If Chatuchak and Pratunam are royalties when it comes to Bangkok’s traditional markets, there’s a growing cohort of younger, more rebellious options.

Leading the pack is ChangChui Creative Park, also known as Plane Market for one obvious reason—a decommissioned L-1011 TriStar Lockheed airplane sitting in the center.

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The once licensed aircraft began its career in 1974 for Delta before serving Jet Midwest in 2004 and finally, Thai Sky Airlines in 2005. Years after retirement, it was officially unveiled in 2017 as ChangChui’s high-end airplane restaurant. The surrounding area evolved into a mixed-use creative space along Sirindhorn Road in Bang Phlat, about a 30-minute car or motorbike ride from the Siam neighborhood.

ChangChui paved the way for more alternative markets in Bangkok, such as IconSiam’s SookSiam, which opened to the public in 2018, and Jodd Fairs in 2021.

The famous airplane continues to function as a fine dining, by-reservation restaurant called Na Oh, where you enter via the antique lift at the back. Paying guests may slide down the bright red spiral slide that starts at the plane’s emergency exit.

There used to be a watering hole aptly called Runway Bar below the plane, but now it’s an empty space. If you need to get buzzed, another bar called Sis sits under the rear end of the plane.

Don’t be put off by the bougie feel of the plane resto. The rest of ChangChui is more pocket-friendly. In fact, the immediate space around the plane transforms into a bustling night market every 5pm.

But if you’d like to get a more immersive feel of ChangChui, come as early as noontime as I did. Perhaps because of the scorching heat and only a few establishments open, there were hardly any tourists when I got there.

The park usually hosts events such as art exhibits, film screenings, festivals, pop-ups, and musical performances, but it was quiet that Thursday afternoon. I felt like I had the park all to myself, shooting videos and photos to my heart’s content, and admiring the art without elbowing through crowds.

There are several entrances to ChangChui. My Grab bike dropped me off where an installation named DD dot Dog stood next to three giant golden squids. The entrance was a junk art installation—repurposed scaffoldings, recycled materials, and old building parts, which represented the overall vibe of the park.

The designs of the restaurants, cafes, food trucks, stalls, and shops were a mix of commercial, rustic, industrial, and artsy.

I had a late brunch of latte and four-cheese pizza in Olive Kitchen, a comfort food restaurant that opened in 2020. I hear the place comes alive at night with music and dancing, but I was the lone customer that afternoon.

I explored the rest of ChangChui, spotting murals, sticker walls, installations, and junk art. I said this before and I’ll say it again: What I like best about urban street art is that it’s accessible and welcoming. It doesn’t gatekeep, snob, or look down at regular folk like myself. It’s both spontaneous and planned, in-your-face and hidden. Sometimes you know exactly where to look for it, but usually it pops out when you least expect it.

At around 3pm, some shops were still closed or just about to open. I watched boutique owners arrive to arrange racks of clothes, while food stall operators started laying out their ingredients for the night market.

I checked out the gachapon and claw machines at Chui Play, bought a cute camera fan from Mees, and explored empty warehouse galleries that give off a dystopian vibe. When the heat felt unbearable, I stopped for a mango shake break at The Fantasy of Baking Story, where, like a scene from a movie, the owner was happily baking pies as I entered.

By 5pm the vendors started setting up their stalls surrounding the plane as the crowd started to fill up. I browsed through racks of vintage clothes, cassette tapes of Thai musicians, and handmade fashion accessories before booking a Grab ride back to Siam Center, carefully avoiding the city’s pre-dinner traffic jam.

I would’ve loved to stay longer for the ChangChui night market, but I had an early-morning flight the next day and my luggage was already a kilo overweight.

I filed this spot under “Places To See Again.”

ChangChui Creative Park is located at 460/8 Sirindhorn Rd, Khet Bang Phlat, Bangkok, Thailand. The park is open from 11am-11pm, while the plane night market runs from Tuesdays to Sundays at 5-11pm. Entrance is free.