Shopping in Bangkok

Downtown Bangkok is full of smart, multi-storied shopping plazas like Siam Paragon, Siam Centre, Emporium and Gaysorn Plaza, which is where you will find the majority of the citys fashion stores, as well as designer lifestyle goods and bookshops. You are most likely to find useful items in one of the citys numerous department stores, most of which are also scattered about the downtown areas.

Seven-storey Central Chidlom on Thanon Ploenchit, which boasts handy services like watch-, garment- and show-repair booths as well a huge product selection (including large sizes), is probably the citys best (with other Central branches on Thanon Silom and around town), but the Siam Paragon department store (which also offers garment and show repairs), in the shopping centre of the same name on Thanon Rama I, and Robinsons (on Sukhumvit Soi 19, at the Silom/Rama IV junction and on Thanon Charoen Krung near Thanon Sathorn) are also good. They all have childrens departments selling bottles, slings and clothes, or theres the branch of Mother-care inside the Emporium between Sukhumvit sois 22 and 24. The British chain of pharmacies, Boots and Chemist, has lots of branches across the city, including on Thanon Khao San, in the Siam Centre opposite Siam Square, on Patpong, in the Times Square complex between Sukhumvit sois 12 and 14, and in Emporium on Sukhumvit; Boots is the easiest place in the city to buy tampons.

The best lace to buy anything to do with mobile phones, including rechargeable Thai SIM cards with a local phone number is the scores of small booths on Floor 4 of Mah Boon Krong MBK Shopping Centre at the Rama I/Phrayathai intersection. For computer hardware, electronics and software, the undisputed Mecca is Panthip Plaza, across fromsiam square at 604/3 Thanon Phetchaburi (BST Ratchathevi or canal stop Tha Pratunam), crammed with new and used genuine and pirated hardware and software.

Bangkok Markets

For travelers, spectating, not shopping is apt to be the main draw of Bangkoks neighbourhood markets notably the bazaars of Chinatown and the blooms and scents of Pak Khlong Talat, the flower and vegetable market just west of Memorial Bridge. The massive Chatuchak Weekend Market is an exception, being booth a tourist attraction and a marvelous shopping experience. If you are planning on some serious market exploration, get hold of Nancy Chandlers Map of Bangkok, and enthusiastically annotated creation with special sections on the main areas of interest. With the chief exception of Chatuchak, most markets operate daily from dawn till early afternoon; early afternoon; early morni9ng is often the best time to go to beat the heat and crowds.

The Patpong night market, which also spills out onto Thanon Silom and Thanon Suriwong, Burberry shirts; the stalls open at about 5pm until late into the evening. A recent arrival on the evening shopping scene is the Suan Lum Night Bazaar, opposite Lumphini Park at the corner of Thanon Rama IV and Thanon Witthayu (Wireless Road; www,thainightbazaar.com), a huge development of more than three thousand booths, which is at its best between 6 and 10pm. Down the narrow alleys of tiny booths, you will find colorful street fashions, jewelry and lot of soaps, candles and beauty products, as well as some interesting contemporary dcor: lighting, paintings, ceramics and woodcarving. At the centre stands the Traditional Thai Puppet Theatre, with a popular Thai terrace-restaurant in front and the attractive womens clothes and furnishings, notably rugs, of the Doi Tung at Mae Fah Luang shop, with a hip Doi Tung coffee house attached. Other options for eating and drinking are uninspiring your best bet is probably the open-air food court and beer garden, with a stage for nightly live music, by Thanon Witthayu.

Handicrafts, textiles and contemporary interior design

Sample of nearly all regionally produced handicrafts end up in Bangkok, and many of the shopping plazas have at least one classy handicraft outlet. Bangkok is also rapidly establishing a reputation for its contemporary interior design, fusing minimalist Western ideals with traditional Thai and other Asian craft elements. The best places to sample this, as detailed in the reviews below, are on Floor 4 of the Siam Discovery Centre and Floor 4 of the Siam Paragon shopping centre, both on Thanon Rama I, and Floor3 of the Gaysorn Plaza on Thanon Ploenchit.

The cheapest outlet for traditional northern and northeastern textiles including sarongs, axe pillows and farmers shirts – is Chatuchak Weekend Market, where youll also be able to nose out some interesting handicrafts. Used Cars Denver . Note for its thickness and sheen, Thai silk become internationally recognized only about fifty years ago after the efforts of American Jim Thompson. Much of it comes from the northeast, but you will find a good range of outlets in the capital. Price starts at about B500 per meter for two-ply silk (suitable for thin shirts and skirts), or B750 for four-ply (for suits).

Tailored clothes

Inexpensive tailoring shops crowd Silom, Sukhumvit and Khao San roads, but the best single area to head for is the short stretch of Thanon Charoen Krung between the GPO and Thanon Silom, close by the Chao Phraya express-boat stops at Tha Oriental and Tha Wat Muang Kae, or ten minutes walk from Saphan Taksin Skytrain station. Its generally best to avoid tailors in tourist areas such s Thanon Khao San, shopping malls and Thanon Sukhumvits Soi Nana and Soi 11, although if you are lucky its still possible to come up trumps here: one that stands apart in Banglamphus well-regarded Chang Torn, located at 95 Thanon Tanao. All the outlets listed below are recommended.

Prices vary widely depending on material and the tailors skill. As a very rough guide, for labors alone expect to pay B5000-6000 for a two-piece suit, though some tailors will charge rather more. For middling material, expect to pay about the same again or anything up to four times as much for top-class cloth. Special deals offering two suits, two shirts, two ties and a kimono for US$99 should be left well alone.

Fashions

Thanon Khao San is lined with stalls selling low-priced fashions aimed at backpackers and urban Thais trendiest. For the best and latest trends from Thai designers, however, check out the shops in Siam Square and across the road in the more up-market Siam Centre. Prices vary considerably: street gear in Siam Square is undoubtedly inexpensive, while genuine Western brand names are generally competitive but not breathtakingly cheaper than at home; larger sizes can be hard to find. Shoes and leather goods are good buys in Bangkok, being generally handmade from high-quality leather and quite a bargain: check out branches of the stylish, Italian-influenced Ragazee in the Silom Complex (floor 2), Thanon Silom, in the menswear department at Isetan in the Central World Plaza or on Floor 3 on the MBK Shopping Centre (both Thanon Rama I).

Jewelry, gems and other rare stones

Bangkok boats the countrys best gem and jewellery shops, and some of the finest lapidaries in the world, making this the place to buy cut and uncut stones such as rubies, blue sapphires and diamonds. However, countless gem-buying tourists get badly ripped off, so be extremely wary. Never buy anything a through a tout or from any shop recommended by a government official / student /business person/ tuk-tuk driver who just happens to engage you in conversation on the street, and note that there are no government jewelry shops despite any information you may be given to the contrary. Always check that the shop is association or visiting their website (www.thaigemjewelry.or.th). To be doubly sure, you may want to seek out shops that also belong to the TGJTAs Jewel Fest Club (www.jewelfest.com), which guarantees quality and will offer refunds; see their website for a directory of members. For independent professional advice or precious stones certification, contact the Asian Institute of Gemological Sciences, located on the sixth floor of the Jewelry Trade Center Building, 919/1 Thanon Silom (www.aigsthailand.com), which also runs reputable courses , such as a five-day (15hr) introduction to gemstones (B7500) and one day on rubies and sapphires (B1500). Common scams are to charge a lot more than what the gem is worth based on its carat weight. Get it tested on the spot, and ask for a written guarantee and receipt. Dont even consider buying gems in bulk to sell at a supposedly vast profit elsewhere: many a gullible traveler has invested thousands of dollars on handful of worthless multi-colored stones, believing the vendors reassurance that the goods will fetch a hundred times more when resold home. Gem scams are so common in Bangkok that TAT has published a brochure about it and there are several websites on the subject. Most victims get no recompense at all, but you have more change of doing so if you contact the websites recommended authorities while still in Thailand.

The most exclusive of the reputable gem outlets are scattered along Thanon Silom, but many tourists prefer to buy from hotel shops, like the very upscale Kims in Oriental Palace in front of the Oriental, where reliability is assured. Other recommended outlets include Johnnys Gems at 199 Thanon Fuang Nakhon, near Wat Rajabophit in Ratanakosin; and Merlin et Delaunay at 1 Soi Pradit, off Thanon Suriwong. Thongtavee, Floor 2, River City, an outlet of a famous Burmese jade factory in Mae Sai in northern Thailand, sell beautiful jade jewellery as well as carved Buddha statues, chopsticks and the like. The hub of Bangkoks gold trade is Chinatown, specifically Thanon Yaowarat, which boasts over a hundred outlets. For cheap silver earrings, bracelets and necklaces, you cant beat the traveler-oriented jewellery shops along Trok Mayom in Banglamphu.

Antiques and paintings

Bangkok is the entrepot for the finest Thai, Burmese and Cambodian antiques, but the market has long been sewn up, so dont expect to happen upon any undiscovered treasure. Even experts admit that they sometimes find it hard to tell real antiques from fakes, so the best policy is just to buy on the grounds of attractiveness. The River City shopping complex, off Thanon Charoen Krung (New Road), devotes its third and fourth floors to a bewildering array of pricey treasures, as well as holding an auction on the first Saturday of every month (viewing during the preceding week). Worth singling out here are Old Maps and Prints on the fourth floor (www.classicmaps.com), which has some lovely old prints of Thailand and Asia (averaging around B3500), as well as rare books and maps; and Ingon on the third floor, which specializes in small Chinese pieces made of jade and other precious stones, such as snuff boxes, jewelry, statuettes and amulets. The other main area for antiques is the section of Charoen Krung that runs between the GPO and the bottom of Thanon Silom, and the stretch of Silom running east from here up to and including the multistory Silom Galleria. Here youll find a good section of largely reputable individual businesses specializing in woodcarvings, ceramics, bronze statues and stone sculptures culled from all parts of Thailand and neighboring countries as well. The owner of Old Maps and Prints have a second outlet, the Old Siam Trading Company in the Nailert Building at the mouth of Thanon Sukhumvit Soi5 (www.oldsiamtrading.com). Remember that most antiques require an export permit.

Street-corner stalls all over the city sell poor-quality mass-produced traditional Thai paintings, but for a huge section of Thai art, especially oil paintings, visit Sombat Permpoon Gallery on Sukhumvit Soi 1, which carries thousands of canvases, framed and unframed, spanning the range from classical Ayutthayan-era-style village scenes to twenty-first-century abstracts.