January 03, 2006

Chatuchak 101

January is one of the best times to shop. Most of the shops are cleaning out their christmas stocks and getting ready for spring and summer. I did not do a big Christmas shopping last December but I made up for it when we went to the Chatuchak Market in Bangkok, Thailand in November.

Chatuchak is the largest weekend market in Bangkok. It has around 10,000 to 15,000 stalls inside. For a shopping enthusiast, this is a paradise. Aside from the fact that the price of goods sold are relatively cheap, you can find almost anything you need in this market. In the Philippines, this should be a hybrid of Divisoria and Greenhills Shopping Center but it's only open Saturdays and Sundays.

From the center of Bangkok, it's easy to go to Chatuchak. We took the BTS or the Skytrain from Chitlom Station to Mo Chit and it cost us around 35 baht and 15 minutes to go there. The market is a 5-minute walk from Mo Chit Station. It's quite easy to find it, you just need to follow the crowd since majority of them are also tourists and locals heading to Chatuchak.

Arriving in the market, you might get overwhelmed with the crowd and stalls everywhere especially if you go in the afternoon. Mornings are better since there are lesser people and it's easier to find your way around.

The market is divided into sections depending on the goods they are selling. They have all sorts of things, from plants, furnishing, thai decors, pets, clothings and apparels, children's clothes, toys.. and the list goes on. Husband and I decided to be organized and identified what we wanted so it's easy to find them. Even if we did this, we still got lost inside the maze-like alleys of Chatuchak. We refuse to ride the touristy transpo that goes around and picks up people who didn't want to walk thus, we ended up having a good amount of exercise just by going around the place.

We didn't bring any camera and took no pictures of the Chatuchak. We were in for some serious shopping and we felt that bringing a cam could be more of a liability with the amount of crowd going in and out of the market. We went there empty handed and went back home carrying loads of plastics with all our buys.

If we didn't have to think of over baggage, we could have shopped more. We wanted to buy a lot of those cool Thai home decors but it was too bulky and heavy to bring them back home. We ended up buying some (well.. a lot of..) clothes, funky bags, accessories, birkenstocks (very cheap and good for walking) , and thai silk scarves.

This was how we ended our trip in Bangkok. We spent 6-hours walking around Chatuchak, haggling prices, and finding good buys. After this, we were off to the beautiful sunsets of Kota Kinabalu.

Posted by duke at 1/03/2006 12:13:00 PM

20 Comments:

Anonymous said...: the secret of going to asia is
bring small luggage and inside bring those canvas bags

on the way back u will always have 4 more bags

BIRKENSTOCK PLS; 1/03/2006 03:11:00 PM
Anonymous said...: Indeed. Bring tiny luggage & put those red-stripe bags you find in HK (remember, the LV bag for OFW).

I want a pair of those BIRKS too, my companion for summer. They are now one of the expensive piece of chinelas you find here. Bossini shops even had the imitation, din't work.

I hope u had a nice New Year. This post wanted me to visit Thailand again.; 1/03/2006 05:28:00 PM
Unknown said...: Duke - I'm a first time visitor. Very interesting. I'm sure to come back and read more. :); 1/03/2006 06:49:00 PM
duke said...: sha - that's exactly what we did pero kulang pa din. We were actually wishing we were residents of Thailand so we could buy more stuff :D

If I knew you guys love Birks I could have bought more!; 1/03/2006 06:52:00 PM
duke said...: K- lol I remember those days.. Actually, shoppingin HK is also fun especially if you have the dinero. You can have your fill of LVs, Prada, Armani and all teh designers.

Go re-visit Thailand if you have the chance.if only for the BIRKS ;); 1/03/2006 06:54:00 PM
duke said...: hi expat traveller - thanks for reading my post! :D feel free to come back anytime...; 1/03/2006 06:55:00 PM
JO said...: sarap talaga mag shopping if you have unimited funds and unlimited baggage space.; 1/03/2006 06:59:00 PM
duke said...: Jo - hear! hear! :D; 1/03/2006 07:00:00 PM
Anonymous said...: As per the Princess' request, I made the hair cut shots added in my latest entry. hahaha, now doncha dare laugh!; 1/03/2006 07:56:00 PM
Anonymous said...: the night market in bangkok is also a good place to shop.; 1/03/2006 08:21:00 PM
Analyse said...: now what's that birks stuff? no pix? errr, medyo nabopols yata ako dun..cant relate..

happy new year duke!; 1/04/2006 11:50:00 AM
TK said...: I just love sunsets.; 1/04/2006 11:54:00 AM
Anonymous said...: To Analyze: hehehe BIRKS, an all season chinelas worth to own and can use for many years. I had 3 kinds, been using them for 5 yrs now.

Duke, nde fake yang sa Thailand ha?; 1/04/2006 01:58:00 PM
Anonymous said...: I don't really like to shop, but I totally understand the joy of being surrounded by things selling at half its usual price! Especially with the prices in Europe... Hmmm... How much is a ticket to Thailand again...? ;-)

Happy New Year Duke!

Kala; 1/04/2006 03:00:00 PM
duke said...: ana- hehehehe yes.. they are good slippers :D originally made from Germany but now distribued all over the world.; 1/04/2006 03:09:00 PM
duke said...: K, not sure if they are fake. they look pretty real to me but they are ridiculously cheap so... hmmmnnnn...; 1/04/2006 03:10:00 PM
duke said...: kala- I exactly know what you mean! Everything suddenly looks cheap in Thailand after getting used to prices in Europe.:D; 1/04/2006 03:43:00 PM
Anonymous said...: padalhan natin si louna ng birks
haha
sus may sis has 2 di mahinto ng praise sa birks nya

kasi ang akin mga outdoor sandals para sa river at sea.. chick ang birk; 1/04/2006 04:48:00 PM
Analyse said...: hehe, got it. my sis is actually addicted to those slippers. nakakainis lang, ang tagal masira hehe.

sha, matagal din namang masira ang spartan a hehe..; 1/05/2006 01:29:00 PM
dreaming-neko said...: yeah, they have EVERYTHING at that market! we bought most of our pets there in bangkok...; 1/05/2006 11:46:00 PM

Confessions of an Expat's Wife

January 03, 2006

Chatuchak 101

20 Comments:

About Me

My Indulgence

Recent Thoughts

My Daily Reads

Links and Infos