Thailand – Laos: Day 4 – Part 7 – Cicada Night Market in Hua Hin

Continued from Thailand – Laos Travel entry: Day 4 – Part 6 – Pone Kingpeth Park and Bluport Shopping Mall in Hua Hin. For pre-travel, please refer here.

Sorry, I didn’t have time to take a picture of the tuktuk ride from Bluport to Cicada Night Market. From Bluport, fares are THB20 per person. As always, children are excluded.

GPS location of Cicada Night Market: 12.534112, 99.965801

Tuktuk stopped right in front of the Cicada Night Market and we were presented with replicas of light illuminated horses and other animal replicas.

Coincidentally a busker was playing a local song, I waited for a moment while Tatie took pictures around.

These are the long-awaited moments that are the most popular landmarks or spots in Cicada. Pictured with a background of the word ‘Cicada’. It’s been a long time since I’ve been staring at the photo of these places online, and we finally got right here.

Actually, the word is not located in the middle of the pool and its size is small. Before this, I thought the text size is large.

This is the end of the pool. It seems that many visitors knew aware tomorrow is the New Year holiday 2017. It can be said that 70% are locals while the rest are outsiders.

We circled the pool earlier to head to the other side here. Many are also hanging out by the pool.

Beautiful …. Replica of a horse from paper illuminated by lights on the inside.

At first, I thought that there was a show in there that was charged. But there’s a line of models sitting outside was inviting guests to come inside and would be served with a live band.

Free but ….

Must order liquor. Of course, the price is quite expensive even for regular water orders as they have to cover the cost of the live band.

Suddenly a masked man came near Aqif and took a picture. Aqif seems to like him.

We continued to step into more sections of Cicada. I thought this place is a small size area, apparently, it’s big. It is divided into three sections, namely:

1. Food court – dining tables and stalls selling food
2. Handicraft exhibition booths and other sales
3. Live Band – and bars

This is the interior of the live band I told you about earlier.

While walking here, suddenly a drizzle came down. Quickly I surveyed the surrounding area. Oh my! There are not many covered places to shelter. It is full of Thais.

Since there was no rain shelter, we took shelter under a tree with lush leaves. We have to accept the situation at that time and said to Tatie, “relax … just for a moment”. Suddenly, the rain lasts for only 10 minutes.

I observed the situation around me, sad to have to take shelter under a tree. Many stalls have started covering their wares with plastic.

When the rain stopped, we stepped towards the other stalls. We are very hungry. Plus the difficulty of finding halal stalls. My mind is a bit tired because there are almost 100 stalls! It’s impossible to review a signboard with a halal logo one by one, right?

The atmosphere in non-halal food stalls. The one watching me might be a “shemale”.

Many of the umbrellas on display here are sponsored by SCB Bank Thailand.

From a distance, I saw a kebab stall in the hope that it was halal.

Alhamdulillah, halal in the end. To your knowledge, only this stall is halal compared to dozens of other stalls. It’s a bit difficult to eat at Cicada.

At first, I simply ordered a kebab and another meal that I forgot its name. Then the seller gave me instructions on how to buy. I was not clear what he was saying so I had to ask a Thai woman who also wanted to buy there. Luckily she helped me out and translated it into English.

She said that I have to buy a coupon first…

I replied, “ohhhhhhhhhh !!! Like that …”

Quickly I stepped into the booth selling coupons. Suddenly I went back to the kebab stall earlier because I forgot the price. If you forgot the price, how to buy a coupon?

The price of a kebab and another plate of food, priced at THB80 each.

Here is the food. As usual for water, we save money and didn’t buy water there. Just sip the existing mineral water that has been brought.

Be patient Aqif …. be patient ….. I know you are hungry…

Here, the dining table is a bit difficult to find because there are too many people. I thought, maybe that night alone a lot of people due to the New Year holiday 2017 tomorrow.

Then, we walked to another section, which was an area where there were many stalls or booths selling handicrafts and other items. Beautiful art. Not sure what equipment that he used to draw. Although my late father was a fine arts lecturer, he was different from me who was not interested and knew about art.

The paintings here are very interesting. If I came here by car from Malaysia, I would have bought it a long time ago.

I zoomed close to the painting. I don’t know the price.

Drawings based on animal figures.

For anyone who wants to convert a face into a cartoon, this is the place. In Malaysia, there is also a similar artist. Worth the price of THB150. Due to the long wait, we left.

Tatie was still excited to see the painter’s drawing.

Cute dog.

This is an iron net that has been turned into a work of art. It looked like someone was crawling to get out. At midnight after this place closes, it may look scary.

Interesting art hand. I’m just not sure what kind of material to make the minion. Clay? Plaster? I do not know…

Another of their staff with Pikachu art made.

Creepy.

Doodle Design on a T-shirt. A bit cheap too. Doodle drawing with a t-shirt for THB250.

Walk inwards.

Western tourists were seen with their children sitting in front of the stalls. What are they looking at?

Ohhh … apparently souvenirs and fridge magnets . This time, we just pass it like there is no desire to buy a fridge magnets even though we are also tourists.

The gate of Sasi Open Air Theater. It is not a ‘theater’ and is a special place for booze drinkers.

The term ‘theater’ can be a theater stage like the aristocratic theater in Malaysia or maybe a Chinese opera theater and so on. But here, the theater is widely used for live bands. Admission is free only.

A compliment to the government of a non-Muslim country like Thailand. Although the sale of liquor is allowed, they still have a special corner for liquor sellers and are segregated from public areas crowded with minors. Buddhism also forbids its followers from drinking alcohol and intoxication.

Cute dog again ….

We also sat while enjoying the live band, no matter what song they sang. Luckily the songs are mostly western songs and easy to understand.

At this time, I took Aqif as close as possible. He also likes to enjoy this live band.

Many more are here but sit in other parts.

While Tatie was enjoying the live band, I took some pictures around. It’s like fruit, even though it’s a light bulb.

Beautiful decoration of the lights.

Because that night was the night before the new year 2017, so this is the picture I posted on Facebook to wish Happy New Year 2017 to my friends. In fact, this is the first time my family and I celebrated the new year abroad. We feel very excited.

I forgot to tell you … if you’re here, you don’t have to order beer or liquor. Just sit on the cliffs by the side as long as you don’t sit at the table. If at the table, of course, you need to order a drink.

After hanging out for half an hour enjoying the live band, we walked again towards the handicraft stalls. We actually tired but we’d better spend visiting the other corner of the stall.

Here are many souvenirs that can be bought and the prices are reasonable.

Like a file box or a book.

It’s only 9.09 pm. But it felt like it was 10.09 pm.

Many more outlets. It looks like a crowd of people. I told Tatie to turn in the other direction.

After detouring to the other lane, there was a stall selling bracelets. Glad Tatie saw this stall. Next to Aqif, there is a local woman who is quite friendly and kind. Her friend was choosing a bracelet but she was chit-chatting and joking with Aqif. Always laughing while joking. Then I take a closer look. Her right hand was holding a beer. No wonder she was in a very happy mood, hahaha.

After returning to the hotel, I then inform Tatie about it. I suggest that we don’t need to punish people even if they drink alcohol. That’s the way she is with her religion. The important thing is she’s a good person and not driving when drunk. Fortunately, Tatie had the same thoughts as me.

Bro, you don’t get tired when you stand for a long time ??? Maybe his daily income is very lucrative.

Video when we were at Cicada Night Market.

Next, we left to return to the center of Hua Hin. To get on the tuktuk, we had to cross to the other side of the road. Later you will see food stalls and stop the tuktuk there. The fare is the same when boarding from Hua Hin to get here. There were so many passengers at this time, that we had to take the second tuktuk because the first one was already full.

Video of riding the Tuktuk from Cicada to downtown Hua Hin.

As soon as I reached the center of town, I started to worry because the tuktuk was not passing in front of Hua Hin Clock Tower. All the tuktuks will detour into the central part of Hua Hin Night Market. So from there, we had to step out of the Night Market and make us even more tired.

I’m still wondering about where is the main square or focal point that the people of Hua Hin usually celebrate New Year 2017? But my guess is wrong, even the assessment of the level of faith of their people is also wrong. What is the real story? Continue to the entry Thailand – Laos Travel: Day 4 – Part 8 – Wat Amparam and Something Unexpected in Hua Hin.