Chris and I were feeling absolutely shattered after last night, especially after trying to sweat out the alcohol with a high intensity workout on only a few hours of sleep. The day was ruined.

A low key night was in order–no more drinking. There’s this vintage night market we learned of from the sick “off the beaten track” binder of adventures that this hostel had prepared for visitors–thank you Bodega Bangkok. The vintage night market is on Thursdays and Fridays, and is reachable easily enough with rapid transit. It runs from 19.00 until 01.00. The plan was set.

It took us until about 22.00 to muster the energy to get out of the hostel. We walked down to the Asok BTS station and chuckled about our destination stop–On Nut. In order for us to get on that nut, we spent some time figuring out the archaic coin-op ticket dispensing station. We find out it’s like 32 baht to get there, and an official works the window, changing out out bills for a lot of coins. We stand in line just to drop coins in a machine and get tickets.

The BTS was a nice skytrain ride through Bangkok. We get off the train and out of the station, discovering now that we are still a motorcycle taxi ride away. We pick two riders from the pool of orange-vested men smoking cigarettes and hanging around. We ride for 15 minutes, going an upwards of 80 KPH with no helmets down the highway. Our drivers race each other in customary fashion, and we just sit on the back and laugh about it. Bangkok is a crazy fucking place, and I’m into it.

We arrive at Seacon Square. It’s massive. We walk through this central shopping corridor, which is filled with young and hip looking Thais hanging out and drinking beers. There’s several bars and live music venues lining the corridor and we’re pretty much the only Westerners privy to what seems to be a pretty fucking kick-ass place to hangout. There’s a couple shops along the corridor giving out cool airbrush tattoos, and we see some really swag tees, tanks, and hats in some of the stores. We pick up some trill wears for cheap.

After making it through this corridor, we realize there’s way more to this place than we thought. The corridor ends at a huge outdoor square. A ton of white plastic tents showcase individual booths. A lot of the merchandise is junk, but some booths host really cool stuff. I buy an awesome parrot tank top, and a deadly pill-patterned bucket hat with “Good For Health, Bad for Education” under the brim. I finally found some sick sunglasses as well for only 150 Baht. Life was good.

Satisfied with our purchases, we go for a walk before leaving, and then discover that we had only scratched the surface of this entity. Another huge part of the pavilion hosts brick and mortar stores, with even more dank clothing inside. Near the back, there’s a bunch of vintage cars as well. Unfortunately, it’s about 00.30 and everything is closing. We promise we’ll have to come back here to make a proper night of it.

To anyone considering a visit to the vintage night market, I recommend going with one or two friends and taking motorcycle taxis. Sure, you could take a big group and then stress over trying to organize taxi-cabs and meeting up. But where’s the fun in that?