I love the market area adjacent to Thammasat University, right at its Chao Phraya River side entrance. There's a big university bookstore on one corner, and the impressive Wat Mahathat is down the road. This bustling market was always a favorite place of Kade's and mine. And even before I met Kade, on that very first visit to Bangkok back in 2000, my friend Mirjam and I wandered down to this area after touring the Grand Palace. We ended up eating some pork satay at a window table in one of the river restaurants, literally built up on stilts, several feet off the bank, the sounds of water splashing and long-tail boat engines easily heard. Afterwards, she and I took a canal tour on one of the long-tail boats. I was thrilled! Later, after Kade and I became a couple, we'd go down by Thammasat pretty often, walk around, look at some of the arts & crafts and then buy some snacks that we could eat in the taxi on the way home. This return to Bangkok, we for sure penciled in a day to go to this market. And on our way, we specifically asked our taxi driver to drop us near the lady that sells the shrimp cakes, crab cakes and fish cakes. Of course, I knew where it was! But he did just that. I guess everyone knows! When you watch the first video, the opening scene is that vendor selling those very, very unique crab cakes.
In the second video, we walk down a very crowded sidewalk, right through the amulet market and then what you might call a huge flea market, where a vast array of merchants and hobbyists were selling everything from antique Buddhas to second-hand clothing, right off of tables and blankets. I saw more people, close up, in that hour of walking than I would see in downtown Asheville, NC in a whole month!
Buddhas I brought home. One in the middle I purchased in a market next to river.
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