Visiting this paradise of eating and shopping never fails to perk me up from the long and tiring work life in Singapore. Below is my itinerary from a fruitful 4 days 3 nights stay last year!
Pre-Trip
Air tickets to bangkok was about $240 per pax, flying by Tiger Airways. This includes extra luggage of 20kg for the flight back as well as additional admin fee for booking - unlike Jetstar where you can pay via 7-eleven and save that unnecessary cost. But oh well, they are still the cheapest flight I could find.
We booked our hotel via Agoda. Had always stayed in Baiyoke hotels when I go bangkok, except once at Pratunum Princess when MBK was a popular shopping destination, but this time we were lazy and late in booking... all the rooms in Baiyoke were fully booked! Hence we had to settle for something else - P2 Boutique Hotel, which is further from the main shopping area, cheaper but with rather good reviews.
We paid about $190 for 2 pax for the whole trip, comes with free breakfast and wifi. Don't expect much for breakfast for the price you paid. And the most disappointing thing is that i felt cheated over the wifi. First day there was no signal in the room at all, had to use wifi from the lobby only. Next few days the signal was weak, but I had to step out of the room in order to send a few messages.
This is how our room looks like!
Only soap, bath foam, shampoo and towels were provided. No toothbrush, toothpaste, etc. Not sure if they would provide if asked them though. No sight of mini bar, but snacks can be purchased from the lobby if hungry.
Breakfast for 2 days. *guava and yakult separately bought.
Getting There
I've learnt never to take a cab from the airport. It costs about 400 baht and may take longer to reach your hotel depending on the traffic. Opt for the train instead, which cost us 40baht per person (yes, ten times less!) to reach Rachaporak station, which is the nearest station to our hotel. The traveling time was about 40 mins long. However, it was a grueling walk to our hotel under the scorching sun. Could have taken a tuk-tuk or taxi to the hotel.
Let The Shopping Begins!
Once we dropped our bags in the hotel, we got ready to hit the malls early in the morning already. Some things to take note of:
1. Have baht in smaller denominations (i.e. 500baht, 100 baht) because most of the shopping done will and should be within that price range! It's also good for bargaining to show them that we really don't have a lot of money with us. haha.
2. Bring a large recycling/reusable bag. We try to shop environmentally by storing our shopping hauls in one big bag instead of taking small plastic bags at each shop. These bags are most probably gonna land in the hotel bins anyway.
3. Keep hydrated. Bring a water bottle or just grab a drink along the street. The local orange/pomegranate juices are thirst-quenchers or just have a pack of mango/pineapple/guava is good enough too.
4. Carry a small sling bag out. Since we are usually crazily shopping over all the clothes and accessories there's probably no time to care about our belongings. Of course still have to take extra caution but make the work less by bringing less out.
5. Wear a simple top and shorts or an airy dress to stay cool while shopping along the streets. Wearing simple also allows us to secretly slip on tops or bottoms which we are afraid we can't fit into. Alternatively, we should have brought a pair of fitting shorts along during this trip so that I can compare and know if the shorts/pants 1 wanna buy fits me. Most shops do not allow trying on.
6. Always good to go with girlfriends because there is always wholesale prices! Buy 2-3 pieces and you get them cheaper. Otherwise, hear out for fellow Singaporeans and be thick skinned enough to ask them to share.
7. This is more of a pre-trip tip, but try to refrain from bringing too many clothes and accessories for bangkok trip and buy more there instead! I only bought 2 pairs of shorts and 3 tops (inclusive of the ones I wore there) for my 4 days trip.
Places to Go for Shopping
1. Pratunam Market
This market is located just outside Baiyoke Sky, the tallest building in Bangkok city.
Pratunam wholesale market at 6am.
The best time to go is super early in the morning. We woke up at 4.30am just to reach the market at 5am! During this timing it's the wholesale market period, until about 7am, so there are rows of shops everywhere along the road. It's super packed and the roads are to accommodate shops, motors, cars, food trolleys and humans, so imagine that.
However, the good thing is that the clothes are super cheap when you buy 2-3 pieces at each stall. There is a huge variety and the whole place is bustling with activities. Once done with the shops along road, we continued walking into the sheltered rows of shops in pratunum market too. This part of the market is opened throughout the day and we got really great buys there. I managed to get high waist shorts/skater skirts for like 100 baht each (wholesale price).
Checked out Pratunam market at night too! I managed to get good buys like vintage-looking dresses for only 60 baht each! They also sell many other clothes, lightings and thai singlets which Singaporeans love. The highlight for us is definitely the banana and chocolate prata too, which always spot a long queue with many Singaporeans in line. Besides prata, there are other yummy food too!
2. Platinum Mall
After combing Pratunam Market, we headed down to Platinum Mall. Platinum opens at 9am, but probably only fully open at around 10am. This is another shopping haven with 7 floors of shops and an extension building with more shoes and bags!
This time I was a tad disappointed because the clothes here experienced inflation! 2-3 years back when I came I could get many items for 50-100 baht each. Good items were between 150 - 200 bahts. This time, even sales items were 250baht and above! Bought a few items at 250 - 300 baht during the first day and felt cheated later on when I found similar pieces at pratunam market.. argh.
Fashion trends this time was also more into super cropped tops and 2-piece romper-like suits which are unsuitable for me... Neon colours, houndstooth and diamond prints, lace and crochet were also common prints and colours I find this season. Some fabric I found cute were clothings with little prints of cats, turtles, dolphins and seagulls. Super adorable!
Shoes and bags were even more disappointed with ugly shoes going for 200 baht and the rest were all 500 - 1000 baht! I can get much cheaper shoes in Singapore for half that price! Bags were also mostly going for 450 baht and above.. so I gave up after browsing for one hour.
Grabbed some thai local delights on the 6th floor after shopping. There's my all time favourite Phad Thai, Tom yum soup and mango sticky rice. There's a KFC there too for cheap and good egg tarts. Tried the bubble tea outside Platinum Mall too. Super awesome at a special price of 40baht!
This time when I went, flea market-style stalls were set up along the roadside just outside platinum mall. Most of the stuff sold were handmade items which I thought were quite special. For instance, there were espadrilles shoes, where you can see them sew whatever size and prints you want. There were personalised leather bags, handphone covers, keychains and many more.
3. Central World
After we are done with Platinum for the day, we continued shopping at Central Mall. The best thing at Central Mall is Naraya - a local brand selling pretty cloth bags, pouches and other knick knacks. Best of all, they are super good quality and pocket-friendly. I love buying these things back as gifts and for myself although I don't really need them.
During the evening, seafood food stalls will start their business along the pavement between platinum mall to central world as well. I always stopped for dinner there because it's on the way and the food is yummy and reasonably-priced.
Beware of food overload below! 2 days worth of seafood dinner!
4. Chatuchak
Chatuchak is a weekend market and it is good to come here and soak in the atmosphere of an open air market with shops selling an array of stuff, you can shop and eat till you drop! Things sold includes handicrafts, kitchenware, art and crafts, pets and pets accessories, clothes, shoes and accessories, books, souvenirs, and more.. This time round I was impressed that the clothes here were relatively beautiful and cheap! Got 3 white shirts with little intricate details for only 100 baht each (later an hour later they were selling for 150baht for 2 -_-). I was crazily buying more crochet and lace dresses for 150 - 200 baht each, and went to another shop nearby to buy even more lace and crochet dresses at 200 baht each. I also found a shop selling vintage dresses at 200 baht each.I love love love the dresses! They were just below knee length for me, with beautiful vintage prints and buttons to complete the look. Perfect for afternoon tea in Singapore. We also found a shop selling basics at 50 baht each and just grab what we saw.
There's this famous coconut ice-cream stall which is super popular, but too bad I am no fan for coconuts. It gets really crowded during lunch too, so we waited for the lunch crowd to disperse a bit before having ours. Most of the food are good and cheap too! Besides the normal tom yum, mango salad, glass noodles and fried rice, their omelette riceis yums too! Fluffy omelette is to die for!
Seafood noodles salad, Tom yum and Omelette Rice. All these for only 300 plus baht!
I super love to shop at the art and craft section to stock up on my already overflowing handicraft box at home. They have craft paper, wood craft, paper flowers, mosiac tiles, etc at a fraction of the price we get in Singapore.
I like to check out the pets section too which sells cheap pet's accessories and food. You can take a look at the sale of cute puppies at chatuchak too.. I personally find it cruel but have to admit the minute sized puppies are really adorable.
5. JJ Mall
Jo was more of household shopping instead so we stopped by JJ Mall which has furniture and kitchenware, and it's next to Chatuchak only. I'm not so keen on such stuff, but we managed to find a shop selling a whole range of porcelain plates, bowls and utensils for 100 baht and above.
6. Union Mall
Union Mall is one train stop away from Chatuchak market.But we just cab down for about 150 baht. It's too hot! It is quite an old mall from the outside but inside it's like a typical shopping mall... similar to cineleisure/far east plaza shopping mall. Prices of the clothes are usually not displayed and I was abit sian to ask. I guess I was really exhausted from the shopping at chatuchak that I couldn't be bothered to shop much, so we just went to a salon for a wash/blow/haircut for 250 baht. haha. super worth it for the price and I felt refreshed and recharged.
7. Chinatown
Chinatown is the place for cheap accessories and small little knick knacks! They have rows and rows of shops selling stationaries, household stuff, beads and sewing stuff, hair accessories, etc... I always come here to buy headbands from a shop that sells them for 19baht each. And also to get wholesale clips and rubber bands for like 20-80baht for a huge pack.
Head in to 林真香 too for good quality and famous crispy pork floss and pork crackers to. Super love the fried pork crackers as well as prawn crackers with pork floss.
Try the roadside seafood too! There's this famous one with the waiters in red polo tee. Next to it is another competitor in green polo. They also serve shark's fin and bird nest, cheap cheap! Spent about 1400 baht for 4 pax.
So after 4 days, this is my loot:
a random doramon lunchbag which i spotted at a new toy wholesale shop at platinium mall. 200 baht for one though... so i didn't get it. Wanted to use it as a camera bag.
for the boy.
Can't wait to be back in the land of shopping and eating again!
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