Shopping in Thailand - So Much Stuff to Buy!

Chiang Mai is the shopping mecca for all of northern Thailand, and the amount of stuff for sale was absolutely staggering! Here are some pics of some noteworthy shops & stores.

These jars were full of intriguing stuff. We had to hurry by, tho & didn't stop.

One of the many red & GOLD shops! Wow!

The evening flower market.

Here's the way to buy eggs!

These big guys are called Jackfruit. We ate some cooked into an Indian style dish that was quite delicious. I estimate 15-20 inches as the diameter of these guys.

We spotted these jelly cakes at the mall food court - pretty, huh?

Warorot Market was one of our favorite places to shop. It was a bit of a hike from our hotel, but so much to discover here! It's a 3 story 'mall', here we are looking down on the main floor. At the top of this pic you can just see one amazing vendor...

Here she is 'in her vegetables'. She was completely surrounded -
don't know how she got in & out - a trap door?

At a street market - insect edibles!

This is a great shop selling every kind of spice, and what a fabulous aroma!
We went looking for some Kao Soi curry powder - THE dish of northern Thailand that we just loved, and we were directed to this shop ... and success!

Down at the end of Warorot Market is a long hallway full of vendors -
we always stopped for these little yummy bean filled buns.
Of all the varieties, our favorite was anise flavored - I miss them!!The fabric shops are amazing - so much to discover!
The aisles are about 8-12 inches wide, no room for passing, and watch out for dead ends!

More bugs! No we never tried any!

This was my favorite shop - about 10 feet wide & absolutely crammed from floor to ceiling with craft materials, and spilling out onto the sidewalk, too. I think if you were to pull something out of the lower section, there would be a huge landslide!This shop of rolled stock opened right onto the sidewalk - this is the whole store!

This is one of our favorite fruit stands up the street from our hotel. At the front from the left you can see persimmon, dragon fruit, asian pear, papaya & fresh tamarind in the mesh bag.

These bad boys are called Durian. This is the notorious fruit that is either loved or hated - it's very smelly, but has a sweet creamy taste. We tried it once but didn't like it much. There are lots of stories of durian being forbidden on public transportation and lots of other places because of it's smell (No Smoking, No Eating, No Durian).
When we saw it for sale it was always set off in it's own area with no other vendors around!
Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durian for more information.

Bookstores, ahhh! Chiang Mai is a great area for books. One day I counted 15 used bookstores within easy walking distance of our hotel - full of mostly English language titles. Most of them were small stores unlike the large Thai bookstore pictured below (1 of 2 that we found). So, if you go to Chiang Mai, you don't need to pack half a suitcase with books (like I usually do).
They are a bit expensive tho - a just-OK-condition used paperback book can cost much more than a great meal from a street vendor.

All sizes, styles & colors of religious figures are available.

Painting & drawing classes are offered in art galleries. This famous National Geographic photo of a girl from Afghanistan is a popular picture to copy.A beautiful sidewalk stand!

This is part of Sompet Market - another favorite of ours. We often shopped here for fruit & would see groups of students from the many local cooking schools gathering with their chef to learn about the local produce.

Here's a bunch of typical Thai flavors used in many basic dishes - lemon grass, lime leaf, galanga root & ginger. Handy!

These are all sorts of sweets & treats - mostly made from coconut, aren't they pretty?

More interesting fruit - in front is mangosteen & behind is a tall pyramid of hairy rambutan.

One of our favorite fruit sellers - Yoda!

But this was hands-down my favorite store - the cookie warehouse!

Sad MAC

Sorry about the long blogging delay - my computer crashed & burned last month & we've been visiting a local Internet Cafe to check email, etc. We've decided to wait until we get home to have it fixed as it's still covered by an extended warranty. I may to do a few more posts while we're still in Thailand, but unfortunately, I can't include pictures this way.

We're rapidly coming to the end of our 5 month vacation - amazing! And YES! it does seem like we've been gone for a long time. In fact, I'm actually starting to get excited about going home! Usually on vacation, I'm big-time in NO rush to return, especially when it's winter in Alaska, and, seriously, why go on a vacation when it's summer in Alaska? But this time I'm ready - or i will be soon enough.

It's been great being here! We ended up staying for 3+ months in Chiang Mai. We thought we might be here for 4-6 weeks, but then we didn't want to leave! Living in a city has been lots of fun - something I've always wanted to do.

I have lots of pics & little movies to share when my computer is feeling better. We went to a traditional Thai wedding, visited the King's winter palace, had lunch at a restaurant right on a lovely waterfall, hung out at lot at interesting markets and - oh yeah, I've been spending a lot of time at the dentist & have a bunch of beautiful new teeth! So check back & watch for future blogs on these & other topics of interest. Meanwhile, lots of love from us!

Motorcycles & More

We are really enjoying living in this city - Chiang Mai is lots of fun. City traffic is very interesting & the vehicles going by are many & varied! It's been fun to collect this group of pictures showing what we see.

There are a lot of bicycles around & a few of these pedicabs. They are fearless in traffic!

We see quite a few of these big buses, always highly decorated & colorful inside & out.

This is the overnight bus to Bangkok.

This one looks pretty jazzy & comfy inside.

Here is a little Tuk-tuk, they're everywhere. Hop in one for a quick trip to wherever you like,

they're cheap & loud & fun to ride in!

We're riding in a Songtao, a little truck with 2 long seats in back, another very popular form of public transportation. Flag one down, tell the driver where you want to go & if he's going that way, negotiate a price, hop in & hold on! (See me in the reflection?)

We see this cute little green truck on the main street near our hotel.

We liked this cute little red one too!

Here's one we spotted in a small collection of antique cars.

And then, there are the motorcycles. They are the way-to-go around here! The streets are full of them & you see tons of them parked all over the place, including on the sidewalks when necessary. Last year there were 1.6 million NEW motorcycles registered in Thailand.

Sometimes they have a sidecar for a passenger or more likely a utility frame like this that gets used for any & everything!

Sometimes they are a complete small business carrying family members as well.

There aren't many stop lights here, but during the time the traffic is stopped, many, many motorcycles will filter thru the other vehicles & make their way up to the head of the line of traffic. Needless to say, people drive in flip-flops, and high heels too!

Motorcycles are an important part of everyday life -

like when you need to apply some new nail polish!

We often see women riding side-saddle as a passenger & usually they're not even holding on! I've seen them holding a big pot of food seated this way. Glad to see this Grannie has a firm grip!

Seeing 3 people on a motorcycle is not at all unusual, and 4 is common too - that usually includes a small child. Some bikes are fitted with a small seat between the driver's knees. Lots of stuff is hauled around on motorcycles & we've seen a couple fitted out for a person in a wheelchair to drive!

Here's one of the cutest Vespas we've seen,

And the stud-covered one we see at a nearby bar.

This one is protected by a 'Singh' or guardian lion.

This one sports a very preppy look,

Not sure what's going on with this one...

A sweet Vespa with sidecar.

I guess this one will be easy to 'spot' in the parking lot.

But this is my favorite - - so far, anyway!

Maybe we should get one.....