26th January 2014

Today was market day. We had two to fit in as they were both weekend only markets so Sunday was our only chance.  Floating market first we thought, so aboard our hotel shuttle boat to start our trip on the Chao Phraya River at Central Pier.  The first price we got for a longtail boat ride up one of the Klongs (canals) to the market was way too much so Steve decided to make our way further up the River on the public transport boats (30p each!) to get a better deal. At the Tha Chang Pier the 'walking away disinterested' ploy worked reasonably well and for £30 we were off, just the two of us, for a two hour trip including 40 minutes at the market. Very colourful and nice food on offer but we were full from breakfast. After our trip is was back down the River to pick up the BTS Skytrain for the Chatuchak Market at Mo Chit. The market is one of the largest in the world and when we arrived there we could see why.  We spent 5 hours looking around but only saw a fraction of what was on offer.  We really enjoyed it even Steve, who is not a market fan, we bought quite a few bits and pieces.  We were surprised that the alcohol ban seemed to be ignored here and we had a couple of beer stops and were able to buy a few cans to take back to our hotel.