FASHION DIARY: BKK Day 3

[Day 3] – Chatuchak weekend market, Central World mall

After a random night earlier.. read more on [Moments] We live in a world where losingyour mobile phone is worse than losing your virginity.. we woke up late and went downstairs. We met Jonny and told him about what happened the other night. And we found out that he and several other guys was about to go to Chatuchak market, so we came along with him.

This time we took BTS Skytrain and not a taxi. Taxi fare in Bangkok is cheap, but Skytrain is even cheaper. It costs us 40 baht a trip and that makes 80 baht for two ways trip. Was so hungry when we got off the Skytrain, so we went to satay stall right away and bought couple sticks. Tasted tooooo good! Even without the Indonesian peanut sauce, the chicken satay tastes sweet and savoury and melted in our mouth. My second purchase was the spring roll stall, and it tastes super fine as well!

And from the way I express myself above I think it is safe enough to say that I love love love love love (I said love 5 times, yes I know!) this market! My expectation of all in one traditional market would be a chaotic place, dirty and wet muddy floors, roofless, dusty air, bad smells, and too much people crowding a too tiny aisle. Ok, I was imagining an all in one traditional market in Jakarta, which is different..  So, all the descriptions above are incorrect. In opposites it was:

·         Huge but organized

It is said to have around five thousands of kiosks which are categorized into zones. They have signage for directions and provide maps.  I was asking for direction to a security guard and he gave me a map! I was amazed! I’ve never been to a market that provides a map for tourists! Well he said that he only has one map but since he likes Indonesian girls (me!) he gave his map away, yay!

·         Well facilitated

There is a bank operating inside the market, also a line of ATMs to draw your cash or exchange your currency. And of course public toilets.

It is also highly accessible, you can access it from BTS Skytrain Mo Chit station.

·         Clean

No one littered and they scold the one who does. I think Thai people have a habit to keep the environment clean. I even saw the street hawkers cleaned up the streets after they close for the night in one of Bangkok streets.

No garbage junk that attracts dirty flies so you don’t have to worry to eat your food here. In fact, some of the stalls sell great foods!

And even it is said that during rainy season the rain could flood up to your knees, I didn’t see wet floors there!

·         Spacious

Well 5,000 stalls in one area, can you imagine? They left enough spacey aisles for shoppers to walk through with pulled wheeled bags or hand carried bags.

·         Well lit

The market only operates during day time and relies mostly on daylights but even in the deepest part of the market, you can still see the items they’re selling J

·         (in some stalls) Air conditioned!

This I’ve never seen any other place, and definitely not in Jakarta. Air conditioning in an open air market was unfamiliar for me but it exists here in the market. In between kiosks you can see one kiosk that looks more premium than others because they’re covered with glass walls and if you peek inside, they have an air conditioner! Isn’t a wow or A WOW?

·         Good quality and cheap various items

Suitcases, furniture, bags, clothes, shoes, the originals and wannabes, from first hand to second hand are all there.

·         What else?

I already mentioned too many things I like about this market!

So we detached ourselves from Jonny’s group, as we are the crazy shopping girls or so he says. We would round up with him by 3.30 pm, because their group needed to go to Pattaya that night. I think that was a good idea to go shopping with the guys, they gave us time limitation so that we don’t spend all our money there.

By the way, I found this Cyclops sunglasses here! 

This is the last night we spent in Bangkok so we decided not to get too exhausted as we have to check out tomorrow. That night we decided to go to another mall, the Central World mall, to shop more on personal care products! And by that I mean to Boots! I guess we went to 5 Boots in different drugstores all over Bangkok just to find the Soap&Glory Original Pink‘s perfume on Boots!

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