This morning I went to the Chatuchak weekend market in the north of Bangkok using the skytrain. I got there about 7:30am to beat the crowds of people that go and save being there in the height of the heat during the middle of the day.
The place is absolutely massive, with something like 15,000 stalls or shops and it covers a huge area! I saw signs for 36 sections, and each section was very big with a network of lanes cris-crossing all over it, lined with shops. The place is legendary for selling anything, and from my look around it was clear that there was potential for some under the counter dealings!
The livestock section was the most interesting, although I did walk around the whole market. There were areas full of geniune antiques, with old chinese looking chaps argueing over huge folders of old stamps or peering at coins through eye glasses. There was huge furniture on sale, garden equipment and plants, flowers, all manner of clothes and fabrics, there were weapons stalls which had everything apart from guns and grenades on show (I wouldn't be surprised to hear you might be able to buy those there though!), bonsia stalls, lots of souvenir and hand craft shops and food stalls, and of course the huge animal section.
I took plenty of pictures, and spoke to a few of the vendors too, most of whom were friendly enough. There are so many puppies for sale, hundreds of them! They mostly all looked in good condition, which is going some considering the place they are! You could buy a pit bull puppy for about 100 quid!! Crazy!
The aquatic outlets are stunning, miles and miles better than anything you'll see in the UK. Obviously they are lucky having the sea and tropical rivers to get stock from, but even so the water quality and livestock were in top condition. I did not see one bad, injured or sick fish. Of course they will remove any that are, but thats part of my point... in England this attention to detail doesn't exist! The tropical marine fish were excellent, and you can buy a fully grown Emperor angle fish for about 30 quid over here!! Multiply that by 15 for the UK, and cross your fingers on the health of it.
I found one shop in particular that was very dodgy indeed. I had my camera in my hand when I stopped outside to look in the window, and the owner ran out immediately to tell me not to take pictures... when I went inside I saw why... he had little pygmy monkeys in there, various spider species, scorpions, snakes, lizards and squirrles! Out front they had a baby crocodile! I asked the guy what the monkeys were, they were so cute... but he just asked me to leave, lol! I took a picture of his shop when he turned his back, out of spite... haha! ;-p
Another shop a little further along had cobras for sale! Why the hell would anyone want one of those? (unless you were going to put it in James Bond's bed or something!)
I found one section that interested me having read about it, the cockerels. They were quite far back from the rest of the animal section, and you had to walk through an empty, closed down piece of market to find them, but I could hear them so went to see. I've read that they have demonstration cock fights here at the market, but didn't see any evidence personally. There were 30 or more cockerels though, all next to each other under their own wicker basket.
The place was very interesting and I enjoyed my look around. I left early afternoon and hopped back on the skytrain to the other side of town where I picked up a couple of new shirts (after leaving two new ones in laundry in Malaysia last week, doh!) and a book on Sydney and NSW. I'm hoping the place is big enough to have back packers hostels with some rooms available, otherwise I'll be having a pricey first night in Sydney!
I posted home my asia books and maps and a few bits and pieces I picked up from the market and am ready to pack for a new adventure in Australia!
My photo's from the market are on photobucket. Some are funny angles and a bit blurry due to the covert mission required to take them! Lol ;-)
Wish me luck in Oz!! I'll update from there... woohoo!
Chuurs
Sloggs
