Chatuchak Market

Yesterday I went out to Chatuchak Market again to look for silk. It's the largest market in Thailand. It's big. I got lost several times. There's a clock tower in the middle which I could see from the BTS, but I never actually got near it.

One of the roads through it.

The other direction.

The map...

There's LOTS of clothes here. Lots of them advertise being able to make copies of American brands. There are hundreds of tshirt stalls so if you need one this is the place to go. A lot of them have signs up saying no photos and no copy, but I'm sure half of it is copied from elsewhere. There was even one tshirt stall dedicated to rage faces.

Through it there are various coffee and other drink stalls, and some places selling food, massage stalls, a large group of pet stalls. Most of the stalls are grouped together by type (as shown by the different colours on the map) but there are different stalls all over the place too. Lots of things being sold here, although slightly more expensive than in other shops, but you're meant to bargain a little bit.

Lots and lots of rows like this.

100% fakesilk.

I was there to pick up some silk. I wanted real silk but I thought the likelihood of finding that was quite low. I found the above 100% Thai silk stall and they wanted 150baht (about $5AU ) per large piece. I picked out four bits and got them down to 500baht for the lot, not really trying. I'm sure I could have got it for less but I kept getting lost while looking around and I was only interesting in finding the store again so I could get it and then get out.

It is fake silk though, I tried the burn test to verify. But I didn't really expect to find real silk at that price. The real silk goes for around $30/meter from what I understand. I should have got it in the north when I was there. I avoided buying it in the north east because I read that it's produced over in the north west near Chiang Mai, but once I got there I didn't see any. There was also a silk farm in Cambodia which you could tour, but I didn't see any at the markets there either (didn't want to pay at the farm!).

I have since got some real silk from the Jim Thompson store, it's expensive there but most likely real. I will check however...

DOOPI!

A cafe hidden away inside the market.

My market haul! A lot of this stuff is sold all over Thailand/Laos/Cambodia.

My lunch. Some kind of chicken chilli fishball noodle soup. No idea what it's called, but I've only seen it in Bangkok (doesn't mean it isn't elsewhere)

So after the markets I headed up the road to get a photo of this!

The elephant building! Not the best from this angle, but I wasn't walking any further yesterday.

After market day I headed back to the hotel to remove my mashed up toe from my stupid shoes. I solved that problem today when I visited The North Face store and spent up big on better shoes and a jumper for Nepal.

All that's left to do is to wait for the sprockets to be delivered tomorrow, buy a chain and brake pads, pack, and then wait until it's time to fly to "Phase 3: South Asia. Part I: Nepal. Esquire.". Yes, that's the title I'm going with.