{"id":497,"date":"2023-10-14T10:37:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-14T10:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sarahanderictraveltheworld.wordpress.com\/?p=497"},"modified":"2024-12-09T03:41:24","modified_gmt":"2024-12-09T03:41:24","slug":"the-weekend-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sarahanderictraveltheworld.com\/index.php\/2023\/10\/14\/the-weekend-market\/","title":{"rendered":"The Weekend Market"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Activity level: \ud83c\udf36\ufe0f\ud83c\udf36\ufe0f\ud83c\udf36\ufe0f\ud83c\udf36\ufe0f\ud83c\udf36\ufe0f<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Modes of transportation: \ud83d\udc5f\ud83d\ude8a<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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An unexpected day at the market.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This was a day we got much more than we bargained for. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Eric was excited to be back exploring the market with a shopping expert (Sarah).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the morning, we decided to get breakfast at the Chatachuk weekend market\u2014the largest outdoor market in the world. It\u2019s a maze of epic proportions, with cramped but high-quality shops selling handmade and interesting crafts, clothes, food, and everything else. Unlike many other similar markets, many of the stalls are extremely specialized and family-run\u2014so there aren\u2019t too many \u201ccookie-cutter\u201d shops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The market had everything – from gallery sized artwork, to bonsai trees, food stands galore, and every style of clothing you could think of.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We bought a quick pandan coconut-filled bun before getting on the metro, and headed out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We grabbed a little food when we got there, but it turned into a full day of eating. We wanted to try as many dishes as we could, so we got a little of everything over the course of the day. Quick laundry list:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Assorted fruits (guava, dragonfruit, mango, apple, etc.) in a cup – 40 Baht<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Durian mochi (not Eric\u2019s favorite) and Thai iced tea. What they don\u2019t tell you is that you\u2019re going to continue burping durian throughout the day – 70 baht but it cost so much more<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Thai bubble tea (Sarah says fantastic!) – 60 baht<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • A whole salted fish. Amazing! Sarah was worried it would be too fishy, but it was perfectly light and flaky – 380 baht <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Tom sum – not an actual dish, as the lady at the fish stand told us (and made us say it again for the table next to us so they could laugh at us). It\u2019s actually som tam, a green papaya salad that\u2019s very flavorful, spicy, and delicious – 80 baht<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Coconut ice cream with various fruit jellies on top (great!) – 35 baht<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • A coconut for drinking (refreshing) – 50 baht<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Pad Thai (excellent according to Sarah) – 60 baht<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Mango sticky rice (also delicious) – 60 baht<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • A ground pork dish over rice with egg, light spicy, where the rice definitely wouldn\u2019t have been food-safe later in the day, since they were storing it in a cooler. Luckily, it had just been cooked when Eric ordered it. – 40 baht<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • These little sort of marshmallow\/coconut-filled waffle tacos (delicious and very cheap!) – 20 baht for 5<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Spring rolls (good) – 20 baht<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Korean fried chicken which the stand person warned was \u201cvery spicy\u201d multiple times, but turned out not to be that spicy (very crunchy and delicious, though) – 36 baht for 3<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Fish curry grilled on a banana leaf (awesome! But too spicy to finish) – 30 baht<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • A full squid on a stick, which they sadly took off and cut up before serving. Eric had visions of eating the thing off the stick like a seafood popsicle – 60 baht<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Fish in spicy green curry, which Eric got kind of weirded out by half-way through\u2014and maybe not food-safe (pretty good though) – 40 baht<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Mango with what we thought was a Taj\u00edn sort of salt on top. This turned out to be \u201csweet fish salt\u201d which we both found inedible unfortunately – 30 baht<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Crispy pork with garlic and onions (amazing) – 80 baht<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Beef skewers, but the beef was definitely rancid so we only ate a bite each – 60 baht<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Another mango smoothie – 60 baht<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Writing it out, it does feel like a lot of food, though it was 1321 baht, or about 40 bucks total. Almost all of it was amazing, but it was sort of a grab-bag. We did shy away from stalls that were definitely not food safe, so hopefully we avoid any disasters. Still haven\u2019t gotten sick! (Fingers crossed) [editors note: updating this while fighting food poisoning, but that\u2019s a later story for another day and probably unrelated]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"
    Lots of variety here.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"
    Sarah loved the fresh fish.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    We also decided we wanted to shop for some souvenirs, so we went to the section of the market with very nice China and tea sets. We figured we could just send everything back in the mail. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Well, that turned out to be a disaster. We shopped around at a few shippers, and ended up deciding on the Thai Post. We quickly realized that it was going to be more expensive to ship things than to buy them. So, we figured, might as well load up the package.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"
    Caution: this is not tajin! It\u2019s fish salt on mango
    \ud83d\ude29 <- Sarah\u2019s face when she realized her mistake.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"
    The durian mochi should come with a warning sign (because the warning sign on the metro wasn\u2019t enough for Eric).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    They were nice enough to let us leave our stuff there while we bought more things to fill up our box, but when we went to pay, they didn\u2019t take any of our credit cards. We didn\u2019t have quite enough cash, so Eric went to the ATM to take out more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"
    Several hour journey in one photo collage. Who knew mailing things half way around the world would be so difficult?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Well, that didn\u2019t work. We had pulled out a bunch of cash to pay for the dishes, and had run over the daily limit for cash withdrawal. We spent a good bit of time trying to figure out our options (and on the phone with credit card companies) before finally getting a cash advance from Eric\u2019s credit card (shoutout Amex). (Reminder to pay that off ASAP!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    They also weren\u2019t the best packers, so fingers crossed that everything makes it back in one piece!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"
    Odds sets like these make it back? [Editor’s note: they made it back. Mostly]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    In the market, Sarah had her eye on some pants and we ended up negotiating a good deal for about 300 baht (about $9). They\u2019re kind of a genius design! They tie in the front and the back, so they\u2019re very flowy but one-size-fits-all without any elastic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"
    Sarah had her eye on some shirts (in new her shorts).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Sarah also found a great set of shorts from a really nice couple. They were even nice enough to let her try them on, though that\u2019s not very common in the market. The couple even designed and made them themselves!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"
    \u201cSo feminine\u201d from the designer himself.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Our best deal of the day was definitely a plain black t-shirt we got right as a shop was closing for 20 baht (about 60 cents). It was exactly what Sarah was looking for, at an impossibly low price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"
    When we say this market had everything, we really mean everything.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    We were feeling pretty sore from all the walking, so we stopped into a stall for some 30-minute Thai foot massages. Eric\u2019s masseuse was very forceful and really worked out the kinks. Sarah\u2019s could sense that she was too ticklish to enjoy it, so she was much more gentle. Overall, can\u2019t beat it for around 500 baht (15 dollars).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"
    \u201cIs this your first massage?\u201d The nice Thai lady knew Sarah wasn\u2019t used to this.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Once again extremely tired and sticky, we went back to our hotel for some long-awaited showers and sleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"
    Eric couldn\u2019t help but grab one more treat on our way out of the market.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Sarah and Eric get stuck in the maze of the market.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1147,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[8],"class_list":["post-497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-thailand","tag-bangkok"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sarahanderictraveltheworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sarahanderictraveltheworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sarahanderictraveltheworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarahanderictraveltheworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarahanderictraveltheworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=497"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sarahanderictraveltheworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3530,"href":"https:\/\/sarahanderictraveltheworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497\/revisions\/3530"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarahanderictraveltheworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sarahanderictraveltheworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarahanderictraveltheworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarahanderictraveltheworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}