Chatuchak Weekend Market, with its 5,000 stalls and 200,000 daily visitors, rivals the LA County Fair in size and, in Ashlee’s words, puts the OC swapmeet to shame. The place holds stalls offering everything from keychains to coconut ice cream to fried insects to boa constrictors. Ashlee was in heaven. I did my best to keep up – or more importantly, not slow her down. After walking through row after row of Buddha figurines, household items, sunglasses, and various pieces of art, we took a break for lunch. A little wary of the various street stalls – and wanting to put distance between us and the fried insects – we opted to dine at a large food court on the 3rd floor of an air-conditioned mall. It was exactly the crazy experience that Ashlee had read about. You start by paying a central cashier and getting a temporary cash card, which you use to pay the actual food vendors. Like a regular mall food court, eateries line the periphery of the area while all the seating is in the middle. It appeared that we weren’t the only hungry people because the place was packed. Despite being a little intimidated, we managed to get a papaya salad, shrimp fried rice, spicey pork soup, and a Thai iced tea – all for about $5!
After lunch we wandered over to the pet section of the market. Not sure of what to expect, our hearts melted when we saw store after store of the cutest puppies ever: golden retrievers, Siberian huskies, beagles, Pomeranians, and –our favorite – bulldogs. I was totally ready to get one, but Ashlee brought me back to reality. It would just be too cruel to take such a creature back to Olgii to live in a tiny apartment in a freezing climate – although some of the furrier breeds didn’t seem too keen on Bangkok’s heat.
A bit pooped after visiting the puppies, I elected to stop for an iced coffee and turn Ashlee loose on the clothing section. She showed surprising restraint by returning after an hour with only two purchases: a dress and a belt.
By about 2pm we were ready to head back to the hotel. After an unsuccessful attempt to hail a cab – the driver looked at our hotel’s address (which was written in Thai) and just said “no” – we found a tuk-tuk driver willing to take us for an agreed upon price. Now I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, these little vehicles are so much fun to ride in. Our driver seemed really good-natured and he definitely knew the ins and outs of Old Bangkok. We did get a little worried at one point because we were driving through some twists and turn in a small residential neighborhood before eventually stopping at a house – but it was just so the driver could drop some groceries off.
Back at the hotel, we spent the afternoon lounging by the pool. In the evening, we discovered that a wrench had been thrown into our dinner plans. Ashlee made reservations weeks ago at a nice riverside restaurant famed for its sunset views, but when she called to confirm them today she discovered that they have been lost. Dangit. We didn’t let it get us down. We ended up eating some pretty authentic British fish and chips followed by ice cream for dessert.
We love condiments!
Tomorrow night we will catch an overnight train and then a bus to Phuket. It doesn’t leave until 7 however, so we’ll have time to say goodbye to KSR with a couple of massages.
PS – Our favorite phrase of the day is “same same.” All the market vendors love to say this when they are advertising their knock-off wares – as in “Gucci sunglasses. Same same!”
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