Do you know what’s the most famous dessert in Thailand?

Mango Sticky Rice - or “Kao Neow Ma Maung” in Thai. “Kao Neow” meaning “Sticky Rice”, which is actually glutinous rice, & “Ma Maung” meaning “Mango”.

Well, we’ve not eaten Mango Sticky Rice even once since we arrived in the Jewel of the North, Chiang Mai, & our Thai friend decides that we should come here cos there’s the famous dessert being sold here in Chiang Rai City!

And I’ve been very excited upon hearing that we’re coming to a real Thai local Market which opens in the evenings where the local Thais do their daily marketing!

We’re very lucky to have found a car park space within a short walking distance away from the very busy local Market, located at the Clock Tower of Chiang Rai City :

 And we’re right in the midst of the busy Market now :

A locally Thai Soy Sauce Chicken stall  - we’d wanted to buy some but are kinda worried of the hygiene issues cos the stall is just by the busy road side :((

The Market comes as a real eye opener for me cos there’re stalls of all kinds, set up in all types of forms, on the floors or plastic containers or tables low or high rised, along the sides of the streets : 

Beautiful fresh Eggs on round Straw Baskets :

Raw Meat stall beside Vegetables stall round the corner of the Market street :

Fermented Fish on huge Straw Baskets :

See the huge fat thick Pork Intestines at the bottom left corner of the below Raw Pork & Organs stall :

I really like the following stall of different kinds of Fish on big & small traditional Straw Baskets - so pretty!

Steamed Sweet Potatoes with Thai Sweets Desserts stall :

Lots of fresh Thai Limes (or “Ma Nao” in Thai) & Chilies (”Prig” in Thai) & packets of Shallots (”Horm-Daeng” in Thai) on the Plastic matted floor :

And can you see or guess what are the following items on sales?

Well, they’re Thai Crickets!! For eating YES!!! The Thai people at these Deep Fried with Salt Crickets as their tidbits & snacks, & they’re supposed to be very nutritious!

Do you have the stomach to try them?! No thanks I don!

And guess what I saw after seeing these Inserts - “Animals” Yes, & I start to scream & run off haha!! Well, if you’ve read my earlier Beijing post, you’ll know what I’m referring to when I say “Animals”! They’re the most horrific Worms!! Yucks Yucks!! I can’t stand them at all!!

Thai family of three in the midst of marketing :

Cutie Thai baby on sling across Thai daddy :

Thai fruits vendor asking us to sample her beautiful shinny skinned Thai Oranges (called “Som Cheng” in Thai) :

Even a local Thai motorist just come stopping by the side of the Fruits stall to do her marketing - a real interesting sight to see!

All kinds of beautiful Greens & Colored vegetables on sales from the floor :

The King of Fruits stall - Thai Durians (or “Turian” in Thai) :

Small & large Thai Guavas (or “Farang” in Thai) :

Thai Florist in the Market :

Such beautiful local Thai Blooms :

Thai man selling Birdie Whistles - I know these & I’ve got one of them too which I bought in Hangzhou (China) 2 years back.

You can blow the Birdie Whistle just like normal, but the magical sounds come aloud once you add water inside the Birdie cos now when you blow it, beautiful Bird chipping sounds are heard!

The Thai local market is a total mixture of everything you can find in the North of Thailand, with the stalls of all kinds be they meat, or vegetables, raw or cooked, all being set up beside one another!

The time now is around 6.30 pm in the evening, & as there’s a School near the Market, many school children have just finished school & are now accompanied by their Moms & Dads to the Market here :

Iced Colored Thai Milk in Bottles :

Raw Thai Birds for sales :

Thai Pigeon Eggs & Cooked Food stall :

Colorful gorgeous Thai Fruits stall :

Thai Seafood stall :

Lots of brown skinned Thai Langsarts & Coconuts (or “Maprao” in Thai) :

Brightly colored gorgeous Thai Cherry Tomatoes :

Thai Sushi, Mixed Salads & Sweets stall - & I get so excited seeing the many packs of Sushi cos I just love them!

We stop to buy some Thai Sweet Corns :

Packets of Thai Mussels :

We’ve now walked one round of one of the streets of the Market, & I notice many of the Thai vendors smile at me whenever I walk past them, guess it’s either my wild brightly colored hairstyle that amuses them, or that they’ve never seen a foreigner so eagerly snapping away photos at everything & everywhere she walks in the Market, or may be it’s the combination of these 2 ha heheh!! 

Well, I’ve put the rest of my photos taken here in the Market in the following Slideshow :

Thai Barbeque Sausages - another popular Cuisine in North Thailand :

Golden prettily shaped Pineapples & huge colored Melons :

Thai Barbeque stall :

Huge Thai Fish being grilled on top of hot charcoals :

Barbeque Meat, Sausages & Don-know-what-food Skewers - but upon closer looks these Skewers look like Grilled Snakes!!?! Oh my Goodness they really look like pretty fat Grilled Snakes to me, with their throats being slit across, but I wonder how right I am?!!

Another Thai Huge Grill stall - Barbeque food is one of the more popularly prepared Cuisines of the Northern Thai people :

Thai Barbeque Fish on Griller :

Deliciously looking big fat Thai Steamed Fish garnished with Sliced Chinese Parsley & Carrots :

We’ve now walked to another part of the Market where there’s a huge sheltered hall with many closed stalls which I think must be the Thai local Wet Market that only opens in the mornings :

Very pretty Tiny Thai Cucumbers - Cucumbers are one of the best & most crunchy vegetables I’ve eaten in Northern Thailand :

Thai Colored Sweets Varities stall :

Thai Home Cooked Food stall :

Thai Desserts stall :

Interesting Thai Rice Dumplings on Pandan Leaves spread :

Thai Roast Duck stall - this vendor strikes me the most cos he sits very straight almost motionlessly behind his stall - heheh so funny so funny even my brother’s staring at him!

Huge Thai Roast Duck & Stewed Duck Wings & Feets :

Thai Goodies stall :

Thai Barbeque Spicy Pork Sausages (called “Kaeb Moo” in Thai) all curled up & displayed on Khantoke Rattan Trays, with Golden Piglets ornaments - how cute & clever of the vendor! 

Thai Rojak stall - with small Crabs stored in the bottom left glass bittle. I’ve eaten this type of Thai Rojak with the tinier Crabs last December when I visited the San Khampheang Hot Spring, & it was so so delicious with the little sour so spicy taste - superb!!

Thai Bread Loaves baked in the old traditional method :

Now we see a sexy Thai Scooter Beauty doing her marketing too by the side of the road!!

And we stop here to buy some Thai Grilled Soy Sauce Chicken :

Well, Dad gives the “Go-ahead” sign & decide to buy from this particular stall cos there’s a Stove griller in this stall which the Thai vendor makes hot the already grilled Chickens (called “Kai Yang” in Thai) by giving them another grill on top of the charcoaled fire.

This way, Dad thinks it’s safe for us to eat since the Chicken will be grilled one more time before it’s packed as the grilling process will kill all unclean unhygienic gems on it!

And so we order 1 whole Chicken & specially request it to be grilled much longer. The Chicken is then cut into 4 quarters & being grilled on the stove over charcoal now:

Mmmmm…….the Chickens look real yummy & we do hope they taste equally good!

Here below is another type of Thai Steamed Chickens sold in the same stall - Dad actually likes this type of Chickens too but he’s afraid that they’re not clean since the stall stands by the busy roadside & cos these Chickens won’t get grilled for us before take-away :

The Thai vendor busy grilling our Soy Sauce Chickens :

Our Thai Soy Sauce Chickens are finally grilled to our satisfaction with the Thai vendor packing them now :

And WOW, see what we find next in the Market as we continue walking on?!

Braised Pig Trotters with Eggs!! Wow, that’s Dad, Mom & my favourite Cuisine too!! Yummy yummy but again we dare not think of buying cos these are not covered at all & the stall is by the roadside too!

In fact, we wonder why most of the Thai vendors we see here in the Market do not cover their food but leave them to exposure & dust & dirt along the so busy side streets, guess it’s for convenience sake when they’re selling & when the locals are buying ha?

But we wish all the food are being covered cos most of them look really delicious & we so wish to try them out! Too bad we’re more concerned & worried for our tummies so we can only just see & walk past them……….

Anyway, we soon come across a huge tall Stove where Squids, Meat Skewers (or Satays), & Fish are being grilled :

We’ve now walked to the end of the Market & NOPE we did not find any Mango Sticky Rice (though we managed to buy some Mango fruits) as we’d planned to come here to buy, cos the shop happens to be closed today!! So disappointing!! Guess we can only get to eat the Thai dessert when we’re back in Chiang Mai tomorrow.

Well, here below is another Slideshow of all my other photos taken in the local Market & of us passing by the Thai local School while walking to our car, And inclusive in the Slideshow is an interesting Thai Song Video about a Thai food vendor preparing his delicious Thai Cuisines & entertaining his guests while they’re enjoying his yummy delicacies :

And well, I really enjoy this evening’s visit to the Thai local Market as it’s an extremely enjoyable one where I get to see its many colorful interesting all sorts of whatever you can imagine or can’t imagine Cuisines & items on sales!!

It’s truely truely another of my best Thai local cultural experiences I’ve had in this Northern region of Thailand!