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Siam Emporium (Map; 0 2251 9617; www.siamemporium.net; Soi 8, Th Sukhumvit; 10am-8.30pm) Another reliable and low-key tailor.

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L’ARCADIA

Map Antiques

0 2259 9595; 12/2 Soi 23, Th Sukhumvit; 10am-9pm; Sukhumvit exit 2; Asok exit 3

The buyer at L’Arcadia has a sharp eye for collectables from Myanmar, Cambodia and Thailand, including cute red-lacquer containers, Khmer-style sandstone figures and carved wooden temple decorations. If you simply can’t resist that colonial-era lounge chair, the shop can also arrange to have it shipped home for you.

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CHATUCHAK WEEKEND MARKET

Imagine all the city’s markets fused together in one great big market-style concentration camp. Now add a little artistic flair, a sauna-like climate and bargaining crowds and you’ve got a rough sketch of Chatuchak (Th Phahonyothin, Chatuchak; 9am-6pm Sat & Sun; Chatuchak Park exit 1 & Kamphaeng Phet exits 1 & 2; Mo Chit exit 1).

Everything is sold at Chatuchak (also spelled ‘Jatujak’ or nicknamed ‘JJ’), from live snakes to vintage fans and mǒr lam CDs. More than 15,000 stalls cater to hundreds of thousands of visitors. Once you’re deep in the bowels, it will seem like there is no order and no escape, but Chatuchak is arranged into relatively coherent sections. Our map can only accommodate so much detail; consider using Nancy Chandler’s map as your machete in this jungle of commerce.

Antiques, Handicrafts & Souvenirs

Section 1 is the place to go for Buddha statues, old LPs and random antiques that make the selection not unlike Amulet Market. More secular arts and crafts, like musical instruments and hill-tribe items, can be found in Sections 25 and 26. Baan Sin Thai (Section 24, Stall 130, Soi 1) sells kǒhn masks and old-school Thai toys, and Kitcharoen Dountri (Section 8, Stall 464, Soi 15) specialises in Thai musical instruments, including flutes, whistles and drums, and CDs of classical Thai music.

Golden Shop (Section 17, Stall 19, Soi 1) is your bog-standard souvenir shop, and boasts an equal blend of tacky and worthwhile items, ranging from traditionally dressed dolls to commemorative plates.

Other quirky gifts available at Chatuchak include the lifelike plastic Thai fruit and vegetables at Marché (Section 17, Stall 254, Soi 1), or their scaled-down miniature counterparts nearby at Papachu (Section 17, Stall 23, Soi 1).

Section 7 is a virtual open-air gallery; we particularly liked Pariwat A-nantachina’s (Section 7, Stall 118, Soi 2) Bangkok-themed murals. Several shops in Section 10, including Tuptim Shop (Section 10, Stall 261, Soi 19), sell Burmese lacquerware. Meng (Section 26, Stall 195, Soi 8) features a mish-mash of quirky antiques from Thailand and Myanmar (Burma).

Clothing & Accessories

Clothing dominates Chatuchak, starting in Section 8 and continuing through the even-numbered sections to 24. Sections 5 and 6 deal in used clothing for every Thai youth subculture, from punks to cowboys, while Soi 7, where it transects Sections 12 and 14, is heavy on hip-hop and skate fashions. Tourist-sized clothes and textiles are found in sections 10 and 8.

Sections 2 and 3, particularly the tree-lined Soi 2 of the former, is the Siam Sq of Chatuchak, and is home to heaps of trendy independent labels. Moving north, Soi 4 in Section 4 boasts several shops selling locally designed T-shirts. In fact, Chatuchak as a whole is a particularly good place to pick up quirky T-shirts of all types. The shirts at Real Gold (Section 4, Stall 41, Soi 2) blend modern and traditional Thai designs, Bang! Bang! (Section 20, Stall 288, Soi 2) features custom-designed hand-drawn T-shirts of various celebrities, and there’s even a stall selling airline logo T-shirts (Section 23, Stall 280, Soi 4). And if you thought there was a limit to Chatuchak’s obscure clothing offerings, Link (Section 7, Stall 146, Soi 4) deals in ‘retro underwear for men’ and Scout Story (Section 21, Stall 66, Soi 2) specialises in scouting clothing and accessories from around the world.

For something more subdued, Khaki-Nang