Weekend Market

I'd like to add more markets to the blog in the near future. Markets are where you can sample real life, local life - it's all laid bare for everyone to see. I've always been a big fan of markets and despite all the modern shopping malls and supermarkets that have sprung up around Phuket (Tesco Lotus, Big C, Central, Makro and more) the local markets are as lively as ever. You'll find fresh markets in all areas of Phuket, some daily, some only on selected days. Well worth a look.





The weekend market is located just outside Phuket City off Chao Fa West road, near Naka Temple. Along the same road is also a fresh market (called the Talad Sot Mai - "New Fresh Market"). The weekend market is not really for buying fresh food, but there are plenty of snack stalls for buying fruits, sweets, corn, drinks, noodles and of course fried insects!

• Weekend Market Location on Google Earth





It's one of those "you can get anything here" markets - you'll find entire stalls selling nothing but remote controls or comic books or fluffy toys. There are also some random secondhand stalls where you're never quite sure what you'll find. Many stalls are selling clothes, new and secondhand. We visit this market every couple of months if we happen to be passing. Our last visit was a few weeks ago and we would have stayed longer but the rain started to threaten. I certainly recommend a look around if you want to see an interesting market.

 


The market starts up in the afternoon and carries on into the evening. Many people go in the evening and it does get quite busy. We tend to visit in the late afternoon as it's harder to keep an eye on the kid in the dark! you could more or less eat your dinner at the market by buying and sampling different snacks.