Suncity Spices

If you walk down Nai Sarak to number 112, you will probably smell our shop before you see it. The scent of ground chillies and turmeric is very strong and it stays in your clothes for days. It’s an old building with narrow stairs and the walls are a bit stained from years of spice dust. We spend the day weighing out powders into small bags or grinding whole spices in the back. The machines make a lot of noise and they vibrate the whole floor when they are running at full speed. We have jars of all sizes lined up on the wooden shelves. Some are filled with black pepper and others with green cardamom or cumin. It’s a bit messy because spice dust gets everywhere no matter how much we sweep. People come in looking for specific things for their cooking and we spend time scooping things out of big bins. The light from the street doesn't really get to the back of the shop so we use some old yellow bulbs. It’s a very traditional way of doing things and we haven't changed much over the years. My hands are usually stained yellow from the turmeric. We don't have any fancy packaging, just plain bags and a bit of string to tie them up. It’s a small place but it’s always full of different colors and the sharp air makes you sneeze sometimes.