In many parts of Thailand, you would be able to find street night markets where various types of items are being sold. Well known examples are Pratunam area in Bangkok and Chiang Mai night markets.
Aside from that, there are also temporary fixtures being set up in conjunction of certain events of festivals where many types of items are being sold. These would generally last from a few weeks to a month at certain local areas, usually located within parking lots in temple areas. The visitors would mostly be locals because these events are not communicated in English and they are not located at popular tourist spots.
Here is an example… in end of November, I bought my Malaysian friends to visit Nakhon Pathom Chedi, the biggest chedi in South East Asia:
We were at the right place, at the right time as they happened to set up tents where lots of items are being sold at very cheap price for just a few weeks.
Above is one of the entrance…. looks like nothing much. But as soon as we entered…. there are just so many things available. My friends, like many others previously tend to love to look at local items instead of branded boutique shops in the malls. They were happy to be able to look around and bought some nice purchases as well.
I only took photos of some of the stalls to give you an idea of the kind of things you can find at a night market street sales such as this:
Women clothings are being sold. Blouses cost about 100 baht only.
Above: Huge variety of ladies handbags and purses. Actually if you know which one to buy, they can last for a long time. I once bought a handbag for my mom from Pratunam for less than 200 baht and she used it for about 10 years. The bag is still not spoiled as of now.
Above is a shop selling large tote bags which is quite durable and useful to carry large items or just to put baby stuff like diapers, milk bottles, etc to be taken while going out.
A hat store. Folks who love hats would love stores like this. Seriously, they have literally all kinds of designs imaginable and each hat is selling for 100 baht only. You have the ladies and men hats, sports cap, straw hats, artists cap, hats with fake braided hair …..all of various colours and tones.
The cute ones are the animal theme hats, and there is even a poster showing you how the hat would look once it is worn… such hats are very popular with kids…
There is a shoe shop that sells sports shoes…
You can find a lot of stores selling bras and lingerie in Thailand. For example the bras below cost only 50 baht. Generally the elasticity does not last so long, compared to the popular Wacoal bras which Thailand is known for. However, if just for home use, it is quite comfortable and affordable. If you are looking for bras like below, you can visit small shops of large BigC or Tesco Lotus stores where it is only slightly more expensive that comes with comfortable fitting rooms:
Thailand produces a lot of ceramic ware especially from Lampang. Below are ceramic bowls, plates and decorative items:
There are also various street food vendors. Recently cheese french fries are getting quite popular and I am seeing many different companies selling this. Yes, it is super sinful in calories but super yummy. At the street fair, this vendor was giving out the cheese french fries for free:
There was of course a long queue. See below…. so so yummy…..
If you are in Bangkok area, the popular place would be at Pratunam which have daily night markets. But if you are at other areas, just ask around the locals. Who knows, there may be a local street fair just like that near you.