Bangkok, Thailand is known world-wide as a shopper's paradise and no more so than at Christmas. People travel from all over Asia, and further, to do their Christmas shopping in Bangkok as not only are things cheap, but they're beautiful quality too.
Terminal 21 - A new mall in Bangkok, located next to Asok sky train station, Terminal 21 is the place for independent designer clothing, particularly t shirts, costumer jewelry and bags. Awesome gifts for Christmas, and for just a few dollars.
Terminal 21 is also worth visiting as it has to be the coolest mall in Thailand. Each floor represents a different city - London, Rome, Paris, Tokyo, etc. so every floor is individually designed to show off famous aspects of each place. Cool, fun and an amazing place to take photos.
Chatuchak Weekend Market - Just about the best place in Bangkok to buy anything cheap at any time of year, you'll find something amazing at every one of their 15,000 stalls.
For Christmas gifts at Chatuchak look for clothing, accessories, purses, belts, artwork, costume jewelry, handmade candles, army fatigues, household items, tools, scarves, hats, furniture and on and on. Prices here are inexpensive to begin with, but you can bargain them down even more.
Get to Chatuchak on the skytrain to the last stop, Mo Chit station. Chatuchak Weekend Market is right next to it.
Mahboonkrong Mall - Known locally as MBK, Mahboonkrong is one of the cheapest malls in Bangkok and the perfect place to shop for Christmas gifts such as mobile phones, MP3 players, clothing, accessories, DVDs and CDs. If your dad, brother or husband likes funky shorts, khaki pants, surf shirts, football shirts, skateboard shirts, MBK has them all.
Don't miss the large handicrafts market on one of the top floors too.Sure, most of the things they sell are for tourists, but they're still pretty, and nobody back home will know they're not unique.
Siam Square - If you have teenagers back home, Siam Square is the place to find clothing, shoes, accessories and any of the fad things teenagers love so much.
Here you can buy a fashion watch for $5, and even choose the watchband you want. Every type of clothing is on sale, along with stalls selling costume jewelry, backpacks (cute ones, not the ugly ones no teenager wants), hand-painted t shirts, CDs, cell phone accessories, hair accessories -- in fact anything a teenager would dream about is sold at Siam Square.
Remember, if you're Christmas shopping at a market in Bangkok you can bargain at every stall and at market-style stalls in malls like MBK, bargaining is also expected. Try to buy more than one item at each place you shop, as the more pieces you want to buy the lower the price for each piece becomes.
Sure, it might be Christmas, but there's no point spending more money than you have to.
Happy Holidays.
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