Soi Buakhao Market in Pattaya – Take Two

I wrote a post about Soi Buakhao Market in Pattaya toward the end of July this year. Two days later, Beyond The Mango Juice crashed, and the site was down for over a week. My host server eventually recovered the site database, but the post was lost. So here we go, Soi Buakhao Market in Pattaya – Take Two.

Pattaya’s Famous Soi Buakhao Market

Is Pattaya’s Soi Buakhao Market famous? I think anyone who has visited Thailand and Pattaya will think it is. The market doesn’t have the eye-catching appeal and colour of Thailand’s Famous Damnoen Saduak Floating Market, or even Pattaya’s floating market. Quite the opposite, the market on Soi Buakhao’s covered by a black and grey cloak of tented peaks and dips. And beneath lies a hot, sweaty sauna dressed as a market that’s crammed with clothes, their accessories and just about everything else.

Everybody forgets to pack something into their holiday suitcase, don’t they? Most of us do anyhow, but you can rest easy because Pattaya’s twice-weekly day market sells just about everything. If it’s the food you’re after it’s there, if you need a mobile phone, new shoes, sexy underwear or maybe you want to break up your holiday plans and put together a jigsaw. You can buy all that at Soi Buakhao Market where there’s more than enough clothes to dress you up for Pattaya’s nightlife or dress you down for the beach.

The market’s main wares are cheap clothing, the kind that would give laughing policeman hiccups and a customs and excise officer a broad smile.

The only guarantee at Soi Buakhao Market is that if you look long enough, you’ll find a real bargain that looks good and feels okay. Just don’t expect your Lacoste that cost not a lot, to not shrink in the wash. Seriously, there are some good quality clothes at the market, and some of the sport training shoes are excellent value for money. There’s also a lot of fashionable ladies clothing and accessories on sale too.

Garden Plants & Beer Bars

For Pattaya’s local Thais and expats, the market has potted plants and flowers for sale. Hardly the kind of thing to tempt tourists but there is a small comfort in the knowledge that the shoots and blooms are genuine.

If you’re not the type who likes pushing through crowds of people (it can get hectic) in a market slow-cooked by a scorching sun, there are beer bars on three sides of the market’s perimeter. The most popular are those pictured above at the market’s rear. If you fancy a beer and some eye candy, they are the ideal spot to be.

Soi Buakhao Market is held on Tuesday and Friday each week, and trading starts early morning from about 06:30 to late afternoon. The market can get very hot inside by mid-afternoon, and so if you are a bit prickly toward heat, it’s best to go there before midday.

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