Chinatown Bangkok Night Market
As Chinese New Year Approaches Bangkokians Flock to Yaorawat Markets
Jan 27, 2008
The all-night market in Bangkok's Chinatown, Yaroawat, is a fascinating place in which to spend the hours around midnight and into the early hours of the morning. It is noisy, brash, and overcrowded, with dogs and tiny children scuttling about underfoot, seemingly belonging to no one. With the build up to the Chinese New Year - the Year of the Rat - on February 7th, red and gold tee-shirts, banners, posters, lanterns and paper are everywhere. Take a taxi from any poinf in the city to Bangkokians' favourite place for cheap retail therapy, and enjoy the excitement.
Chinatown's All Night Market - What is Sold
The neon-lit streets lined with stalls and carts is like a mini Hong Kong. A cacophony of sound, comes from every door. Raucous karaoke assaults the ears from open bars, bells and whistles pierce the air blown furiously by policemen trying to control the traffic, tinny Chinese music plays from the stall selling counterfeit DVDs and CDs, dogs bark, children cry, and serene Chinese grandmothers display their goods on the pavement surrounded by lighted candles that take the place of overhead light.
Stalls selling lanterns, banners, and good luck signs in the traditional red and gold colours are doing a brisk trade prior to The Year of the Rat. These will be displayed outside the houses to attract good spirits and ward of the evil spirits and are the bread and butter lines of the market traders in the run up to the Chinese New Year.
Food Stalls - What to Buy to Eat
The food stalls are also busy, friends perched on little stools at tables along the street while they gossip and eat. Seafood, rice, vegetables and noodle soups are available all night long.
There is a restaurant specialising in shark fin soup and nothing else. Another selling giant blue crabs, priced up and ready for the pot, and the handcart-stall selling fried caterpillars, crickets, and other species (which may be best not to enquire too closely about), has a long queue of customers.
Clothing and Footwear - What to Buy
Wander further to the stalls down near the river bank, buy some shoes, counterfeit trainers or brand-named walking boots in shoe alley, or take your pick from designer tee-shirts from every couture house you've ever heard of and some you haven't. If you overspend and your purchases are heavy, then you can buy a large handbag (designer of course) or even a suitcase from cabin size to full size in which to carry them home.
The Year of the Rat - Present Giving
The favourite gifts during Chinese New Year are oanges, mandarins, clementines and pomegranates, as the colour relates to gold, once dispensed by the heads of the clans. You will see many stalls selling these fruits, bagged up and sometimes decoratively packaged. The bags will contain four, five or eight oranges, but never six, as the word six in Chinese sounds like the word for death and is therefore, not an appropriate number of fruits to give.
Stalls in the all-night market also sell pomelos alongside the golden oranges, mandarins, clementines, and pomegranates. These are also an acceptable present, as when open and arranged on a plate, their pale yellow colour can pass for gold.
Chinatown's night market in Bangkok, has something for everyone. There is even a bridge to stand on to take in the magnificent view down river.
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