Market sights in Chiang Mai Province
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A
Night Bazaar
This extensive market sprawls along several blocks. Roofed concession areas, regular shops and street vendors offer a huge variety of Thai goods at bargain prices. Designer goods - real and fake - are also on offer. The Night Bazaar attracts foreign importers, impressed by the discounts given to bulk purchases.
Good buys include Phrae-style sêua mâw hâwm (blue cotton farmer's shirt), northern- and northeastern-Thai hand-woven fabrics, yâam (shoulder bags), hill-tribe crafts (many tribespeople set up their own stalls here; the Akha wander around on foot), opium scales, hats, silver jewellery, lacquerware, woodcarvings, iron and bronze Buddhas, as well as many other…
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B
Talat Tonlamyai
Facing the river, the city's main fresh flower market is locally called gàht dòrk mái. The arm-width bundles of asters, roses and coreopsis are ripened in the cooler climate of the surrounding highlands and brought to market at night to avoid the wilting daytime heat. Varieties that need even colder temperatures, such as pussy willow, are grown by hill-tribe villages perched at higher altitudes. Then there are the voluptuous tropical flowers, like jasmine, orchids and lotus buds, which flourish in the heat. The flower market is always busy but even more so during citywide festivals, such as Loi Krathong and, of course, the Flower Festival.
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C
Sunday Walking Street
A unique shopping experience, the Sunday Walking Street offers all manner of products and a good dose of provincial culture. It is also a reminder of an itinerant merchant tradition of the ancient Chinese caravans.
Vendors line Th Ratchadamnoen all the way from the square in front of Pratu Tha Phae to Wat Phra Singh and stretching a few blocks down both sides of Th Phra Pokklao. Many of the products are handmade in and around Chiang Mai, including the cotton scarves, leather sandals and wood carvings. Chiang Mai lets down its hippie hair at this market with lots of ethnic chic accessories, undyed cotton T-shirts and 'save the planet' canvas tote bags.
The temples along…
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D
Saturday Walking Street
The Saturday Walking Street has developed a reputation of having more authentic handicrafts and being less commercial than the Sunday Walking Street. This might be a bit of an exaggeration as most vendors work both markets without exclusion. But the atmospheric old neighbourhood with its silver shops and old ladies wrapped up in Thai silk does give it an authenticity. It's also slightly less hectic, making an evening stroll a bit more pleasant.
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E
Talat Warorot
Following Th Chang Moi towards the river you'll discover a beehive of activity around Chiang Mai's oldest and most famous marketplace, Talat Warorot. In northern Thai dialect, the market is known as gàht lŏo·ang (northern Thai for 'great market'). Technically there are two multistorey buildings that comprise the market, but so much activity surrounds these enclosures and spreads into the neighbouring area that it is hard to define Talat Warorot's specific boundaries.
Outside the market buildings are fruit and vegetable vendors selling highland varieties that are considered exotic to central Thais. Parked nearby are an extinct species in Bangkok: săhm·lór (also spelt…
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