A Delight for the Tight-Fisted

Written by: Abeer Yusuf

There is only one word that can aptly describe the shopping in Chiang Mai- ridiculous.

Roads and rows of souvenirs and knick-knacks line street after street, enticing one to pursue the time-consuming sport of shopping. Vibrant colours of token t-shirts and traditional sarongs flash past wandering eyes while sounds of tourists bargaining for lower prices in broken Thai fill the air. Welcome to Chiang Mai, land of dirt cheap prices and wealthy wallets.

Here one can seem to waste away thousands, only to come back and see that their amount of shopping is directly disproportionate to the amount spent (I meant this in a good way); not to mention, the quality of goods makes the money spent all the more worth it.

Shopping in Chiang Mai is till today very much traditional; shopping malls not having taken over the presence of the markets, unlike most other tourist destinations. In fact, there are only 2 shopping malls within the city, which are mostly favoured by the local students in search of some ‘air-conditioned’ respite from the blistering heat. Three of the most prominent markets here are the Night Bazaar, the Sunday Market and Warorot (Kad Luang) Market. Locals are obviously sold goods at cheaper prices as compared to foreigners, but prices are not highly marked up excessively for tourists, thereby not denting wallets much.

A young boy using his laptop while selling bananas

In analysing the shopping on offer, the writer has come up with three levels of identifying the goods sold. First, the ubiquitous t-shirts, key chains, magnets are the usual fare one can expect to find anywhere in the world, with the name of the particular city and country branded onto it. Second, the unique things Chiang Mai has to offer, which sometimes requires a bit of searching and looking below the surface, is not always obvious to the skimming eye; perhaps not always cultural but always creatively unique. Third, the things that belong to no particular region, currently in high demand, are modern artefacts that have no particular origin, homogenous commodities local to none, yet global to everyone such as paisley bags and hair bands.

The first market of interest was the Night Bazaar. Located in an upscale tourist area, the entire shopping compound is almost endless. Stall after stall offers enticing products like brass bracelets, flower shaped candles in lacquer boxes as well as traditional Thai silk and menswear. Bargaining here is a must-do, because each vendor will convince you that he is offering you a ‘special price’, ‘just for you’ which no one else has had the opportunity of being offered. Obviously, the price initially offered is a highly marked up price, therefore the best tip is to go as low as one can go, attaining a happy balance with the seller somewhere in between. There is one particular market situated within the Bazaar, where most of the stuff being sold outside can be found and bought at wholesale prices.

There is also a food court where dinner can be purchased using the coupon system. As such, it’s a good idea to get to the Bazaar early (it opens at around 7pm) to avoid rush hour and sweaty fellow shoppers. Another idea would be that since the Bazaar is on every night, and is just as crowded, any purposeful shopping that needs to be done could be done on Sundays when the rush is diverted to the Sunday market.

Coffeemobile!

The Sunday Market is perhaps the most important market in Chiang Mai, where both locals and tourists come out in throngs to simply shop. Beginning at Rachadamneon Road and stretching on for almost five kilometers. The only way to properly describe this market is epic. Literally everything and anything is sold here, from bees to stools shaped as cans to green pots that grow grass all over themselves. It may sound a bit nonsensical at this point, but one really must experience this extravaganza for themselves. The writer herself is a self-proclaimed connoisseur of markets, but in terms of the sheer awesomeness - for the lack of a better word - this market takes the cake. Case in point – mobile vans functioning as coffee bars. Not weird enough? Throw in a TV blaring Thai entertainment in the same van.

An elder one man band

As the entire market rests on two sides of a lane, the centre of the road functions as an island for performers to showcase their talents. Men and women, young and old, all perform for the walking public, with hats and musical cases open for any hands generous enough to contribute. Another extremely interesting concept is the amount of support the market gets. Along the entire stretch, there are a number of temples which for this one night (roads are cordoned off too) open up their premises to let sellers in, to sell their wares. Many sectors are even divided into food, clothes and such.

Yet another interesting observation is how the vendors all display their identification tag, which formalizes the entire night market process, not only preventing hawkers from unfairly poaching on potential customers from the licensed sellers, but also allowing the sellers to formalize the sale of their goods. Some vendors even wear a uniform. A word of caution though- bargaining as a true skill is really put to the test here, as vendors rarely refuse to mark down exorbitant prices.

The third market, where again, everything can be found, is the Warorot Market. Open during the day and favoured by the locals, its the busiest market where food, flowers and even fowl can be found in true, market style; brushing against tons of sweaty shoppers, bothered by the heat and sticky from the grime and grease of the atmosphere.

Hand-painted cards

So what’s good for tourists to buy? Apart from the first and second levels of shopping described above, there are traditional Thai music CDs, hair pins with beautiful exotic designs, organic skincare brands (on the streets yes!), hand-painted cards with traditional motifs, silver jewelry, and fairy lights in inventive shapes. Keep an eye out especially for brass jewelry as it is unique to Chiang Mai together with cheap traditional Thai original art. Temple ornaments are also easily available and make unique home décor.

Fancy lights which go for very cheap

One stall even sells clothes for dogs at the Sunday Market while another sells bikinis, all in one place. An interesting situation to look out for in these markets is also how the vendors combine the pursuit of entertainment with business where many vendors have their own portable DVD players or laptops which they use when not attending to a customer, a trait not quite common elsewhere. It is always an experience to eat local street food, such as ‘ancient ice-cream’ or taro puffs. Dinner at markets, as written above, is easily available, and at relatively cheap prices.

All together, shopping in Chiang Mai is an experience like in no other place, maybe not even Bangkok. Just make sure you plan your trip to include a Sunday.