I recently travelled to Bangkok with one mission, to shop till I drop. I didn’t succeed because there wasn’t enough luggage space😝 but I wanted to share some of the tips I discovered. Definitely going back to achieve that mission with more luggages in tow for sure!
My usual travel style is packing my schedule by booking activities and tours for the whole trip. The last time I went to Bangkok, I signed up for Thai cooking class, tour to Ayutthaya and a full-day tour to Bangkok Ancient City and Erawan Museum but that’s a story for another day.
This time, I went to as many shopping malls, spending at least half a day, making sure to eat some of the recommended famous dishes and of course, shopping. 😉 I went to Centralw0rld, Siam Paragon, Em District malls, Siam Square One, Siam Centre, ICONSIAM, Samyan Mitrtown, Platinum Mall and Big C. I also wanted to go to Terminal 21 and Asiatique but I ran out of time.
Centralw0rld and Big C are definitely my favorite places; I went to both places multiple times for shopping and eating. Centralw0rld is an amazing place which has literally almost anything you may need! Special mention for B2S (they have the coolest stationery) and Asia Books (bought books to learn Thai).
After going to plenty of malls for this trip (pretty much the only thing I did except for going to cafés to drink coffee), I hope the few things listed below will help you!
Early bird will always get the worm (most of the time)
You would have heard of the insane queues for famous food in Bangkok eg. Thong Smith Noodles, After You etc. That is super true. I got so frustrated because I tried going to Thong Smith at Centralw0rld a few times and there was at least 30 people in the queue every time I went.
Most malls in Bangkok opens at 10am and there are plenty of people who are early birds like me. I was mistaken, thinking that I would be the few ones who would be early and would be gone before the crowd came in. It didn’t matter which mall I went to, even if I reached at 9.30am and there are already a lot of people (both tourists and locals) who are queuing to get into the mall. The good thing is that all the shops in the mall will be open at 10am, even the restaurants.
I thought it was weird to go straight to Thong Smith when it just opened so I walked a bit and reached there at 10.38am instead. I obviously made the wrong decision because the restaurant was almost full when I reached! At least I finally got to eat Thong Smith noodles that day.
You would have thought I would have learnt the lesson right? Obviously not, I am embarrassed to share that I needed another reminder but I have definitely learnt that lesson now! Please don’t make the same mistake that I did.🤣 I wanted to get Butterbear and reached Empshere at 9.45am. By the time I reached Butterbear at 10.15am, there were already 25 people in the queue before me!
So if you want to go to these two places or any other famous shops that would have a queue ahem*Butterfly Thai Perfume*ahem, save yourself some time and grief and go to the mall earlier and head straight to the shop when it opens.
Complete the Quest and then Feast Like a Hero at the Mall Food Court!
One of the reasons I enjoy going to Centralw0rld is the many famous restaurants branches there which is mostly situated at Level 3. The mall has a few zones so do note that you are not only on the correct level but also the right zone. It also has a fantastic variety of food at their Food Court (Level 7).
Places like Siam Paragon, Centralw0rld and Platinum Mall have their own food court cards which you have to “purchase” and return to them for cash. Siam Paragon’s food court card is valid for 30 days. You can top up at the Cash Card counter and return them the card anytime within that 30 days validity period to get the card cash balance. Platinum Mall food court stalls will only accept their food court cash card for payment. Some of the stalls in these mall food courts (e.g. drink stalls) will only accept payment using their card. Some places will accept credit card but imposes an additional fee.
Honestly, I prefer not to do it because it is troublesome and time-consuming (even though there wasn’t too long of a queue). I didn’t know how much to top up and having a card kinda “trapped” me of having to eat there repeatedly to make it worth the trouble. I usually travel alone and finding a seat at these crowded places is already a challenge but now it feels like I need to complete an additional quest just to buy food and eat!
Luckily, Centralw0rld food court also accepts payment by Rabbit Card (do get one if you go to Thailand frequently, will be one of your best investments!) which probably explains why I eat there fairly often. There is also a famous Pad Thai shop in Siam Paragon food court which also accepts Rabbit Card which I would always choose to eat (for convenience and the pad thai is delicious!).
Do keep a lookout on the other available payment modes if you prefer convenience like me. If not, you can always get and top up the food court cards.
PS: In terms of crowdedness for the mall food courts, its extremely difficult(almost impossible) to get a seat during meal times even for one person. I have been there at 3pm and its still crowded. There are some seats at 11am but the food court is quickly filled.
Bring those reusable shopping bags with you
Some shops in the malls (eg. B2S) will ask if you need a carrier and will charge you for a carrier bag if you do need it. I think its either 5 or 8 baht for B2S, can’t really remember the exact cost.
If you love to shop especially at Big C, they will also charge you for each carrier. The good thing is that their carrier bag is huge, most of the time, you probably only need 1. You can always buy a reusable shopping bag at Big C too.
I bought lots of toothpaste tubes this time and decided to get a reusable shopping bag (Big C has really cute ones!) but the funny thing is that if you are a tourist shopping at Big C, the free gift was a really huge reusable shopping bag, even bigger than the bag that I bought(apt gift if you ask me) but I already bought one! I ended up with two different bags hahah. I will confess that the two bags came in handy for my shopping during the rest of the trip.
The bag is also especially useful when you shop at Chaktuchak Market to consolidate purchases instead of carrying plenty of smaller bags.
I hope that the tips would help you to shop hassle-free in the malls! Do share with me if you have other tips too!
Shopping at Chaktuchak Market is a huge one and deserves it’s own post. Stay tuned for it!