Tag: Vintage

Plearn Wan Vintage Village Hua Hin

Posted on by

Plearn Wan Vintage Village in Hua Hin is best described as a living museum created in the form of an enchanting, old Thai village. This unique, detailed little replica town was designed to take visitors ‘back in time to the good old days’ of Thailand. 

plearn14web

What is Plearn Wan Hua Hin?

Not that I have ever been to one, but Plearn Wan reminds me a lot of the replica western town theme parks you hear about in America – for example, like the old western village theme park that Homer and his family visit in one episode of the Simpsons… but it’s a Thai version! Cool, right?

plearn17web

Plearn Wan is basically a small, little theme park located on the outskirts of Hua Hin. It’s set out in the style of a nostalgic, olden day village, complete with rickety wooden cart stalls, rustic wooden houses, retro street signs, colourful hanging bunting, and even a street running through the middle with parked classic cars, old skool tuk tuks and vintage scooters.

plearn10web

Thai people seem to have a weak spot for all things vintage, and I love it! Plearn Wan has plenty of charming little finishing touches and attention to detail throughout, plus some great classic vintage tunes in the background of many areas.

plearn8web

Things to do at Plearn Wan

You need to remember that Plearn Wan is not very big at all, so it will probably only take a couple of hours to explore, max. You don’t get so many foreign tourists at Plearn Wan – mainly Thai tourists and locals, which means you get a little more of an authentic Thai experience at Plearn Wan with plenty of traditional Thai food to sample.

plearn7web

Plearn Wan is great for tasting all the delicious Thai snacks and dishes from the old wooden stalls and shacks. Not to mention it’s cheap as well. The little food court sells dishes such as pad Thai, oily rice and chicken (khao man gai), noodle soup, and snacks such as steamed buns, banana & potato fritter and deep fried ice cream. If you’re bored of Thai food, there’s a great retro American diner at the entrance of the village too.

plearn6web

As well as food stalls, Plearn Wan also has numerous shops with decent priced clothing and cute little trinkets to take home. Alternatively, if you make your way to the back of the village, you’ll find a modest sized fairground with a ferris wheel and shooting games. Of course, there are plenty of photo opportunities throughout, which makes Plearn Wan very popular with Thai youngsters posing for awkwardly long amounts of time and taking way too many selfies.

plearn13web

Plearn Wan is open throughout the day and evening so you can visit during the sunny hours of the day or during the cosy lights of the night. Even better, you can experience Plearn Wan at all hours if you stay in the themed hotel on the upper floors throughout the village. This costs from around 1500 baht per night (that’s $50 or £29). You can book the Piman Plearnwan Hotel here.

plearn12web

How to get to Plearn Wan Vintage Village in Hua Hin

Entry to Plearn Wan Hua Hin is free. The village is located about 3km outside of Hua Hin’s centre, however it’s pretty famous so all the tuk tuk drivers will know it if you ask them to take you there. If you’re staying centrally in Hua Hin, this could cost anywhere between 100 and 200 baht depending on your driver’s mood!

plearn11web

Papaya Vintage Shop Bangkok

Posted on by

Home to perhaps the largest collection of bizarre vintage merchandise in Bangkok, the Papaya Vintage Shop is great for finding rare buys or merely just a curious peruse.

What’s in store at the Papaya Vintage Shop

Papaya is set in a huge warehouse down a very random and rather neglected road in Lat Phrao, a not-so-central area of Bangkok. Litter blows across the  unusually wide and apocalyptic-looking road leading up to Papaya like hopeless tumbleweeds bouncing across a derelict landscape. Still, there are some interesting, colourful yet dilapidated-looking bars and body to body massage parlours to see along the way.

cabbage4

papaya2

The entrance of Papaya is marked by a rusty old Tuk Tuk and a prominent life-sized dragon peering down from the warehouse roof. Entering the shop up the battered steps, the cluttered entrance sets the pace pretty accurately for what’s in store ahead – a chaos of seemingly infinite items from tacky junk to nostalgic treasures from throughout time.

papayaweb5

Vintage shopping and snooping at Papaya

The gigantic warehouse of Papaya houses a plethora of vintage items from olden clocks, exotic vases, lavish china sets, musical instruments and war time trinket boxes; to bizarre paintings, antique furniture sets, 60’s pod chairs and kitschy phones from throughout the years. It also has a random scattering of shabby old mannequins, life-sized comic book heros, nostalgic childhood memorabilia, gaudy penguin bins, cabinets full of Garfield figures, and even more creepy mannequin babies.

papayamodelweb

Items at Papaya aren’t priced, so you need to find one of the workers if you’re interested in buying something there. Unfortunately, this is usually a sign that you’re probably going to need to haggle, so be prepared if bargaining isn’t your strong point. What’s more, don’t be too disappointed if the vintage item you’re itching to buy isn’t for sale; the Papaya Vintage Shop actually rents out a lot of their most prized and bizarre items to photographers to use as props.

How to get to the Papaya Vintage Shop in Bangkok

To get to Papaya Vintage Shop, the best way is to take the MRT subway to Lat Phrao station and then take a taxi from there. It’s about a mile along the road – a little too far to walk in the Bangkok heat. Ask the taxi driver to take you to Lat Prao Soi 55 (55 is pronounced ‘hah-sip-hah‘) – this will cost around 40 baht depending on traffic. Papaya Vintage is just a couple of minutes walk down the road directly on the intersection with Soi 55/2.

 

Talad Rod Fai Train Market Bangkok

Posted on by

Bangkok shopping budget: $

Average clothes prices: 100 baht

Recently relocated after it’s abrupt and saddening closure at the old Chatuchak railway grounds, the new Rod Fai Train Market has now officially reopened in a new area of Bangkok – Seacon Square.

The Rod Fai train market has always been especially popular in Bangkok for it’s chilled out atmosphere, good music and unique vintage displays. Off the beaten track for tourists and primarily catered towards a young, Thai hipster hangout, Rod Fai Train Market offers a shopping experience with great nightlife and quirky finishing touches that make it stand out from the rest of the standard Bangkok markets.

train-market7

The New Talad Rod Fai

Walking down Srinagarindra 51 road, you’ll notice a rustic looking alley marked by train station-style benches at it’s front. The pathway has a number of small, old fashioned-style bars and interesting burger joints along the way, all of which come alive with live music during the later hours of the evening.

train-market5

Past here, you’ll come across a large, stall section of the train market, jam packed with numerous clothes stalls, toy shops, street food snacks, ice cream parlours and small restaurants. This section is mostly under cover and has hundreds of small shops selling some of the cheapest goods in Bangkok.

train-market6

Once you’ve passed this area, you’ll notice what looks like an open parking lot full of street food stalls and vans. Behind this area is perhaps the most interesting and charming section of the whole market: this outdoor, fairy-lit section is huge, crammed with busy market stalls, quirky bars serving drinks from the trunks of vintage cars, and eccentric antique shops that line the back and sides of the market.

Shopping at Talad Rod Fai

One thing you won’t find at Talad Rod Fai Train Market, is tacky tourist clothing – this is what defines shopping at Talad Rod Fai from some of the other popular markets of Bangkok. The styles here cater more for the younger, Thai teen and hipster fashions such as oversized, casual shirts; colourful, wide brim hats; second hand vintage clothing; pre-owned converse and other sneakers; and popular anime and Thai cartoon memorabilia.

train-market4

Talad Rod Fai is possibly the cheapest, non-wholesale market that I have come across in Bangkok so far. Some of the items for sale offer great value such as earrings from 10 baht a pair, cute tops from 35 baht, hats from 39 baht, denim shorts from 49 baht, scarves from 79 baht and bras from 100 baht each.

train-market2

Nightlife at Talad Rod Fai

My favourite thing about Rod Rai Train Market is that, despite the huge amount of shops and stalls, it is great for simply hanging out at the cool bars without shopping at all. As a whole, Talad Rod Fai has a nice, easy going atmosphere with plenty of little restaurants, bars, ice cream shops and Thai snacks to nibble on along the way.

train-market1

In addition to this, the random vintage cars, rustic-industrial buildings, VW camper trunk stalls, nerdy collectibles and delightful antiques make Rod Fai Train Market great for merely wandering around. The stalls and bars play some cool tunes from old classics, to laid back pop tunes like Jason Mraz, and to random tunes from lesser known alternative bands like Sublime. Many of the bars at Rod Fai Train Market host some great live music in some cool and unconventional, vintage buildings.

train-market3

How to get to Talad Rod Fai Train Market Bangkok

The Train market is only open on the weekends (update: and apparently Wednesdays & Fridays also). It opens in the evenings at around 6pm until late.

Talad Rod Fai is now located at Seacon Square Mall, which is a few miles away from the nearest transport station. The closest station to get anywhere close to Seacon Square is either Udom Suk or Punnawithi BTS stations. From here, ask a taxi to take you to Seacon Square – this will cost about 60 to 70 baht.

Once you’ve made it to Seacon Square, head to right of the building – there should be a crowd of young Thais headed that way that you can follow too. The first road you come to will lead down to Talad Rod Fai market. You can’t miss it – on the main junction of this road, there is a large structure with a sign pointing towards Talad Rod Fai that you can’t miss.

rod fai