An officemate once came from Bangkok wearing a T-shirt with dog print and she said she bought it at MBK. A friend bought me a book and said she got it at MBK. Another friend showed me a Jelly Kelly knockoff and said she haggled it down to a thousand baht at MBK.
So while I was receiving all these pasalubong from MBK, I was daydreaming of the time when we would actually meet and I’d say, "Hello, lover. My name is Tanya. I have a MasterCard and a Visa, and newly minted bahts in my pocket."
When I finally got to MBK during a trip with media people from Manila, Indonesia and Singapore on the invitation of the Tourism Authority of Thailand and Lufthansa, my expectations were up the wazoo.
Seven floors of shopping space. The last time I got mallhead was the first time I met that beauty called Mall of America in Minnesota (550 shops – oh, be still my beating heart!) and realized that love at first sight was indeed possible.
As soon as we stepped inside MBK, I knew that too much of a good thing and too little shopping time is a recipe for frustration. It was like attacking a country without doing reconnaissance. But the girls who had been there before texted me like army colonels:
"Sister, ground floor. Bags. All for 100 bahts."
"Mother, Naturalizer. 800 bahts a pair. Tokyu Dept. Store."
And my own measly contribution: "Atcheng. Sampaloc. 4th floor."
When we converged in front of the mall two and a half hours later, the girls were towing plastic bags filled with bags, shoes, blouses, skirts, pants, brassieres, watches. I had spent my precious shopping time getting overwhelmed by all the clothes that were several sizes too small for me, and shoes that were too big. So I bonded with a vendor that sold Thai snacks (what can I say, he gave me free samples). All I had to show for were two DVDs and two large, heavy bags of dried fruits, peanuts, and sweets.
I felt that I was losing my touch.
That’s what we did in Chinatown, though the shopping was on the sly because it was, after all, a walking tour where it seemed like the entire police force was escorting us. We didn’t have to wait for the green light to turn red before crossing the street. The policemen just stepped right in the middle of traffic and stopped the cars. It was truly a hospitable welcome that greeted the journalists from three countries.
Chinatown is also called Yaowarat by locals, which is actually the name of the main road. It is as old as Bangkok and its development ran parallel to that of the city. Chinese traders arrived here on sampans in the 17th century and quickly integrated into society thanks in large part to the kings that have reigned Thailand. Through the centuries, they have "become one of the main roots of the Thai economy." In fact, one of the landmarks of Chinatown is the King’s Birthday Celebration Arch, built in 1999 on his 72nd birthday. On the arch are inscribed four big Chinese characters that mean "Long Live The King" to show the Chinese-Thais’ loyalty to King Bhumibol.
Yet, Chinatown also has a very notorious past. In the early years of the 20th century, the area had 245 opium dens, 128 gambling houses and 71 brothels along Sampeng Lane. The only thing missing were gunslingers and it truly would have been the Wild Wild East.
Today, Chinatown has 22 shrines and other places of worship. The best known of its temples is the Temple of the Golden Buddha, which houses the three-meter-high Buddha image which is made of solid gold and weighs around 5.5 tons. The story goes that until 1957, nobody knew that it was made of gold since the image was covered by stucco. One day, when the Buddha was being moved, a crane operator accidentally dropped the image and crashed it to the ground. To their surprise, the cracked covering revealed the true Buddha image inside – made of pure gold! The image was traced back to the early Ayyuthaya period 700 years ago and was apparently disguised as an ordinary image to protect it from the invading Burmese.
The Buddha story is almost like Chinatown itself. To local traders, Chinatown is well known for having the best prices and merchandise. It’s here that many shops at MBK and other markets get their goods, from fashion accessories to fabrics, fresh food products and delicacies, musical instruments to children’s and teenage products. Yaowarat Road alone has dozens of gold shops lining both sides of the street.
Not many tourists go here to shop but they do go here to look at the temples and shrines. None of the Bangkok veterans back in Manila had mentioned Chinatown – they had told me to go to Lumphini, to Chatuchak, to MBK, to Central. Not one word about Chinatown. So when we were walking through the labyrinthine and narrow streets with our guide Joseph Prach Umpai and his megaphone, and saw rows upon rows of merchandise, it was like being eight years old again and waking up inside a candy store that none of your friends had been to before.
Several stalls sold only watches. Wall to wall. Another had hair accessories and slippers and yet another had cutesy ballpens and teenage stuff. Remember how Divisoria was before they built the mall? Bangkok’s Chinatown is something like that, but a lot cleaner. The only caveat is that some stores sell only in bulk (a dozen or two is the minimum), so it’s always a good idea to shop with friends and pool your orders. There are no celadon plates here or great clothes, but there are some fabrics, bags, fashion accessories and food stuff that sell for half the price compared to MBK. You’ll find all kinds of spices – curry, chili powders, different kinds of peppers, turmeric, etc. and according to one of our guides, locals go here for the salt.
At one store, which sold only brooches ranging from 50 to 120 bahts, the girls went crazy looking through the designs. Our guide Joseph said we could have five minutes there and hence began a countdown with his new best friend – his megaphone. "Okay, you have two minutes." "You have one minute." "You have 30 seconds." "You have 10 seconds."
The girls were muttering under their breath: Will somebody please tell him to shut up!
Ah, it’s certainly the love-hate relationship of tourists with their tourists guides that oils the wheels of tourism.
At one store, while the rest of the journalists were looking at the gold jewelry, I sneaked away with Candy Manaloto of Manila Bulletin and Roselle Rebano of Jayelles Inc. to the watch store across the street. Not three minutes later, one of the policemen fetched us and said we had to go. You couldn’t find faster shoppers in that area if you tried.
Chinatowns all over the world are always an interesting place to discover. In Bangkok, Yaowarat melds two cultures at once – Chinese and Thai. You see this in their architecture, in their religions, and in their hospitality that makes you feel like a princess. For our dinner, they closed off one street and put up food stalls and tables for a food festival. It was such a flattering and a humbling experience to see Chinatown’s tourism officials serving our food. You knew these were big people in the community and here they were dumping the most delicious Peking duck, prawns, soy chicken, grilled seafood, dim sum and iced coffee on our tables. It was as if the whole of Chinatown came out to celebrate with us.
Because we hardly had free time to shop, the girls contemplated going back to Chinatown at the break of dawn on our last day. We found out that while the wet market is open at 6 a.m., the retail stores open at 10, which would have been too close to our departure time.
One of the officials asked me, "What do you think of Chinatown?"
I laughed and said, "You don’t take people to Chinatown and not give them time to shop. It’s just plain mean."
With the new Skytrain station now open, going to Chatuchak has become more convenient. It’s so damn big you could get lost here and not be found for a week, but if you absolutely must have those traditional Thai benjarong, then this is the place for you. Bargaining is a must, but don’t be surprised if some vendors shoo you away if you go too low on the price. Like many markets around the world, haggling is a hit or miss.
Some vendors like it, some vendors hate you.
If you’re short on time and unfamiliar with Chatuchak, go instead to Suan Lum Night Bazaar in Lumphini, open till 11:30 p.m. It’s more organized because the stores are in a series of one-story buildings, but the merchandise is mixed.
On our second night in Bangkok, we decided to go to Suan Lum (also called Lumphini or Lumpinee) with the girls from Indonesia. As soon as the bazaar came in sight, everybody started clapping and laughing, shaking the hotel van!
Clothes of all styles are found here – from novelty T-shirts to those produced by local designers. The same with homeware – gorgeous lacquerware (from 1,000 bahts up) to wooden accessories (100 bahts up) from northern Thailand, and lighting fixtures that range from Scandinavian knockoffs to ethnic designs. There are also some artworks available that are great for the house.
Che Moral of the Inquirer pointed me to the direction of really cool slippers on our last night, while Vicki de Leon of Lifestyle Asia and Bianca Salonga of People Asia bought great designer blouses, and Zo Aguila of Cosmopolitan and Claire Samson of Preview bought just about everything.
These girls really know how to shop! As with any trip, a shopaholic must have a fall-back plan. For us, it was Lumphini for those last-minute pasalubong.
Dave de Jesus, marketing representative of Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Philippine Office, and Minette Tirona-Corpus, account manager of Lufthansa, tell us that this is a continuing promotion program of TAT since 1998.
Lufthansa in fact flies to Frankfurt daily from Manila, via Bangkok. If you’re going on vacation to Thailand, you might as well do it in style. The German carrier’s Business Class cabin has a bigger workspace for those flights when you need to work on your laptop. No need to fret about batteries being drained because a PC power socket is integrated into the seat. The cabin is also equipped with a PrivateBed and integrated Shape System for maximum sleeping comfort.
Tourism Authority of Thailand director Udom Metatamrongsiri says the Amazing Sale is held in June and July to attract more visitors during the low season. In Asia, Thailand attracts the most tourists second only to Hong Kong. In 2002, 10.8 million tourists visited Thailand; 9.7 in 2003 when Asia was plagued by SARS; and their target for this year is 12 million. Ten years ago, Thailand’s tourism was pegged at only 6.2 million arrivals and it’s been steadily growing since.
Metatamrongsiri says that it certainly helps that the country keeps an open-skies policy and they’re now operating low-cost flights from Bangkok to destinations like Chiang Mai (for 99 baht, you can fly there while it costs 1,000 baht to take the 11-hour train ride). In 2002, tourism overtook the export of computers and parts as Thailand’s top revenue earner.
It’s no wonder that tourists spend billions of baht a year in Thailand. What do they buy? Clothing tops the list, followed by souvenirs and handicrafts.
Maybe it’s also the Thai culture that makes the tourism program so successful. First of all, it doesn’t target just foreign tourists but locals as well. Second, they have such clear goals that if you’re a Thai, it’s easy to be enthusiastic about your country’s tourism efforts. One of the goals of the Grand Sale, for instance, "is to minimize outbound shopping," meaning they want Thais to spend in Thailand, not Hong Kong or the US. Metatamrongsiri says Thai people love their own products. Though the world’s most expensive brand names can be found in Bangkok, Thais aren’t as brand crazy as the rest of Asia. The largest retailer in Southeast Asia is a chain of department stores that’s been part of Thai culture for 56 years – the Central group. It’s just one of the numerous department stores joining the Amazing Grand Sale, which offers additional discounts to tourists.
You may think that with all teh tourists and malls and markets, Bangkok is a place of excesses, but you don’t get that feeling at all. Maybe it’s because of their culture or religion. Maybe it’s because beneath the shadows cast by expensive highrise hotels are small shrines where people offer their prayers up to the heavens as they wave their incense sticks in the air.
Maybe it’s because in Bangkok, even Ronald McDonald – the ultimate symbol of western capitalism and consumerism – is swayed by this lovely culture, his hands clasped together and his orange head in a respectful bow.