Chiang Mai's famous Sunday night markets!

And we thought Saturday night walking markets were fab...

The Sunday night markets take Chiang Mai’s Old City to a whole new level. The electric atmosphere and foodie paradise of the Saturday night walking market close to the Southern gate were put to shame as all stops were made for Sunday night’s experience.

The city shuts a number of roads for the event that starts from 4pm, but doesn’t really get going until 6pm. Vendors are spilling across the streets and in every nook and cranny. You can get anything from clothing, jewellery, souvenirs, glasswork blown in front of you, artwork, bands, food- anything you could possibly think of!

Here’s a map of the event:

In the centre is an information and lost property point, near the police station. We heard a few times there were callouts for people as their wallets/passports/travel documents were found left on seats or handed in.

This was when it was starting to get going. Some vendors brought their own tables and set up, some were fancy with lights and some just sat in the middle of the street.

Easily, there were 10s of thousands of people attending these markets, so again the vendors didn’t seem pushy. In fact, many are sat on their phones waiting for you to engage with them or just chatty and inviting. It felt quite safe despite the number of folk milling the streets.

There’s definitely a sense of community too. The food vendors all seemed to be in courts together, with plastic tables and chairs and to complement each other. The vendors also wore specific “Sunday night market” aprons. Many of the food vendors cooked dishes in front of you, and if you asked for a special, would come and find you once its prepared.

Here’s a collection of foods we saw at our first Sunday Night Market:

Fried strawberry jam sandwiches.

Chicken butts and chicken hearts on sticks

Sticky rice on sticks

Our first try at Khao Soi! An incredible dish that we loved and have had several portions of since. This is the picture where I’m so focussed on the food I didn’t notice Lyndon taking a selfie.

Vegan Thai pancakes: some pandan flavoured, some coconut flavoured. These were so good I had to go back and get a second portion!

We were lucky enough to go back to Chiang Mai, last Sunday and decided to stay in the city for an extra night so we could go back to the Sunday night markets. Even then, we saw things we hadn’t seen first time around and made some wonderful memories exploring.