Pratunam and Baiyoke Markets, Bangkok

A walking distance away from the Erawan Shrine. Tita Lu, our official shopping guide brought us here on our first morning at Bangkok. It's literary a market. The place is dark & the vendors have a hard time communicating in english. This place offers a wide variety of clothes & personal effects. You can buy things in wholesale provided you buy in 6 or more. On our way there, there are street vendors, and I was able to buy a very nice white blouse with a ribbon belt for only 200 Bhat.

What to buy: scarf in thai silk
shawl in thai silk
pleated skirts (i love these!)
blouses
souvenir shirts
cargo pants for men
socks
elephant pillow
cotton pants

What to pay: scarf in thai silk - 50 Bhat (wholesale)
shawl in thai silk - 80 Bhat (wholesale)
pleated skirts - 100 Bhat (wholesale)
blouses - 150 to 400 Bhat
souvenir shirts - 150 to 280 Bhat
cargo pants for men - 199 Bhat
socks - 3 for 100 Bhat
elephant pillow - 250 Bhat
cotton pants - 100 Bhat

rows of shops selling clothes,accessories,footwear etc.
there is a food court in the topmost floor

What to buy: footwear,jeans,other clothes for men,women and children,accessories etc.

What to pay: bargain a lot!prices are reduced if you buy more than one piece.

Pratunam Market is sandwiched between Indra Shopping Mall and Platinum Shopping Mall.

Pratunam Market is, essentially, a alley kind of shopping and the alleys are very narrow. We only chance upon the Pratunam Market when our taxi pass by the market on our way to BaiYoke Sky.

There weren't many people in the market when we were there about 3:30pm to 4:00pm.

Prices should be cheaper then that of the air-conditioned Platinum Shopping Mall, next to it. It would be advisable to negotiate for a much better price then what is offered.

What to buy: More Lucky - Durian Montong. Love the taste and no smell escapes from vacuum packaging.

What to pay: Fixed Price foodstuff shop.

1 more image

Pratunam Market in Bangkok is hole block of bargaining. It contains 3 shopping centres, Bai Yoke, Indra Square and City Complex. And a lot of other small shops are outside the and between the complexes.

Pratunam Market is easy to find because it's near the 309 meters tall Baiyoke Tower, the tallest building in Thailand. The building houses Baiyoke Sky Hotel, one of the world's tallest hotels.

What to buy: In the complex of Bai Yoke you can buy Garments. In the complex of Indra Square you can buy fashion clothing, silk, jewelry, crafts and accessories. In the complex of City Complex you can buy clothing. Outside the and between the complexes you can buy everything.

I personally would say the Pratnum area both indoor arcade and outdoor markets are more on a par with chattuchak that the stores within the malls. Just be prepared to bargain and remember that the more items you buy, the better the price.

What to buy: Golf shirts, handbags, mens sandals. My husband does all his wradrobe replenishing in Bangkok.

Sited in the Pratunam area, flanked by a number of hotels such as the Indra Regent, The Baiyoke Sky & the Baiyoke Boutique, I stumbled upon this paradise of wholesale shopping.

Unlike the body-to-body packed JJ Market and MBK, the Centre is almost devoid of tourists....which quite honestly, is quite god-sent! You'll see more of locals here.....hunting for the next available bargain. I wandered the Centre in awe, struck by the choices I faced. You'll get boutiques selling a galaxy of choices: Fashion men and women casual and work clothes, silk garments, toys, undergarments, souvenirs etc.

There is a food court here on the 2F, operating in the same Modus Operandi of the 6F food court in MBK Center. You buy coupons in denominations of 100 Bahts, pay for your food in these coupons, and get your fund on unused coupons before the end of the same day.

Open daily from 09:00 - 19:30.

And if Indra Square does not satisfy your insatiable need to spend Bahts till the last drop, the Platinum Fashion Mall (Think Chatuchak Market in a mall) is just walking distance away, another labyrinth of wandering eyes and sharp noses, digging for the next cheap and good deal. And on the weekends, the Pratunam Weekend Flea Market springs into life, clogging the streets around Pratunam with more human traffic.

What to buy: So how much Bahts you have in your wallet/purse/pockets? (grin)

What to pay: So how much Bahts you have in your wallet/purse/pockets? (grin)

It's like a flea market -- where stalls appear like mushrooms at a specific time of the day (twice a day in fact). We resolved to shop on the last day of our trip and it was a blast! After having our breakfast at the hotel, we just went down and outside our hotel there we saw the stalls of lots of clothes. :-)

I got my goods at bargained prices (wow I must be getting good at it), and was even able to buy for my mom and my sister.

Some vendors are rude though. I just noticed that vendors get easily irritated when we start haggling then we walk out. I was under a game plan that they will lower their prices when we pretend or really walk out. But some of them gets irritated and would just not allow us to haggle anymore. their attitude is like "i don't care if you buy or not, just go away". Maybe i'm just having a point of comparison here (between sellers in Manila, Hong Kong and Bangkok), or maybe it was just cultural difference.. oh well.

What to buy: Well. I loaded my baggage with lots of tamarind. :-) I was able to get 7 small packs for 100 baht at a Filipino travel agency/store behind the Baiyoke Suite. I bought like around 400 baht of tamarind! :-)

1 more image

Similar to all the roadside stalls all around Bangkok, Pratunum Market comes with no surprise. The only diferrence is that there is a high concentration of low end stalls selling all sort of stuffs in one small vacinity. More like the mini version of Chatuchak market but with less variety.