Markets

Thailand's markets are amazing, not simply because they are places to find cheap gifts for friends back home, but because they are also a slice of the real Thailand. Markets are not just there for the tourists, they are focal points for various communities throughout the country. You will see the 'real deal' in a market, real people going about their daily lives rather than some contrived scene created for the tourists! If you enjoy pottering around markets and hunting bargains, Thailand's markets are just the job for you.
At times, Thailand can seem like one giant market place, Copy's of the latest Hollywood blockbuster, jewelry, fashion clothes, and antiques. Everything is covered in one form or another. Counterfeit brands abound, from Gucci bags to Nike trainers. Often with names that are meant to mislead, like 'Panafonic' or 'Matika'

It's a heady experience of vibrant colour, hustle and bustle. Exotic sights and smells, filling the eyes and nostrils. While eels wriggle about in pots, you can hear the thump-thump- thump of raw fish and chicken being hacked to pieces by giant cleavers. Sometimes it becomes so crowded you can come to a complete standstill! But still bright cheery faces greet you.
You will see flowers that you have never seen before, wild purples and yellows punch out at you filling the air with a thick heavy musk.

As for the indoor markets they are often a maze of tiny dark corridor's, winding there way around tight corners. Thrill voices fill the air all seemingly speaking at the same time. Rivers of water and blood run in tiny channels at your feet. Piles of ice drip-drip-drip off counters. Its a photographers dream, believe you me. In short its organised chaos that somehow seems to work...