Get your geek on

Bangkok is pretty well known for it's markets. Commerce seems like the life-blood of the city, and few people come here without doing a little shopping. I've blogged about a couple of the usual suspects already, but recently a search for a rather hard to find item led me to discover one market that not many visitors seem to make it to - Saphan Lek.

Hidden away below street level and constructed on a bridge over a canal, this is a great example of how pretty much any available space here is put to good use, especially in a crowded area like Chinatown. This isn't a market for tourists, or the claustrophobic - there are no Chang vests, buddha statues or axe cushions to be found in these crowded aisles. This is a temple to geekdom, a mecca for Bangkok's gamers, collectors, and overgrown boys in general.

This is not an easy place to find. Head down Yaorawat, Chinatown's main drag, as far as Soi 35, and look out for this bridge with the yellow flags flying on your right hand side. 

That rather uninviting selection of temporary-looking structures built over the canal is your destination. The entrance is on the left side of the bridge.

Venture between those umbrellas and you'll find a few stalls selling old cameras and lenses - plenty of old Canon and Nikon gear here for the DSLR fans among you. Make your way in a little further and you'll find the main part of the market itself. 

Squeeze down these narrow aisles, cramped, crowded and harshly-lit by fluorescent tubes - you'll need to breathe in if somebody comes the other way - and you're rewarded with what feels like a scene from Bladerunner. The smell of hot solder fills the air as dozens of stallholders sit in cupboard-like spaces surrounded by dismembered games consoles, poking at circuit boards as they watch TV. Elsewhere, monks play Fifa next to racks of games of somewhat dubious provenance. Glass display cabinets groan under the weight of thousands of anime figurines. Other stalls bristle with what I sincerely hope are replica firearms.

Elsewhere you'll find radio-controlled cars and helicopters, trading card games, PC parts, Blu-ray movies, and surprising selection of vintage hifi gear.

Gamers, though, seem to be the main customers - pretty much everything game-related can be found here. Controllers, games and accessories for every console you can think of, and several others besides, as well as the consoles themselves, whole and in part, and modified in front of your eyes.

So if you're hankering for something geeky, this is the place to come. Even if you're not, it's worth it just to experience a market unlike anything you've seen before. It's a grown-up kid's paradise. Like taking a walk through the murkiest corners of eBay. Nerdvana.