We had only been in Bangkok for a couple of days, but we have decided prior to our trip that we wanted to go to the Chatuchak Weekend Market, although it took both of us a couple of attemps to say the name correctly.
So the market, what is it? Well, it is the biggest weekend market in the world, it has more than 8,000 stalls selling everything and anything from frozen fresh fruit slushies, such as Pineapple, Mango and Apple, all the way to clothes, bags, orniments, trainers, furniture and so much more, it’s unreal. There is also a food section with some amazing food from simple skewered chicken, octopus to some places to actually sit and eat. And we have to be honest and say that the food is outstanding.
Around the market you can get so much, Tip ~ don’t buy from the first place you see, you need to have a look around as there are more than one stall selling the same type of product. A perfect example was that we both wanted to get a new leather belt, we went into on stall, they were selling some belts for between 450 baht to 750 baht (£10.48 – £17.46). We had a look around and found another stall selling the same type and style belts for 100 baht (£2.33), as you can tell it is a lot different.
Now to get onto something amazing that we found at the market and that is the food. There are hundreds of stalls selling, anything and everything from vegetarian food, octopus, pork and so much more than I could see, try or even list. We came across a little cafe / restaurant and greeted by two lovely ladies, we sat at a small table and flicked our way through the menu, it was a great menu as it had pictures, so we could see what it all looked like before ordering, it just meant we were able to get something that looked good and it wasn’t a surprise, although it was still a surprise when it arrived.
We ordered some drinks, a cola and a mango ice drink, then our food came and all we can say is WOW. Check out the video, you will sure see why.
It was that much of an entrance of food, that the tables around us, also filled with fellow travelers, they also took pictures. We had ordered Chick Phad Thai, this was the first time that Louis had ever had Phad Thai and definitely not the last!!
After we had eaten, we went for a tour around the rest of the market, we had also see on some YouTube videos that there was a section where they sold animals as pets, we thought it would be a nice place to visit and see what they have etc.
Well, this is where the tour took a little down turn, we got to the section that sold the pets, the fish were looked after and all looked good, the first stall with the puppies looked okay, although the dogs looked a little hot, but when we got further in, it was a little uncomfortable. In the UK we have animal rights laws, Thailand doesn’t. There were a lot of animals in the cages together, some animals beyond hot and not looking very good at all. Chickens with half of their feathers missing (probably down to stress or something else), mice by the bucket full and even worse, 4 bearded dragons in a cage the size of a hamsters. What made things worse other than the upsetting conditions, there was no space for anything and the smell, well we know why they wear masks.
So all in all, the market was very good, the only down side was the animals, you may see videos on YouTube about the animals, but it only shows the good, not the true side of how they are kept. You can check out our realistic video below on the Chatuchak market and we hope you’ve been well informed. If you end up visiting the market I would track down a woman shaking a large metal bowl around selling lolly pops for 5 Baht. They are yummy as anything and just what the doctor ordered with the heat.
Tips ~ If you go make sure you take a bag, like a bag for life or tote bag. They end up giving you these small plastic bags at each stall which are great… you will need a big bag though so you can put all your stuff into, especially if you’re getting a lot of gifts, we ended up picking up quite a few after a couple of hours finding the best, cheapest stalls.
Tips ~ If you need directions the best people to ask are the stall holders, they talk better English than the taxi drivers or even security; they need to with their job. Carrot juice isn’t that nice and there happens to be an information stand where you can ask for help, get a free map of the market and get free wifi with a password!
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