There I was, minding my own business, wandering the ferret warrens of Chiang Mai, when boom - I find myself smack dab in the middle of Northern Thailand's largest tourist market.

It wasn't all bad, though, despite the fact I had told myself I would never, ever visit this place. The merchants were friendly as Thai folk tend to me, I got a fantastic foot massage, and I spent some time with my buddhist friends.

If you've never been to Thailand, you need to understand how this, and markets like this, work; you walk in, you wander about, you become numb to the number of things on offer (from desiner hand bags to hiking boots to watches to DVDs to opposite sex companionship, to dinosaur bones), and you empty your pockets because everything seems like such a great deal. When you get home and you realize it was all made in China... you don't care. It only cost you $11.

The market gets lively around 7pm every night of the year.