Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Shopping
Prime your credit card and shine your baht, as shopping is serious
business in Bangkok. Hardly a street corner in this city is free from a vendor,
hawker or impromptu stall, and it doesn't stop there: Bangkok is also home to
one of the world's largest outdoor markets, not to mention some of Southeast
Asia's largest malls.
Markets & Malls
Although the tourist brochures tend to tout the upmarket malls, Bangkok still lags slightly
behind Singapore and Hong Kong in this area, and the open-air markets are where the best
deals and most original items are to be found.
Antiques
Real Thai antiques are rare and costly and reserved primarily for serious collectors. Every-
thing else is designed to look old and most shopkeepers are happy to admit it. Reputable
antique dealers will issue an authentication certificate. Contact the
Department of Fine Arts
(
0 2221 4443;
www.finearts.go.th
;
81/1 Th Si Ayuthaya)
to obtain the required license for exporting reli-
gious images and fragments, either antique or reproductions.
It's worth noting that trading in bona fide antiquities might not be either ethical or, in
your country, legal. For more on this issue and the campaign to preserve Southeast Asia's
Gems & Jewellery
Countless tourists are sucked into the prolific and well-rehearsed gem scam, in which they
are taken to a store by a helpful stranger and tricked into buying bulk gems that can sup-
posedly be resold in their home country for 100% profit. The expert con artists (part of a
well-organised cartel) seem trustworthy and convince tourists that they need a citizen of the
country to circumvent tricky customs regulations. Unsurprisingly, the gem world doesn't
work like that, and what most tourists end up with are worthless pieces of glass. By the
time you sort all this out, the store has closed and changed names, and the police can do
little to help.
