Briathrail // Albert 2MNG

First order of business when I reached the BTS Nana Station was to plot my course to the Chatuchak Weekend Market. Fortunately, it was straightforward. I just took the line headed to Khu Khot and alighted at the Mo Chit Station, then walked to the market area. Helpful signs were present, making it easy for tourists to find it. And by the time I alighted and walked towards the market by 10AM, the sun came out, rays a-blazing.

The entrance area near the market was also full of hawkers and vendors. I had zero interest in buying from those vendors, and neither should anyone. So I made my way to the entrance of the market and went inside its enclosed area.

First mistake I had in going to the Chatuchak market was I went too early. Apparently, some shops were either still setting up or was to open around 12PM. I noticed early on while walking through that some of the stalls and shops in the market were still closed. So no choice then. Buck up. I spent a full hour leisurely walking from Section 7 to Section 25 (from right side to left side) of the entire market, eyeing the places and things I wanted to at least check out. I considered it my morning exercise as well. It definitely got my appetite going.

So I went for an early lunch right away. I spotted a hole-in-the-wall eatery before I reached the left side, and I sat down and had “boat noodles”. I chose the large serving, with a side of som tam and a bottle of Pepsi.

The noodles and the papaya salad were delicious. Great start for the day. And it only costed me less than 200 baht. But the regular som tam had set my tongue ablaze and Pepsi barely helped, so at the street inside the market, I quickly spotted a vendor selling coconut milk shakes, so I bought a large-size drink.

By around 11.30AM, many of the vendors have already opened their shops and the influx of tourists have increased significantly. My only advantage now is that I know what I wanted to buy.

But… I also had to note my first experience with a public toilet in Thailand. And just saying, it barely edges out a Philippine public toilet by an inch. The one at Chatuchak’s street was wet, dank and the seat was just disappointingly dirty. Place was depressing as hell to take a dump in. The only thing that saved it was the presence of a toilet seat cleaner and ample toilet paper inside the toilet cubicle. And a working bidet. Basically, amenities saved it.

After finishing my business there as quick as I could, I quickly went about the places I kept in mind earlier that had good shit I wanted. After more than half an hour, I bought:

• Thai candies for the office – one big pack of apple-flavored chewables and one slightly smaller pack of pomegranate-flavored chewables as well.
• A big pack of dried dehydrated jackfruit
• A big pack of sweet potato chips – mixed orange and purple
• Three packs of Dragon brand crunchy sweet peanut snacks. Intended for my housemates.
• A ChaTraMue iced tea powder pack. That one wasn’t the known CTM Thai iced tea powder pack, it’s more in line with Nestea. But unlike shitty sugarbomber Nestea, CTM made the tea flavor very present. Still sweet but you get the tea taste.
• A ChaTraMue milk green tea powder pack. Yet to try, as of writing.
• A big six-pack of Peppermint Field inhalers. Should last me a long while.
• A kind elderly lady at the mini-pharmacy at Chatuchak recommended me two mini bottles of Novolife Green Herb oil for headaches and stress.
• One gray XL t-shirt with a cartoon depicting Shiba Inu dogs riding the Kanagawa wave.
• One black A-XXL t-shirt with just one breast pocket, but the breast pocket have a cool circular white-and-blue pattern.
• Two canvas bags, one full of cat drawings and one with a touristy illustration of Thailand. Intended for gifting.
• Five random small casted figurines I bought, 200 baht for five. I kept the three monkeys in my home desk and the Thai elephant figurine on my office desk.
• One pack of Nescafe instant Americano coffee powder, the zero sugar variety. Maybe 25 a pack.
• A 300ml bottle of room spray for 300 baht, makes my room smell like a Thai spa.
• 2 Muay Thai shorts and 1 Muay Thai gym shirt. For the shorts, I intentionally chose two with maximum design motifs, one with dragons and gold letters and one with royal blue with striking lettering. They were a lot more expensive than the cheaper ones with simple designs, though I have zero regrets ponying up.
• Two more room sprays from a company called Herb Care, one lavender and one eucalyptus, and I added in a papaya facial scrub.
• One cute shoulder bag I spotted earlier. Someone was selling shoulder bags made to look like takeaway paper bags from companies like McDonalds and Burger King. I bought one that looked like a Starbucks bag. Intended for gifting.
• Ten Thai keychains. I had them at 6 gold plated, 2 silver and 2 bronze. Variety.
• A multitude of stickers. Some were of Thai street signs. Some were Thai landmarks.
• A few fridge magnets. Only Bangkok and Ayutthaya themed magnets.

After buying, I went to a safe side on the street to put all my purchases in the larger foldable bag I tucked inside my shoulder bag. It got quite heavy. And I got hungry again. So I immediately looked for a nearby stall to eat. I got enticed by one stall deep inside the northern end of Chatuchak, one old lady was busy taking out these big chunky pork legs out of a boiling pot and chopping away at it on a big wooden chopping board. The fact that the leg bone slid out smoothly told me this was braised for the correct amount of time. The aroma lured me in for a bite. So I ordered a plate, and in my glee I forgot that I already had the same dish in Yaowarat Road. But in retrospect, I much prefer the one I had in Chatuchak more. I ordered a big plate and a bottle of water. The rice was fragrant and the chopped portion of pork leg and knuckle on my plate smelled so much better.

It came with a hardboiled egg, a good amount of green on the side, and some soup. The soup was OK, not amazing but more than flavored enough to act like a minor palate cleanser. The pork leg had lots of skin, was rich-tasting, and packed with umami and collagen that I had to use the soup to help with discreetly washing my mouth off of the collagen. After the meal, I thought to chill a bit more so I bought a mocktail from a nearby vendor. Blue curacao, I remember.

The market had a mall adjacent to it, so I went inside to see what can I buy. I bought three things inside as well:

• One awesome t-shirt with a Thai myth dragon design on the sleeve area extending to the chest area
• One red A-XXL shirt of a Shiba Inu saying “ganbatte!!”
• One Adidas large duffel bag.

I estimated all my purchases that I planned to bring home, and I thought that the large duffel bag from an Adidas stall I spotted in the mall can ably contain it all. No interest in buying a bigger luggage. When I bought by tickets for the trip, I did buy extra check-in luggage for the trip home. So I got that covered. “How many” to bring back was the issue.

Yes, it was cheap to buy stuff in Thailand, but numbers accumulate. If you’re not careful, it’ll run out before you’re ready for it to run out. That was a lesson I learned when I first made an overseas trip, to Singapore, in 2017. I had a tight budget for a couple of days. First day, I kept spending stuff that by the second day, I almost ran out of on-hand cash by noon. I did not track my spending. I had to whip out my credit card for purchases. Thank heavens that tided me over. That was a life lesson I carried to every single trip I made ever since. Track your spending every end of the day, and in every hour in a shopping spree. And have a card handy.

So in my entire Thailand trip, I had 15,000 baht as on-hand cash. My internal target was 12,000 as I set aside 3K for buffer in case of SOL. February 9, I spent less than 1,500 baht. February 10, I spent less than 4,000 baht. For the day, my spending had crept to at least 6,000 baht. Barely, just barely.

I thought I had bought enough for myself and some souvenirs. And it was 2PM already. So I spotted an empty bench with ample shade, and made rearrangements. I fit in all my purchases in two canvas bags for ease of carrying. One bag for each hand. Time to head back to the hotel.

But I got hungry again. Luckily, just outside the mall there were popup stalls selling easy-eat food. So I got a Coke Zero and a medium-sized bowl of braised beef soup with noodles in it.

Went back to the hotel the same path I came in, but in reverse. Sunday afternoon, so not too many people. So finally, the train I boarded at BTS Siam was extra chilly. So good.

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