• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

Pratunam Market (opposite) Acres of cheap togs, much of it for less than you’d pay for a pair of socks at home.

Vespa Market (opposite) Antique vehicles and urban hipsters unite here every Saturday night.

* * *

Th Khao San Market (Map; Th Khao San; 11am-11pm; river ferry Tha Phra Athit) The main guesthouse strip in Banglamphu is a day-and-night shopping bazaar for serious baht pinchers, with cheap T-shirts, ‘bootleg’ CDs, wooden elephants, hemp clothing, fisherman pants and other goods that make backpackers go ga-ga.

Patpong Night Market (Map; Patpong Soi 1 & 2, Th Silom; 7pm-1am; Skytrain Sala Daeng, Metro Silom) Drawing more crowds than the ping-pong shows, this market continues the street’s illicit leanings with a deluge of pirated goods, particularly watches and clothing. Bargain with intensity as first-quoted prices tend to be astronomically high.

Tailors

Although Bangkok’s diplomatic corps provides a steady clientele for the city’s established tailors, the continuous supply of tourists also provides a lot of ‘fresh meat’ for the less-scrupulous businesses. Common scams range from commission-hungry túk-túk drivers to shoddy workmanship and inferior fabrics. In general, good tailors don’t need to call the customer – the customers come to them.

Shirts and trousers can be turned around in 48 hours or less with only one fitting. But no matter what a tailor may tell you, it takes more than one or two fittings to create a good suit, and most reliable tailors will ask for two to five sittings.

Some reputable tailors:

Pinky Tailors (Map; 0 2252 9680; www.pinkytailor.com; 888/40 Mahatun Plaza Arcade, Th Ploenchit; 10am-7.30pm Mon-Sat; Skytrain Ploenchit) Custom-made suit jackets have been Mr Pinky’s speciality for 35 years. Located behind the Mahatun Building.

Marco Tailors (Map; 0 2251 7633; 430/33 Soi 7, Siam Sq; 10am-5pm Mon-Fri; Skytrain Siam) Dealing solely in men’s suits, this longstanding and reliable tailor has a wide selection of banker-sensibility wools and cottons.

Manhattan Custom Tailor (Map; 0 2253 0173; 155/9 Soi 11/1, Th Sukhumvit; 10am-7pm Mon-Sat; Skytrain Nana) One of an abundance of tailors located around the lower Sukhumvit area, Manhattan gets good reviews.

GETTING THERE & AWAY

Return to beginning of chapter

Air

Bangkok has two airports. Suvarnabhumi International Airport (Map; 0 2723 0000; www.airportthai.com), 30km east of Bangkok, began commercial international and domestic service in September 2006 after several years of delay. The airport’s name is pronounced sù·wan·ná·poom, and it inherited the airport code (BKK) previously used by the old airport at Don Muang. The unofficial airport website www.bangkokairportonline.com has practical information in English, as well as real-time details of arrivals and departures.

* * *

LOCAL BUYS

Right, so you’ve got your embroidered elephant, silk runners and one of those croaking wooden frogs, but there are loads of local buys that you might still be proud to be displaying next year.

D&O Shop This open-air gallery is the first retail venture of an organisation created to encourage awareness of Thai design abroad. The items are modern and funky, and give a new breath of life to the concept of Thai design. Available at Gaysorn (Click here).

Doi Tung/Mae Fah Luang This royally funded project sells beautiful hand-woven carpets, classy ceramics and Thailand’s best domestic coffee beans. Available at Siam Discovery Center (Click here).

Harnn & Thann Smell good enough to eat with these botanical-based spa products: lavender massage lotion, rice bran soap and jasmine compresses. Products are all natural, rooted in Thai traditional medicine, and stylish enough to share space with brand-name beauty. Available at Gaysorn (Click here).

Niwat Cutlery Born out of the ancient sword-making traditions of Ayuthaya Province, the NV Aranyik company, a family-owned business, produces distinctively Thai stainless-steel cutlery. Available at