Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Chatuchak Weekend Market

When we found out about the Chatuchak Weekend Market in Bangkok, it wasn't even a question about whether we would go. 

The flea market markets spans over 35 acres, has 5000+ stalls, and gets about 200,000 each day!! It is only open on Saturdays and Sundays. The market sells just about everything and is divided into sections. Even with numbered stalls and a detailed, color-coded map, I was almost always lost.

We walked around until we ran out of money. Walked back to our hotel to get more. Then came back and walked around until our legs ached and the stalls began to close around sunset. 

We resisted shopping in all the countries we visited until now... the prices were too good to pass up, and we figured we were close enough to the end of our trip to load up our suitcase a little more. I scored myself a whole new outfit (which you saw in the previous post). I was impressed with the styles we found, and especially impressed with the great number of vintage shops. I love that so many of the shops sell hand-made stuff and you can meet the person who made what you're buying. Fun!

- Julia

Yuriy snapped some photos of me searching for goodies.
"Beware of pick pocketing."

The small alleyways between stalls are stuffed with sweaty people. No AC or fresh air. 

Kook and Tom run a shop called Kookoo where they sell their own screen-printed t-shirts. We loved the style and quality of their shirts, so we approached them with our shop idea. We met a couple times and became friends quickly. These are the guys who made all the t-shirts for Handle With Care Shop!

Some of my loot.....

New outfit from the market: vintage dress ($10), belt ($3), purse ($7), straw hat ($6), leather sandals ($20)...