Chiang Mai Nightlife

March 24, 2014 at 3:10 am  •  Posted in Education, Food, Thailand by

If you haven’t already satiated your hunger for epic shopping in Hoi An, Vietnam, then go on over a few borders to the west and you’ll find Thailand. Granted, there are no personalized you-design-it-we’ll-make-it shops with a turnaround of 24 hours, but you’ll find something just as fun, because when the sun goes down, everything comes to life. More specifically, if you travel north you’ll eventually stumble upon Chiang Mai. All you need is to look for a city surrounded by moats, crumbling walls, ornately bedecked Wats, red taxi trucks known as songthaews, and markets along almost every street. That is, night markets.

If you really want to get the most out of your stay, you may as well just sleep the whole day and wake up in the evening because in Chiang Mai, it’s all about the nightlife! We were baffled at how different the city looked in the daylight. Driving down streets that looked just the same as the next one over, we would come to realize it was the exact road that last night supplied everything from live music, to a plethora of pendants and clothing, to some of the best street food. As we were literally in the middle of the Night Bazaar (one of the bigger night markets that opens every night) we had a good excuse to stay out all night and spend plenty of time absorbing the whole scene, yet like every place we’ve been before it wasn’t long enough!

one of the night markets right across the street from our hotel

Part of the night bazaar that’s right across the street from our hotel

ryan got to accompany us on all our late night excursions

Ryan and Wescott at the sunday night market: Ryan got to accompany us on all our late night excursions

 

mushrooms wrapped in bacon = the best things ever

Mushrooms wrapped in bacon = the best things ever!

 

just pick your desired cup of fruit and she'll blend it right there

Just pick your desired cup of fruit and she’ll blend it right there!

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shop and eat, shop and eat!

fried octopus balls... don't worry its not that kind of ball

The saturday night market had fried octopus balls… don’t worry its not that kind of ball :)

ryan had never had a foot massage before and by the time we left he had had four

Ryan had never had a foot massage before and by the time we left he had had four!

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Any old corner street, though at night it is completely transformed and flooded with vendors

Yve

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2 Comments

  1. Gretchen Jones / March 31, 2014 at 1:54 am /

    Yve, you described this scene really well! I couldn’t believe the night markets in Chiang Mai when we were there! They were almost TOO busy – barely enough room to shuffle down the street, but so many great deals and amazing street food (well, except for when David tricked me into trying a Durian popsicle, telling me it was banana). I’m still wearing many of my great night-market purchases from Chiang Mai!

  2. Stephanie Craig (@steffinseattle) / April 4, 2014 at 1:26 pm /

    Gosh that looks super fun/awesome/must visit! Also, nice vocabulary — you are quite the wordsmith.

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