East of Eden - The Best of Thailand’s Markets
- Lisa
- May 1, 2019
- 3 min read
One thing you’ll discover as a traveler to Southeast Asia is that the region is filled with an myriad markets. At first, they feel unique and vibrant. But after awhile they all start to look the same same, but different (which is a shirt you will see at every other stall in every single market across that part of the continent.) However, there are a few markets in Thailand that are not to be missed, because they are authentic and serve up some of the most unforgettable cuisine. Here are the best markets in Thailand:
Floating Markets
There are not many places in the world where you can sit on a wooden sampan at the break of dawn, while monks in saffron-colored robes paddle past and dock beside storefronts and water crafts to pray with the Buddhist faithfuls. Then the monk paddles away as the newly blessed prepare for another day of business at the floating market. Most of the boats in the floating market are captained by women who sit beside massive gas tanks that power their stoves. The Pad Thai lady spooned spices and sauces into her sizzling wok. The coconut pancake lady paddled up alongside my boat and filled a banana leaf basket with her fried dessert. Our captain guided us toward the soup vendor and we triple-parked in the waterway while passengers in the next boat handed me a ceramic bowl. I kept eating as we navigated the liquid lanes. Homes lined the water. Residents’ patios were inundated with small gardens. There were myriad souvenir stalls at the floating market. They were all made of corrugated metal and sold the same wares. The elderly boat-women stopped to link their vessels and chat before the flood of tourists arrived. Bananas, pomelos, pineapples, and straw hats overflowed from their wooden crafts.
Chatuchak Market
There are 8,000 stalls at Bangkok’s Chatuchak Market. Vendors sell cheap clothes, knock-off fashion, shirts with malapropisms and incomprehensible English, and even threads that could pass as semi-haute. There are also great displays of local artists’ creations and sellers’ chintzy wares. But the best part of the Chatuchak Market is the food. You can bounce from stall to stall, with minimal baht, sampling plates of noodle, followed by curry dishes, followed by coconut ice cream. It is cheap foodie heaven, making it one of the best markets in Thailand.
The Chiang Mai Night Market
If there’s one day during the week to make sure you visit Chiang Mai it’s on Sunday night when the night market is in full swing. Unlike the northern city’s lackluster, daily night market, everything is more interesting on Sunday. At the Sunday Night Market you can find all of the kitsch of the regular night market, but there’s more charm, increased vibrancy, great street performances, endless assembly lines of masseuses, and some of the best and strangest foods in the country. Some stalls sell sticky rice intricately wrapped in banana leaves for three cents. There are sticks of squid, nests of noodles, jellyfish sushi, and bowls of pad thai, all of which cost less than a dollar each. But for me, the highlight was eating bugs. But if you keep walking the night market, you’ll discover one other vendor with a smorgasbord of healthy invertebrates. Besides crickets, this second bug-lady displayed jumbo-sized grasshoppers (which tasted similarly to the cricket with just more oils and seasoning retained by its larger body), pasta-like silk worms, beetles the size of M&M Peanuts (though they exploded more like gel-filled Bubble Yum), and sharp-winged whirligigs (which featured even soggier innards). I sampled a variety for 60 cents. I was, however, too cheap or too scared to try one bug called the mackerel, which resembled a cicada on BGH (bug-growth-hormone). One mackerel cost a whopping 35 cents.
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