed off early to Platinum once its opened right after our breakfast, to comb through the remaining level we failed to shop the previous day. Settled for lunch at the food court at level 6 and these are parts of what we had shared between Julia, Alison and me as Sok Gin just wanna to have her KFC.

We next headed off to our next location.

Siam Paragon (I believe) for the girls to purchase NaRaYa products for their kins and friends. And we received a free buggy right within the mall (how cool!) Haha, but thats because the mall is huge!

And when we left the mall, we received another free buggy ride to drive us to the nearest BTS station! How cool was that! Haha, not really. There are actually riot going on then.

We took a train down to Saphan Taksin and headed off to our next location.

On a ferry

It was near evening by then

And we reached!

There's love locks in BKK too! Haha. The statue here is showing a story of Romeo and Juliet I believe. A gimmick to let tourists to spend that extra bahts on the locks and to take photos?

Caught a sight of 7 cute puppies in a stroller! How adorable!

We did abit of shopping at Asiatique though the price of clothing here are slightly pricer than those we saw elsewhere.

And greedy me decided to get a share of spicy sauce bread with pork floss on top. Weird combination I know but it tastes rather not bad!

Beautiful night scene of Asiatique

Spent a couple of hours at Asiatique and we headed back to our hotel after which and had our meals at the restaurant located just a few steps away as the restaurants at Asiatique are pretty pricey. Plus, we are given discount at the restaurant too being a guests at the hotel. So why not?

Look at how famished we were, we couldn't bear but started to dig in even before our mains arrived. Usual; Tom Yam soup, stir-fried chili kangkong and omlette.

And whats a bangkok trip without Phad Thai! 1 whole serving for myself :)

After dropping our stuffs at the hotel, Julia, Sok Gin and I headed off for a massage. That's all what we yearned for before putting our Bangkok trip to a closure. I was complaining how sore my shoulders were on the second day already! Thats how awful I felt then. It must be the heavy shopping loots which I carried on my shoulders.

Blurry shot of Julia. We had 1 hour Thai massage which costs around $8, all credit to Julia for negotiating! And its really fun to see my girls screaming! Haha. Btw, we asked the masseurs to be soft on us as it was our First time. I was kind of surprised I didnt scream at all, only at the last part when the masseur attempt to stretch my back to the side.

We didn't felt satisfied after the Thai massage and continued to do a foot scrub after which. That cost us SGD$8 too!

Here's my masseur! I'm glad she was assigned to me. She's really experienced thus I chose to tip her though it wasn't necessary

Day 5, our flight was scheduled at the early afternoon thus we had to head to the airport right after our breakfast. Keen to see how much stuffs we bought? Let me show you an extreme example:

Sok Gin's baggage. I asked for her to place a big bag of items in it too as my baggage are too small!

As we have abit of time before the plane were to arrived, we settled at the restaurant where I had the Mango sticky rice once again! Can't get enough of it! Thai mangoes are so sweet. But I prefer the one in Platinum more though.

Overall, I didn't spend much during this trip. Yea, it was kind of surprisingly to me. I changed SGD$700 for myself. Where $200, I spent on the tailored shirts and I left around $180 at the end of the trip. Hm... I guess I think More when it comes to shopping. I only get myself clothing for which I would foresee myself wearing more than once! Yup, I'm obsessed with clothing. Thats something I'm trying to get over with as thinking back, it isn't really that practical yea?

Thoughts

"And I am feeling so small, 

It was over my head, 

I know nothing at all"

 

Bangkok trip with the girls- Part 1

Just 2 weeks back, I headed off on a trip with Julia, Sokgin and Alison (Julia's colleague). We took an afternoon flight, check in on hand-carry luggages and off we went.

My baggage was the lightest, it was 3.2kg I think

Checking into The Ecotel Bangkok

Lobby, the only area where it has wi-fi. Ya, the rooms don't come with wi-fi as it claims

Sokgin and I shared a room. I took the king-sized bed, while she took the single one. Point to take note, I'm not bullying her, i actually find my bed too huge for one. Its just... (haha, some secrets ought to be kept).

Slowly after we reached the hotel, Alison's student, Yes Student, she's 18 now, drove us to Jatujak Green night market. And I saw a striper once I dropped myself off the car, he merely cover his important part with a shirt. Hell gross! And unlucky me!

Hm, this night market sell mostly second-hand stuffs, not the type of things we tourists would want to get

They have quite a number of pubs nearby too!

And food stalls which resemble our local pasar-malam 

Part of our dinner. Thai local delight; beef noodle, otah like stuff, braised pork rice, stir-fried pork etc

We spent our time there for a couple of hours and called it a night. We were too tired especially Sok gin who just finished her night shift the day before. 

Day 2:

Got up early in the morning, had our free breakfast catered by the hotel and off we went with our expedition. Haha.

I dragged the girls with me and headed off to Paul's Fashion located right opposite Platinum mall. It was merely a 15-20 minutes walk from our hotel. 

Blinded by the amount of fabrics I got to choose from

Its my first time choosing fabrics and I was lost for choice!

Spent a good 20 minutes in the shop while the girls sat outside waiting for me. 

And I settled these fabrics in the end

 Hopped onto a cab afterwhich and off we headed down to Chatuchak market. I know that my hair looks crazy! I can't find the hair dryer in the room. I only managed to find it on the last day, I know right! Blur me as usual!

Chatuchak

Friends. Hahaha

Pretty wedding invitation cards. Give Ms Julia some rough ideas on what her future invitation cards would be like.

Coconut ice-creams. Should have gotten those in coconut husk. They taste nicer in my impression.

'I must get this nautical dress!' Julia reaching out for it but couldn't. We got help from a strong tall singaporean guy who passed by and told us: 'Let me help you! Singaporean must help Singaporean ma' Hahaha. Thank you kind soul!

Didn't get lots of stuffs in Chatuchak this time round as compared to the previous. I merely got 3 items I believe! I know right?! How could it be true, especially for me? Well, we headed off to Union mall after which. The mall stuffs is actually more 'expensive'. In the sense that, its comparable to the stuffs sold in Bugis street. $20 average. I actually saw quite a number of items I believed I would get. But the girls advised me not to do so as we would be heading down to Platinum mall the next day. Oh well. 

Headed back to the hotel and once we settled down in the lobby, we received news from kins and friends that Thailand is quite chaotic. It really is! But not as exaggerating as what is posted on the news. Hm, maybe its true. Only to that certain parts in Bangkok. However, Thai government did advise public not to head out at night. So the obedient us, stay tight in the hotel that very night. How 'lucky' of us! 

And thank you all my friends who ask me to stay safe. Appreciate all you guys concern, sincerely! Till part 2 post.