Outdoor Market, Thai Style

In Thailand, most of the shopping is done in a market, which typically has some stalls that are covered, or inside a building, as well as vendors who are outdoors. There are markets for clothing, markets for household goods, and markets for food. They are often located near each other. Chiang Mai has quite a few of these markets.

Never one to pass up a market, I was delighted that we were able to visit a couple of food markets in Chiang Mai. As is the case in Vietnam, most of the population does the majority of their food shopping at an traditional market, with stalls and private vendors. However, most of the vendors are middle men, buying their produce from a farmer outside of town. The markets in Chiang Mai are both similar and different to those in Vietnam. The similarities — lots of produce that I’ve never seen and can’t figure out how to use, lots of prepared sauces and foods for purchase, and lots of spices. The differences — Thai markets are so, so much cleaner, with all types of meat resting on ice (instead of on the ground), and produce is often in cellophane or plastic bags (rather than simply in a big pile).

Dong took us to one of the largest markets in Chiang Mai, and graciously gave us the English name of anything that we pointed to. He also gave us a tasting tour of sweet and savory specialities. We started with a sweet, crispy rolled cookie made out of rice flour. It was tasty, and reminded me of the pirolle cookies that often come with ice cream. Then we had some type of jelly candy which was wrapped and came in a variety of flavors, including sugar cane, black sesame, mango, and strawberry. Meh. We next ate a variety of candies made out of sesame and/or coconut, some of which were delicious and some of which were so-so. After starting with the sweets, we shared a typical Thai breakfast, which you eat with your hands — sticky rice, dipped in green curry, with a piece of spicey sausage. Now, that was yummy. After some more wandering, we stopped for a second breakfast — rice noodles, with fish balls. Also delicious.

As we wandered through the market, we also came upon a stand that had live birds in little bamboo cages, as well as live fish and eels in buckets. I asked Dong about this stall and he told me that the birds and fish were purchased to rid people of bad karma. If you think that you have bad karma, you can buy the bird, and then set it free. Same with the fish or eel. The act of freeing the bird, fish or eel is supposed to help you get rid of the bad karma.

On the outside of the food market, flowers are sold. The array is quite different from what I’ve seen at the SF flower market. There are lots of marigolds sold, as yellow is the color of prosperity. Taxi drivers and shop owners buy strings of these marigolds, as well as strings of other flowers, that are hung on rear view mirrors, or doors, or draped on small shrines, to ensure prosperity. There are also huge piles of orchids, which you see displayed everywhere. And, there are lotus flowers (I had to ask what they were, because I’d never seen them.)

The sites and sounds of the market were just captivating. I could have spent the entire day in the market, but the rest of Chiang Mai called.Read more