Today was the first of eleven days in Thailand that I did not stroll through a market. My dad, who was with us for a week here in Thailand said that combined between Nepal and here he had spent more time 'shopping' than the last five years combined, or maybe even ten years. He hates shopping.
We do seem to spend more time than I had anticipated in markets, but that is where the action is taking place, the spots for the best street food and epicenters of people watching. So we have joined the crowds and wandered through markets big and small, during the day and at night. The food in the markets has been such high quality, better than my previous two trips to this country. It has gotten to the point where i am disappointed if we end up having a meal in an actual restaurant, as the food never seems quite as good and it costs at least 2-3x times more. Give me the stalls, the better food and some more excitement every time.
My favorite thus far was the night market in Chiang Rai that takes place on Saturday nights. 4 blocks were closed to traffic and two rows of stalls were set up selling all sorts of food and cool twists on the more conventional stuff you see at the other markets. There were several thousand people strolling up and down the market, which had a strict clockwise walking rule up one side and down the other to keep things moving along. Only a few of the many thousand were tourists, and this made it all the better because it was not the same old t-shirts, linen travel pants and knickknacks.
A close second to this market in my hierarchy was the Chatuchak market in northern Bangkok, which takes place during the day on Saturday and Sunday. This is a sprawling place, with seemingly hundreds and hundreds of stalls, cordoned off to specific types of durable goods and food. The mix of people here was more mixed between travelers and Thais, which was fine. The thing that really impressed me at this market was how cool some the stuff was for sale. There were dozens and dozens of these little boutique stalls that were as spiffed up as many stores on Chestnut street in the Marina district of San Francisco or the West Village in NYC. Most of these tonier stalls were selling clothes, and I came away wishing that I had just packed an empty backpack and filled out my wardrobe for the next 3 months, and beyond, from here. Next time.
Beyond the enjoyment of wandering these markets, I have also been thinking about the culture of knockoffs. They are everywhere. I define knockoffs as fake goods, such as dress shirts or backpacks, that have global brand labels and are made to look as close as possible to the authentic product. They usually cost many orders of magnitude less and have a lower quality. Part of the bargain for the buyer is knowing that fake is going to fall apart before a genuine article.
Sometimes, i am a big fan of knockoffs. Throughout our travels, this year and farther back, I have availed myself of at least a dozen fake Ray-Ban sunglasses, never being willing to pony up for the real ones due to concern about loss or breakage. However, I now have a pair of real Ray-Ban prescription sunglasses that have been worn pretty aggressively for almost 2 years and have clearly outperformed the fakes that fell apart or stopped fitting. With these sunglasses you do get what you pay for, despite what I have thought for years.
I remember when Mu and I were living in Saigon, Viet Nam several years ago and had bought a ton of stuff to bring back home. We went looking for backpacks that we could stuff and bring the bounty home, going from stall to stall in the major city market. I was studying the fake Northface, Lowe Alpine and all the other outdoor brands pretty close - looking at the stitching and testing out the zippers to be sure that they would survive the trip home. At one stall, the owner came up and saw how close i was assessing his merchandise. After a minute he came over close to me and looked very apologetic - "i am sorry mister, these are not real." No kidding! But, still I loved his honesty and sales approach and we might even have bought his knockoffs instead of the others who were so adamant about their genuineness.
As we have been bumming around Bangkok and northern thailand I keep thinking about the knockoff culture that permeates. Is that girl's Gucci bag real? Probably not. What about that guy's Nikes? Perhaps? What about that seemingly fancy watch, maybe a Rolex? Or the iPads we see people using everywhere?
I emailed a few friends that work at Apple for their thoughts about the fake apple devices that are pretty common in this part of the world. For example, some of the ipads you see on the street are suspiciously thick. They wrote back the following;
- It's difficult to tell without seeing them if they are real or fake. We've seen a load of fake ones through Asia. They get close, but when you look closely, you can tell how badly made they are. They've started using Android software and just making it look like iOS. But again without seeing it, it's difficult to know for sure. If you start asking too many questions they get a little shifty
- From the manufacturing side, we make huge investments in effort, processes, and equipment to get the parts to look and fit together just right, so the forgeries look awful.
All this gets to my larger point, that once there are a few (or many more than that) fakes around, you start to question just about everything. Those Adidas bags at the market that i like, they can't possibly be real. Those electronics, how can you trust them? Which seems fine if all you expect to buy is the knockoff, but once you start thinking about getting the real one, with all the investment in manufacturing, quality and support, you just can't be sure. So the knockoff culture lets all of us buy cheap stuff that looks real, but caveat emptor if you want to step up. You just can't be sure you are getting what you are paying the premium.
I guess we will just keep perusing the markets, looking for cool stuff that we won't expect to last very long. Not the greatest sustainability strategy but the only one I can justify in this part of the world.
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