First time in Chiang Mai - Exploring markets!

HELLO THAILAND!

My very first time to Thailand!

Well, technically speaking, it’s my 2^nd time. My real first time was in Phuket as part of a cruise ship’s on-land tour. But it was so rushed I didn’t have the chance to take in my surrounding. To be honest, I don’t remember much of it.

So… My very first trip to Thailand!!

..was a mess before I even got on the plane. It was the first time I’ve ever experienced a flight cancellation. Luckily, it wasn’t on the day itself, but it did cause a few problems. There are no direct flights to Chiang Mai (first destination) from Brunei, so I opted to buy connecting flights from Brunei to Kuala Lumpur to Chiang Mai. However, my first flight got cancelled and I was shifted to an afternoon flight. Unfortunately, that coincided with my second flight. I ended up collecting a refund, flying from Brunei to Kuala Lumpur a day earlier, and staying a night at Tunes Hotel.



Waiting to board the plane!



Tunes Hotel lobby! It's quite comfortable. Saw people sleeping on the couches when we checked out early the next morning. It's also awesome and convenient that you can self-check into your flight from AirAsia kiosks at Tunes Hotel.

Room for one night at SGD$64.
The only issue we had was the sink. All it gave out was a trickle of water.

Morning faces.

Brunch at KLIA2!

Got to know the airport quite well since we had a few hours to wander :)

HELLO CHIANGMAI!

A friend on Facebook said he thought I went skydiving!

We stayed at the Star Hotel, or sometimes referred to as the Star Inn! I loved it! It was so old-fashioned and homely. Hidden away in a little nook, yet still in a great location! The rooms don’t use electronic card keys. Instead, they have big metal keys! And you switch on, or off, the lights and air-con as you enter or leave the room.

So cosy!

I stood on the window sofa to take this picture lol

The hotel lobby, and its very buff but sullen receptionist. 

After a quick freshening up, we headed out to seek dinner!

I would say it was about a 200m walk from the first street stall! I was incredibly overwhelmed by, what seemed to my eyes, the endless stalls selling all kinds of food and potential souvenirs. I believe I spent much of the night exclaiming, “I’m dying!” from too much indecision. Indecision stemmed from the lack of money to buy what I wanted, and I wanted everything I saw. We ended up that night at Anusarn Market, which turned out being my favourite market in the whole trip.

All the shirts are soooo cute!

Good place to wander even if it's raining!

Eating Strawberry Cheesecake popsicle from an equally sweet vendor on his adorably sweet motor.

Royal Princess Hotel was grilling pork and chicken and serving omelette rice and mango sticky rice and coconut water and a loooot of other things, outside the hotel by the street! You could buy grilled pork on a stick for just 60B and be allowed to sit on their foyer. How cool is that?

And so, that was what we did do! Hehee good call too, because it started drizzling.

 

Other markets that you have to check out are the Saturday Night Bazaar market and, of course, the Sunday market!

The Saturday Night Bazaar only starts getting lively around 6.30pm. I really cannot get tired of these markets. You’d think that after a while, they all look the same. But I was thrilled!

While wandering, we happened upon 2-3 separate areas of live band performances amidst food stalls and dining areas. They were very entertaining and the guys were lovely eye-candy.  Food for the tummy, food for the eyes, food for the ears; what more could a girl ask for on a Saturday night?

If you’re a huge fan of paintings and artwork, you should definitely take the steps that’ll lead you below the Night Bazaar Building. There are lots and lots of artists painting on canvases of all sizes! I totally regret not sitting down and watching them. There wasn’t a crowd around either, and I’m sure the artists would have been more than happy to chat.

These are aaaaalll original artwork!

The Sunday market is supposed to start at 4pm, but since we were early to Saturday’s Night Bazaar and hardly anything was set up, we decided to play it safe and only head out at 6pm.

We got the songthaew to drop us off at Wat Pra Singh! It was soooo hard not to stop at every stall! But if we did, we wouldn’t have had time to see everything before the market was over. It was THAT big! The market was not just set up along Rachadamnoen Road, but also branched into adjacent lanes and alleys!

Main road or a branch? I don't remember..

A lot of juice were sold like these. You can see exactly what fruit and how much fruit you're paying for!

An odd thing happened some time between 6-7pm. We were trying to order grilled pork from one of the stalls. The owner gestured at us to wait. I told Yuka that the food was probably not cooked yet. When we turned around to move on, we were met with a very bizarre scene! Every single person, residents and tourists alike, had come to a standstill. Not one person moved. It took me a few seconds to realise that there was music playing and everyone was standing at attention…to the national anthem. I’m just amazed that nobody (tourists) took out their phones to video this peculiarity, or even looked confused.

So endless! Like my love for Chiang Mai haha

Super large eating area of the market! I was surprised to find large and fresh seafood in Chiang Mai since it's not particularly close to the sea.

The enormous food section of the Sunday Market!

Just to show you how strategically close to night markets, my number one priority, my hotel was! Also, the markets cover a much larger area than the skinny lines on the map. Don't forget, on the way to the market, there are also tons of street stalls!

This has been a pretty long post already, so I’ll stop here. Look out for my next post on my adventures exploring Chiang Mai temples!

Thanks for reading!! :)