Our last day in Thailand was spent in Bangkok at one of the city's most famous attractions, Chatuchak weekend market. Chatuchak is the largest market in Thailand, covering over 35 acres and containing upwards of 5,000 stalls. It is estimated that the market receives 200,000 visitors each day. As you can imagine this is not your typical market!
This is a view over the market from the nearby train station. A very small portion but gives you an idea of how it goes on forever.
The market offers a wide variety of products including household items, clothing, Thai handicrafts, religious artifacts, collectibles, foods, and live animals.
Yes, you can purchase everything from your weekly groceries, to books on any topic, a new set of serving silver, any type of shoes or clothing and a new pet squirrel or pheasant. All in the same place.
However in order to accomplish anything here you have to manage to not get lost or get so lost you don't care anymore. At first we tried to accomplish the first option and finally we gave in to the second.
We stopped here for a little refreshment. I mean how do you pass up the chance to have a drink at 10 am next to a Thai DJ mixing house music?
This lady caught my eye. She was making popsicles and I was fascinated at how each one was hand-made.
We spent about 7 hours at the market. We bought so many things that we had to buy a new bag to carry them all home in! It was a crazy, chaotic and wonderful day.
Eventually we lugged everything back to our hotel and enjoyed one last evening overlooking Bangkok.
This is the executive lounge where we spent time every evening.
And got to enjoy this beautiful night lights of the city.
And the river.
Finally it was time to start the long trip home.
Which first meant figuring out how to get everything home!
Then a long, sad cab ride
to the airport.
Where no matter how modern it may look
you can't forget where you are.
Bangkok was not quite what we expected. However, can you ever really know what to expect when visiting a place like that? Yes, it's a huge, crowded city. There is lots of noise, lots of people, some pollution and some parts of town that are less than desirable. But I've yet to visit a large city that doesn't share in those same issues. We didn't experience any of the horrors that we heard Bangkok might hold and we actually really enjoyed ourselves and everything about the city. We always travel with the outlook that each place is what you make of it and what it has to offer. Bangkok was no different and we found it hard to say goodbye.
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