On the agenda for today in Chiang Mai was to wander through the Warorot Local Market, also called Kad Luang. It is Chiang Mai’s largest permanent market, operated in the daytime only, and frequented by locals. Breakfast first at our hotel, the Chiang Mai Gate. I really liked the hotel. Employees and location were fabulous but because of that, the popular hotel is massively crowded. No worries except for trying to fight through the breakfast crowds. As fast as the buffet was replenished, the food disappeared and they definitely needed a little streamlining at the omelet station. A minimum of 20 tourists in line while one little omelet lady cooked eggs, one at a time. Grrr…. What makes it worse is all tourists eat around the same time because we all are heading out to explore Chiang Mai or go out on day trips.
My “Type A” acid churning from the chaos, it was outside to find a tuk-tuk to the Lamyai Flower Market…View image, next to Warorot Market. The first tuk-tuk wanted 80 Bahts and wouldn’t budge. Do not pay more than 40-50 Bahts for local rides. Instead, we walked a short two blocks to Chiang Mai Gate and got a tuk-tuk without any problem for 40 Bahts. ( ex-Marine tipped the nice driver an extra 10 Bahts. It’s the principle, not the money. )
A fast walk around the Lamyai Flower market with intricate decorations for temples, spirit houses and bouquets for individuals…View image. Women selling lottery tickets on the street….View image, local hill tribes who can sometimes be seen in their traditional clothing, oranges…View image, bins of rice…View image, gigantic strawberries (wonder if they had any taste)…View image, and vegetables for sale around the perimeter of Warorot, directly across the street from Lamyai Flower Market.
Outside stalls looked at, we pushed our way through the narrow aisles inside Warorot Market. Past the meat…View image, before coming to one of the of the more interesting sections, with live eels…View image, turtles…View image, frogs and nice looking crabs…View image… for sale.
I was enjoying this section until ex-Marine pointed out the gigantic roaches…View image… crawling everywhere. That took care of that! I hauled butt out of this area and into the goodie section where two women were making little pancakes on small griddles (video). These tasted exactly like waffle cones used to hold ice cream back home. Tasted, bought a bag for 25 Bahts and the two of us crunched through the bag in no time flat.
There are clean toilets at Warorot (follow the signs) for 3 Bahts (less than 10 cents). Refreshed, it was time to discover what was on the other three levels of this huge market. Warorot is a local market where the Thais stock up on traditional food items like crispy pig skin, pork sausage, chili paste, fruits, and other typical goods.
The second floor stalls sold cheap clothing, souvenirs, shoes, hill tribe hats and dresses with more of the same on the third floor. Both Warorot and Lamyai Markets were colorful but we bought nothing except waffle cone snacks.
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