Chutuchak Market (pronounced Jutujak) is big, hot, and smelly. It is also where you can buy just about anything your heart desires for a prices that your wallet desires. I’ll try to give you a quick rundown of this crazy bazaar, but mostly you can just look at the photographs.
We spent this past weekend in Bangkok for the sake of getting to know the city we live in…and because we don’t get paid until next Wednesday, making traveling a little more tough. After a late morning rise, we managed to head out around 2:00 or so. It’s kind of a process to get there, the first of which started out with a cab ride to the SkyTrain station. Well we knew what station we wanted to go to, which was actually just the name of the province it is in. So the cab driver drove us to the province, but didn’t understand SkyTrain or BTS (Bangkok Transit System). So we were stuck in the cab having no clue if we’d make it out alive, until one of my fellow passengers realized they had a guide book with them. But instead of looking up a translantion for train, we showed him a picture of the SkyTrain. He still didn’t really comprehend. Terrified we’d be stuck for eternity driving around Bangkok, I finally managed to find the word for train in Thai. Rot Fai. “Ahhh, rot fai, rot fai, rot fai!” says the driver. “Yeah, rot fai, rot fai!” says I. It was like we knew all along. Crisis averted.
So we jumped the ultra clean Skytrain for about a 25 minute ride to the end of the line. The Skytrain is Bangkok’s little baby, it’s their pride and joy. Subsequently, the Skytrain is the cleanest thing in Bangkok.
Continuing on, we got to the market, and it is huge- 13 acres to be exact. You can find anything from clothes, to watches, to tapestries, to art, to furniture, to animals, and anything else you could ever want. About 70% is clothing, although a lot of starting designers start in the market with their own booth hoping to move to a more permanent space eventually, so a lot of the clothing is really legit stuff. The other part of the market is all of that other stuff I mentioned.
It’s also essential to haggle, because if you are white, you will get ripped off beyond comprehension. Use a few thai phrases and the vendors will know you are legit. Give the cold shoulder and walk away, then they’ll really know you’re for real.
So I bet you are wondering about all of the cool stuff I bought. I didn’t buy a thing except a bottle of water and some pineapple. Quite frankly, there’s way too much stuff there to go in there blind. I figured next time I go I’ll have a game plan, otherwise it could get out of control. But if any of you come to visit me (and you should) we’ll totally go there and you can fill you’re second suitcase for about for an easy $25.
I did take a bunch of photographs, many of which are shown below. My personal favorite is the Thai sporting the America shirt. Yeah America. Yeah.
