Thursday, September 27, 2012

Bangkok, September '12: A Morning At Chatuchak Weekend Market

Woke up early the next morning and got ready to start shopping Bangkok dry. I took my bath first (because I'm a girl and girls always take longer to get ready so we always get to use the bathroom first) while The Husband made us our morning drinks – coffee for him, tea for me.



Cute little electric kettle.


After that, we were off!


Took a cab from the hotel and went straight to Chatuchak. Surprisingly, the drive there only cost us 100 Baht. @_@ In KL, cabbing that same distance would have cost us a bomb!


Crazy, messed up telephone wires.


We arrived at our destination in a little over a half hour;
just a minute before 11AM, Malaysian time.




Chatuchak (more fondly known to the locals as JJ Market) is one of those places my friends have always gushed about. Ah Beng used to spend all his shopping money buying stuff here. Haha. Thing is, although I've been to Bangkok before, I've never ever been to Chatuchak. (Blasphemy? =p) We ran out of time during that last trip. Haha. But hey, at least I made it this time!


Store guide.


Chatuchak seems to sell EVERYTHING under the sun.
Don't believe me? Take a look for yourself!


Zoomed in on the specifics for you.


E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G. From clothing and accessories, to food, vegetables and fruits, to books, paintings, and garden equipments, to pets and even  fighting cock shows. @_@ Crazy. Bangkok really knows how to do markets like nobody else does. Haha. I think we were a little early though. Only 9AM BKK time so I guess that's why the market wasn't totally busy-busy yet.


Outdoor section.

Indoor section.



Do you see what I see???




OMG, so colourful and pretty, right??? I would totally have bought a pack to snack on while shopping if I was there with friends. But this group I'm with are a little more... urm... health-conscious. So we ended up with fresh orange juice instead. Haha. 




It was not even half as good as the pomegranate juice or orange/lime juice we had the night before at China Town. It had a bitter aftertaste I didn't quite like.


Another map at a police booth that tells you why Chatuchak
is called JJ Market by the locals. They call it Jatujak! =)


Soon after, it was decided that it was time for lunch. So we stopped to eat at one of the outdoor eating areas, set up under tents. OMG, it was almost noon and the weather was just so freaking hot! It was like an oven under there. -_-'''




Yup. Surprise surprise, I ordered the fried rice. Again.
Mixed this time; not tomyam. Learned my lesson. Haha.




Not great. Too wet and not very tasty.

No wonder it could arrive in front of me
just FOUR minutes after I ordered. :-/


Lunch was over almost as quickly, too. 15 minutes, kau tim. Stuffed our faces as fast as we could to get out of the heat and back into the cool indoor market area. Haha. On the way in, I couldn't resist stopping at an ice-pop stall to get a cool ice-pop on a stick.






I picked the Coke-flavoured one.



Red-faced from the supreme Bangkok heat and
looking forward to my first taste of that ice-pop.


Too bad I had to throw more than half away. The Husband refused to let me finish it in spite of the fact that I was melting from the heat! "Dirty water," he said. BOO HOO... T_T


Smiling in spite of the heat. Super hot weather outside.


After that, we went back to doing some shopping. But somehow ended up at the kitchenware, household and living department. -_-''' What a waste of precious shopping time! Not like we were going to buy any pots and pans or fake flowers to bring home also. Haiya. That's what happens when a market is too big and you don't have a hand-held map to navigate your way from stall to stall.


Colourful dangly things in the household section.


Thank goodness we got ourselves out of that cutlery/kitchenware/fake-flower maze and went back to the clothing section after that. If there's one stall I'd like to go back to the next time I find myself at JJ Market, it'd be THE CORNER:




It sells lots of pretty, embroidered and appliquéd ladies tops for just 200 Baht each. There were some nice English-styled lace dresses there, too. But the dresses cannot buy la. Too ex already. All over 1,000 Baht. Some even more than 2,000 Baht. (Ouch.) But the tops were affordable so I just hovered over that table and ignored the other stuff. HAHA.




Bought another bottle of juice to share (guava this time – also so-so only) after that, it was bye-bye JJ Market and hello, taxi ride and Bangkok jam again.


Typical Thai ad seen on the way out.


So what did I buy at JJ Market?


Black sleeveless top with appliqué and sequins
that cost 200 Baht. (Mama's gift to her daughters-in-law.
I got one, my SIL got one. Haha. Fair-fair.)

Close up of the appliqué and sequins.

A hippo t-shirt for myself – thought it was cute.

Thai Elephant tees for The Husband's nephew and niece.

A super cheap, super comfy dress that only cost me 100 Baht.

Hair clips. They were 6 for 100 Baht.


And that's it! I'd totally go back to JJ Market again if ever I'm in Bangkok. Think it'll be my stop of choice, followed by Platinum Mall. (More on Platinum Mall in a later post.) It's cheap, it's big, it's not quite as hot and uncomfortable as people say it is (although not at all cool and luxurious either) and, like I said and will say again, it's cheap. Cheap wins. =p JJ Market, I will be back!


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