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Published: November 5th 2007
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For just a second, I want to pretend that I “need” to shop in the markets.
So many travelers have written about the market culture of south east Asia and elsewhere in the world, but if you haven’t experienced it you can’t quite digest the sense-assaulting experience it really is.
Imagine…
Stepping of the curb, the ooze from the gutter, a mix of slime and solid matter, sucks up around your flip flop and silently you mutter a prayer it doesn’t breach the rim of the rubber barrier. You can’t look down, because a fraction of a second may mean the end of you life or at least severe damage to a limb by a passing motocyc, truck, or tuk tuk.
Listening for traffic is impossible, because it encompasses all your senses…screeching brakes, exploding exhaust pipes, hollering drivers, the penetrating rumble on the hot pavement. The heat moves upward though the sun has already passed the horizon and the light is pumped through cool fluorescent tubes along the market stalls.
The diesel coats your throat and the black triad of splotches on the traffic police facemasks tells a scary tale of the level of pollution captured by
the close quarters of pedestrians and streets. Among the swarms of bicycles, motor vehicles, and humanity looms the peddlers stalls and glow of the food vendors carts, mere feet beyond the traffic.
Crossing the street is a brave action and if you make it safely, you learn an important lesson here…don’t stop moving. The cars won’t stop for you, and couldn’t if they needed to…your job as a pedestrian is to duck and dodge your way between moving objects, guessing speeds and trajectories of the vehicles as you do.
Stopping is deadly and once you step off the curb, you can’t. There is an unspoken rule here that it is our job to dodge traffic…not traffics to watch for you. They expect you to move, often within inches in front or behind them as they weave through the streets.
Gaining access to the hidden warren of pathways between the curbs and the front of the vendors’ stalls is another challenge. Only every so often is there a break in the precious space between stalls and most time you need to squeeze through the space between the shoe stall and the soup cart …popping into the magical world of
the market lanes.
Rarely more than a few feet across from each other, the stalls are canivalesque. Bright lights, colorful, shiny wares and sellers shouting out phrases to entice you over:
“I give you good priiiiice! Special for you eh?”
“Discount for you! I make good deal, okay mai?”
“Please looking! Looking for you madame!”
First of all…noone in their right mind should believe any special price will be granted you or your foreign accent, and if you don’t haggle you might as well not stop to look either. Thai bargaining is an art, and one that everyone is expected to participate in. Just going with the asking price is a let down.
Most prices start at about a 200% mark up from what a Thai would pay for it anyway. So take their price and at least cut it in half…most market vendors will provide a calculator for the benefit of global understanding in Thai numbers…take a leap, throw in a few drastic hand gestures of disbelief, and always, always pay attention to what the vendors are wearing. The excuse that they need to feed their kids that night is crap. Thai’s cannot give
up an opportunity to dress nicely if they can and do so even when feigning poverty to sell solid silver on the street.
Most bazaars and markets not in a village are populated by well off, if not wealthy shop owners who have satellite “stalls” in the markets to expand their selling power.
This goes for city markets and larger towns…village markets are still just village markets, and yes, many of them are poor. They still expect you to bargain though!
The point here is not to give in too easily. Thai’s expect to bargain and will appreciate even a lousy attempt by a foreigner to do so.
Besides the visual assault the markets will offer you, the smells are equally stunning. Food in Thailand, especially street food, has inspired artists and journalists alike. It is exceptional and it is unique. The smells can distract you even while you are eating from one cart…you end up wandering to the next one following your nose.
It’s difficult to be able to recognize what each cart offers just by sight…unless you can read Thai. But this offers a great excuse to get up close and poke your
nose in! Most street food is safe as it is cooked right there and often over an open flame…
I can’t begin to describe what wares there are to purchase here, but expect that you will find everything. Different markets (or areas within a large market) will offer different things. There are the fresh fruit markets, fish markets, housewares and stuff markets, clothing markets, second hand markets, and shoe markets…the pet markets are the most fun, but those with animal activist tendencies should either be aware they will see things they may not agree with or just avoid them entirely. Standards of animal care vary widely in Asia and are often at odds with western perspectives…
Most markets in Chiang Mai operate from about 5pm (set up) to about 10pm, but the night bazaar goes strong and actually changes between the hours of 10pm and 2am. Any Bangkok market will operate until midnight or so in the tourist areas.
Expect the markets to be crowded and the crowds pushy at times…especially in narrow avenues. There is so much to see and very few free spaces to move between the stalls!
Sometimes you just need to let yourself be carried along bumping like a pinball between paddles. When you spot something interesting , twist ever so slightly and slip out from between people…
By the time the street runs out in front of you and you emerge sweaty and exhilarated into the cool night on the edge of the market runs, you can think of nothing more than turning and plunging back into the seething crowds to trace your steps on the opposite side of the street where the mirror image of stalls and sights lays waiting!
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dian mccreary
non-member comment
Wow! Feel like I am there
This is an amazing blog. I can almost see, smell and taste. Keep the commentaries coming.