What is the ideal shopping budget for Bangkok, Thailand and many other shopping tips?

Supreme paradise Over the years Thailand has truly developed into a world-class destination for shoppers. Whether it is a gleaming mall packed with designer labels or a relaxed stroll through a vibrant market full of exotic goods, colorful textiles and handmade jewellery, then Thailand has everything to suit the tastes of the most discerning shop-a-holic or bargain hunter. For dedicated shoppers, a standard complaint is having too little baggage allowance for all their wonderful purchases! Shopping Galore There is really nothing like Thailand. You can shop at packed craft and souvenir markets; pick up your new suit, gown, and a pair of glasses or contact lenses; find some of the world’s finest jewellery or designer clothing; grasp for fisherman’s trousers, backpacks, suitcases or even IT appliances; and bring back home few packs of semi-cooking Tom Yam Soup and Thai sweets to share with your friends and family. A fun filled shopping day Bangkok is ideal for all kinds of shopping. It is not limited to one or two places, but offers high-end mega malls, chic department stores, boutiques, local specialist shops, and more traditional markets. A real fun filled shopping day starts at Siam shopping strip with ultra-modern shopping centers such as Siam Discovery, Gaysorn Plaza, Siam Paragon and Central World Plaza. These trendy complexes are unrivalled in Southeast Asia for luxury brands including Burberry, Chanel, Gucci, Prada, Coach, Versace, Louis Vuitton and Rolex and provide endless hours of potential shopping and entertainment. There are also retail spaces, restaurants, cinemas, groceries, pharmacies, wellness and beauty centers and even an aquarium. Take a cappuccino break at one of the trendy cafes in the area before continuing shopping at Siam Square where you will find piles of leather products, handbags, jeans and sexy shirts in every color of the rainbow as well as bookstores, music and video stores. Here, treat yourself with local favorites from the food stalls such as meatballs, grilled squid and fried banana. Across the pedestrian bridge, MBK is an enormous seven-storey mall blessing to both shoppers on a tight budget and those with money to burn. You will find almost everything from clothing, fashion accessories, handbags, leather products and luggage to furniture, mobile phones, electric appliances, cameras, stationary and more. Then explore the city’s garment district at Pratunam located few blocks north of the strip. The area boasts a numbers of malls and tons of street stalls with great deals on cloths, shoes, beachwear, handbags, sunglasses, hand-made jewellery as well as Thai silk, handicrafts and affordable souvenirs. Few blocks down the road is Pantip Plaza (IT Mall) where a wide variety of IT products are packed from floor to ceiling. With so many options in a day the best thing to do is to plan your own consumer excursion. Always budget some extra time for “discoveries”. Half of the thrill is discovering a new shop, seeing the perfect gift for someone special, or just buying yourself a little reward to cap off that perfect fun filled day.

You are mixing up the area with the mall. In pratunam or the watergate, is the area, you will be in which does have large order shopping. Platinum mall, is an 8 story mall including the basement of clothing stalls. I have not been to Bangkok since November 2009, what I remember is jeans were maybe going for 250 baht, but, that may not be high quality. Blouses maybe 50-100 baht. I really did not do much shopping last trip So I can doing this by memory. Not all vendors may have the scanner so you can use the debit card. you will need some cash anyway, either at the airport or the bank kiosks you can exchange your money. Beside the platinum mall, try MBK Centre for souvenirs. try Central Lad Prao, near Chatuchak, its at the Lad Prao station of the Subway. they are probaby discounting in the mall and there is a small outdoor market there too. Lots of bargains, it's one of the few places I did go. Good luck

Platinum Mall is for clothes. They mostly sell thing cheaper if you buy 3 pcs or more. Next to Platinum is Panthip Plaza Mall, it is one of the bigest IT mall in bangkok. If you stay during weekend you should visit Chatuchak weekend market, the biggest open air market in Bangkok. Can go there by Sky train end station "ChatuChak". There you can buy everything , .yes really..everything.. clothes, shoes, handycraft souvenir from every region of thailand, pet, flower, garden decoration, furniture etc. Cash is easier, if you buy small thing at the market. About budget , its hard to estimate, depend what you wan to buy. lets say 5,000? And almost in every shopping area you can bargain the price! It's make shopping more fun. Have a great time! :)