WALKING AROUND CHATUCHAK WEEKEND MARKET

I know. You’ve been to Chatuchak, or as the Thais call it, JJ Market. Maybe many times and probably gotten lost in it as often. But have you ever walked around it, like, strolling along its entire perimeter? I did, and this is my faithful account.

I prefer taking the MRT train to Kamphaeng Phet station instead of Chatuchak Park station as a general rule because you exit to a more relaxed cluster of airy shops before you plunge headlong into the meandering madness that is the signature of Chatuchak. Never the BTS train cos I’ll have to walk a stretch under the sun to reach this world-famous weekend market. 

When you reach said station, please empty your bladder at the toilets directly below the Tourist Information Centre sign or you’ll have to search for 20 Baht to enter the toilets within the market, and that is provided you can find them in the first place. 

Once you exit the station, look outwards towards the road and your journey begins at Kamphaeng Phet 2 Road. You will first come across street vendors hawking secondhand clothes for 50 Baht, amulets, boxers and shorts and a bit of everything before you hit a row of furniture shops that offer a good browse if you’re into it. 

Next is a section of extremely tantalising food stalls where you should just throw caution to the winds and sample at least two types of street varieties. 

This is followed by many aquariums where I spent quite a few minutes gawking at the tanks and fishes. 

The air-conditioned JJ Mall comes after and nothing much happens after that until you turn right into Kamphaeng Phet 4 Road where the Queen Sirikit Park and Children’s Museum await. Ahead, as you turn right into Kamphaeng Phet 3 Road, you’ll be glad you haven’t had breakfast, like I did, and can thus eat at any one of the many street ‘restaurants’. 

After your meal, you can saunter from Gate 2 to Gate 3 and enter the market here as there is nothing much along Kamphaeng Phet 1 Road after Gate 3. Or you can complete the loop like I did and walk back to where I started, wherein I rewarded myself with the infamous coconut ice cream of Chatuchak Market at 40 Baht a refreshing scoop. The entire loop took me 45 minutes.