My fourth time in Thailand was like staying at home, but still with a tourist view. Familiar, friendly, natural… my luggage is not much as I would carry a pile of delicious snacks back to China.
Here is a typical dessert called mango sticky rice, btw, this is also the most beautiful one in my heart…
Now share you what I’ve seen and heard this time. In fact, we need to learn how to continually discover something new in our life , so that our life&trip would be more interesting and meaningful.
1. Chinese priority signs at Chiang mai airport disappeared, where free-roaming Chinese tourists had to line up alongside foreign tourists. The Thai passport immigration pass counter have temporarily opened for Chinese tourist groups. PS: The Customs require a certain amount of baht, but few check it. I think this rule is contradictory, because the majority of the shops recommend Alipay&WeChat, and the exchange rate is more favorable. So there is no need to carry such a huge cash with ourselves…
2. Remember when crossing the street, now we can manually operate the traffic lights. After a few seconds, the car will automatically stop to give way with green traffic lights. But if you don’t push the switch, the cars won’t be as kind as gentles to stop for you. Be careful since motorcycles move super fast.
3. The main road leading from the old town (Tape Gate Side) to the night market was decorated with romantic yellow light bulbs, yes, romantic! They may be used to guide visitors to the night market.
4. Convenience store 711 worths five-star praise, a lot of delicious, cosmetics, daily necessities and so on. The staff service in Thailand is superb. I bought a 55-baht bowl of shrimp wonton, he microwaved for me, and gave me cutlery and several small packets of seasoning, also with a plastic bag. He also reminded me to be careful with the heat. All with a smile. In addition, t-shirts featuring the iconic 711 logo appeared at the night market. But I didn’t buy it as 711 didn’t give me money for propaganda hahaha 🙂
Actually I didn’t need them at all…
5. I’m surprised to meet the Chinese improvement of Thai locals. Very standard, and even some idiomatic Chinese expressions for productions promotion.
6. The hot popular shops (in Chinese, we call “Wang Hong”) are not only limited to cafes and restaurants with distinctive decoration and exquisite food, but also some resident food stalls. For example, on the street leading to the night market, there is a “granny moon” selling banana chocolate pancakes. I stopped by for many times and every time were crowded. It’s not only popular with tourists, but also the local thais who came here by motorcycles.
This old lady is super elegant!
Yes, I like it. And it’s only 25 baht, can be said the cheapest and the best taste!!! Eat it while it’s hot!
This shot was accidentally took outside of a occupational university and the food is similar as “Shan Dong Juan Bing” in China, also a kind of street food.
7. Some toilets cost 5 baht, and if you give them 10 baht, you will get a bag of toilet tissue replace of 5 baht change. So if you have your own toilet paper, just tell the staff. Don’t take the toilet tissue and also wait foolishly for the change.
8. There are only things you can’t imagine, nothing that Thai people are afraid to sell. For example, the new rubber stuff, yes, it’s shit. Many people just took pics. I was super curious that who would like to buy it.
And this is plastic slippers.
9. I found tie-dyed clothes and some other derivatives, such as bags. These products are mainly with blue tone, this kind of traditional skill is widely circulated in China’s southwest minority areas and some southeast Asian countries. At the same time, there are some patterns similar to the costume patterns of ethnic minorities in Yunnan Province of China, with gorgeous colors and delicate patterns.
10. The food stand owners are also getting smarter, like when I buy fruit and pay him 40 baht for a 30 baht bag of melon. The peddler directly gave me an extra small pineapple in place of 10 baht change, with very fluent Chinese. There was a fixed fruit stand just nearby the Tape Gate. He would appear at night and his car has Chinese advertisements. I was so shocked that I even suspected this was a Chinese man pretending to be Thai. Other example such as buy 3 for 50 baht (one bag is 20 baht)…
11. It’s more convenient to exchange money. Almost all ATM machines support union card now. I also found a lot of ICBC atms. Alipay and Wechat can be used in physical shops, but the counter is still not available and only for cash. I only saw one that can be changed by alipay but was supposed to change more than 1000 RMB. Nice exchange rate is “super rich” bank with 4.30. But I found the best one on a road full of bars and massages, also beautiful ladies.
Those friendly people were waving their arms when I took the shot.
12. People normally think that business department of a university should be the richest. However, in Chiang Mai University, the medical school is the richest. It’s a pity that I don’t have the photos of medical buildings, as that day was raining heavily when I rode pass by so I didn’t stop.
Those photos were took in the campus of Chiang Mai Univeristy. I rode my rental bike with a lot of freedom there.
13. Personally speaking, there is no great difference between Saturday night market and the Sunday one. These vendors will both appear in the two markets, they just do business in a different place.
14. Due to the air pollution, many motorists started to wear face masks. The exhaust from cars and motorcycles on main roads made me want to cover my nose. The Chiang Mai river contains a lot of silt, plastic bags, rubbish and tree branches and leaves.
By contrast, the closed moat outside the downtown is cleaner.
15. Night markets tending to be international, someone sells traditional Chinese food — steamed buns, rice porridge, and Turkish kebabs, Turkish ice cream, and Mexican burritos tacos. Wonton soup, Shao Mai, bubble milk tea, Fried chicken& pork& vegetables sumplings, Japanese sushi, and fried oyster egg pancakes, those have existed for a longer time.
16. Believe me, Thai pork steamed buns, dumplings respectively with pork and chicken are not delicious. They don’t mix meats and vegetables… The mother-in-law of my boss invited me to eat homemade steamed bun, but the steamed bun was not delicious. Minced meat was sweet… However, fried vegetable dumplings and black pepper vegetable buns in 711 shop are delicious. Sorry, no pics for buns…in Chinese, it’s called “Bao Zi”.
17. Thailand, paradise…there is no doubt about it. However, I found that many westerners don’t plan their travel efficiently, like they might waste time for the transportation. I know someone want to save money or enjoy the view by choosing bus or train. Whereas, airline is the most convenient and fastest, and more importantly, the tickets are not expensive…
This is my workplace, a small hostel which is nearby the Tape Gate. A nice young couple started their own business half years ago.
Graciela’s Travel Blog 