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Home > Activities > Shopping
SHOPPING
PARADISE
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A wealth of shopping opportunities
await visitors, and bargains abound throughout the
country in traditional handicrafts, textiles, gems,
jewellery and antiques, as well as more contemporary
items. But it isn't only the variety of creatively
designed and meticulously crafted products that so
captivates the traveller. The shopping experience
itself is a pleasure in its own right as one explores
from upscale shopping malls and department stores
to high streets and back streets and bustling markets.
What's more, frequent promotions involving definitively
Thai variations on myriad product themes hold out
the prospect of acquiring a better selection for a
lower outlay. And to top it all, foreign visitors
to Thailand can often look forward to receiving a
further price reduction in the form of a healthy tax
refund on departure; the perfect way to round off
a memorable stay |
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LEATHER
GOODS
A variety of leather goods are available
with a wide range of designs
meticulously made with Thai craftsmanship. Thai leather
goods are created in many beautiful designs with durable
genuine leathers
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CLOTHES
& ACCES-SORIES
Clothing
presents many excellent buys, both men and women's
fashions off-the-peg and tailor made. A whole range
of accessories are also to be found, especially leather
goods which offer particularly good value for money
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SILK
& COTTON
The gorgeous Thai silk favoured
by many Thai and international designers originates
from northeastern Thailand where cloth-weaving is
a traditional folk craft. Northeastern silk is renowned
for mudmee and khit silk varieties, usually made into
tubular skirts or phasin. Phu Thai folk employ an
elaborate weaving style called chok to create unique
phrae wa and phrae mon silks. Hang kra rok silk is
the speciality of Thais of Khmer origin, in which
complicated weaving patterns create a harmonious,
multi-coloured combination of threads.
Northern
hand-woven fabrics include cottons with distinctive
patterns, such as nam lai and tin chok. The North's
most famous rustic cloth is the traditional dark blue
mo hom denim-like cloth favoured by Thai farmers.
In southern Thailand, Phum Riang
silk is produced by Thai-Muslim villagers who apply
traditional weaving patterns to Japanese silk. The
Yok Nakhon cotton of Nakhon Si Thammarat is equally
distinctive, while batiks and patae Sskirts glow with
the brilliant colours of Malay-influenced designs.
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GEMS
& JEWELLERY
Thailand is
rich in precious stones, with a natural abundance
of rubies, sapphires, zircon, onyx, jade and opal.
Local cutting, design and manufacturing skills ensure
a fine range of quality items with a widechoice of
prices. Thailand also has a long tradition of fine
jewellery cutting and making. Design and cutting skills
ensure a fine range of quality items, with a wide
choice of prices.
Kanchanaburi and Chanthaburi are
both well-known gemstone mining areas, while Bangkok
is the major manufacturing centre, the venue where
experts converge to judge, grade, buy and sell.
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LACQUERWARE,
SILVERWARE
NIELLOWARE, PEWTERWARE
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Lacquerware is an ancient oriental craft,
and entails a repeated process of coating structural
bamboo or wood with lacquer before hand-painting it
with elaborate designs. Generally, objects are produced
either in gold and black, or yellow and green on a
red-brown background. Chiang Mai is the major centre
of lacquerware. Products include boxes, trays and
dolls.
Silver
beating is another traditional northern craft. Bowls,
boxes, cigarette cases, vases are fashioned in a craft
which has been practised in southern Thailand for
hundreds of years.
Nielloware,
or khrueang thom, is the craft of decorating objects
with delicately etched designs which are filled with
a metal alloy to produce a smooth patterned surface
in black and gold. The art is widely practised in
Nakhon Si Thammarat.
Pewterware,
essentially an alloy of lead and tin which produ-ces
a metal with a smooth and silky feel, comes mainly
in the form of beakers, goblets, tankards and decorative
figurines
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WICKERWORK
Folk wisdom
and the countrywide distribution of bamboo combine to
make basket-weaving an important folk craft. Rattan,
sedge, kok, bullrush or kra chud are also used to produce
beautifully-designed furniture and attractive souvenirs.
These natural materials are widely used for woven mats
and other woven handicrafts, while the popular and delicate
li pao vine ladies' handbags were introduced by Her
Majesty the Queen.
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