Indy Market

Indy Market, Dibuk Road, Phuket Town, Phuket, Thailand:

The Indy Market is a market that happens twice a week (Thursday and Friday) in Old Phuket Town on the Island of Phuket, Thailand.

This Phuket Indy Market or Lard Ploy Khong in Thai, which translates into “a market for letting go of goods” in English, can be described as a flea market of some sort taking place in Old Phuket Town, on Dibuk Road. It covers the open space close to the Limelight Shopping Mall, opposite the Queen Sirikit Park with its Golden Dragon Statue; this particular Golden Sea Dragon is known as Hai Leng Ong and is, to the believers of Chinese heritage, regarded as the protector of Phuket.

Opened in 2010, the Indy Market soon became the “after school meeting point” for the students from the surrounding educational institutions, the place where they go and enjoy all kind of snacks while chatting about their school-day and maybe have their first contact with the opposite sex, which is all done with a lot of giggling, innocent sweetness and natural curiosity.

In the evening the “grown-ups” join the Indy Market and try to find something to buy because they “need to have it”, which is not as bad an idea as it sounds, considering the fact that most of the things around are mostly on the cheap end rather than the expensive one. While it is mainly shopping time for the ladies, the men will normally head towards the food stalls where they serve cold beers as well as cooked-to-perfection Thai food such as fish, chicken, seafood and even some vegetarian delights.

The local musicians also have a space where they happily entertain all the visitors with their own renditions of the Beatles classics, the ever present “Hotel California”, the latest Thai “hits” or some songs from a famous Thai TV soap. It is young and raw and most of the time very locally flavored, which is what makes the Phuket Indy Market so unique and enjoyable.

Well worth a visit!..