The marketplaces of Luang Namtha and Muang Sing are notonly sites of a locally rooted “banalcosmopolitanism,” but also venues of narratives andpractices of experimentation—born out of newlyarising transnational opportunities and with theoccupation of trade itself. Alongside moreexperienced shopkeepers, a larger number ofnewcomers, all aspiring to be engaged in some formof cross-border trade, dominates the market scene.Adopting Holly High's (2013, p. 491) notion of an“experimentarian ethic,” I argue that it is thepropensity to experiment which is to some degreebehind the phenomenon of the unceasing opening ofnumerous small retail shops at the markets, andgenerally throughout the towns of Luang Namtha andMuang Sing, selling almost identical assortments ofThai and Chinese commodities. Originally used toexplain and describe the manoeuvrability of ruralpopulations to handle (i.e., adopt, reverse, revise,or abandon) development policies prescribed by thestate, High's (2013) concept of “experimentalconsensus” entails her observation of a widespread“try and see” approach (ລອງເບິ່ງ long boeng) (2013, pp.503-504), which is to some extent also applicable tothe phenomenon of the rising number of marketnewcomers. However, in the case of the market, thisexperimental “trying out” is not targeted at aparticular state policy or a newly prescribed formof agricultural technique (in High's case,irrigation), but more broadly aims to gain benefitsfrom a newly emerging structural opportunity,namely, the intensifying and (allegedly) moreaccessible transnational commodity flows traversingnorthern Laos.