Chatuchak Weekend Market

Sunday I decided to brave the local city bus and head to the famous Chatuchak weekend market.  The lady at the front desk of my apartment directed me to bus 28 (in very broken English, with lots of hand gestures.... I am thinking I will be very good at charades when I return to Canada), which supposedly goes directly to the market; no bus changes needed.  However, when I got to the Victory Monument bus interchange, and everyone got off, including the bus driver.  I figured I would have to find another route to the market.  Lucky for me the BTS sky-train was only walking distance away... phew.  I hulled out my map and guided myself to the train (I also followed the other tourists towards the train).  I took the train to the Mo Chit station and followed the flow of people to the market.

Thai silk vender at the weekend market

The Chatuchak weekend market covers over 35 acres and contains over 5000 stalls of merchandise.  The market offers a wide variety of products including household items like china dishes, pots, pans, dish rags, etc.  They have fake flowers, fake fruit, beads,... you name it, you can find it there.  You can also buy a whole new wardrobe if desired, with anything from 25 cent t-shirts to fancy business clothes.  Numerous handicrafts including Thai silk scarfs, pashminas, table clothes, religious artifacts and collectables can also be found.  There is also a section for live animals, where you can buy puppies, kittens, chickens, etc.  Apparently you can also see a cock fight, however I did not manage to find this wonderful event.  I wandered around the stalls for hours, getting lost and mixed up along the way.  

I stopped for a bite to eat, and ordered some pad thai.... yum, yum.  

After spending about 6 hours at the market (and not seeing all of it), I figured it was time to head back to my apartment.  I took the sky-train down to the Chao Phra Ya river (the main river which divides the city), then took a river taxi to the Pinklao pier and hailed a taxi home.... clutching my map the entire time.  One man on the boat laughed at me while I was studying the map, probably because I was using it as a lifeline.  

Finding a taxi is always a challenge, because a) they want to rip you off by giving you a fare quoted 2 or 3 times more than the metered rate, rather than using the meter b) the lack of English spoken by the drivers, or rather my lack of the Thai language c) actually finding where I live.  None of the taxi drivers know where my apartment building is located... not even me!  I usually enter the taxi and tell them my apartment name: Thana Apartments;.  Then there is a usual look of confusion.  Next I hand them a printed copy of paper with the directions written in thai, explaining the location of my apartment, including a map.  More of often than not, I get a look of confusion with these printed directions.  Next, I hand the cab driver a city map with a giant "X" indicating the street location.  Sometimes I am rejected by the driver and motioned to find another cab.   And I start the process all over again.  Its rather frustrating, but what can I do?  

I arrived  home tired and shopped out.  I managed to buy only a few items, including a silk table runner, a skirt, a small print of the floating markets, and a necklace.  I had to control myself because its still the beginning of my trip and I can't really afford to be hauling around all sorts of things.  Its really too bad, because there was so much I could have bought; sneakers that cost in Canada over $150 for $20, loads of fun clothing, etc.  Sigh.  Should have had a sherpa with me.