J J Market

Every Saturday and Sunday there is an organic farmers market held a kilometer or so northeast of the old city. A visit to the Jing Jai Market, commonly known as the JJ market, has been a part of our weekly routine for as long as we've been coming to Chiang Mai. The market was closed and relocated for major renovations for most of 2021 and just reopened at its original location on December 4.

In years past JJ Market was a weekly gathering place for many expats, snowbirds and other assorted farang. This year, however, we saw only two other people who were clearly not of Thai origin. Maybe there will be more there on Sunday. Also absent was one of our favorite stalls that sold doughy little buns stuffed with assorted savoury fillings.

But our main goal today was to come away with enough greens for a couple of days of eating. The first stall we went to was selling different types of fresh young lettuce for only 100฿/kg, about $3.87 CDN. As we were filling our bag with our selection, the lady operating the stand assumed Brenda was Thai ad was rattling off all kinds of details or selling points to her. Once she weighed our selections, I tried to hand her a 100฿ bill, but she ignored me and preceeded to fill another bag with greens, which she handed to me and then took my money. A woman next to us explained in English that the vendor was informing Brenda that if we bought a kilo of greens for 100฿, we would get one kilo for free!

I guess we'll be eating a lot of salad over the next couple of days.Read more