We're not surprised Bangkok's Aw Taw Kaw market was deemed Time's Best Shopping Secret in the magazine's The Best of Asia edition this year (May 7, '07.) "Bargain hungry tourists who throng Bangkok's sprawling and chaotic Chatuchak flea market every weekend aren't just missing the boat. They are missing the banquet…" writes the article. We couldn't agree more. Located just across the street from the thriving flea market, Aw Taw Kaw (or Aor Tor Kor) set up in 1971 under the auspices of Thaiand's Ministry of Agriculture in 1971. It underwent a total revamp last year, and today is in top nick. We shop here for select ngapi shrimp paste (one store sells some 50 different varieties and grades!) and the widest display of produce in the city, short of Bangkok's true wholesale market further north. We've been taking our tour groups here for years, and as Time notes, "there's no watering down of authenticity…" And for the night owl, just across the market street, Aw Taw Kaw sports a score of pulsing gay and straight night clubs, every night until 2 a.m. Mostly uni students, the scene is bone crunchingly crowded, with ear-shattering music decibels, but a unqiue scene to Thai popular life rarely seen by Westerners.