Special weekend at Chatuchak Market

For many centuries, Thai people have been familiar with the word ‘Talat’ or ‘Market’ in English. Back then we did not have supermarket or department store, people went to Talat to buy fresh ingredients to cook for their meals, clothes, household utensil, or anything used in their daily life instead. Nowadays, plenties of department store have been established in every single place. Fewer people go to Talat to buy stuff, however, there is a special type of Talat that does not open every day, which is called ‘Talat Nad’ where people like to go and get together.

This week we, Catty and Taliew, is going to take you guys to Chatuchak Market, which is the most well-known market in Bangkok among Foreigners and Thais. This market has located in Chatuchak area for a long time, it also known as JJ market. This market opens both daytime and nighttime. This is the day and time for the market that you can go to visit,

Daytime: Wednesday - Sunday, from 10:00 - 18:00 O’clock

Nighttime: Friday, from 22:00 - 07:00 O’clock

(Suggested for those who want to buy things in a large amount in cheap price should go on Friday night, you can also visit JJ Green market, located next to Chatuchak night market to buy vintage stuff.)

The reasons that we chose to go to this market are that it is located in the middle of Bangkok, where both BTS and MRT can access. Also the goods there are very cheap if you go to the right shop and know how to negotiate with the shop owner. Moreover, you can shopping while having a delicious food at the same time.

We decided to go to this market on Saturday afternoon by using BTS to the market. Taking the BTS to Mo Chit station, then we take off from the train and take a step to the market. For those who feel more comfortable using MRT can also take off at Chatuchak Park station (exit no.1), if you want to drive here, you can park the car at JJ Mall and walk to the market or park at the MRT station. On Saturday, there are so many people come to visit this market, so we have to look after our belongings well. One thing you have to prepare before you come to this market is the negotiation skill, especially if you are the foreigner because some shops will set the price higher than the market price since most of the customers are foreigners, so you have to negotiate a lower price sometimes.

Our mission to visit this market is to buy some delicious food! However, the market does not only provide food but also, the gardening equipment, household furniture, clothes (first-hand and second-hand), decoration and accessories, pets, ceramics, antique collection and also hand-made goods.

The first shop we stopped at is the squid shop, we ordered squid spicy salad. This box costs 60 Baht, it is a piquant one but tasty though. Then we wandered around the market and bought some clothes that we did not plane to buy before, lol. There are so many attractive things to buy for the shoppers like us, we spent around 300 Baht for the cloths. After walking for an hour, we find some sweet to boost up our energy, we decided to buy coconut juice and coconut ice-cream, which each of them costs 40 Baht. After boosting our energy, we walked along the street for another hour and found that the sky is dark now, so we decided to go back.

That day we spent less than 400 Baht for food and clothes, and we were so happy spending the day at Chatuchak market. This blog is a special blog that we have done together, so if there is a chance in the future, we wish we will collaborate with each other again.