Chatachuk and Or Tor Kor

Today we decided to try any get to Chatachuk Market to see for ourselves whether it was open or not. We had heard so many varying reports that we really weren't sure. We asked reception to call a taxi for us which they did only to have the driver refuse to rake us because it was closed or not accessible due to the floods, we didn't understand which. We then decided to take the BTS all the while questioning ourselves whether this was the right thing to do. Knowing it would be a big day we opted to take a taxi to Thong Lor BTS station and hailed a taxi who asked where we were going and to our surprise offered to drive us to Chatachuk. As seems to be the way in Bangkok you can ask many people the same question and get a lot of different answers which is sometimes great but mostly confusing. We went by the freeway and were there in about 20 minutes. We did hit some floodwaters near one of the entrances but our driver took us to another entrance which was dry. Well the market was open but only just! Despite the market area being very dry less than maybe 2% of the stalls were open. This was a bit if a disappointment but we wandered around for a while anyway checking out those that were open. When we reached the other side of the market we saw the road that leads from Mo Chit BTS was very flooded and running like a small creek. The usual walls had been built and the water was diverting along the roads and around the market stalls. After not much success we grabbed a tuk tuk to the nearby Or Tor Kor food market. This was a great place with some beautiful produce and a great food court where we stopped for lunch. I had a fish curry, pippi curry and some stuffed crabs while Tina had a delicious red pork and crab noodle soup. Both my curries were very enjoyable and not particularly spicy, choosing is tough as these curry vendors have so many options on display and you get a plate of rice then start pointing. I also tried a few grilled chicken skewers and washed it down with a Thai milk tea on ice (Cha Yen). As we both had a little room left we grabbed some Kanom Tuay (coconut pudding) and a small tray of the miniature sweet fruit made I think from tapioca. Chatachuk may have been a fail but the journey was made worthwhile by the visit to Or Tor Kor.