Rot Fai (Train) Night Markets I and II in Bangkok

Flea market collectibles make two evening "train markets" unlike any other Bangkok night bazaars. How to reach them, what you can buy.

Rot Fai II Night Market near Ratchada & Thai Cultural Centre

This will sound confusing at first but ... you will probably decide the Rot Fai II Night Bazaar is the most convenient night market to visit. It's right at the Thai Cultural Centre MRT (subway) stop-- much closer to it than the Cultural Centre--so that's the location link at the bottom of this post.

The Rot Fai (Train) Market II is on Ratchada, or Ratchadapisek, Road, so it could logically be called the Ratchada Night Bazaar. It's not near the original (now defunct) Rot Fai Night Market, which was near Chatuchak Market. Nor is it near the new Rot Fai Market (more below) way out east of the city, on the way to the airport, near the Seacon Square shopping center. (BTW, neither of these train markets should be confused with the Youtube famous Maeklong market that a train drives through!)

But the old (now defunct) Ratchada Night Market was between two other MRT (subway) stops farther north, so that would be even more confusing, right? Besides, another major feature of the old Ratchada night market was machinery, vehicles, and motors and parts thereof. You won't find find much of that at the Rod Fai II.

Rot Fai II has more of a flea market vibe--just like the Rot Fai Market I, yet with lots more food and clothing than the original Rot Fai Market had. By flea market, I mean new and vintage furniture, tableware, lamps, fans and other household products. If you want to furnish a house or apartment on the cheap, this is a good place to start. Some of these articles might even be genuine antiques. You have to wonder whether some of this stuff was ever owned by Thais: items like old vinyl records and record players, signs, posters, typewriters, cameras.

Unlike the Sukhumvit street stalls or Kao San Road or the impromptu night market at Ratchaprasong, the new and secondhand clothing here isn't aimed at foreign customers. The new stuff tends to be cheesy but cheap. Some of the secondhand clothing is real cotton or of other good quality. On the other hand, there is plenty of street food and things to drink (including beer), so it's fun to wander around in the evening cool. On weekends, though, it gets really packed so Thursday night is the best time to visit.

Locations and Directions of Rot Fai II Night Market

The Esplanade shopping mall is right next to Thai Cultural Centre MRT station. I think it's Exit 4 but it will be on the station's map after you exit the turnstiles. The well marked Talaat Rot Fai II ("Train Night Market II) is behind the mall. The Cultural Centre is a good ten-minute walk from the station. 

Rot Fai II Night Market Hours: Thursday through Sunday, 5 pm to 1 am

Location: Behind Esplanade mall, MRT Thai Cultural Centre
Phone: 081-897-4184

Nearest hotels: Bangkok Cha-Da, Emerald, Swissotel Le Concorde, Ban Kaew Mansion

Rot Fai Night Market I - Train Flea Market Returns

The old Train Market was near Chatuchak Weekend Market, so it was easy to drop by in the evening. The area had served as a storage and maintenance center for the railroad--thus the name (rot fai or rod fai being "train" or "trains"). The new location east of Bangkok is nowhere near a railroad station and quite far from the nearest BTS stations. The new market does have in common that many of the vendors at the old market--who stored there wares in the old Train Market's buildings--have moved lock, stock and barrels of ancient bric-a-brac to the new locale.

Run by the same couple, Talaat Rod Fair I, or Train Market I, is a bigger version of the aforementioned Train Market II: furniture, dishes, housewares, LP records (Thai, English and Chinese--some of quite old), radios, stereos, posters, toys and cameras. You won't find much super-old collectible furniture, like teak tables and the like. A lot of it seems to date from the 1970s or so. There might even be a few old cars and motorbikes for sale. 

The new Train Market has a few redeeming features that the old one didn't. The old one did have a few eating and drinking beer places. The new one has more. I've also been told that there are a few shops selling new clothes, some by the kind of young designers that used to have shops in the defunct Suan Lum market at Lumpini Park.

Location of Rod Fai I - Bangkok Train Market I

Srinakarin Road, also spelled Srinagarindra Road (as on Google maps) and Sri Nakarin, is a big highway type road, bounding the Seacon Square mall to the west. Soi 51 is one of the branches of Srinakarin Road: it shoots off to the east, along the southern boundary of the mall. It's the black blob on this map.

If you are already in the mall and want to visit the night market in the evening, asking for the talaat rot fai should get you there easily enough. Heading out on your own by taxi ... I would get the driver to being me to Seacon Square first. All the Skytrain and subway stations are distant, but you can catch a taxi from those mentioned below. If you speak a bit of Thai, there are buses and songtao running out to Seacon from Udom Suk Skytrain station.

Address: 55 Srinakarin (Sri Nakarin) Road, Seacon Square, Prawet

Hours: Thursday - Sunday, 5 pm to midnight.

Phone (in Thai): 081-827-5885

Website: www.facebook.com/taladrodfai
Nearest BTS station: Onnut or Udom Suk Skytrain or Hua Mark MRT (subway) 
Nearest hotels:  Dusit Princess Srinakarin

Fair-Trade Craft Sales and Tours in Thailand

At ThaiCraft Association's monthly sales, a large range of crafts are on sale at fair-trade prices.

Are you in looking for hand-made in Thailand handbags, stuffed toys, woven baskets, wooden picture frames or silver jewelry? How about tableware, lamps, bed linen, souvenirs and holiday ornaments?  Bangkokians skip the shops, street stalls and wandering vendors--and bargaining. Instead, they go to the monthly fair-trade craft show. Bonus: handicraft quality is good and the artisans themselves set prices and earn most of the profits. You can meet the makers as well. 

Best Bangkok Art Galleries - Sathorn Road

H Gallery interior

Three private art galleries and two artsy spaces close to Sathorn and Silom roads are covered in the second chapter of a two-part walking tour.

Updated June 3, 2014. If you have just exited Silom Galleria, whose galleries were described in the first part of the tour, you are now ready for the actual walking portion. (If you want to visit more galleries after this, the three Ardel galleries are covered in a third entry.) Once on Silom Road, turn right, away from the river. You're aiming for the Indian temple and Pan Road.  But after passing a Subway sandwich outlet, you may want to make a little detour on the first lane on your right, Silom Soi 19.

Asiatique - Review of Bangkok's Riverside Night Market

Attractions, food, directions for Bangkok’s shiniest night bazaar: Has Asiatique replaced the late, lamented Suan Lum market?

Updated October 15, 2014.Tourists in town for a few days will find enough to buy, eat and be amused by at Bangkok’s newest, flashiest night market by the river.  Opened in spring 2012, Asiatique is shinier, more upmarket, than its chief rival, Siam Paradise Night Bazaar, or the defunct Suan Lum Night Market—and much more than the Onnuj night market. 

Best Thai Art Galleries in Bangkok - Silom Road

Shy Maiden (after Botero) by Jirapat T

Nine commercial art galleries close to Silom Road and the Chao Phraya River are covered in the first chapter of a two-part walking tour.

Updated! September 20, 2014

Tourists who want to see and buy work by the best living Thai artists don’t have an easy time of it. The new, private Museum of Contemporary Art finally has provided a showcase for some of the greats of Thai modern art. The more central Bangkok Art and Culture Centre sometimes has good shows, but no permanent collection.  In brief, it's harder to see and buy the work of younger generations.

Best Bangkok Art Galleries - Ardel, DOB, Third Place

Ardel Gallery of Modern Art

Where to see and buy the best contemporary Thai art. Two of the Ardel galleries covered in this article are in central neighborhoods of Bangkok. The third is in a suburb on the western side of the Chao Phraya River.

It's not easy to see or buy modern Thai art because good galleries are scattered widely. One of the major developments in recent years has been the opening by multi-media artist Thavorn Ko-udomvit of three galleries. A few shows have featured foreign artists, but the emphasis is on Thai artists, both emerging and well established.

How to Make Hibiscus Tea or Roselle Juice – Recipes

Ice roselle by Chotda

Hibiscus drinks, such as agua de Jamaica, are simple to make at home because the main ingredient can now bought online.

The principal ingredients you need to make roselle juice or hibiscus tea are hibiscus calyces. Ideally, you should start with fresh calyces. Contrary to what you might read on a content farm websites, hibiscus foods and drinks aren’t made from the hibiscus sabdariffa flower petals. They’re made from the calyces—the red casings or pods that enclose the seeds. The calyces are harvested after the petals dry up and fall off.

For the botanical names and health benefits of drinks made from hibiscus sabdariffa, see this earlier story.

In the Caribbean, Panama and West Africa, you can find these in fresh markets. I haven’t seen them in any fresh markets in Southeast Asia, but I have not made an intensive search. This Swiss chef, making a dessert filling, actually found fresh calyces in Hong Kong.  More likely, you will find plastic bags of dried roselle in the dried goods section of a big traditional wooden-walled market or in specialty shops selling organic or health foods.

Thailand Factory Outlets for Glassware, China and Cookware

Visit factory outlets for Lotus Crystal, Mikasa, Hadeland, Silverstone, Ecco and other brands of glasses, porcelain bone china and cooking pans.

Lotus Crystal

Tens of thousands of brand-name products from clothing to jewelry to appliances are manufactured in Thailand and exported overseas. Unfortunately, not many have real factory outlet shops, although the term "factory outlet" is slapped on many discount shops in Thailand. Lotus Crystal, Royal Bone China, Meyer and Ecco shoes are three genuine factory outlets.

Lotus Crystal in Rayong for Mikasa, Hadeland, Kagami ...

Founded in the early 1990s by a Swiss engineer, Lotus Crystal makes premium-quality lead crystal glasses, bowls and vases. Products are exported to Europe, Japan, Taiwan and the United States under such brand names as Mikasa, Calvin Klein, Darlington Crystal, Hadeland Glassverk and Kagami Crystal. Wine glasses and other stemware are mouth-blown by 160 top craftsmen.

Night Bazaars of Bangkok – Punnawithi (Siam Paradise) and Onnut

Siam Paradise Night Bazaar Market are better, safer alternatives to sleazy old Patpong night market.

Siam Paradise Night Market gate

T-shirts, beach shorts, sunglasses, leather and cloth handbags, wallets, phone cases, silk and pashmina shawls, button-down dress shirts with pirated logos, alleged hill tribe crafts, underwear, jewelry, wooden and plastic toys, fake Rolexes, real cheap watches, pirated DVDs, artwork ... nearly all these souvenirs are sold during the day at sidewalk stalls wherever foreign tourists congregate. 

The main virtue of night markets is that so much of this merchandise can be found all in one place. There’s more space and less stress. In the case of  Siam Paradise Night Bazaar and, to some extent, the Onnuj, Ratchada and Weekend Train markets, permanent structures mean there are also bigger, bulkier and more expensive items, such as sculpture, dinnerware and fine jewelry.

As for the sleazy Patpong bazaar, nobody normal likes shopping there. The temporary tables and stalls are crammed into the already crowded lane and spill onto the broken sidewalks of Silom Road. Vendors are pushy. Shoppers are constantly jostled by schlubby old sex tourists, drunker middle-aged ones, aggressive transsexual prostitutes, sex show touts, pickpockets,