Editor Pick
Jade, incense and haggling - the Night Bazaar
- December 31, 2001
- Rated 4 of 5 by
actonsteve from London, United Kingdom
You will hear about the famous night bazaar before you hit Chiang Mai. It is the number one thing to do at night in this northern town which does not quite delight in the nightlife of Bangkok or Patong Beach. But tourists arrive in their hundreds to the narrow streets east of Thae Pae Gate where stalls are bumper to bumper. Everything is lit up with lanterns and laid on for the tourist. And you must be made of stone not to come away with a mohoghany elephant or length of beads. Bartering and haggling is what the night bazaar is all about.
Not all of the bazaar is outdoors. On Loi Kroa road there are specialised multi-storey buildings which specialise in fabrics and handicrafts. You can buy off the roll here and the material is generally less costly then Bangkok, probably about 350 baht a metre. Ready made clothes are generally inexpensive. We watched one German man try on a tailor-made suit he had ordered three days before.
In the main bazaar area are stalls galore. Replicated Calvein Klein watches are on sale ass were T-shirts, spices, fresh food, sandals, tailored shirts and huge framed jungle insects. After a while you try not to look at anything as the stallholder will pick up on this and start bartering. I have a weakness for 'over-the-top' statues and carved mohoghany Shiva's and Ganeshs' caught my eye and I beat the man down to 300 bahts for such a statue. It was probably made for 100 bahts in a factory in Laos - but what the hell?
In one of the bazaar buildings is a postal service where you can ship your purhases home. But to the north of the bazaar is a restaurant cafe area where you can relax over a cold beer. We took time out to watch hilltribe dancing and weaver birds flutter over us. But as with every Thai city there are other bars that you must watch out for. South of the night bazaar we were told are some Sex industry hostess bars. These are full of middle-aged European men and the women in them are often less then sixteen. There are different kinds of tourist trade in Thailand and some of it is worth avoiding.
From journal Chiang Mai: Shangri-La in the Thai North