We love the night markets! They open up after the heat of the day & are an amazing social scene where you can buy almost anything & see things you've never imagined. The Night Bazaar is east of us a few blocks & is set up each afternoon. Here's a guy moving his stall up to the street - by hand, foot & motorcycle - very effective! The Night Bazaar is a very close affair, lining the sidewalks on both sides of the street - it can get very tight & claustrophobic - get there early - lots of good stuff to see!
There are also the regular daily markets, and the Saturday & Sunday Evening Walking Markets - major streets are closed down & vendors line the sidewalks, and the street is open for walkers. They're a lot of fun! They are all in easy walking distance from our hotel - the Sunday one is around the corner! The atmosphere is very happy, friendly & casual, and you hear great music of all sorts as you wander thru.
So what can you buy? Well, RICE - I need a lesson!
All kinds of snacks, roasted this & pickled that - but strangely, I'm having a hard time finding my favorite - regular old rice crackers!
Carved & decorated soap sold in beautiful boxes,
Buy a live fish, have it filleted & take it home to cook.
Wow - the silk is wonderful! Haven't bought any - yet!
Here are some silk scarves & cotton shawls,
Rope animals sculptures are fun & funky,
Young (& old) musicians are lovely to see & hear all along the street.
Don't forget food!
We got brave & tried an assortment of things. These little packets are a soft coconut candy wrapped in banana leaf. We tried some and also another wrapped packet of a very spicy veggie mixture - a good combo.
Sada said "Ahan Jaae?" (Vegetarian?) & she nodded saying "Very spicy!" A sort of juicy pickled veggie appetizer, sold in a plastic bag with a wooden skewer with one very sharp end.
Verrry spicy!
Time for something sweet again. This is called Chow Guai, no idea what it means, but it's a black herbal jello kind of thing, served in a bowl with lots of brown sugar & lots of ice! You sort of chop up the jello & mix it all around. It's good - and one of the weirdest things I've eaten!!
Another Chow Guai stall - couldn't resist a pic of that huge chunk of black jello! She's a master of slicing off a long strip & slinging it up & onto the bowl of ice (add sugar - lots)
How about French Fries? Very popular - big catsup & hot sauce squeeze bottles at easy reach.
Grubs? No thanks.
CASHEWS! The motherlode - raw, roasted, chili-lime & more. I liked those glass jars of colorful fruit, too. We took home a kilo of cashews.
This little girl was a beautiful dancer.
Just off the street, we entered the grounds of one of the many Wats in the area. These Buddhist temples are a big part of everyday life & very welcoming to visitors. The main buildings are exquisitely beautiful & highly decorated. We had peeked into the grounds of this Wat one evening when a solemn event was underway, & altho we didn't stay, did we notice many empty picnic tables on the open grounds & wondered when they were used.
Well, we found out the night of the Walking Market! The grounds of the Wat turn into a big 'food court' - and what could we do!?! Here's what we tried: a small plate of ramen style noodles & veggies, mango with sweet sticky rice - a popular dessert, a very white, very soft pretty bun kind of thing - one filled with a veggie mix & one with a sweet taro mix - good! Then an order of banana rolled in a thin pancake, deep fried & served with sesame seeds & sweetened condensed milk, a plate of phad thai & a cooling Milo drink (sort of like chocolate milk).
The beautiful Chedi (shrine) is a glowing centerpiece of the Wat.
I'm not sure why, but i was very surprised to see many busy Tarot Card readers set up right at the foot of the Chedi.
Here are some things we didn't eat: artistically arranged bite-sized sausage,
beautiful sushi - but I will another time!
and quail eggs - they are very popular!
We wandered the magnificent grounds with big grins on our faces, trying things here & there until we were full. We would join a picnic table where there was room, eat our treat & then mosey around some more. The atmosphere was very happy & homey, relaxed & fun!
It was a wonderful experience!
More stuff on the street: very cool shoes made from old blue jeans.
(sorry the pic is a bit blurry - operator error.)
Ahhh - great time for a foot massage. I had one - 60Baht for a half hour. About $1.75.
Hairclips! Aren't these adorable? Too bad Liz isn't 8 years old anymore!
I think this is a platter of sweets, like marzipan, I'll have to look into it.
More quail eggs in the foreground. Looks like 10B for 5 - a good deal!
These are very cute feather & wood spinny things.
Really, really BIG moths & bugs.
...don't think about it too much.
This is called "Ancient Ice Cream" I don't know why.
Sada had coconut, I had chocolate (of course) it tasted fruity - ?
But, hey, it was ice cream!
When we got home, we went up to the roof of the hotel - this is a small bit of the market from a block away! It's a fun, happenin' place!
We were totally worn out when we got home & thought we'd just head to bed - it was 7:45 pm! Hahaha!
