Chatuchak Is Shopping Paradise
today i’m going to blog about the best - and also my favourite - place to shop in the whole wide world : the Chatuchak Market in Bangkok :)
no trip to Bangkok is complete without a visit to the huge and famous weekend market that houses a vast labyrinth of shops and stalls selling just about anything a shopper could ask for. some 20,000 shops are tucked away haphazardly in this market, separated into 26 different sections according to their 9 categories of wares - books & collectibles, plants & gardening, home utensils & decor, pets and animals, antiques, clothing and accessories, handicrafts, furniture and miscellaneous; somewhat systematic but still thrillingly chaotic.
not only does Chatuchak have the most mind-boggling variety of products for sale, but everything is also CHEAP like nothing you’ve ever seen before!!! so cheap that every weekend in Bangkok, resellers and business owners from all over the world descend onto Chatuchak to stock up wholesale on super-cheap clothes, furniture, accessories and jewelry to bring back to their shops to re-sell for triple the price. (read: Bangsar and Hartamas boutiques ;) the rest of us holidaying shoppers can also share the joy of finding bargains in every nook and corner of the market. dangly earrings for RM 1 per pair? little wooden stools for RM 3? sundresses and original artist-designed tshirts for RM 15? a whole box of beautiful glass jars for RM 8? only in Chatuchak :)
upon touchdown in Bangkok, eeyang came to ask me : “so where do you wanna go first?” and i instantly screamed “CHATUCHAK!!!!” please, as if he even needed to ask. sigh i seriously believe that my birthplace is actually Chatuchak. there is no other place on earth in which i feel more at home and ALIVE :D and so we spent the first 4 hours of our time in Bangkok trawling Chatuchak and scavenging for the best buys. we emerged happy! very very tired and sweaty but happy.
pictures! :
#1 little bags and clutches going for 59 baht (RM 5.9) and 100 baht (RM 10)
#2 this is a shop selling art materials; there is a whole area in Chatuchak just for handicraft stuff. i go CRAZY buying materials everytime i’m here! sieutheng, ginny and vvens, you guys would love it too. ink pens, marker pens, all kinds of paper, string, ribbon, buttons and all kinds of craft items for super cheap!
#3 bundles of tissue paper for so cheap. i remember how when we were doing that Valentines’ Day roses project back in Form 5, and i was so happy to find tissue for RM 30/bundle at SSF in Jalan TAR. here in Chatuchak it’s RM 10, without bargaining yet. sigh!
#4 adorable puppies for sale :) there was a REALLY cute pure-breed pomeranian that cost only RM 200!!! wtfish! in KL it would probably sell for RM 1,600.
#5 this is my attempt at taking a The Dog picture, hehe. it’s a quasi-milo dog!! :D
#6 handmade postcards that i bought for RM 2 each after bargaining. i was so attracted to them because the postcards featured a lot of teddy bears that i actually have! see that monkey, and that Tigger and Piglet? i have them too! the photos in the postcards were taken by the shopowner’s sister - she’d take all her soft toys along with her and drive around the rural areas of Thailand to do her photoshoots, then make cards out of her photos. so creative! i bought a whole bunch back to use as birthday cards :)
#7 earrings for RM 1 a pair. i bought a dozen :D hello!!! it’s RM 1!!!
#8 this shop color-coded all their earrings. the girl in the photo is Malaysian too, and she kept going, “aiyo die lah how could i have spent so much money buying all those earrings from The Curve when it’s so cheap here!!”. i totally know how she felt because i kept seeing at Chatuchak all these dresses that i bought from Bangsar.. but at one third the price i paid :(
#9 happy mugs!
#10 happy clips!
#11 lots of little shops like these that sell pretty clothes. even though they’re quite cheap, the problem is you cant try the clothes on. unless the shop happens to have a makeshift dressing-room; usually just a pinned up cloth. works, nevertheless! the blue dress i’m wearing in the McDonalds video is from Chatuchak - cost only RM 10! i bought the same dress in pink too.
#12 haha this is eeyang eating some chocolate donut thing. he’s wearing my heart necklace -___- he just came into my room, picked it up and threw it around his neck. i didnt even realize he was wearing it until i took this picture. even then, he didnt want to give it back -_____- haih sometimes i worry about him.
#13 REALLY PRETTY FLIP FLOPS FOR ONLY RM 5!!!! it’s not even the strawy/beachy type of flip flops that are so native to Thailand. sigh. i was so smitten i bought 3 pairs. that’s my finger pointing at a pink pair that i bought. i wanted the orange one at the upper left corner but no size :(
#14 eeyang thought i had to have this shirt because i am actually a cat ^___^ i should have bought the piggy one at the back because i am also a pig :| the shirts here are slightly more expensive (RM 20) cos they’re original designs.
#15 handwoven Moccasin-type shoes! so cuuute. but one rainy day and it’ll be all ruined :|
#16 me and the best drink that Thailand has to offer - the orange juice! they use these oranges that are very very much like mandarin oranges, and the drink is just so mind-numbingly good. SIGH. i miss!
#17 we bumped into Jack Sparrow hahahaha
#18 bags! but after trawling all of Chatuchak, i didnt find any that i really really liked :\
#19 this shop looks like it belongs in a mall, doesnt it? Chatuchak has loads of these. very quirkily-designed shops with quality products.
#20 so cool, right? a bag made out of an empty rice sack
#21 pouches and pencil cases for RM 9.90. i bought that colorful one underneath the sign, and also a red faux croc skin case for my make-up. contentment!
#22 gorgeous tribal-design earrings! RM 8 per pair, also original designs. no other shop in Chatuchak had these earrings.
there are soooooooo many more things quaint items in Chatuchak that i didn’t take pictures of, and also that i wish i bought :( eeyang and i went back to Chatuchak again the following day because we felt we just HAD to buy more stuff. haha. my biggest regret was not buying this beautiful oil painting from this artist who had a most unique and dreamlike style. but it cost RM 150, and i didnt have enough cash on me :\ by the time i got more cash, i couldnt find her shop again.
which brings me to …
PINKPAU’S TIPS FOR CHATUCHAK MARKET!
1. if you see something you like, buy it right away. don’t even think of walking around to compare prices and then coming back, because chances are you won’t be able to find the shop again. that’s how big and messy Chatuchak is
2. if you MUST move away from a shop but want to come back, ask them for a business card or the section and soi (street .. or in this case alley) of their shop. most merchants in the market will know how to direct you back to your intended shop just by looking at the section & soi.
3. dont stray too far from your friends!! it can be a REAL pain in the butt to locate each other again, even if you have phones. if you are in a big group and it’s just impossible to shop together, designate a place to meet-up again at a certain time. one good spot to do this is the Clock Tower. there are buggies in the open-air areas that will ferry you around for free, but you must ask them to take you to your intended spot.
4. wear comfortable shoes. i’d suggest something like flip flops, which are comfy but also easy to remove in case you want to try on or shop for shoes
5. dress lightly and appropriately for the hot sticky weather, and also for lots of shoulder-rubbing and body-grazing; the Chatuchak crowd is not to be underestimated :P
6. try not to use the bathrooms if you can help it. the bathrooms are few, overly crowded, dirty and faaaar away.
7. yes you can bargain at most shops!
8. have fun exploring Chatuchak!!! here, only the fittest will survive and emerge victorious :P
oh, chatuchak. oh, cheap shopping. oh, wonderful smorgasbord of hodgepodge and bric-a-brac. my heart longs for you so! hey if anyone wants certain kinds of things from Chatuchak, lemme know :) i may be going back there sometime in June or July, so can help you folks buy.
i’m going to write about my hotel in Bangkok in the next post. oh it is the CUTEST hotel you will ever lay eyes on, and i’m so excited to write about it!! :D
97 comments May 7th, 2008
