Chiang Mai: The Sunday Market

Before I get to the wonderful Sunday Walking Market in Chiang Mai, I thought I'd share what I thought was an odd bit of "safety equipment" found in our room.

 
For some reason, the thought of placing a plastic bag over "mi cabeza" disturbs me......

Chiang Mai's Sunday Walking Market is something to be seen, stretching from the Tha Phae Gate all the way to Wat Phra Singh, streets in all directions are filled with booths selling all matter of goods.

Unlike the merchandising hell that is the Night Bazaar, the Sunday Market is more relaxed, especially since we got there just when the market started, at about 4pm. Our hotel was located just a half block from the the street the market was on, which made things very convenient for us.

When we arrived folks were still setting up.....

 
Not many tourists were seen, possibly due to the rain which seemed to fall for a short while every afternoon, scrubbing the sky and the streets clean. Of course the Thai locals took everything in stride....

 
And since this is Thailand, food stalls are everywhere. You couldn't go but a few steps without running into a food stall.

 

This is Thailand and snacking is a way of life here. I was more than happy to participate......

 If you wanted to give up grazing and get something more substantial, we quickly learned that the courtyard of every Wat along the way was loaded with food booths.

The Wats it seemed, became de facto Food Courts.

And the range of food was amazing......

Bamboo Shoot salad....

Nam Prik.....

And of course things would not be complete without some TFC (Thai Fried Chicken):

 
And of course, there were scores of "items on a stick". Which got me wondering how many wooden skewers were used on every Sunday?

I wish I took a better photo of this woman. Her beef jerky was fantastic.....

I felt no need to partake in the surprising amount of sushi available from dozens of booths.

The variety was indeed breathtaking. From the "standards".....

To items that were a bit more interesting....

And of course there were the items that were a bit more "challenging".....

Fried silkworm is delici-yoso stuff.....

 

But there was stuff that I thought was even too strange for me.....

Before you knew it, we arrived at Wat Phra Singh.... and things had gotten pretty crowded.

It was time to turn around and head back to the hotel...but not without a couple of snacks along way......

Arriving back at the Tha Phae Gate we noticed a huge crowd of folks, and young men and women were dancing on a stage.

Apparently, there was some kind of dancing contest going on. We decided to get away from the crowds and head up to our room, where we snacked (yet again), and watched the proceedings.

 
The Sunday Market was an enjoyable experience for us.....

 
As much as we enjoyed the Sunday Market, we did have a few regrets. The Missus really wanted the quail eggs from this stand.

We decided to get them on our way back to our room, but couldn't find the stall....

And of course, we regret not being able to bolt on a second stomach.....

Comments

[Dennis]

The fresh cucumber slices in the background make the last photo of pork and shrimp sausages look particularly appetizing!

[kat]

interesting safety directions...the market does look like an amazing place!

[nhbilly]

yum quail eggs

[Kirk]

Hi Dennis - You can't have your Thai Sausages without the accompaniments.....

Hi Kat - For some reason putting a plastic bag over my head disturbs me.

Hi Billy - To this day, the Missus laments not being able to find that booth on our way back....

[kirbie]

Oh so many yummy pictures! What are those clear round shaped ball treats?

[Carol]

Images of plastic singing to the head and face comes to mind with that safety bag! Iiiieeeee.

I'm so hungry now. I guess I better go heat up my, um, frozen lunch which doesn't sound so good anymore.

[foodhoe]

Love the brilliant colors and assortment of photos, you really captured so many cool images, I can almost feel like I'm there too! So many interesting dishes, I can just picture you guys trying to bolt on an auxilliary tummy...

[Stephen]

Great pictures. So colorful. So much food.
Thanks for showing me parts of the world I might not otherwise get to see.

"Strong hold the bag edge and go out as fast as possible." Yeah, I believe that is called asphyxiation.

[Faye]

When did you go to Thailand? I went 2 yrs in a row and so love their night markets (reminds me alot of the Taiwanese night mkts). My first time in thailand, my best friend and i were STARVING and walked to the night market - we ordered some sort of meatball skewer. And honestly, i know this sounds horrible, but it tasted like dog (NOT that i've ever had dog meat but we just started panicking that we had NO idea where these vendors get their meats?! So to this day, I have a heard time eating any more meatball skewers.

How were the silkworms? What's it tastes like?!

[Kirk]

Hi Kirbie - Those were made from glutinous rice flour, and were slightly sweet and sticky. Inside were ground shrimp and peanuts, and the whole thing was "topped off" fried shllots and cilantro. It was very good.

Hi Carol - I'm glad that I'm not the only one who found those instructions weird.

Hi FH - I wish we had auxillary tummy's....so that after eating we could unbolt them, and get ride of the excess weight!

LOL Stephen - Sounds kinda scarey, huh? I'm glad you enjoyed the photos.

Hi Faye - We went to Thailand and Laos...sheesh, just about an year ago! Good golly, am I behind on posts. Laos was amazing.....

http://mmm-yoso.typepad.com/mmmyoso/laos/

Deep fried silkworm are sorta like shoestring potatoes....not much flavor, but crunchy.....

[Andy (美國土子)]

there's an infamous and muted story of my friend going to chiang mai and stuffing himself with worms, scorpions, etc etc.. and then getting sick and puking it all out.

so I asked my friends on this trip, do you have pics of what he ate and the answer is no.

but after seeing your pics... I think I've got a good idea! another interesting post kirk thanks!

[Kirk]

Oh my Andy, that's one quick way to ruin a vacation.... You need to pick your spots with regards to bugs, you want them cooked up as fresh as possible, and not eat stuff that has been lying around. Poor guy, nothing worse than being sick on vacation.....

[Mick]

Oh my god!

You have a photo of my beef jerky lady!

I love her, she has the best beef in Chiang Mai, I visit her every Sunday and she is so lovely.

[Kirk]

Hi Mick - Welcome and thanks for commenting! That's too funny.... and her jerky is really good!