Market - Chiangrai's central market,
north of Tanalai

Amidst banks, gold shops, lock shops, hardware & animal-feed stores, Chiang Rai's Main Market, by Tha Rot Noi (terminus for songtaow people carriers) has about everything: fresh food, hot food, clothes, Chinese ceremonial accoutrements, tobacco, utensils, medicines, calendars, curries, cleaning products, wicker ware, amulets, Buddhas, tools. All in the best exotic Oriental tradition, with bargaining more than acceptable. The flower and fresh fruit market to the north of the bus station is a delight; just east of that is an irregular tent market which sometimes offers a small fair, complete with rides such as a small Ferris-wheel and bump-cars.

The fresh food market between the Den Ha Intersection and the Oub Kham Museum is just that, but has the distinction of a Shan style roof. Talat Pak Goh, toward town's south-end, is quite popular, and includes a 5 Star Roast Chicken stand and a 7/11 across the street. Friendly conversation is part of the ambiance at these places.

The various dry goods markets under tent-like awnings come and go, as do roadside vendors. North of town, pineapples and strawberries are wholesaled on the side of the highway, in season.

What's perhaps the most fun is the Mengrai Festival, almost a carnival for a week, at the end of the cold season, by the Sports Stadium.

Old Yao goods at the Night Bazaar

And, most significantly, every evening, between the bus station and Pahonyothin Raod, in the center of town, is the Night Bazaar. Crafts of wide variety, hill-tribe traditional weaving, carving and jewelry making, burlwood boxes and teak bottle-holders, magic-act equipment, temporary tattooing, art and origami insects are all set out. There's great food cheap, friendly open-air bars, and shows on two stages. Open sundown to 11:30 or midnight, depending on business and rainfall.

By MaeSai's bridge to Burma, there's another real plethora of goods on offer. The town across the bridge, Tachilek, can be visited without a visa, simply by leaving a passport on deposit. On both sides of the bridge there're fruits and electronic goods from China, dried mushrooms, sunflower seeds, Burmese make-up and antiques, and interesting knock-offs. At the Tachilek market one finds also cloth from India, dried fruits and carved teak. The only Myanmar currency you'll see is sold as souvenirs. Myanmar stamps canbe bought at the bridge, at above face value.

I mailed postcards at the Tachilek post office, but they never arrived where addressed. The fresh-food market further on into town seemed interesting years ago, but is less active now and has come to seem just unpleasantly dirty and full of flies. Near the bridge is pleasant enough, save for the beggars and betel-spit stains. If buying cigarettes, beware - a switch is quite often pulled! French wines are a little cheaper, and often OK. Many merchants in Tachilek speak Thai, their native language.

Interesting antiques from throughout the region can be found along the east side of the road to the Tachilek Bridge.