shopping – Just Visiting

Lazy Sunday at the Camden Market

This past weekend finally brought blue skies and well above freezing temperatures to London, so I spent Sunday roaming around Camden Market with my friend Julie whom I met a few years ago in New York. She’s originally from France but currently living in Geneva, and luckily for me visiting London with her equally awesome friend for a few days.

Pub shot — My selfies are out of focus about 70% of the time

Camden Market has been on my list of places to see since I’ve arrived, though I wasn’t exactly sure why since I’m not usually one to gravitate towards overcrowded shopping areas. But alas I went, and I was pleasantly surprised that it was far more entertaining than I’d expected.

The thing about Camden Market is that it’s so incredibly massive—it’s made up of six main sections, and then some—everyone’s bound to have a different experience. So let me give you a small sampling of what I encountered while strolling through for a few hours.

When we first started walking through the scattering of souvenir shops, shoe stores, and KFC’s, I wasn’t impressed. The overcrowded streets reminded me of East Harlem during a summer street fair, minus the sweaty heat. Then we went into the green Camden Market tent which was completely packed with countless, nearly identical clothing shops. Each booth owner tried to get our money—the women by pushing the latest fashions and “just for you” discount prices in our faces, and the guys by flirtatiously combatting our “we’re just looking” lines with “…looking for a boyfriend?”

Gothic clothes and KFC — Gothic clothes and fried chicken

I was hooked as soon as we made our way towards the food in Camden Lock. The surprisingly harmonious scents of Indian, Thai, Chinese, and Mexican spices lured me in, and had I not been concerned about certain digestive repercussions I would’ve sampled something from each stand. But alas I found myself drooling over the sizzling fajitas that the two semi-Mexican looking men were serving up. I ordered carne asada tacos, which were… well, interesting. The corn tacos were stuffed with a mixture of what looked like canned chili, peas, corn, tomatoes, cheese, avocado salsa, and sour cream, on top of a bed of iceberg lettuce and deglo orange rice. Pretending for a moment that it wasn’t Mexican food, I suppose it wasn’t all that bad. In fact I’ll even bet that it would’ve been incredible after about ten beers. But I’ll never go back.

“Mexican food” at Camden Market

In my search for bottled water I was drawn to some no-name stand where I heard Tool’s Ænima album blasting. The dread-locked, tattooed, gauged ear guy running the stand (hello 18-year old Kim’s dream guy) was putting so much passion into making his coffee to the beat of Eulogy that I felt compelled to order a caffe mocha. And thankfully so. It was warm, thick, foamy, and overall a delicious companion for the chilly afternoon, even though it was gone in about six sips.

We finally made our way into the Stables Market and down to the pinnacle of my Sunday market adventure, Cyberdog. This place was like a rave, complete with pumping music, dancing girls in short shorts, wildly outrageous but equally incredible futuristic outfits, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there were even some drugs scattered about. They carried all sorts of wacky unique gag gifts and party clothes, from guitar baking spatulas, to galactic dresses you’ve probably only seen on the Jetsons, to OhMiBod iPod-powered vibrators that sync up with your music to get you off to a beat. (Or to help you beat off? Get it??!) Yep.

Best store ever, forreal — Awesome. F’ing. Store.

Galactic Dresses — If they weren’t so expensive, I’d seriously consider rocking these galactic dresses.

After Cyberdog the rest of the shops just didn’t seem to compare, so what else could we do except stop for a cupcake? It was almost closing time and most of the flavors had been picked over at Mimi’s Cupcakes, but I managed to grab a winter fruit mini cupcake for just £1. The cake was much thicker than what I’m used to in the states, probably about the same consistency of cornbread, but it made this bite-sized treat perfectly fulfilling. The tart, fruity icing was like a thick buttercream, but it played a refreshing trick on my mind to make me think I was eating something lighter and more healthy.

Winter fruit cupcake at Mimi's Cupcakes — Winter fruit cupcake at Mimi’s Cupcakes

I think my favorite thing about Camden Market was the grunginess of it all. I feel more at home when I’m around people in hoodies with tattoos and piercings as opposed to those in collared shirts, sweaters, and perfectly pressed slacks like the other areas I’ve been to. And it wasn’t too in-your-face with people forcing us to buy stuff (except for the food market, but they were forcing us to taste their free samples so who can really complain?). Plus there truly seemed to be at least one shop for everyone there—even those of us who hate shopping. Definitely a good market worth getting lost in for a few hours, but you have to take the time to go deep inside to find where the shops really start to get good.

Flat Broke at the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market

I’m a woman who hates shopping. In fact, I actually loathe the idea of pushing my way through crowded stores and digging through stacks of crap just to find one thing I actually want. Plus I’m extremely frugal, so if it’s not an item necessary for comfort or survival, it’s usually gotta be pretty kickass to get me to part with my beloved money. Even when I’m traveling the only souvenirs I usually bring back are things I pick up at the airport with my leftover cash in an attempt to avoid another currency conversion. So why in the hell did I go to the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market in Thailand?

A little over an hour outside of Bangkok by car, this market appears to exist almost entirely for tourists. I jumped into a narrow longboat with a Thai man and a roaring motor in the back. We sped our way through narrow canals of thick green plants and houses on stilts before reaching the market.

Cruising through the canals, which are clearly not no-wake zones

When we finally got there I was a little surprised. I was expecting to see local Thai people going about their daily exchanges of fruits and vegetables, bartering, and cooking up soups, rice, and meat. But instead it was a congested slew of tourists in longboats led by aging Thai women, being accosted from pushy sellers with unoriginal souvenirs. Guess I should’ve done a bit more research.

Not really what I had in mind when I thought of boating in Thailand

There were hoards of boats full of tourists navigating through the canals under the shade of tarps. I use the word tarp loosely, as they’re mostly riddled with holes or simply just pieces of rope holding nets. Throngs of shops selling clothes, paintings, and keepsakes spilled out into boats selling fruity refreshments and hats. More than once we had to brush elbows with other tourists touting coconuts and SLRs.

Floating Market — The men had motors, the women had paddles

I felt a bit uncomfortable. Maybe it’s because I don’t like flea markets, but it probably has more to do with the fact that I didn’t have any money to spend. More than once a woman standing on shore would lure us over and show me some pretty beautiful items that I couldn’t even afford if I wanted to, so all I could say was “it’s very beautiful, but no thank you.” Then they would say something in Thai to my guide and they’d both laugh, which of course made my brain do the whole “are they talking about me?” thing. “Do they think I’m a cheap bitch?”

I’d hoped to find some awesome, unique nicknack or delicious spices that I couldn’t live without. Instead I found lots of outdated t-shirts (none I would ever wear, ever), unoriginal souvenirs, fresh coconuts, and grilled bananas. The only locals I saw were those running the stands. But just like the rest of Thailand, everybody is trying to sell you something. Except here it’s worse because you’re trapped in a boat with people shouting at you from every direction. My best advice: do NOT make eye contact.

Grilled Bananas at the floating market — The smell of sweets and grilled bananas masked the murky waters

I’d like to think that I’m a polite person, but I’ve never said “no thank you” so many times in my entire life. By the end those words had lost all meaning and were now becoming increasingly hostile.

I’m not sure if all boats do this or it’s just because I wasn’t buying anything, but they dropped me off at a market at the end of the canal for 15 minutes. I struck up a conversation with the shop owners who were stirring coconut sugar, so they let me give it a go. Then they took the finished mixture and started scooping it out as these fresh new drops of coconut sugar. I tried one, and of course I was hooked. I needed an entire bag immediately. I also picked up some coconut pancakes (which are remarkably similar to ‘nilla wafers) and enjoyed a nice snack on the way back through the market. Having my mouth full became a good excuse not to talk to vendors. Double score!

Making coconut sugar — You can’t really see but I’m sweating my ass off trying to stir this thick stuff

Coconut sugar — Fresh and delicious drops of coconut sugar

Apparently it’s very easy to bargain your way to a great deal, but if there’s one thing I hate more than shopping it’s bargaining. If you ever go there I hope you have better luck than I did!