My favorite flea markets in Bangkok

I was born to shop, literally. And at flea markets. As my mother recounted, I was born "accidentally" on the day she went into labor while buying baby clothes for me at Divisoria market. After 12 years as a regular resident of Bangkok, I can say that flea market shopping is more than just a pastime - it's an art! It's not just a matter of knowing how to bargain, attempting to reduce the price by up to 50% and making a pretense of walking off with the seller running after you to agree to your price, or even buying a number of items from one seller to be able to request a "wholesale price." It is knowing WHERE TO FIND THE GREAT BARGAINS! Here’s a list of my favorite flea markets in the City of Angels. • Jatuchak/Chatuchak Market, Phahonyothin Road

This is the grand-daddy of all flea markets in Bangkok. Open from Friday night to the entire weekend, you can buy just about everything in Jatuchak - clothes, shoes, bags, household décor, home and kitchen utensils, made-to-order furniture, plants and flowers, antiques, native handicraft, silk and hand-woven Thai fabrics, candles and aromatic oils, pets, food, old & new books, posters, even glassware. Jatuchak has a special section - the "Artist's Corner" – that showcases the works of local budding artists. Many are painters and sculptors working with wrought iron or wood, as well as jewelry designers. Friday is "wholesale day" in Jatuchak, from 6 am to 6 pm - or until supply lasts! Recently, the market extended its operation up to the evenings, with sellers bringing out their wares and laying them down on the footpaths. The merchandise are mostly for teens, with the appropriate watered down prices. You can buy a fanciful t-shirt for about 100 pesos, but beware that these are not usually of high quality. In my recent sojourns into Jatuchak, I discovered the rather snazzy and hip "Underground Weekend Market" organized by the Or-tor-Kor or Marketing Organization for Farmers. As the name suggests, it is located in the underground walkway between the two exits of Kamphaeng Pet MRT station. You can find stalls selling mid-priced clothes, shoes, accessories, and even a nail parlor. There is also a juice bar with tables and chairs where you can relax languidly, sipping your drink while viewing the unending stream of people passing by. Behind the market are little bars and clubs where you can party the night away. These bars have a rustic, Thai feel with wooden tables and seats where you can quaff your beer and ladies’ drinks, and blaring jukebox music. Getting there: Follow the signs from Kamphaeng Pet MRT Station • Platinum Fashion Mall, 222 Petchburi Road Imagine putting all the items you could buy in a flea market - ready-to-wear clothes, shoes and bags, knick-knacks and other gift items, cosmetics - in a six-storey mall, complete with food outlets. Platinum Fashion Mall is just that! Located just opposite the Pinay viajeras’ shopping mecca that is Pratunam, Platinum Mall is just like Jatuchak except that it is vertically oriented and has aircon. There are banks on the first floor, as well as moneychangers, and a car park conveniently located inside the building. When my editor told me that many of the items she sees in Manila malls look like knock-offs from the flea markets in Bangkok, I totally agreed. A lot of the so-called "designer boutiques" in Manila, particularly one which showcases a number of supposedly young upmarket Filipino designers, source ALL their merchandise from Platinum Mall, including accessories and shoes. Most of the viajeras who come to Platinum actually order their merchandise here, according to the style and color they want. There are also stalls that specialize in large and super-large clothes, bought off-the-rack or made-to-order. Platinum Mall is open from 10 am to 6:30 pm, but most of the retail shops start closing down at 5 pm. Stall owners give you a wholesale price for a minimum of three items, sometimes just two if you’re lucky. Getting there: Take BTS Skytrain and get off at Rajathevee Station, then walk 500-600 meters to your right. Or take Bus No. 77 and get off in front of Isetann, which is on the right-hand side of the CentralWorld Complex, then walk across the small bridge. Platinum Mall is on your left. • Thai Airways Market, Soi 22 Viphawadee Road Popularly known as "Thai Airways Talad" or "Kanbin Thai Talad" (the market behind Thai Airways), this market can be accessed through a small soi (street) beside the office of the country’s flag carrier. The flea market was reportedly started by a few Thai Airways stewardesses who imported branded goods from abroad and sold them here. Clothes, leather bags and shoes, accessories -- mostly mid-priced and brand name ones, or not so real ones – are sold here. About ten years back, this was the only market where I could find extra large sized clothes, mainly because they source their merchandise from Cambodia. These are basically "export surplus" items to the US and European markets. • Soi Lalaisup, Silom Soi 5, Silom Road Lalaisup means "melt your money away," and that is what this little soi beside the Bangkok Bank main headquarters does to the cash in your pocket. Around 30 meters down the soi, you come into a one-storey, airconditioned building on your right with about six corridors. Here you will find a dizzying collection of office clothes, bags, and accessories to build a complete wardrobe. A haven for the average office employee in this area, Soi Lalaisup has every little thing cheaply or reasonably priced. There are clothes for men and women, some priced only at Baht 100 or less, designer-inspired leather handbags, accessories, toiletries, cosmetics, shoes - you name it! Beside this building is a small, open-air fastfood area where you can munch on various sorts of Thai food cheaply. Getting there: From BTS Skytrain Chongnonsi, look for the small soi beside a 7-11 store. • Sampeng Lane, Chinatown The legendary Sampeng Lane of Yaowarat has been my long-time favorite place for fabrics, sewing accessories, plastic, canvas or synthetic leather bags, hair accessories, handkerchiefs, etc. - all at a wholesale price. This is where most Bangkok locals and foreign wholesale retailers go to buy their stuff, usually reselling them somewhere else. Average retail prices of fabrics – including imported silk from Japan or cashmere wool of the best quality - are less than Baht 100 per meter. If you buy wholesale, about 10 meters or more, you get as much as 25% discount on the price. There are also stalls selling three meters of fabric for only Baht 100. Sampeng Lane is parallel to Yaowarat Road, the main road of Chinatown where hundreds of eating places not only for Chinese food but really good Thai food can be found. The market is open from 8:30 am to 5 pm everyday except Sundays, when some shops are closed, and holidays. Getting there: From BTS Saphan Taksin, take bus no. 1 which goes straight down Yaowarat Road and get down at Ratchawong Road. Sampeng Lane would be on your left. From the Underground Metro Station of Hualamphong, take a taxi to Yaowarat Road or take bus no. 53 beside Hualamphong Train Station. • Pantip Plaza, Petchaburi Road This is a wonderland of IT products at prices that you can't beat in Southeast Asia! You can find software and hardware – some genuine but mostly copies – as well as electronic items like DVD or MP3 players, video game consoles, and tablet computers. Store time is from 10 am to 8 pm everyday. Prices of the merchandise are almost the same, although an occasional IT fair will have discounts as high as 30% off the hardware. But the real deal here are the peripherals and special offers they give you along with that new laptop or music player you bought. Sometimes you get a free printer, a mini iPod, or a stash of free downloads along with your purchase. The second floor has a superstore called DataIT where you can buy products with after-sales service and warranty. The third floor has a food center while the fifth floor has another big shop called IT City, where most people buy their electronic items because everything has a legal warranty and there’s a service center for after-sales repairs. If you want to repair your laptop or PC, or have one made from scratch, go to some of the small stores on the fourth floor. I had an IT administrator friend who buys component parts and have them reassembled in shops on this floor. Getting there: It’s a 5-10 minute walk from BTS Chidlom or BTS Ratchathewi, near Platinum Mall. Or ride bus no. 77 from Silom Road, get down in front of Isetan in CentralWorld, and walk for 3-5 minutes to Pantip. - YA, GMANews.TV Note: Baht 100 = PhP144 as of this posting