The Secret Map

What happens when you cross an aquarium with a butchers? You get a wet market. Arrive early to Khlong Toei Market and you’ll find hundreds of the capital’s restaurateurs and street food vendors alike rubbing shoulders, literally – buyers are as squeezed in as the fish themselves.

It’s quite the adrenaline rush to walk through as aquatic creatures of all kinds are dumped and tossed unceremoniously onto display tables from buckets, with many fish so panicked that they flop onto the floor just as quickly. If your main source of omega-3 is breaded and crumbed, you’re in for a shock here.

Bangkok was the most visited city in the world in 2025, but that doesn’t mean that this megacity, with an estimated 11 million inhabitants, has all its paths beaten. The only foreigners you’re likely to see are the odd (perhaps literally) intrepid traveller or small group gathering ingredients for a cooking class.

Of those 11 million Bangkokians, only 5.5 million have official household registration, and evidence of some of the migrants trying to scratch out a living here can be seen on some of their faces; thanaka, a sun cream made from tree bark, was seen a lot on my brief stroll through the organised chaos, where man or machine are heading towards you from every direction.

Some tips if you’d like to have a butcher’s: Arrive early, earphones out, keep it moving in the tight corridors, and take your photos but don’t get in the way, and smile!

To get to Khlong Toei MarketTo get to Khlong Toei Market in Bangkok, take the MRT Blue Line to Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre Station. From there, it is just a short 5-to-10-minute walk.