'Extremely ridiculous': Man warns of 3-hour waiting times at Chatuchak Singapore as event draws massive crowds

Singapore's events scene is back in full force after a gruelling battle with the pandemic. So, it's understandable that many are excited to check out the latest happenings in town as the country reverts to Dorscon green.

But would you brave three-hour-long waiting times and suffocating crowds just to do so?

That's what some people did over this weekend at the new Chatuchak Night Market at The Grandstand. 

In a TikTok video uploaded on Sunday (Feb 12), content creator Nurhakim Suhaimi showed how bad the crowd situation was at the event. 

"Didn't even get to try any food," he revealed as he showed clip after clip of the swarms of people. 

His only saving grace was that he managed to win a toy from one of the claw machines. 

"10/10 would not recommend," he rated the event. 

Avoid the weekends

Joe Ng, a car salesman, also made a TikTok video about the crowd situation on Saturday (Feb 11). 

The 28-year-old's showroom is at The Grandstand and he pointed out in the video that the best time to visit the night market is during the weekdays.

But even then, you can expect one-hour queues, he added. 

And on weekends, be prepared to wait for around two to three hours for your food. 

"I have some strong advice, very very strong advice. If you have nothing important to do at the event, don't bother coming," he warned in a mixture of Chinese and English, adding that the people in the crowd "look like ants". 

"It's extremely ridiculous," Ng emphasised. 

The human jams aren't the only issue to worry about — if you plan on driving down, you have to brace yourself for the jams going in and out of the area. 

To prove his point, Ng showed clips of the cars — which were barely moving — lined up near the event. 

[embed]https://www.tiktok.com/@ngtianzu/video/7198861177454120193?_r=1&_t=8ZnlepAQtLW[/embed]

Speaking to AsiaOne, Ng said the crowd wasn't that bad on Sunday (Feb 12), but only because it had rained. 

He also shared that he visited the event on Thursday (Feb 9) evening and waited around one hour for his food. 

Additionally, Ng noticed that the weekday crowd only starts coming in around 6pm, so if you've some spare time before that, you could try your luck. 

"When I went around 4pm on Friday, it was still okay. Waiting time was around 15 to 20 minutes," he recounted. 

Another TikToker, who goes by the username Eunicechok, visited the event on Thursday evening. 

She shared that the event was just a series of lengthy queues. 

"You need to queue to pay [for your food] and then queue to collect [your food]," she revealed. 

"Some of the items ran out midway as we were queuing and some stores stopped taking in orders due to the high demand." 

Despite the chaos, Eunicechok still complimented the food and said it was "good". 

Wet Chatuchak 

Horrendous crowds aside, the recent rainy weather has been quite a dampener for those visiting the night market. 

Just last week, Chatuchak made the news after it was flooded during a heavy downpour. 

It had only been the second day of the event, and dismayed vendors and visitors ended up having to wade in ankle-deep waters. 

One stall vendor had to temporarily put up a black cloth as her waterproof ones had not arrived yet. She also had to wheel in her luggage to prevent it from getting soaked. 

The organiser told AsiaOne then that they are working with the management of The Grandstand to procure further flood control solutions in case a similar incident happens again. 

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melissateo@asiaone.com

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