Sunday markets and local connections

9.11.2014

Bright, Boom, Unknown, Pim and Milla.
Before hitting the afterparty!

Next morning we woke up to a horrible thirst, it wasn't just from all the drinking last night. The apartment was like a sauna, we had all our doors and windows shut, relying only in the air conditioner. It didn't even work and when we opened the balcony doors, the heat got even worse, it was mid day, almost 2 pm and +32celsius outside! Only one bottle of water in the fridge that we had to share.

Make had woken up earlier and told us that there was a sunday market near by. We hit the showers and got ready to go to the markets. It was so hot circling around the markets. They had closed one big street with all it's alleys, just for the markets.

Authentic thai antics at the market.

Big road closed for the markets.

We circled around the markets and bought a few hand made shirts and souveniers. We stopped to grap some spring rolls and grilled snow shrimps. I think we had circled about 3 hours already, the clock was closing to six pm and it was getting dark.

Hand made from rope, such skill, much rope, WOW!

OBUY! Yes I buy!

Milla checking out shoes.

Paused for a quick snack.

All of the sudden the national anthem of Thailand came from the speakers. Every car, motorcycle, street vendor and pedestrian stopped. They all stand in attention and we did as they did, for the respect to the culture and their ways. I suggest you do the same, it's polite.

After the anthem was over, Milla stood on a bench to take a nice picture of the market at night fall. I told her to get down, in thai culture the bottom of your feet is considered filty, and you shouldn't stand on benches or even show the bottom of your feet to anyone.

Quick shot of the night fall at the market. Not recommended, but still a nice pic.

Hand made soap.

Skilled drawings at the market.

The sunday market was all around great, so much food, hand made souveniers, clothes, soaps, sunshades and just about everything. I highly  recommend Chiang Mai for shopping, it's affordable and you can find almost anything there, even the hill tribes' artifacts. We went to get showers and after that we took a tuk tuk. We asked him to take us to send lanterns, they're made from rice paper that works like a hot-air balloon, asian tradition originating from China, where you send lanterns to respect your ancestors or to wish good luck for the living or dead relatives, or your relationships. 

Lanterns are illegal in Thailand for the fire hazar,
but still they are sold in just about anywhere and are often seen in the night sky.

We sent a lantern to happiness and love in our relationship, and one for Milla's grandma, who had passed away just before our trip. We sent them from the riverside where was a little opening in the treeline.

Link to video

Later on that night we went back to the Zoe in yellow night club. It was sunday but still the music was blasting full in the small bar alleys of Chiang Mai. After a while a young girl called Pim came to talk wiht us. She was a Chiang Mai local and asked Milla where she was from. She introduced us to her friends, Bright, Boom and a third one whos name we never catched, and it didn't even get recorded in any form. We talked with them until the last call (1:30am) and Pim asked if we wanted to go to the Spicy Nightclub, only one open to 4am in Chiang Mai. Us being finns, we said yes, like you had to guess twice?

Link to video

They had a car so we all squeezed in it and Pim even showed us her ID card, so we can trust them. There was a total of 7 people in the car, but we fit in pretty good, them being thai and all.

The trip to the afterparty was an experience in itself, all the yelling and getting directions and all.
After we got to the Spicy club, the bouncers only asked the locals fot ID's, not us. We went inside and took a table from the corner, the bar wasn't too big but it was nice. Music was 10x louder than in Finland and it was pretty hard to talk, so we went to outside for cigarettes pretty often to talk.
Drinks cost from 100 to 200TBH, which is semi expencive in Chiang Mai.
In the club they were blasting old 90's songs, remixed for night club and had big screens on the walls that showed Discovery channels nature documents, pretty unreal feeling to look what crabs are doing while listening to loud music.

The locals asked many times if I and Make were alright, they're not used to people sitting and drinking in the corner, but hey, that's what we finns do, right?
While in the bar some girl came to Milla and asked if she'd step down and "give" me to her for 2000TBH, she thought Milla was paid for company. What can you say to that? I felt honoured, Milla not so much.

By 2:30am the club was full, just like in Finland. Most of the people there were farangs, some escorts and "normal" Chiang Mai residents. At 3am we started leaving and asked our new friends to join us. They said that they'de at least give us a ride back to the hotel. When we got to the hotel we offered them some money for gas, I think it was 100TBH, they said they couldn't take money, it wasn't right for them. We tried hard and told it's polite to offer money in Finland if someone gave you a lift. Most thai won't take money, but it's still polite to ask.

We went inside and warned them about Lax. Pim told us that she and Boom also have a dog, so it's alright. When we got inside Lax got all exited and we had thai jumping all over our bed when Lax was chasing them. Funny as hell! We stayed up until 6am and drank Sangsom with coke, even tho they had school the next morning. We heard later that they had to skip that day, they were all too drunk still in the morning, and no wonder.

A letter from our new friends before they left.

It was wonderful to meet such nice and open people. We had a ton of fun and we hope to see them again, next time we go back to Chiang Mai, we gotta hit 'em up. Quote of the day would be "Keep an open mind and treat others like you wish to be treated".

That's all and good night.