UIT GE-CHATUCHAK

At some point during the night it rained and the morning was decidedly pleasant as I sat quite early with a decent coffee and my pipe and watching the traders emerge. By the time I had showered and was ready for the day the streets were steaming, but we had a mission. We took a bus to what is one of the largest weekend markets in the world, covering an area of 27 acres with 15000 stalls that sells every conceivable little thing from every part of Thailand and includes a media centre and hospital.

It was around ten-thirty when we disembarked at Chatuchak Park with a short list of specific items and after about five hours of dwaal’ing that included a delicious lunch, we had covered only a fraction of the endless labyrinth of lanes, but I did manage to get a hoedtjie that I have been searching for, for a few years as well as a leather pouch for my pipe and tobacco that was so cheap that I was tempted to buy extras as gifts. Fortunately, the one friend who smokes a pipe already has a pouch!

The combination of heat and humidity however meant that all we wanted to do when we returned to the guesthouse was sit in our air-conditioned room and chill. And chill we did! With a litre of duty-free Gin, Thai Schweppes and a 5 baht bag of ice, we were reg for the evening.

This morning I am sitting beneath a lazy fan in the communal area downstairs, looking out at the bustling street. Right next door is a liquor store where a couple of hardy regulars are already at it; uniformed students are buying breakfast at the food stalls on their way to the nearby college; the doors of the air-conditioned 7-eleven across the street are standing open to afford the constant stream of workers access; already the air is filled with a mind-boggling assortment of aromas as cars and vans and bikes and rickshaws and motorized vendors pass by. It is 9.30 on a muggy Monday morning in Thewet and almal is klaar kak biesag met hulle wiek!