Bangkok Shopping

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.

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!

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

Related Posts:

Baiyoke Sky Hotel    

Damnoen Saduak:  Royal Thai Handicraft Center Company Limited 

Feeling at Home in Old Quarter

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Damnoen Saduak: Royal Thai Handicraft Center Company Limited

As with all other tour protocols, tourists must be brought to showrooms to learn of the country's native products and to persuade them into buying at factory prices as they claim to be but are actually not for me 'coz there are always bazaars and night markets which offers far lesser prices.  So right after our Floating Market and Elephant Village tours in Damnoen Saduak, we were brought to Royal Thai Handicraft Center Company Limited wherein we saw how each wood work is carefully carved by hands and wonderfully polished to meet international standards.

Yindī t̂xnrạb s̄ū̀ pratheṣ̄thịy!

Unlike in Vietnam where I got reprimanded for taking photos inside their handicraft showroom (but I still managed to take/steal some), picture-taking is allowed here in Royal Thai.  You can even sit on their chairs, benches, stools, etc.  So we obliged!  Hehe.....

Furniture of all sorts are on display inside as well as house decorations and elephant ornaments from the smallest to the biggest.  Everything is made from teak wood, coming from teak tree which grows abundantly in northern Thailand.  Teak is ideal for furniture manufacture and in building wood houses and boats since it is water and termite resistant.  Kitchen utensils are also made from this, just like here in the Philippines with our native products industry.

I'm sorry for bombarding you with photos but I just wanna show you how creative each masterpiece is done.  There are also images of Buddhas, paintings, cabinets, and carved-wood-sort-of paintings that are intricately chiseled which are truly works of art.

Don't have the time to visit Thailand?  You may also shop online through Royal Thai's official website here!  I heard they offer free shipping worldwide that would only take for less than a month of waiting for your delivery to be at your door step!  More photos are also showcased in their site so happy shopping!

Now this is the final stop of our Damnoen Saduak trip.  Watch out for my next posts as I'll be taking you all around Bangkok only here on The Other Side of Mae!  #tosomtravels

Related Posts:

Damnoen Saduak:  Floating Market

Damnoen Saduak:  Elephant Village  

Side Trip at Hải Dương Province

For questions, invites, and collaborations, direct message me on Facebook.  For updates on my whereabouts and whatabouts, follow me on Twitter and Instagram! :)

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