Shopping by the sea

Pattaya's nightlife has much more than the beachside beer bars. New, cool upscale bars like Mantra, -5 Supperclub and Latitude, and the chic shopping mall J Avenue add vibrancy to this bouncy town.

Besides Pattaya Walking Street, another attraction is a big open-air night market, which is a hip shopping hangout for tourists and residents on weekends.

Located on Thepprasit Road in central Pattaya, Thepprasit Market seems to be a miniature of Bangkok's Chatuchak Weekend Market. But a walk around this one-kilometre strip will reveal things wouldn't find at other markets. Normally, this lively market welcomes shopaholics in the evening from Friday to Sunday.

At the town's biggest night bazaar, there are hundreds of vendors showcasing a comprehensive range of merchandise and traditional food and desserts along with various pets and plants.

It's a paradise for shoppers. The market contains a variety of stylish fashion products at reasonable prices, ranging from watches, colourful slippers, sunglasses, cotton-based shorts and T-shirts, handbags, jeans and other accessories.

If you have a passion for old-fashioned styles, you can visit the five-star Otop cloth stall run by designing auntie Paa Ladda Intawong. You may appreciate an attractive collection of Thai-style fisherman's trousers and shirts for adults and children. They are made from Thai sarongs. Prices range from Bt100 to Bt200.

Many second-hand vendors display an array of used sneakers ranging from Bt120 to Bt150, while fashions from various marques start at Bt40.

Auto enthusiasts can get some groovy spare parts, ranging from rear lamps and silver exhaust pipes to mag wheels.

Hobbyists should keep strolling - there's a whole warehouse's-worth of eye-catching collectible items. Here you can pick up superhero action figures, dolls (Bt199 to 900), Spider-Man models, paper dolls (Bt10) and other nifty toys. But if you haven't got enough money to buy your favourite items, the stall allows you to rent action figures for Bt20 a day.

For parents looking for tools to help develop children's imaginations, there's a display of books in both Thai and English that come in such forms as pop-up books and picture books. Among the popular fairytales here are "Jack & Jill", "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and "The Story of Prawessandorn". Prices start at Bt150.

When you're hungry, you can take your pick from a variety of stalls. A fruit stand offers many pickled Thai fruits like mangoes, guavas, tamarinds and olives, while a nearby pushcart has Thai traditional sweets such as look choob (fruit-shaped soybean sweets), tong yip and tong yod (sweets made from egg yolk, flour and sugar). In the food court, there's an array of Thai dishes like pad thai, hoy tod and guaytiew moo (noodle soup with pork).

There are also many pet stores displaying cute puppies, rabbits, birds, fish and guinea pigs. Also available are all kind of Thai trees, flowers and other gardening tools.

Thepprasit Market

Thepprasit Road, Central Pattaya

Friday to Sunday,

5 to 11pm

Pattarawadee Saengmanee