Bangkok weekend market tours: Chatuchak market. Things to do & travel guide
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Chatujak market or JJ market is the biggest inThailand. Chatujak have 27 section.The market offers a wide variety of products including household items, clothing, Thai handicrafts, religious artifacts, collectibles, foods, and live animals.
Chatujak is a bustling market full of color and activity at weekends. Even on weekdays, Chatujak still offers shoppers a wide range of attractive products, but it is weekends that are special attracting people from every direction to converge on the market and enjoy carefree shopping.
Chatuchak weekend market: is a particularly good place to buy all sorts of Thai handicrafts, as there's a huge range, the quality is high and the intense competition keeps the prices low. Be careful when buying antiques, the large majority on offer are fake and telling the difference between the genuine and the copies can be extremely difficult. Genuine antiques require a permit to be taken out of the country, but you will also need a permit if a fake is good enough to fool the inspecting customs officer.
Chatuchak has in theory been segregated into areas depending on the types of goods sold, and there are maps available for the market which detail the various sections. You're as well to just forget them and just wander wherever takes your fancy, as it is an extremely disorientating place of many narrow alleys and trying to follow a map around can prove very frustrating.
Though there are many market throughout Bangkok: Chatuchak Weekend Market is still pretty much the undisputed king of them all. The scale of it is pretty unbelievable - it covers an area of 70 rai (35 acres), contains more than 15 000 shops and stalls, has over 200 000 visitors each day, and they spend an estimated total of 30 million baht (approx US$750 000). The range of products on sale is extensive, and includes household accessories, handicrafts, religious artifacts, art, antiques, live animals (which unfortunately are frequently caged in cruel conditions), books, music, clothes, food, plants and flowers etc.
How to get there:
By BTS:
The Skytrain's Sukhumvit line runs north from Victory Monument to Chatuchak/Mo Chit, where it intersects with the Metro Blue Line. SRT's Bang Sue Train Station is also accessible by the Metro, and may be an option if heading north or northeast.
By Bus:
There has many buses pass you can find buses 3, 8, 26, 27, 28, 34, 38, 39, 44, 52, 59, 74, 77, 96, 97, 104, 108, 112, 134, 136, 138, 145 and air-con buses 2, 3, 9, 10, 12, 13, 29, 38, 39, 44, 136 and 138.
