it pays to do research. while learning more about places worth visiting in bangkok i would come across a few articles mentioning the rot fai market. night markets are a dime-a-dozen in southeast asia and the biggest night market in bangkok is the chatuchak. however, little is said about rot fai except that if you were to look for vintage items, you would find them there. i enticed faisal, my friend based in bangkok, to bring us to this haven and on the 2nd day of our stay in thailand, we did find ourselves in rot fai (train) market.
and by a lot, i mean, this was the motherload! it’s like cubao x in manila except rot fai market is maybe 10 times bigger (about 6-8 long warehouse stretches of shops in brick) with so much more stuff . the shops are so gorgeously designed and their wares so nicely curated, it’s a pack rat’s candy store. except it’s as big as a mall. an outdoor big-ass mall.
look at all those trucks! most of the stuff on display is in pretty good condition (unlike the stuff we have left in manila). i did not bother asking for prices because it would only break my heart knowing i did not have money for them. waaaaah.
drool all you want, for a production designer it was practically disneyland! the shop owners were nice and allowed me to just take photos. and shoot i did. they also had the regular tiangge market and a food area. when we were there, a real muay boxing match took place in the middle of the parking lot. more pics on that later. and more pics of rot fai shops HERE.
rot fai market is open from thursday (opens late afternoon) all the way to the weekend. previously, rot fai market was located near chatuchak but it has since moved to its current location in Srinakarin Soi 51, behind seacon square shopping mall at the west side of bangkok. get more information here.
