Chatuchak market, Bangkok
Thailand is a cactus paradise so I was very excited to go there this February.
Bangkok has the large Chatuchak Plant Market starting on Tuesdays afternoons and all through Wednesdays (at least when I was there). I went through all of it once and visited some of the booths twice, and had a great time all in all. You can find many varieties is small seed-grown astrophytums, gymnos or fraileas, sometimes dozens of them in a tray.
One of the Chatuchak plant market stalls
Some sellers exhibit unique, gorgeous plants, like the one above. They are not cheap but that doesn’t really matter since import regulations make bringing these to the US almost impossible. You’d need phytosanitary and potentially CITES certificates which take time to produce and, I’ve been told, the sellers may not be able to get for some of the more regulated species such as uebelmannias, which is a pity because uebelmannia is very popular there.
Gardens by the Bay, Singapore
The place to go for cacti at the Gardens by the Bay is the Sun Pavilion. It’s not large, but you can see a nice selection of gymnocalycium, melocactus and astrophytum together with a few fat cardons (pachycereus pringlei) supported by metal pipes. Although I missed it, Terminal 1 of Singapore Airport is known to have a nice rooftop cactus exhibit. It can only accessed once inside the terminal, after passing security.
I am sad to say I missed probably the best collection in Thailand, the famous Uncle Chorn’s. Check out this slide show Uncle Chorn’s Cabin YouTube. Next time…