26/08/2009 - ...the shopping continues at Fashion Island...

Before you start thinking this is a blog about shopping in Bangkok, can we just remind people that we’re doing a lot of shopping at the moment due to the fact we left the UK with only a suitcase each! You have to get the essentials and discovering where to shop for this stuff just so happens to be one of  the first steps in discovering this beast of a city.

In my case, I need to get smart affordable clothes for my TEFL course and E told me about a place where I can buy them called Fashion Island. There are plenty of clothing shops in all the malls in Thailand but you should expect to pay western prices unless you’re lucky enough to find some 100% cotton shirts and trousers in a market (any other bloggers out there who can give us tips please get in touch!). In this case, Fashion Island is 20 minutes from our flat and it has been known to house some cheap shops along the same parallel as Primark/H&M. The cab (with HUGE spoiler on the back, go faster stripes on the wings and an actual karaoke video machine on his dashboard) picks me up and blasts me down the motorway to the mall. I manage to find my way around quickly enough and instantly find swimming goggles (not to teach in, obviously, although it would be quite tempting to turn up like that on my first day at school…) at a huge sports center on the 2^nd floor, just above the information table. They sell everything from indoor running machines to badminton rackets to football shoes. As far as I can remember this mall has a few major brand names floating about and some obscure (but still expensive) brands I’d never heard of before. It does seem to cater for women more than men, as is to be expected in clothing malls, but I did manage to find some designer slip on shoes, cotton shirt, silk tie and black leather imitation belt. After grabbing some noodles I get my haircut at a proper salon for 100 Baht. So for two pounds you can expect a decent half hour cut and shampoo from a pro, even if they do start chatting you up in the process…ever heard of the term ‘walking ATM’? I was told I had a ‘beautiful nose’. Hmm.

Tally:

Two 20 minute cab rides = 160 Baht

Slip on designer shoes = 280 Baht

Pro swimming goggles = 180 Baht

Cotton shirt = 280 Baht

Silk Tie = 100 Baht

Black leather imitation belt = 150 Baht

Haircut in salon = 100 Baht

Big bowl of noodles and Pepsi = 75 Baht

Total = 1325 Baht (24 quid).