Bangkok Part 2 : Chatuchak Weekend Market
Posted: April 12th, 2009 | Author: faddy | Filed under: Travel | Comments Off
The next morning we woke up nice and early (HAHA 11am), all smelling of new tops and bottoms wakakaka. In my readings online, I read about LubD’s famous 80 baht breakfast so all of us plopped in front of the bar counter and ordered four sets of it.
It was nothing spectacular – two pieces of toasted bread, a croissant, free flow of butter and raspberry jam, a hard-boiled egg, a gargantuan banana, a cup of orange juice and your choice of tea or coffee. However, at 80 baht we felt it was worth it as it provided us with a simple but delicious breakfast well suited to provide us with the energy we needed the entire day :)
So aboard the train again we went (cute right the ticketing machines – so old school!) and saw something that we can never ever encounter in Singapore… c’mon guess… wait for it… wait for it… wait for it…
PEOPLE QUEUING IN TWOS TO ENTER THE TRAIN! Wah piang heart attack I was so proud of them hahaha! We were like so amazed by this fact and Anz was like snapping away much to the amusement of the other passengers hehehe. Sorry.
We took the train to Mo Chit station, and just followed the crowd towards the Chatuchak Weekend Market (can’t go wrong). It was basically a massive gargantuan humongous area (both indoor and outdoor) reserved for every weekend 11am – 6pm to house a kind of market selling all sorts of goods from Tshirts, second hand apparel, food, souvenirs, animals, plants… You name it, they have it.
It was so expansive that they even have a MAP to show the different places and one day simply wasn’t enough to cover the whole area! Everything here is very cheap (please bargain everybody!). For example, 6 tshirts go for 500 baht and a second hand pair of Levis only cost 200 baht! And I cannot stop using exclamation marks because I am so excited of the thought of going back there!
I even saw the bloody booties that I really wanted… too bad there was only one pair left and they were two sizes too small :(
The only thing that rained on our parade was the rain (hehe). It started with a light drizzle but in a quick second blew into proportions so huge till a lot of the shops had to close, the roof started to leak under the heavy pressure and the ground got really wet and even flooded in some areas.
We settled at a small little cafe (which had leaking roofs as well haha) and spent quite some time just sipping juice and playing Monopoly (thank God for iPhone applications) waiting for the rain to subside. When one by one we saw the patrons clearing and the sound of the rain subsiding, we started out again to shop and shop… until we got so hungry.
With the help of some Thai locals wearing tudungs (”Sa wa dee ka! We hungry, eat, Muslim. Where?“), we finally found a Halal store and ordered the dish that we think the Thais are known for… The Tom Yam!
Unfortunately it was bloody disappointing hahaha. Looks wise, it was more of a cross between Lauk Lemak and Laksa, and 90% of the ingredient was beansprouts, which Anz and I abhor vehemently! Kwa kwa kwa~
Luckily their fried rice was rather good, thus we ordered another plate as we were still hungry after eating a measly portion of bee hoon and shredded chicken. The ladies manning the stall too marked up our prices (we saw them discussing), so THAT was a very disappointing meal, ladies and gentleman.
With heavy hearts, we left Chatuchak and headed to a market only available on Saturdays, 7pm – 11pm – the Vespa Market (WOOHOOHOO). Noone had recommended this place to us, and the only reason we knew about it is because I read about it in the Lonely Planet Guidebook.
A place where there are vintage vespas, antique items and second-hand goods? I AM SOLD. Nothing prepared me for what we were about to see though… heh heh heh. Next entry kids (this one is getting too long)!
Related posts:
- Bangkok Part 4(P) : Phraya River Cruise, Paragon, Pratunam and Patpong Night Market.
- Bangkok Part 3 : Vespa Market.
- Scattered Thunderstorms over Bangkok.
- Bangkok Part 1 : LubD and MBK.
- Bangkok Part 5 : Naaz, Haroon Village and Home.
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