WEAR TO BUY: Trinkets are aplenty at the Sunday Night Market, located at one of the entrances to the old city.

Night Bazaar
Located in Chiang Mai Central, the bazaar is huge and you could get disoriented checking out its nooks and crannies. Still, that is the spirit of travelling.

It offers a wide range of shopping options from open-air street vendors to sidewalk displays and small boutiques.

You can buy anything from handicrafts made by hill tribes to shoes and accessories. The market brims with Lacoste, Polo and Calvin Klein knockoffs, T-shirts and cheap souvenirs, from as low as 20 baht.

Sunday Night Market
This market operates only on Sundays and is located at one of the entrances to the old city. It is smaller than the night bazaar but is more authentic.

The prices are fixed and clearly displayed, with good bargains available for things like T-shirts and ceramics.
Design shops

Chiang Mai's upscale shops are clustered in three places: Nimmanhemin Road, Tha Phae Road and along Charoenrat Road in the Wat Ket district, on the east side of the Ping River.

Many of Wat Ket's Chinese shophouses and teak mansions have been restored and showcase goods made in traditional ways but with contemporary designs.

At Sop Moei Arts and Vila Cini, I found Thai silk table runners, fabric and bamboo wall hangings and beautifully woven water hyacinth chairs.

Take a trek along the riverside Charoenrat Road - look out for La Luna Gallery (No. 190) and Nussara (No. 66) - or down Nimmanhemin Road near Chiang Mai University, where Paothong's Private Collection (4 Soi 1) has rare vintage textiles from $10.

Tung Kwian Market
The market is about 20km out of town and is one of the grittiest places you could wish for, if you are keen on truly local flavour.

It is a farmers' market, as the head of a wild boar displayed next to the pieces of cut meat will remind you.

Big sausages, deep-fried bugs and stall upon stall selling the most absurdly large knives and swords await.

You wonder who buys these sharp implements but do not quite know how to ask. But you leave assuring yourself that this market is certainly cutting-edge.

Photo: Nazir Keshvani
This article was first published in The Straits Times on Oct 7, 2007.