The Night Bazaar is a strange place. It’s like every shopping hub for tourists in any city – if you don’t want to see any New Yorkers you head to Time Square type of thing. The Night Bazaar is full of tourists because that’s who it’s designed for, but that doesn’t mean it’s without its own cultural signature.
The sidewalks are lined with stalls that face inward, their backs to the street so that when you walk outside of them you are walled off from all shops but from the inside you are in a tunnel of merchandise. And like all shopping centers it’s largely the same stuff over and over again. Mainly textiles and some souvenirs that are vaguely “traditional” without belonging truly to any particular culture, and yet still some interesting stuff that is indeed manufactured by Hill Tribes around Chiang Mai. Tucked down small lanes that lead away from the main strip and give no promise of any treasure other than reprieve from the crowds you can happen upon a lovely find like Lemongrass, a restaurant that is absolutely familiar with tourists and offers really tasty (and still inexpensive, despite location) Thai food.
My husband and I like to head to Lemongrass when we’re at the fights but I’m not on the card. We hop in the truck with the rest of the gym and head down to the Kalare Stadium, which is just a 10 minute walk from the restaurant. Since we arrive so early before fights it is usually perfectly timed for Kevin and me to go grab a quick dinner and arrive back at the stadium just in time for the Royal Anthem, which kicks off the first fight.
This video is the walk from Kalare Stadium down the main strip of the Night Bazaar and around the corner to Lemongrass. I give some commentary along the way:
