MangoVine
Adventures in East Asia
Ratchdamnoen Walking Night Market
13 December, 2009Sunday
The Ratchdamnoen Walking Night Market in Chiangmai is famous - well, we realised it was once we began to look into where to go in the city. It takes place every Sunday night along the road of the same name which runs about two thirds the width of the walled old city. That's pretty long, more so than the Wualai Road Night Market which we visited the previous night.
Because the Wualai and Ratchdamnoen markets happened on consecutive days, having our five days in Chiangmai including the weekend conveniently allowed us to visit both. This was good on the one hand since we could see what both "events" were like, as well as do some shopping and have a place for dinner each night.
On the other hand however, was the feeling that we were seeing the same products on sale in both places. We recognised some vendors who had clearly set up on both nights.
Nevertheless, the Ratchdamnoen Walking Night Market was still an interesting place to visit simply to absorb the buzz of all the people and the night atmosphere. Here are some of the things we saw.
Thapae Gate, with a large Thailand flag, can be seen in the background of this band of blind buskers.
This woman was selling small cages of captive wild birds. Thai people buy them to release for good luck. We saw this custom in Vietnam as well.
Linh saw a woman advertising nail art for 50 baht. That was only around a pound, for which Linh had some intricate designs painted on all her nails. She chose the design from the few hundred available in the various albums on display and the woman spent half an hour painting them.
Like the young girl at Wualai Road Night Market, there was another one at the Ratchdamnoen Walking Night Market, albeit dressed in a different, more intricate traditional Thai costume. During a short musical break, she obligingly posed for photographs.
On the other side was a slightly older girl positioned at an instrument.
Along one side of Ratchdamnoen Road, there was a golden stupa and a hall. The grounds around them were also lined with stalls.
A young monk checks out some antiques.
Recognise anyone?
I think this is a vacant busker spot.
This woman had a pretty amazing, mobile stall. I'd loved to have seen her get out of that chair!
Mini fried quails eggs.
Cakes and snacks.
A hot dog in a lightly toasted slice of bread. I admit it, it was mine - Linh just held it to photograph.
Linh however, tucks into a freshly made green mango salad. It was very tasty, but also very salty!
Like the ones in Bangkok and in Chiangmai's Chinatown, there was another stall full of baked insects. At least these were clearly labeled.
This entry posted in : Attractions. Food. Shopping. Thailand. Tourism.
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Comments
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)26/07/11 at 10:28 PM Wow! You traveled to a lot of places! I'm so envious! LOL. I found your website very informational since I will be living and studying in Chiang Mai, Thailand for the next four months! Thank you so much for the information.
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In February 2009, Mark and Linh moved from the UK to the Far East to spend 16 months living in Hong Kong and traveling around East Asia. This website documents their journey.
Find out more on the MangoVine About page.
There are 435 entries on MangoVine.
East-Asian places visited so far:
Hong Kong (Throughout 09)
Vietnam (March 09)
Tokyo (May 09)
Macau (June 09)
Taiwan (July 09)
South Korea (July 09)
Singapore (September 09)
Malaysia (September 09)
Thailand (December 09)
Cambodia (December 09)
China (April 10)
