Chiang Mai Walking Street night market - not unique but i guess worth a look
The center of the city is called "Old Town" and it is the epicenter of tourism for the entire province. They mark off the already-very-unaccommodating-for-traffic streets and don't allow any cars to pass through on the weekends. It is absolutely massive and I was hopeful that it would be unique. For someone who hasn't spent much time in this country it might seem like it is unique but as a seasoned veteran of this country I can promise you that it is, in fact, not unique.
I am slightly claustrophobic so this for starters, was the wrong place for me to be. There are entirely too many people here and the rows have been set up to be far more narrow than I feel they should be. It is almost impossible to even stop and have a look at the wares someone is selling without blocking the 437 people that are walking behind you. You gotta be really quick to get your hands on some merch.
Other than the massive congestion of people the things they have for sale have spurious claims at best. Many of the sellers are claiming that their items are hand-made locally and while I don't doubt that some of it is, I really doubt that most of it can make that claim honestly.
While i am certain that these things were made by someone's hands I don't think it was someone local. I have seen some EXTREMELY similar items on offer in just about every other tourist market I have been to in Thailand. It wouldn't surprise me at all if they all came from a factory and the ability to sell these things are dictated only by the salesmanship of the person working the stall.
source
get me outta here!
I asked the few local Thais that I know if they ever go to these markets and they laughed and laughed and laughed and basically just responded with "the only local Thai people that go there are selling things at it."
Overall Consensus or TL;DR
If you are ever visiting Chiang Mai, i don't need to inform you of where this is. If you are in the city center (and you likely will be) you will find it because it is unavoidable.
It might sound like I am whinging and to a certain degree I am - I can be quite negative about things that annoy me. If you are simply spending a few weeks in Thailand you will likely be able to find some sort of memorabilia in this market and other ones like it. However, if you approach these things thinking that any of the stuff in it is authentic, one-of-a-kind, or not mass produced, there is a very good chance you will be dead wrong about that.
Hi gooddream. The last photograph shows just how big the market is. It looks endless and is packed. I know similar markets only too well and once you have seen one you have seen them all. It is a shame really as factory made items are more common today. I would at least walk down it once for the experience and that would be me done.
Wow, I think that place is a heaven for a street food lover like me.
The pub street is more worth it.
Thailand has a gargantuan tourism industry, it's only natural that large parts of the economy depended on foreigner money, people who will likely visit those place once in a lifetime. As a team of Crypto-enthusiasts from the South East Asian region, your opinion does not surprise us at all.
We always get in touch with other local crypto-enthusiast on the ground before visiting a city. That way we really do get a feel of how the locals do things.
Great photography by the way!