Chatuchak Weekend Market

This is the largest market in in Thailand with over 15,000 booths. Basically the most enormous flea market I’ve ever been to with anything and everything you can think of – clothes, food, foot massages, souvenirs, etc. We easily could have spent an entire day here but only had a few hours since we had a train to catch in the evening.

We took a quick Uber ride to Chatuchak around 9:30am and scouted the scene until we worked up a decent appetite and mustered up the courage to take a second go at meat on a stick. This time we made sure to find out exactly what we were about to consume – grilled pork. It was delicious and lessened our initial fears instilled in Chinatown (Chinatown Letdown)

After purchasing a pair of obligatory elephant pants and covering a fair amount of the market grounds, we grabbed a couple of beers and a bomb serving of paella from a large, jolly Spanish character at a small bar/food stand in the market – Via 9. Shoppers would stop and take pictures of the charismatic chef as he posed around a massive wok, throwing salt in the air, seasoning his next batch of flavor packed rice while a DJ played jazz and R&B hits.

I absolutely recommend scoping out Chatuchak Market if you find yourself in Bangkok on the weekend. We will definitely go back to purchase souvenirs if we have the chance.

We took a taxi back to the hotel because the area around the market was too congested and impossible to order an Uber (the cost ended up being the same).

Goodbye Red Planet

Things I will miss about our hotel – their cute little fox figure in the lobby that reminded me of Sneakers (my dog), the next-door 711, Silom Soi 10 Market down the street, and the blackout window shade in our room. Aside from that, we were excited to move on to our new home for the next couple of months – Chiang Mai.

Bangkok is a huge city with beautiful malls and convenient transportation systems but one of the main intentions of this trip is to get away from the city life to practice a slower and more relaxed paced existence.

Final bite in Bangkok

The train station did not have much for food – a small, sad excuse for a food court, a coffee/bakery, and a Kentucky Fried Chicken.

KFC WTF!!! I ordered a standard chicken sandwich while Sean went a little more adventurous with the spicy chicken rice bowl. It was actually pretty tasty (for fast food).

We washed down our surprisingly satisfying chicken meals with a couple of beers and boarded the train for a 13-15hour overnight ride to Chiang Mai.

Silom Soi 10 is the closest food market to our hotel and has quickly become our go to for eating lunch for under $5. We stumbled upon the market on one of our walks to the BTS Skytrain. It is open in the morning and afternoon to serve business men and women in the surrounding area.

One plate and we were hooked:

For 50Baht (about $1.50 USD) we were served three items on a bed of rice. Add a 10Baht cold coke and you’ve got yourself a meal!

Other notable dishes we have tasted include a cabbage soup, some sort of dried sweet and spicy pork, and the phat phrik khing.

Markets like this exist all over the city. I’m stoked we found this one!!!