Boutique land [now we're talking]: Siam is the place. Siam Centre is a shopping mall with genuine, well-known labels, and reasonable prices. It also has many good low price music/CD stores. If you get hungry, find the multi-food-stall canteen in the Siam Centre - a plate of great food for two for 1.50 USD. Siam Square has low price street fashion, & normal price electrical goods. The Gaysorn/Isetan/World Trade Centre buildings house the more well known clothes/shoe brands. This is where we're gonna spend most of our time whilst in Bangkok, so it's important that we get to know the area. Think Asprey and Bvlgari. Add some luxury watches along with Celine, Fendi and others in that category... Bring Baht - we advise - a loht!

Haggle/Negotiate for everything. Expect to pay a third of the price they start at. You can even haggle a little in department stores. If you agree a price quite quickly - you've been had. Best approach is get to an offer they can't (just) accept - then go back & try again slightly higher. Forget Duty Free and electrical goods... They're expensive. But made to measure clothes, good fake street stuff & anything silk; these are prime targets that we will be focusing on. Take an empty suit case - we really mean that. Trust us darlings, you'll come back with so many new tailored blouses, fitted jackets, flimsy perfect fitted skirts and fake Hermes purses... Even Victoria Beckham will turn green with envy.

Sukhumvit - Made to Measure: Suits/anything, over a weekend, at very reasonable prices (negotiate - hard). One of the best is Narry's Boutique (off Sukhumvit Soi 11). If you are going south to the beach resorts, then tailors are cheaper there, but perhaps not as high quality,
& with less high-end variety. Sukhumvit also has a mass of Thai silks, fake clothes & bag shops, & street stalls with usual T-shirts, watches, jewellery, & gadgets.