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Other entries in Chiang Mai

Cool Markets

On arrival to Chiang Mai train station we were greeted by a friendly, if persistant taxi man, again called Lec (maybe they are all called Lec!), and taken to one of his relative's Guesthouses.  We checked in with Julie, although all the signs suggested that "Julian" would have probably been a more suitable name.

We walked around town for a while, grabbed lunch and generally relaxed until the evening when the markets started.  I was very relieved to find out that Chiang Mai, and the north of Thailand in general, is much cooler at this time of year than in the south.  In fact, although it's sunny and pleasantly warm during the day, in the evenings it got quite chilly - enough for me to dig my fleece out of the bottom of my backpack.

On Sundays (which is what today was) the authorities close the main road in town for the weekly market.  The main road had to be at least half a mile long and was full of stalls selling ornaments, clothing, jewellery, lighting, food and heaps of other local produce.  This, however, wasn't the half of it as the town is also famous for its daily Night Bazaar - an area, larger than the Sunday market and crammed with even more stalls.  I spent hours looking round, haggling with the locals and buying things that I probably won't find any use for!  Some stalls were selling deep-fried insects but, as much as I would have loved to try them of course, I thought I'd had my fair share of weird food and drink on Ko Lanta and gave it a miss. 

Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the markets, but I did manage to get some of the kids kitted up in the traditonal dress, who were dancing to music in the streets.

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