PHUKET TOWN: There are few people in Thailand who haven’t heard of Chatujak Market, the vast, sprawling, colorful bazaar in Bangkok.

Now, if shoppers in Phuket want to go to Chatujak, they no longer have to make a trip to the capital to get there.

Chatujak Phuket is in Phuket Town on Phang Nga Rd. The market began three years ago as a talad nut tai rod – a car boot marketplace.

Vannakorn Pattarapakorn, a member of Phuket Provincial Administration (OrBorJor), told the Gazette. “In 1998, the Muang District Municipality planned to revamp the market on Ranong Rd and move it to where Chatujak Phuket is now.”

But few of the merchants in the market wanted to move, so K.Vannakorn submitted an idea to the Municipality to use the area as a venue for car boot sales instead. The idea was accepted. Last year, the market was converted into a full-fledged weekend market, which now has some 700 vendors.

K.Vannakorn estimates that about 30,000 people turn up every weekend. A secondhand blanket merchant says that the busiest day is Sunday. “It gets very crowded here by around six o’clock in the evening,” he says.

While lacking the sheer volume of goods found in Chatujak in Bangkok, the Phuket market attracts people with its cheap prices and cheerful atmosphere.

On a typical Sunday afternoon, shoppers might buy a pair of secondhand shoes for 50 baht, or a brand new pair for only 199 baht. They might also pick out some trendy T-shirts, or buy a Siamese fighting fish to keep the kids entertained.

If they get tired of rummaging for clothes, and the gastric juices are starting to flow, they can buy some crispy grasshoppers to snack on.

If munching on these crunchy critters doesn’t satisfy their hunger, they can get a dinner of fried chicken, curry with rice or any noodle dish, all of which can be found in almost every corner of the market.

The market also includes a food court which, unlike the rest of the market, is open every day of the week.

Before heading home they can stop to enjoy live tunes from local musicians on the stage next to the food court. Then, on their way out, they might decide to sit with an artist for 20 minutes to get their portrait painted.

“I come here every Sunday because it’s fun and exciting, Mitree Jaiharn, a 22-year-old shopper, told the Gazette. “I never think about what I’m going to buy – I just look around and, if I find something I like, I buy it.”

She added, “I like secondhand stuff because I never know what I’m going to find. That was specially true when the goods were sold from the trunks of cars.

“But I like the new market too, because there is a lot more stuff now. It makes shopping much more exciting.”

NAI YANG: Phuket has found fame once again! This time it was on British breakfast TV. Good Morning TV, also known as GM TV, chose to broadcast live to London from Phuket for a special series. For five consecutive days, the show was broadcast from a different country each day.

GM TV is one the UK’s most popular television breakfast shows with about 7 million viewers every morning from 6 am to 9 am.

“It’s the first time we’ve done this on British television. Kate Gallaway, our presenter, was at the pyramids in Egypt on Monday, Venice on Tuesday, Hong Kong on Wednesday, Perth on Thursday, and she arrived here in Phuket an hour before we went live on air at 1 pm local time,” said Steve Punter, senior producer of GM TV.

“We’ve been trying to show viewers a little bit of Kate’s adventure as well as give them a taste of what it’s like to live in Phuket,” he said.

The well-traveled Ms Gallaway was definitely impressed with the island’s natural beauty. “I think Phuket is just beautiful. I mean, it’s got everything, hasn’t it? It’s got beautiful sandy beaches, it’s got lovely kinds of tropical bits, it’s got mountains. It’s fantastic,” she gushed.

“And the people are really, really lovely too. They’re so friendly. And it smells really nice as well. As soon as I got off the plane, I thought, ‘How nice it smells.’”

Bill Owen, manager of Phuket-based The Travel Company, made many of the arrangements for the show.

He explained, “The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) office in London asked us to help them put this program together. In between showing clips that were filmed here, they would switch back to the studio and show a video of something that promotes either Bangkok, Thailand or Phuket.”