Back in Chiang Mai, we couldn't have timed it more perfectly to be able to hit up the Sunday walking market. At first, we expected it to be a morning/early afternoon kind of thing. Obviously this wasn't the case, so we stalked the area (before lunch, and then after a mid-day coffee) until we finally saw vendors setting up around 4pm. Officially, the market gets going right at dusk, including a pause for the Thai National Anthem. (I was not alone in the "Wait, what's going on?" feeling as many other tourists found it amusing that the entire market stopped to pay respect. It was like going to an American ballgame, only without the stadium, peanuts, oh yea, and actual baseball.
Our favorite part of the market was the multiple areas devoted to streetfood stalls. We failed on our first two orders (fried wontons with quail eggs inside and some overly fishy papaya salad) but made up for it with an order of grilled chicken, samosas, a spring roll, a bowl of Khao Soy (Andrew's favorite) and one fried banana roll.
"Why can't America have this?" Andrew asked as we sat on tiny plastic stools with our knees higher than the table in between us.
"It does. At fairs. Only EVERYTHING is fried and it's at least 10 times more expensive…" And I sighed, knowing this is going to be problematic for both of us.