On Phi Phi island there were some gorgeous little boutiques, some being vintage and others vintage inspired. At first we thought they were overpriced, and they probably were for Thailand, but compared to what we'd pay for the items in England, the prices were in fact great. I bought a beautiful black lace dress. Elasticated around the top, with thin lace straps. It looks good left loose, or with a belt, worn casual or worn dressed up, and it was only £8. Once you're in Thailand for a couple of weeks you get used to the extremely low prices and when you're faced with something that's £8 at first it's a shock! Seeing as an evening meal costs around £2. But when I actually thought about what I'd pay for this dress if I saw it at home, I paid for it in a heartbeat. I wore it on Christmas day...
I also bought a baggy peach/pink marled vest from a little stall with the Thai alphabet on it whilst on Phi Phi Island. I thought it was cute as most people here won't know what it means and will just think it's a pattern or weird shapes on an American Apparel-esque, whereas it means something to me and will bring back memories every time I wear it. It was £4.
Bangkok was great for shopping and this was where most of our purchases were made. Kao San Road has a constant market on where you can get some cute clothing items at good prices, pretty things for the home, and then a whole load of naff with some good buys in between. I bought some floral decorative lights to drape over my bed (and bought my mum & sister some leaf ones). I bought a small resin elephant, floral scented candles and candle holders for my boyfriend's home (soon to be mine too) & some also for my family. A great find was a large vintage stall at the end of a street that had a few nice pieces. A lot were too vintage for my taste, but I did find one black t-shirt style top with black beading around the top that I fell in love with and managed to get for £3.
(rubbish photo)
The first night market we visited was Patpong, - well known for being one of the largest red light districts in the world, but also known for having a great tourist market. Yes you can buy sex toys and dodgy viagra, but you can also get knock-off watches, bags, and general tourist merchandise. I bought a fake Jimmy Choo bag, but when I saw fake, I mean it was the lowest level of accuracy and I only bought it because it was a really nice, large leather bag. As soon as I got bck to my hotel room that night i praised off the metal logo, and vuala, I had a large leather Topshop/Zara-esque bag for £30! (The i-Pood was a much appreciated Christmas present for my 17 year old brother.)
The next day we visited China Town. After visiting China Town in both London and New York, I knew that each China Town in each country is very different, but my preconceived idea of what Thailand's China Town would be like was slightly different to how it was. I imagined more clothing, and more choice. I hoped for lots of quirky homeware, but I didn't find any, and we kept seeing the same products over and over. Despite this we did find some one-offs and there was definitely enough to choose from even if it was annoying seeing the same thing 20 times. I bought a cream leather bag with silver studs that can be worn as a shoulder bag or clutch for £8, and a grey leather shoulder bag with a Valentino inspired leather flower and gold studs...£12. I fell in love with these and was very impressed with the prices as you'd pay around £40+ for them here.
I also bought a gorgoeus floral silver compact mirror, a few pairs of earrings and quite a few rings from 2 different stalls. (Some were for Christmas presents) There was so much choice and although a couple of them have made my finger go green, they were cheap!
That next evening we visited a local market. (Yes we did a hell of a lot of walking around and shopping in one day!) I'm not sure of the name but it was recommended to us by our hotel receptionist as it is so cheap. We were the only westerners there that I was aware of because the market isn't well-known amongst us, and I know just why, because the Thais want to continue ripping us off at the tourist markets and keep their cheap little gems unheard of! There was no bartering involved here because you didn't need to! I bought a fake gold Casio for myself, and fake black rubber Casio for my boyfriend (the strap's already broken though!), both at £3, whereas Patpong the night before were standing their ground at £12! I bought a floral top for my sister and a cream lace waistcoat for myself - both for £3. I bought a black and white striped men's t-shirt for myself for £1.20. If I had endless room in my luggage I'd have bought one in every colour for everyone I know! I think my last buy was a black leather wallet for my boyfriend which was £6. There was a vintage stall where my friend bought a chain-patterned blouse. They had some cute dresses but they were small enough to fit a small child, and that's saying something as I can fit in some New Look and H&M kids wear! There were some very well dressed girls standing by the stall, chatting to the well dressed stall owner. I told them I liked their clothes and they giggled and made a peace sign. Best dressed Thai's I saw.
The next day we visited MBK shopping centre. I loved it here. Well I must have done because we spent the whole day looking around what it's 5 floors had to offer. Some of the shops were more like stalls, and some were like normal shops. Some more high end than others, just like any shopping centre. The ground floor had an Adidas sale where my friend got some amazing zebra print hi-tops. It also had jewellery stalls and a lot of fake designer bags. My friend got a beautiful grey leather gold studded Miu Miu bag, not an exact replica as the genuine one is supposed to be studded and logo'd on both sides, but who cares when it looks real enough for £90 instead of thousands! The next floor had a lot of fake bags again, shoe shops, watch stalls and so on. I bought my Mum a fake Tod's bag and it looks very real. In fact it really does look identical so I was really pleased with that purchase and it made her happy at Christmas! I took a photo of the Tod's store at the airport and considered pretending it was from there because it was such a good copy, but I think...just THINK she might have known it wasn't. The next floor had more of a similar thing plus a lot of restaurants, and the floor above that was full of electricals. I bought a purple metalic back for my blackberry and a new leather case for it. The Japanese naturally loved it on this level. They were buying new phones, new ipods, new cameras, - they were going crazy for it! The level above this was full of more restaurants, icecream parlours (Swensen's being the best one. I actually named it the best icecream I've ever had and I still stand by my word.) and this floor is where Bangkok's main cinema is. We were so tired from shopping all day and had no other plans so we decided to watch New Moon! The Lonely Planet guide warns that it's very cold inside so we asked to go VIP as you get given a blanket. Unfortunately VIP wasn't available but we managed to sweet talk the guy into letting us have a blanket, because although it might sound diva-ish we couldn't have possibly sat in feezing cold air-con for 2 hours in nothing but a dress. So we got our huge fleesy blanket, our 80p huge coke, and got comfortable. Afterwards just to carry on with the highly cultural day we were having (not) we tried out a Thai McDonald's. It was much needed as we'd worked up a mighty appetite but unfortunately we found it too salty. Despite this and its huge American style size, it was a regular McDonald's as you'd get in England or anywhere else, unlike China Town's KFC who's popcorn chicken was filled with brown meat. Eurgh. Anyway, I'm going to stop talking about takeaways before I make myself sound like a chav. The shopping in Bangkok was great and if I had had more money and luggage allowance I'd have come home with tonnes! Literally.
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