Chandigarh : The second day of the Thailand Trade Show organised by CII and DITP, Thailand at Himachal Bhavan in Chandigarh drew even larger crowds on 2nd day as compared to the first day as word of mouth spread about the show. While crowds swelled from the afternoon itself, the evenings were jampacked. Queues had formed up at the fruit stalls with visitors eager to get a taste of Thai guavas and lychees (which are somewhat different in shape and taste from the Indian ones). Stalls with eatables were a big draw, like the fruit stalls and stalls with nuts and candies.
The Tong Garden stall at the entrance with a variety of nuts – peanuts, cashew, peas and dried guava – is proving to be quite popular, while a stall inside the second hall sold its candies like hot cakes at Rs 40 per packet consisting 25 pieces. In the evenings, the food stalls come alive. One of the Thai food stalls is selling chicken with Thai herbs, chicken red curry, and chicken with coconut milk which is being loved immensely by locals.
It’s not just the food items alone that were a hit. Ladies’ handbags, coffee mugs, floating candles, wood roses, artificial flowers, fancy doormats, incense sticks, key chains and rubber flip-flops were all in big demand. One could see almost all stall owners carry out brisk sales of most items they had stocked.
In the exclusive items category, Pranda Jewellery had a range of images of Hindu Gods in 10 carat gold, ranging from Baby Ganesha (Rs 3,495), Goddess Laxmi (Rs 5,961), Ram Darbar (Rs 14,295), Majestic Ganesha (Rs 17,940) and the Ganesh-Laxmi-Saraswati trio for Rs 28,371. They also have a Muslim series of Arabic inscriptions from Rs 3,495 to a Mecca portrait costing a whopping Rs 1,03,791.
A Thai Tourism stall too sold some pamphlets of popular Thai tourist spots like Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya. The Thai massage stall is offering free demonstration from 10-11 am, 1-2 pm and 4-5 pm. Thai traditional dance performances are organised daily at 2.30, 4.30 and 6.30 pm.
A number of visitors were seen buying in bulk, excited with the shopping experience of a different kind.