Bangkok Textile Market | Sampeng Lane / Saphan Han

I have been to Bangkok numerous of times, and yet I still miss out some places of interest every single time. And better yet, every time I found a new place to cover; my Thai colleague will be asking "Where is this or how did you find this place in Thailand?". The latest I got was "Lily, you are a Thai and not a Malaysian, please move to Thailand". Hahhahha....I love my Thai colleagues.

For more Thailand entries, please click HERE.

Anyway, my latest finding is Bangkok Textile Market. My aim is to buy few kurung materials (Yeah, didn't do any raya kurungs this year. No time lar). After asking Mr. Google, I found out there is such thing as Bangkok Textile Market or Textile Lane; Sampeng Lane or Saphan Han located in Chinatown.

I will share with you how to get there via boat and what to expect (well, from my point of view that is).

Cute huh! Saw this at one of the lane in Chinatown.

Take the BTS / sky train. The best thing I found out recently is that they have a new machine that takes note as well.Yup! That's the one on the left.

Get yourself to Saphan Taksin Station (S6) on Silom Line.

Get down at Saphan Taksin Station (S6) and walk towards the Central Pier / Sathorn Pier. Its about 10-20mtr from the station.

Once you arrive at Sathorn Pier, ask the boat operator how and which boat takes you to Ratchawong Pier. If possible, get it written in Thai prior (you can ask hotel/hostel/gueshouse staff to write in Thai for you) to avoid communication problem.

The boat route.... can easily be confused.

Ratchawong Pier is on the right side. So, stay close to the right of the boat.

This is the boat that you will be taking.

Ticket conductor will go around (inside the boat), it'll cost you between 11Baht to 15Baht.

Just follow the crowd upon arriving Ratchawong Pier. This is the tricky part, you have to ask the locals (or take the tuk-tuk) on how to get to Sampeng Lane or Chinatown or Textile Market. You can also walk there, probably 100-200 mtr from the pier.

This is the beginning of the Sampeng Lane / Saphan Han / textile market / textile wholesaler in Chinatown. Its hot and stuffy mind you!!

If you see this signage, then you are on the right track - Sampeng Lane or Saphan Han. It's about 1km walk or more, so good luck. Hahhahahhha......

Anything to do with fashion, sewing, embroidery, textile etc.

There's more of course.... it's 1km lane remember.... sila gigih.

If you prefer a more comfortable shopping area, then you can visit Chinaworld Mall which is located at the end of Sampeng Lane / Saphan Han. Yes, it's air-conditioned.

This is how it look like from the inside.

I believe you get the idea now....

Next is what you get to see around Chinatown, this is not all; there's more but I forgotten to take pics of it (sebab sebuk window shopping). Hhahahahhaa.....

Hahhahahhahaaa......No, I didn't get any.

This is what I bought... it is way to cute. Yah! I prefer cotton for my kurung, am simple like that.

Below are my sis's kurungs.

Jom shopping? Hhehehee...

Shopping in Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Guilty as charge!

This should be my 2nd last entry on Phnom Penh, hahahhaha.... yah; there's one last entry I need to craft as I just realised that we did cover one more orphanage during this trip, I thought I should include it as well (forgotten about it earlier).

Anyway, we did get 2-3 hours of shopping before we depart to our beloved homeland Malaysia. The organizer were kind enough to arrange a shopping session for us to get souvenirs for family and friends, so apa lagi.... shopping sakan ler kan semua orang.

As I am not a fan of shopping, I only wanted to get few stuff during this trip : fridge magnets, scarfs/shawl and postcards. But guess what I ended up with instead.... jeng jeng jeng....

We head to Central Market which is only 5 mins ride in tuk-tuk. Yup! they have tuk-tuk here too.

Very very very clean!!! Do note that there's another market recommended called Russian Market, I did drop by but it is not to my liking as it's hot, stuffy, messy and kinda dirty. So I rather stick to Central Market. 

The ride from my hotel to Central Market cost between USD1-2/= ONLY.

They have sections for clothes, gem stone, gadgets, kitchen stuff etc etc... pretty much well organised.

The gem stone/jewellery area is right in the middle. Very hard to miss... heehheheh... especially for the ladies.

Check-it out! Aunt bargaining but ended up not buying.... saja test market tuh.

They also sells ornaments made of jade (I think)... like Mr. Elephant here.

It's fairly reasonably priced, kid you not. Ranging between USD20 onwards depending on size, stone, detailing etc... you know the drill. By the way, it's silver with white gold plated, so they say.

They also have this bronze type (betul ke nih?). Kind cool I thought.

This are the jewellery set ie earrings and ring. Priced at USD20 onwards too. The bracelets can go as low as USD10 for a simple design. 

Cousin wanted a Kate Middleton ring, so got her one, USD20 I think... looks good and she's a happy girl.

Oh yah, they speak English, Malay and Chinese well; some even speak Vietnamese too. But the best language is still the calculator language, HHAHAHHAHAHHAAAA...... Agree?

Souvenirs From Afar

 

The day looks bright and clear but apparently, there's a big rally going on in KL today, something about Bersih 3.0. Anyway, not to deter by it; I woke up early to send sis to work and later have breakfast with Chawanna + Aqilah at Mak Jah. Again? Yup! The keria (dah habis dah masa sampai, and it was before 8.30am!), roti canai, meehoon sup/soto, nasi lemak, and those malay kueh that I forever fail to know and remember their names. Ish! MALU!!!

All pics taken with iPhone, mind the resolution yah...

Before I start with this entry, found out some of #TravelholicAwesome went on a small trip... ish ish ish... sentap & rajuk lah. Chawanna sampai nak lagi bawa diri ke Europe dengar khabarnye, and me! I just book a tix, applying leave and going off sooooon too. Rajuk giler nih! Blueekkk...

Anyway,  this entry is to share the souvenirs I've purchased during my trips in order to help others to gauge what they can bring back as souvenirs to their family, friends and love ones.

House bell from The Netherlands / Holland. I think it cost me about EU10. I think lar...

Wooden clog from The Netherlands / Holland. This one was a souvenir from my late father during his trip in the 80s. Yup! You can actually wear it.

 

This is the one I purchased at EU8, the size is as big as my palm.

Frame from Alhambra Granada, Spain. Forgot how much this cost. Hehheh... Below EU10 surely... am a cheapskate you see... Muahhahah...

Plates from The Netherlands / Holland. As usual.... forgot the price lah...

Stockholm hotplate in a shape of teapot, between KR100-120.

Brussels hotplate teapot.. EU10.

Same price as above, but this is from Paris.

 Mirror wooden frame from Morroco, got this from Marrakesh.

Plate from Marrakesh as well.

Nefertiti of Mesir....

I now use it for..... me coins from all over the world.

This one kinda unique, got this from a quaint shop in Athens, Greece from my recent last year's trip.

I have another yet set of "weird collection"... treasure chest, have plenty of them but here I will only share 1-2 of them. This one is from Mesir / Egypt, got it in Kaherah / Cairo. Use it for all my watches, oooo.... got plenty of watches too. Who dare to guess? Hhehehhehe....

Vietnam treasure chest... I use to keep my.... hemmm.... I have no idea, I need to double check! Hhahahha... cost me RM30! Got it from Saigon Bến Thành Market, you can get lotsa of trinklets from here.

This is the one I got from Bali which I meant to give it to Jong as his house warming pressie, but since I rajuk, I need to reconsider, this might not be urban to him lar kot kan... too exotic kot.

OK. That's about it. Byeee..... Masih rajuk!