Part 3: Hotels in Bangkok
If you are in Bangkok over a weekend, you have to pay a visit to the Chatuchak Weekend Market. In fact, I’d build a trip around it for the experience. And if you’re a bargain hunter then it’s a serious safari for you.
It is ENORMOUS and you can find everything under the sun and at great prices. Quite apart from the shopping, the site itself is a tourist attraction because it’s so big, and the stuff you can find – like nowhere else on earth. And did I mention great bargains?
But you should go early or late, to avoid the heat and the crowds.
It’s easy to get there – you hop on the BTS to Mo Chit, get off and it’s just through the park. Just follow the hordes of people!
Some people approach Chatuchak with a plan…or they’re going to buy something specific. If you’re just wandering around as a tourist, it’s good to know how the place works anyway, so check out the map here. Here’s the little version but if you’re going please check out the detailed one in the link.
There are 15,000 stalls in 27 sections, so it’s well to be prepared and have an idea or you could be going around in circles.
It can get very close and claustrophobic and really hot, so for your sake I hope you’re there in the cool season and there early. It can get pretty overwhelming.
It opens at 7am and closes at 6pm. Get there before 10 if you can, or you’ll have to deal with the crowds.
In my last visit I got there at 11, which was fine, and left at 2.30 and leaving Chatuchak was like the picture below…
if you get the time wrong and go at rush hour, this is what the walk from the BTS station to Chatuchak looks like...
outside the market
For orientation purposes, the clock tower is right in the middle of the market. It’s a meeting point if anyone gets lost…there are toilets too and they really are not too terrible (but bring some tissues and wet wipes)!
There are various food and coffee stalls scattered around the place, but make sure you lug a bottle of water round with you.
While credit cards are accepted for larger purchases, cash is king.
As a guide, B23 = S$1
Here’s a small selection of what you can find at Chatuchak…
- kicking myself for not buying the flirting powder
Handicrafts/Buddha artefacts
In the handicrafts section (actually it’s scattered but there are a collection of shops clustered together)
Really wanted this. New Time, Section 9, Soi 18/1, Room 359
all sorts of Buddhas, Ganeshas...
take home a piece of Thai artistry
Clothing
There are so many stalls dedicated to clothes. Blouses, pants, t-shirts. Graphic t’s. Trendy t’s. Army pants. Kids’ clothes. Cheap shorts. I even saw a pile of tshirts going for B20 each (less than a dollar). There are bags, shoes, and did I mention, Tshirts? As well as Thai fisherman pants, fine cotton tops…fleeces for B200.
lots of tshirts and more in the clothing area
This shop was AMAZING. These croc bags were incredibly beautiful (my pics don’t do them justice). If I wasn’t so pro-animals and if I had S$4,000, I would’ve bought the brown one. (so don’t presume the market only has cheap stuff!)
- Aviv, section 8, room 367-372 between soi 16-17
