After having a good brunch at Or Tor Kor Market, we made our way to the Chatuchak Weekend Market via the underground walkway of the Kamphaeng Phet MRT Station.

We had to walk through the Metro Mall to get across to the Chatuchak Weekend Market. This was a small air-conditioned underground mall which we had made full use of throughout the day when we needed to get away from the outside heat, lol.

The moment we exited the station and entered the Chatuchak Weekend Market, this popular coconut ice cream stall came into sight. Perfect.

This is a must try for everyone who’s coming to the Chatuchak Weekend Market because you will definitely need a cold, refreshing treat like this to beat the sweltering heat. And it’s probably one of the best coconut ice creams in Bangkok anyway.

50 baht per portion with 2 toppings of your choice. Was also given a small cup of coconut water. I picked crispy mung beans and crunchy sweet corn for my toppings. Love the textures when you eat everything together. The ice cream wasn’t overly sweet and had a lovely coconut-y fragrance. And it was really easy to scrape off the soft coconut flesh from the inside of the husk – naturally sweet! Yum.

Couldn’t resist taking pics of these beautiful flower shops. They might be fake/artificial flowers but I just felt like I was in a flower garden, lol.

Glassware is pretty cheap. Really like the assorted colours that somewhat remind me of stained glass.

Another one of my favourite treats. These vendors are strategically located around the market so whenever I see one, I will just grab one stick. Only 5 baht per stick – cheap!

I like the Coke one best because it’s exactly like drinking a cold Coke but in an icy form. These popsicles are just made by freezing soft drinks. You will see the vendor emptying liquid from soft drink bottles into the holes and then he/she will drop a stick into each hole. The flavours on the menu are basically the same soft drink flavours that are used. Nothing special but still oh-so-satisfying on a hot day.

Feeling peckish? There are quite a number of street food stalls to try.

So happy to find fried quail eggs here as we had been looking for them in other places before coming here but didn’t manage to find any.

Looked like mini sunny side ups that rested atop shredded cabbage. Taste wise, they were quite plain in flavour (only had some light soy sauce dressing) but since we love quail eggs, we didn’t mind indulging in this treat. Bring on the cholesterol! ?

Had to grab a box of fried squid eggs too because we really loved this a lot since trying it for the first time at the Srinakarin Train Market. The green chilli sauce was superb.

It cost 160 baht for both the quail eggs and squid eggs. Realised we were overcharged later on because other neighbouring stalls were selling the same for cheaper.

Another popular food stall at the market is this one that sells roast pork aka siu yok.

The roast pork is chopped up into thick chunks and then sold by weight. Can’t quite remember the price per kg but this small portion we had cost 200 baht. Quite expensive by local standards. The skin is more on the chewy side. Only some parts are crispy. But I like how moist and juicy the meat is. And because each piece of meat is so chunky, it’s quite shiok to bite into it because it’s so meaty. Luckily there’s chilli sauce that adds some sweet and spicy flavour, otherwise it will be quite plain to just eat like that.

This particular snack shop has several outlets in the market so you will likely come across one when walking around.

If you’re into dried fruits, this is a good place to buy them because they have dried fruits that contain no added sugar. I really hate those super sweet ones that taste more like sugar than anything else so the ones here are actually not bad. I bought mangoes, pineapples, guavas and jackfruits that cost between 140-180 baht per packet.

We walked around looking for somewhere for foot massage but none was available till we stumbled upon this and just nice, the customers were about to leave.

This foot massage was probably the only highlight of our visit to the Chatuchak Weekend Market this time. It was a much-needed respite from all that walking. Air-conditioning and free wifi included for just 250 baht per hour. Not bad.

Somehow I just felt that shopping at Chatuchak wasn’t as shiok as before. I came here as I wanted to get home decor items, kitchenware and photography props but most of the stuffs that I saw (and was interested in) weren’t as cheap as I thought.

In fact, the Thai style tableware that I saw at the Thai Supermarket at Golden Mile Complex earlier only cost slightly more than the same at Chatuchak so I didn’t feel compelled to make my purchases at the market as savings was just insignificant.

Most stalls had fixed prices and vendors weren’t willing to entertain haggling of prices so that certainly made shopping less enjoyable too.

Wasn’t about saving the pennies, rather, it was about scoring a good deal through the fun of bargaining. But here, I could hardly put my bargaining skills to practice anymore, lol.

I don’t know if it’s just me but I think Artbox and the Srinakarin Train Market (Talad Rot Fai Srinakarin) are way better than the Chatuchak Weekend Market. Nicer environment to shop at as well. I think the whole idea of shopping in Bangkok shouldn’t just focus on finding cheap and good bargain buys (one of my friends would just buy everything in sight when in Bangkok just because they are cheap, regardless whether she needs the items or not) anymore but rather, looking out for interesting products that we can’t find in our home country and also be willing to pay more for specially curated items of better/improved quality.

But it’s still a good experience to come here especially if it’s your first time in Bangkok. I mean, how can you not visit the iconic Chatuchak Market, right? Besides thousands of retail outlets, there are also street food stalls to check out so you can easily do a great day-out here but if Chatuchak Market doesn’t appeal to you as much, there’s always the Or Tor Kor Market nearby.

Before you head here, wear comfy shoes and clothing and I highly recommend that you bring along a manual or gadget fan and a bottle of water. It gets really hot and stuffy when the midday sun is up. Also, the middle part of the market is just poorly ventilated.

Stay hydrated and stay safe. Beware of pickpockets as the market is super crowded. Have fun!! ?

Tags: bangkokbangkok marketbangkok shoppingbangkok travelbangkok tripchatuchakjatujak marketjj marketthailand