Chapter 3i: Chatuchak Market (in B&W)

Lost In Bangkok

Saturday and Sunday are the big days for Bangkok’s weekend market, Chatuchak. It is the largest weekend market in the world (see ‘By The Numbers’ below). It is enormous in size – nearly 45 football fields merged together, so large that I readily found myself lost inside the maze of stalls and struggled to find my way out again. Many times I made a mental note of a shop I would have liked to revisit, only to wander for dozens more minutes searching in vain to find it once more. Should I ever return and see something I like, I shall buy it or photograph it. I’ll never find it again.

Crowded streets of Chatuchak Plaza

When it is cloudy in Bangkok, it means rain. It is not the teasing, indecisive, misplaced overcast skies one is accustomed to in Arizona. Normally, not a problem. Today, I failed to bring any waterproof protection for my camera. I, like thousands others, became trapped under a stall umbrella for 45 minutes waiting for the precipitation to dissipate enough to allow ambulation back to the SkyTrain.

Trapped.

As a photographer who only enjoys crowds and scenes of shopping excess when my camera is in hand, I was certainly rewarded. However, it was not quite the poignant cultural insight into the people of Bangkok I was hoping for. Tourists, like pigeons in Phoenix, have clearly discovered the market and likely outnumbered the residents. Modern culture, ultimately, fused with traditional Thailand, resulting in a Western feel to Thai products. This is not to say there was any deprivation of unusual culinary treats (deep-fried octopus eggs with spicy vinegar?), mass-produced Hmong fabrics, teak furniture, and embroidered crafts. All in all, a wonderful snapshot of Bangkok, but there is certainly more to be found. 

Bangkok in the rain

By the numbers: 200,000 visitors each day. 15,000 stores. 2,000 baht fine for smoking. 35 acres. 27 sections.