Though
the western end of Sukhumvit road (between soi 1 and 33) has a lot of foreigners,
both tourists and residents, it is not an especially great place for shopping.
There are quite a few tourist shops (cheap tailors, camera shops etc...) and
up to around soi 11 there are street stalls selling fake clothes, handicrafts
and other similar merchandise. On soi 5 is a popular branch of the Foodland
supemarkets, a branch of the Robinson’s Department Store chain is attached
to the Delta Grand Pacific hotel (between soi 17 and 19), and Times Square shopping
plaza is just opposite it across the street. There is also the Ploenchit center,
near soi 2, and the Ambassador and Landmark hotels shopping arcades, but none
are particulary inspiring compared to elsewhere in the city. The new and very
upmarket Emporium shopping center (right) on soi 24 has many quality designer
labels, but it's not a cheap place to shop by any means. Further along Sukhumvit
road, in the Phrakhanong district around soi 71, is a better shopping area but
it's not much visited by tourists. There are a few shopping centers and a market,
and prices are cheap. The Bangna branch of the Central department stores is
located all the way down near soi 103.
Chinatown is best visited for it's huge number of gold and jewelry shops,
identifable by the gold and red that they all seem to be adorned with. Other
than this, the best reason to visit is to wander round some of the markets here,
such as the one on Sampeng lane, Pahurat cloth market, Nakhon Kasem/Thieves
market etc...There's a branch of Central on Pahurat road, just south of Charoen
Krung road.
Ratchadaphisek Road
This is quite a large commercial district, with many shops including branches
of Robinsons department store, Tokyu, Jusco, Yaohan and others. It also has
the showroom of the Department of Export Promotion for business interested in
exporting Thai products.
Seacon Square
At 500 000 sq km, the Seacon Square shopping center claims to be the biggest
in Asia and the fifth biggest anywhere in the world. There are hundreds of
shops and just about every type of good is available here including clothes,
furniture, stereos and TV's, computers, cars, jewelry, food etc...Also on
the premises are 14 THX cinemas, a bowling alley, ice skating rink, many restaurants,
a huge football-field-sized branch of DK Books with close to 1 million books
(not that many English language though), a special 'simulator' virtual reality
cinema, mini-golf course, Lotus Supercenter (a supermarket), Robinson's department
store, "Yoyo Land" a massive indoor theme park with rollercoasters,
ferris wheel, boat rides, flumes and many more. Nearby is the Seri Center,
a good place for buying anything computer related.
The biggest disadvantage with this area for most people is it's remote location,
way out on Srinakharin road. It will take at least a couple of hours to get
here from, say, Ko Rattanakosin,
though less from Sukhumvit. It's not even shown on most maps of Bangkok as
it's too far out the way, located a long way south-east of Sukhumvit road.
Truth be told, there's not that really that much reason to make the long journey
as the malls around Siam Square and Silom sell pretty much the same things
and, for most people, are much more convenient.
Though
the western end of Sukhumvit road (between soi 1 and 33) has a lot of foreigners,
both tourists and residents, it is not an especially great place for shopping.
There are quite a few tourist shops (cheap tailors, camera shops etc...) and
up to around soi 11 there are street stalls selling fake clothes, handicrafts
and other similar merchandise. On soi 5 is a popular branch of the Foodland
supemarkets, a branch of the Robinson’s Department Store chain is attached
to the Delta Grand Pacific hotel (between soi 17 and 19), and Times Square shopping
plaza is just opposite it across the street. There is also the Ploenchit center,
near soi 2, and the Ambassador and Landmark hotels shopping arcades, but none
are particulary inspiring compared to elsewhere in the city. The new and very
upmarket Emporium shopping center (right) on soi 24 has many quality designer
labels, but it's not a cheap place to shop by any means. Further along Sukhumvit
road, in the Phrakhanong district around soi 71, is a better shopping area but
it's not much visited by tourists. There are a few shopping centers and a market,
and prices are cheap. The Bangna branch of the Central department stores is
located all the way down near soi 103.
