Chinatown, Bangkok

We started our Thailand trip by flying into Bangkok. We got in late that evening and the hotel I had booked us was all the way in the middle of downtown. We needed to be by the train station because our train for Koh Samui left the next day. Come to find out, our cute little hotel was right across the street form the train station. Our hotel was the cutest and very swanky. Our room was small and the bed was hard, but it was ok for a couple hours of sleep. We woke up to a wonderful buffet breakfast and stunning views of the city. We had a couple of hours to kill before our train so we decided to walk down the street to Chinatown. This was our first impressions of Bangkok and Thailand. We were a bit overwhelmed. There were cars and motorbikes weaving around everywhere making it hard to even cross the road. We were harassed constantly to get into tuk tuks or buy something. Chinatown was a hit to our senses. There were so many colors and smells and sounds. The most common thing we saw were carts full of fresh fruit juice. We were very hesitant about street food at first, so we didn't try any. As we walked down the streets, we also noticed tons of gold shops, ducks hanging from the ceiling, big pots of something cooking, pig skins, and spices. We were a little overwhelmed by the crowd of people, but we were so excited to be there that we just tried to go with the flow. It was fun to get out of the touristy part of Chinatown and go into the back alleys where the locals do their day to day shopping. It was an interesting day and a good introduction to Thai culture. 

Our cute hotel

ducks

We decided to get some roast duck and dim sum for lunch. The duck wasn't bad, just not something I would eat often. 

Linking up with Bonnie and Tina for Travel Tuesday!

Sunday Night Walking Market, Chiang Mai

Thailand is FULL of markets. These markets usually sell souvenirs, fruity drinks, street food, etc. Many of the souvenir stands were the same throughout the entire country. In Koh Samui, they had a walking street in the fisherman's market and at Chewang Beach that we wandered around every night. Bangkok has a few walking streets as well, including China Town. One of the most well-known walking markets is the Sunday Night Walking Market in Old Town Chiang Mai. We thankfully were not burnt out on markets yet and were staying right by it, so we decided to walk around for awhile. It had a lot of the typical souvenirs, linen pants, Chang Beer T-shirts, vibrant colored purses and bags, and jewelry. Along with the typical souvenirs, there were stands with one-of-a-kind items such as paintings and carvings. There were also tons of street performers on the street. As always, there were lots of stands with street food, which was very fresh and good quality so we finally built up to courage to try it. We were hooked from then on! $2 Pad Thai?? Please and thank you!

We really enjoyed the walking market. I love to just wandered around and look at things, so it was right up my alley. The only problem we had was that it was SO crowded, especially because it was around New Year's and tons of tourists were in town. It was hard to even move forward or backward towards the end of the night and it took us forever just to walk the couple of blocks back to our hotel.

I never got around to buying a pair of these, but they are very popular among tourists. They are comfortable to travel in and perfect for covering up your legs to go inside of the temples. 

We saw tons of markets while we were in Thailand, but this was definitely one of my favorites. I loved that there were more unique items and that the street food was so fresh! My only regret is that we didn't get a painting or something unique to remember our trip by. We kept waiting and waiting and only ended up buying a few little souvenirs. 

Have you ever been to a walking market? Do you buy souvenirs when you travel? 

Linking up with Bonnie and Tina for Travel Tuesday!