Banglamphu and Khao San Road, Bangkok

Khao San Road goes through stages during the day. Really quiet in the morning with no to few shops open, 11am shops slowly start to open and set up, 5pm more street vendors start to set up and then at around 11pm - 1am everyone (except bars) shuts again at the end of a hectic selling day/night.

The shopping is varied with the usual touristy items through to clothes, bags, DVDs/CDs/hair extensions, henna tattoe's and jewelery. It's fun to browse and buy and of course if you get sick of shopping there are plenty of bars and restaurants to quench that thirst or hunger.

As usual bargaining is expected except with the DVD salesmen. For some reason they all refuse to budge on their price!

This place is heaven for people who like cheap and fake stuff. I didnt buy a lot of stuff there but it´s really nice to see all the people bargaining.

What to buy: Everything, from t-shirts to fake driving licenses.

What to pay: Depends of your bargaining skills.

khao san road has both night life and shopping...you can buy local handicrafts and souvenirs, like wooden vases (350-500baht), thai silk (100baht and up) , and thai clothes (150 baht and up)...thai bags for 250 baht and up, price is about average since the locals know that more foreigners frequent the place thus they have higher prices than other markets

What to buy: local handicrafts for household interiors and souvenir items, thai clothes

What to pay: 100 baht to thousands depending on the handicraft and how many pieces you will buy

Someone did mention this is backpacker's heaven, hmm, which is quite dissapointed. It is just a neighbourhood area with shops around, whereby pratunam is more lively and more things to see.................

Khaosan Road is pretty much Bangkok's backpacker central, but the prices on Khaosan don't reflect that reality. I overheard a shopowner trying to rip off a Caucasian tourist to the tune of 750 baht for a tee that I saw selling at Pratunam for less than 100 baht. The merchandise here is generally overpriced -- expect to do some hard bargaining to get a really good deal.

What to buy: There's nothing really worth buying here simply because you can get the same stuff cheaper at Chatuchak. Still, if you're here just for a browse, expect to find fisherman pants, scarves, t-shirts, backpacks, secondhand books, silver accessories...

Perhaps the one thing unique to Khaosan is the hair braiding services that are offered by the roadside. I've yet to try it but tons of tourists do, apparently -- lots of dreadlocked Caucasians on Khaosan!

What to pay: 750B for a tee?
or if you're lucky, 150B.

Madhouse backpacker party at night, shop-o-holics dream by day, Khao San delivers all your purchasing needs. First, everything here is a knock-off. Second, everyone here wears and likes them, so no one cares. Thirdly, that means that the price is driven down so low, you laugh when they tell you. Shirts for 2 USD, big bags for 4 USD, etc. etc. You can buuy every DVD you ever liked for a total of about 50 USD; each costing a 75 cents each. Shirts, shorts, pants, watches, jewelry... everything!

The large Banglamphu market extends over Phra Sumen road, Chakrapong road and others nearby. Despite it's proximity to touristy Khao San road, this is still mainly a market frequented by locals to buy clothes, household accessories etc...There's a separate market on Khao San road itself, which sells anything the foreign backpacker could need including backpacks, stereos, pirate CD's, books, clothes, traveling accessories etc...

Kao San road is the main road for tourists. You can buy everything what you want here. Shirts, food, electronic staffs. You can stay here in a hostel. Not far from the street you find a Mc Donald's too.