Star of Siam

When it comes to shopping in Bangkok there are many different experiences to be had, and this is one of the driving reasons many tourists decide to take a trip to this crazy city in the first place. I mean, no one comes here to experience the shitty humidity or amazing traffic jams now do they?

Whether a crazy downtown nightmarket or a pristine shopping mall that would not be out of place in Beverly Hills – Bangkok has it all

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One of my favourite shopping venues is the Paragon located in Siam Square. Yes it looks like any other posh shopping mall from any nameless worldwide city but for me it has a few very nice things going for it – all under the one roof. Firstly there is nothing like the pleasure of walking in off the humid city streets of Bangkok into ice cold air con – whether it be the Paragon or some random 7-11, this joy never ceases to amaze me.

The Paragon is huge. About 8 stories of designer boutiques, tech-cool shops with wifi for the cool Bangkok crowd who take their MacBook everywhere with them, food stores, mobile network stores, music stores, a designer gym, amazing 16 screen cinemaplex including an IMAX screen for good measure, a BMW dealer, Lamborghini dealer, Maserati dealer for those who wish to pick up a new car after they buy some jeans but before lunch at MK (a great Thai/Japanese food chain where you do your own sukiyaki at your table!). There is also a huge forecourt out front where something cool is always going on as well as a nice interior centre stage where something just as cool is also going on.

Let me relate a small story to you which in a small way sums up part of the reason I love Thailand so much. Upon arriving in Thailand at Suvarnibhumi Airport I picked up a prepaid sim card called the ‘Happy’ sim. A well known brand in Thailand which uses the DTAC network (strongly recommend everyone doing this if you are staying longer than a week in Bangkok – for only 99 baht the Happy sim is a bargain). Anyway, i could not get MMS messaging to work on my phone (picture text messages that lets one send a pic from your phone to another). Anyway the nice girl from the DTAC call centre suggests dropping into the DTAC shop in the Paragon as I was already there. So I find the store and am blown away by the service. Firstly, it feels like I’ve walked into the Dubai Hilton lobby for VIP guests. A gorgeous young just-turned 20 Thai girl sashays up to me, iced OJ in hand and greets me warmly leading me to a private booth to sit me down. Is it now I pull out 1000 baht notes or do I just keep sipping my OJ? Mmmm. Anyway. I digress. I tell her my problem and she swiftly takes my handset off me and starts going through the settings. While having a very nice chat with me proceeds to set my MMS data settings in record time and kindly hands back the phone advising me ‘all fixed sir’. I’m sure I blurted out words to the effect of ‘marry me’ but she diplomatically rejects my advances with amazing precision and escorts me from the store with a nice smile and removal of previously full OJ glass. Wow.

Now I’m sure if you were a fly on the wall this experience was no where near as exotic as described by me but that is the point, one is made to feel special and exotic in this place, even though in reality nothing special really happened at all. I certainly know back home in Oz walking into my mobile network store I am greeted by 13yo annoying kids sales reps with pimples grunting at me asking if I wish to buy a new handset even though I just purchased one last week from them, only to never see them again if I politely decline the offer for said new handset.

Yes…service in Bangkok is at worst very good, at best damn incredible.

So if you ever happen to find yourself bored with a few hours spare in Bangkok make sure you check out the Paragon at Siam, and don’t forget to explore up & down, left & right, inside & outside!