Shopping in Asia

MBK Center is a shopping mall with about 2000 stores spread out on eight floors. MBK boasts being the most visited mall in Bangkok, and we believe it. Hordes of tourists head here on their last days in Thailand to fill up the remaining luggage space, or to buy more bags. In the old days you could get some really good bargains on t-shirts, electronics and counterfeit fashion and DVDs, but these days the huge amount of money-spending holidayers has pushed the prices up. Even tour buses packed with Russian or Middle Eastern tourists drop by, making people-watching even more interesting.

Bangkok has plenty of markets, there’s no surprise there. But have you heard of Talad Rot Fai (Railway Market)? This market runs every Saturday and Sunday night and is host to the best collection of nostalgia, memorabilia, antiques, mechanical obscurities and pretty much anything else that is old and cool. The market was the brainchild of two collectors that gained permission to use the abandoned train warehouse and tracks in Bangkok’s north to create a meeting point for like minded people to come and swap or haggle. Now it has escalated into the spot for the new wave retro rockabilly scene. The market can be found a short walk from the Kamphaeng Phet MRT station in the opposite direction to the Chatuchak market. Don’t expect to see too many foreigners, this is Thai people living out their normal lives at an amazing market.

The Central Market in Hanoi's old quarter is a big industrial building packed with plastic flowers, stuffed animals and polyester fabrics in every colour and pattern. Most stuff are for wholesale and not many tourists venture in here, which just makes it even more interesting for people watching. On the top floors sellers are sitting, eating, even sleeping on top of their goods, while porters heavily loaded with cargo squeeze through the narrow lanes. The market extends into streets around the market building. Out here you will find fruit, vegetable, meat and stuff you wouldn't know what to do with.

Dong Khoi Street is the fine shopping and tourist street. It is here you find up-scale silk tailors, artifacts shops, art galleries and a handful of boring tourist restaurants. Prices are general higher here, but the quality can also be excellent. There is also a shopping center and a bookshop along the street and it is also here you will find Saigon Opera House. Like many other French designed buildings in Vietnam the design for the opera house was inspired from a famous building back in France, in this case the Petit Palais in Paris. Next to the opera house, around the corner, stands the towering Caravelle hotel, which has a magnificent view over Ho Chi Minh City from their rooftop bar, Saigon Saigon Bar.

During the 1980s every communist-friendly country had their share of so-called Russian markets, which were markets catering for foreigners who at the time were mostly Russians. The original Russian market in Ho Chi Minh doesn't longer exists, but has been incarnated into a new market named "Saigon Square" in down town HCM City. Some of the stalls owners are the same from the old Russian market, and though the selection isn't as "Russian" as it use to be, you can still find reasonable cheap t-shirts, designer knock-offs, imported Chinese counterfeits and outdoor equipment. You don't get overcharged as badly as in Ben Thanh market, but you still need to bargain hard.