When I was still in the RTW business, I often heard my suppliers say, "That's the last price. This is of good quality 'coz this comes from Bangkok.", "New arrivals from Bangkok!", "That's already very cheap from Bangkok.", etc. So I got really curious why they always mentioned Bangkok, Bangkok, Bangkok when in fact, all the world is already made in China.
Then my curiosity got satisfied when we went to Thailand last March for a tour. Bangkok indeed is one big shopping district with prices very cheap especially in the clothing line. If you're into fashion, then Pratunam is more than perfect for you! Clothes, accessories, shoes, beauty products, gadgets, etc. both for men and women are flooding in the area. It's the busiest part of Bangkok where malls and hotels are situated including Baiyoke Sky Hotel, Thailand's tallest building which we also visited. Check out our Baiyoke experience here.
Around the district are The Platinum Fashion Mall, Palladium World Shopping Mall, Pantip Plaza IT Mall, City Complex Pratunam, and Pratunam Market. Honestly, I'm not into much shopping and my company always got tired feet the whole trip so we only checked into three. First was City Complex Pratunam where starting from the third floor to the top floor are all textile shops. The mall served as our headquarters where we left Papa to sit and had our shopping bags watched by him every after purchase. The mall was not too crowded so it was perfect for him for his snoozes. Second was The Platinum, the women's haven where Korean fashion is at the pedestal. Girls are clamoring over K-fashion 'coz it's hip, chic, and trendy. Lastly, we tried to conquer Pratunam Market, Thailand's largest clothing market. It's one big Divisoria, very hot, chaotic, and super crowded. But the prices here are very very low, half the price from the air-conditioned The Platinum.
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| The Platinum vs. Pratunam Market |
Aside from the malls, there are also plenty of stalls lining up the sidewalks just like Colon-Carbon district in Cebu. In these stores, you can haggle lower than 50% of the original price. And what captured us most was this little make-shift store of personalized stuffs where you can have your name engraved on your bag, wallet, passport holder, etc. The salesgirl here speaks fluent English, very accommodating, and friendly compared with the other salesgirls, salesboys, and salesgays who are rude. It's just in their system. The others just don't care if you buy from them or not because they do have sales anyway so they don't have to treat their customers right. But as a fellow salesgirl (for I do keep my store too), I love the kid here in this stall because she's so sincere in doing her job.
However, you have to be very careful while you do your shopping in Pratunam district because just like here in the Philippines, snatchers, thieves, pickpockets, and the like are also rampant in the area. We experienced that for ourselves!
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| My Sissy's Bag Bladed by a Thief Inside Pratunam Market |
In addition, if you want to buy genuine jewelry and don't want to squeeze into the crowd of Pratunam, you can visit Gems Gallery. This is always included in the city tour where tourists are being entertained with a short AVP of how gems are mined in Thailand and how jewelries are manufactured. We even saw their actual workshop with their goldsmith and craftsmen busily working on their respective masterpieces. Free drinks are also offered with aircon on full blast for the tourists to be comfy in picking their precious Thai souvenir. Our tour here was the same as our Royal Thai Handicraft Center tour in Damnoen Saduak. But cameras are restricted here so we only have these photos:
Lastly, I was very curious about Patpong Night Market so I also led the troop there. Funny thing was, goods are not for sale in the area. What's for sale is flesh with heaps of boobies, loads of butts, and torrents of bootycalls. Truly red light district at its maximum tolerance. Tsk tsk tsk. Oh, what a sight to pity. Sin is everywhere. As we passed by the long streets, I prayed to God for deliverance of the place.
And this is all about Bangkok shopping. My curiosity satisfied and gratified. At long last, I've seen why Bangkok is known as the shoppers' happy place to myself! Watch out for my next post on Thailand's street food only here on The Other Side of Mae! #tosomtravels
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