| SHOPPING AREAS |
| Designs: janiisy |
::PRATUNAM (WATER GATE):: Great bargains in young ready-to-wear fashion, jewelry and leather goods. Hot and colourful - one of Bangkok's old established markets is packed with stalls and vendors who spill out on to the main street. Great for teens. Pratunam Market - Open 08:00-21:00 daily Corner of Phetchburi Rd and Ratchaprarop. |
| ::Ploenchit::
Head here for upmarket, trendy and expensive. Bangkok's answer to London's Knightsbridge. The brand new Paragon Shopping Centre (coming soon) is the latest in a series of ever brand conscious areas where both international and designers rule supreme. Air-conditioned comfort, smooth surroundings and luxury goods from all over the world. Gaysorn Plaza, Amarin Plaza and Peninsula Plaza are among Bangkok's most prominent shopping plazas. The slightly less illustrious but excellent Central Chitlom Department Store is close by. ::The Peninsula Plaza :: This elegant building located between the Grand Hyatt Erawan and The Regent Hotel Bangkok, has imported brand name labels, jewelley shops, top local fashion designers and gourmet shops. Open: 0:00-21:00 daily Location: 153 Ratchadamri Road, 253-9672-3. ::Gaysorn Plaza :: Upmarket white marble and gleaming chrome with all the high class status labels sold here. You can access via a walkway from Siam Skytrain station. Rarefied shopping. Open 10:00-21:00 daily :Amarin Plaza & Sogo Department Store: Head here for your fast food fix at Mcdonald's (the first one in Thailand) Pizza Hut and . Starbucks. Sogo Department Store catering largely to the Japanese market is also located here Open 10:00-21:00 daily Location: 494 Ploenchit |
| River City Complex
As the name suggests, River City shopping mall, located on the banks of the Chao Phraya contains Bangkok's greatest concentration of upmarket antique galleries and some of the most expensive in the city. High quality Thai goods as well as art and antiques from over Southeast Asia. Four floors of silk goods, gifts, jewellry, carpets, ceramics, art and antiques, porcelain, silver boxes, carpets, art deco clocks, sculptures and carvings. Simply the best. |
| ::Banglamphu
:: Banglamphu: Fast emerging from a sleepy traditional neighbourhood frequented by backpackers, Banglamphu is now aquiring cult "must visit" status thanks to the success of the Hollywood film "The Beach" - part of which was set in the area. The maket and shops around nearby Khao San Road now offer all the essentials a traveller needs. Sarongs, bags, tops, beach clothes and fisherman's pants. Easy and convenient if you're staying in the area and planning to move on to sea and more sun. |
| ::SUKHUMVIT:: Shopping malls like The Emporium, antique and furniture shops, boutiques, tailors, hotels, bars, restaurants and even metalworking shops. Sukhumvit stretches a long way forming pockets of areas known for specifi items. Around Soi 33 - 35 you'll find a great selection of Japanese food and restaurants. Towards the centre of town, major hotels and shopping malls appear. Well served by the Skytrain (Bangkok's overhead rail system) Sukhumvit road is also lined with stalls at night for those last minute souvenirs, T shirts and clothing. ::Emporium Sukhumvit :: Upmarket, trendy with plenty of space, a cinema, cafes, restaurants and a great food court. Regular sales with discounts between 15 - 80 %. A tourist card (which you can apply for at the store) gives 5% - 10% discount off regular priced items. Location: Sukhumvit Soi 24/26, Skytrain Phrom Phong) Open: 09:00-21:00 |
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| ::Ratchadaphisek Road
:: This is quite a large commercial district, with many shops including branches of Robinsons department store, Tokyu, Jusco, Yaohan and others. It also has the showroom of the Department of Export Promotion for business interested in exporting Thai products. |
| ::Seacon Square
:: At 500 000 sq km, the Seacon Square shopping center claims to be the biggest in Asia and the fifth biggest anywhere in the world. There are hundreds of shops and just about every type of good is available here including clothes, furniture, stereos and TV's, computers, cars, jewelry, food etc...Also on the premises are 14 THX cinemas, a bowling alley, ice skating rink, many restaurants, a huge football-field-sized branch of DK Books with close to 1 million books (not that many English language though), a special 'simulator' virtual reality cinema, mini-golf course, Lotus Supercenter (a supermarket), Robinson's department store, "Yoyo Land" a massive indoor theme park with rollercoasters, ferris wheel, boat rides, flumes and many more. Nearby is the Seri Center, a good place for buying anything computer related. |
| :: Panthip Plaza :: Computers, TV's, cameras and similar items can be good value in Thailand, but you'll be hard pushed to find one with high quality components selling for significantly less than in the US / Europe. Overall, you're probably better off buying at home than in Thailand, as although you may spend slightly more, you are much more likely to get decent after sales or a refund in case of problems in Europe/US than in Thailand. On the other hand, if you're looking to buy computer peripherals then you can get some good deals in Bangkok, and repairs can be done similarly cheaply. The best place to go for any type of computer shopping is the multistory Panthip Plaza on Phetburi / Petchburi Rd in Pratunam district (not far from the Amari Watergate hotel). Prices are very cheap and the range extensive, but not all the vendors speak a lot of English. Though there are a wide range of computer related products on sale, Panthip is most (in)famous for the huge amount of pirated software available. There are literally dozens of different vendors selling hacked versions of software programs, and even the most up-to-date software is available amazingly quickly. Microsoft Windows XP, for instance, had been available in Panthip some weeks prior even to it's official launch in the USA, let alone in Thailand. As well as software, pirated versions of all of the top Hollywood movies are also available on DVD or VCD, as are compilation MP3 CD's with around 12 albums on each (right). Each CD/VCD/CDROM costs only around 100-150B, as the intense competition helps to keep the prices low. The DVDs cost around 300B or so, and may or may not have had the regional coding removed. The Thai government, under pressure from the USA, has periodic crackdowns on Panthip Plaza, but they never seem to last very long. The only lasting effect of the crackdowns seems to be that all the pirated material is no longer kept with the vendor, but is instead in a building down the street and is retrieved when someone makes a purchase. With a bit of searching, it is possible to also find software originals on sale but prices are no bargain compared to the USA/Europe. Panthip Plaza is very popular and, particularly on weekends, it can get very crowded. There are few other malls throughout Bangkok with a similar, but smaller, range of products on sale: Hollywood IT, which is located only 100m or so away from Panthip and is very close to the Ratchathewi skytrain station. Seri Center, near Seacon Square. IT Mall, in the Fortune Tower on the intersection of Ratchadapiskek road and Asok-Din Daeng road, is another option. Ordinary buses 2 and 11 and air-con buses 5, 11 and 12 all pass outside of Panthip Plaza, or any taxi driver will know it (it's pronounced as pan-tip). You may also find Panthip written in English as 'Pantip' (including on the building itself), but 'Panthip' is the more common elsewhere and, according to the official way of romanising Thai, the correct spelling. |
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| ::World Trade Center:: Open 10:00-21:00 daily 4 Ratchadamri Road, 255-9500. A 330,000 sq.m. shopping mall with 2 prestige department stores, 300 plus retailing stores selling almost everything from designer clothes and expensive jewelry and watches to rare antiques and brand new automobiles. Thailand Duty Free Shop is also located here as well as another Jim Thompson's silk shop. Other facilities include a 1,800 sq.m. world-class ice skating ring and 11 mini movie theaters. |
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