Last month I wrote about the
Saturday Walking Street in Chiang Mai and am currently working on a round up of all the Chiang Mai markets – there’s a lot! There are different types of markets in different parts of town opening up and shutting down throughout the day and night. A few are well known to visitors, but many you probably wouldn’t hear about if you were just visiting for a little bit, like one of the student markets near Chiang Mai University.
กาดหน้ามอ is also known as the ‘front gate market’ or, by expats, ‘the student market’. Located on Huay Gaew road across from the front gate (get it, get it??) of the university, the market is open nightly catering to the the 35,000+ students staying in the area. Every time I’ve gone, I’ve been one of maybe five foreigners perusing the aisles.
Here you can get cheap new and used clothing (if you can fit into the Thai sizes), shoes, watches and sunglasses, and stock up on your colored, big eye contact lenses.
Take your pick
There’s also a large food area with Thai dishes, snacks and sweets, as well as several Japanese and
moo ka ta (Thai barbeque) places.
The market opens around 6:00, but probably the best time to come for a bite and to check out the latest Thai fashions (always entertaining – see below) is between 7:00 – 9:30 p.m. After that things start shutting down and before you know it, it will be gone as most of the clothing stalls are set up and taken down each day.
This is where I come for my Dorothy shorts and belly shirt to go with my Mickey Mouse ears baseball cap…naturally
I actually am kind of wondering if I could rock these…
What different types of markets do you like to visit on your travels? Tell me in the comments…
I’m visiting Chiang Mai In a few weeks and am so happy to have found your blog..it’s super helpful and is making me even more excited for the trip:)
I’m so glad, Vicky – thanks for reading! Let me know if you have any questions
Hi, nice blog you have here..
lots of insight about the city. all the bloggers out there could only say about the night market, walking street, old city. Nice one! really helpful
Thank you – as for the more well-known markets, the two weekend walking streets are worth checking out, but the Night Bazaar is just awful…I try not to go if I don’t have to!
Hi Alana, I am glad that i came across your blog. I just moved here a few days ago and thanks to you i know where to go tonight! 🙂
Thanks for stopping by, Lix – hope you enjoyed the market!
ya, i remembered these boutique, it’s not far from the gate of university, and there are some restaurants sale hot pot, i have ever tried mam pathai. haha, so tasteful.
I don’t think I’ve ever been to that phad thai place – I’ll need to look for it!
I went to a night market, accidentally stumbled upon it while visiting the zoo and a cat cafe.i believe it was this night market. Love it so much. It was unplanned and we just enjoying our dinner and shopping there.
Those are the best finds! I’ve never actually bought much there – cause I’m usually not in the market for color contact lenses and sparkly shorts – but it’s always interesting to go, and such a different vibe then other markets.