I had been in Bangkok all of an hour before we headed out to start the shopping. Despite having just got off a 12 hour flight and not slept for 24 hours, I was ready to see what was on offer. Claire’s suggestion was to hit Siam, an area with lots of shops, restaurants and malls which is easily accessed by train and where we could do as much or as little as I could handle. I did pretty well but we only managed Siam Square, a block of tiny shops selling fashion, accessories, stationery and the like. We came back to the Siam area many times as there are so many shopping options.
Our first stop was Appliqué, a cute shop that sells, well, felt appliques in a myriad of shapes and colours. Want a cute animal or bird, or to spell your name out in bright letters – it’s all here. You can also buy some super-cute bags and pouches that have already been decorated and other cute crafty supplies. Amazingly, I managed to restrict myself to just the hilarious bunny tape measure above. Cute, useful and under £2, how could I resist?
Around the corner was 2:Spot, whose storefront was a riot of paper bananas and hand-painted fun. They sell a huge range of stationery and toys featuring their own characters who include Stupid Terrorist Penguin Force, Unsleep Sheep, Bloody Bunny and Biscuit, a bakery run by cats. It’s all equal parts cute, confusing and terrifying. I snapped up a postcard selection of the whole gang for about £5 plus some cute post-it notes and notebooks on buy 2 get 1 free.
We also found a strange but cool shop where the downstairs was crammed with hairslides, the upstairs with 7 billion types of ribbon and the stairs lined with wrapping paper. My eagle eyes soon spotted bunnies and I got three cute bunny papers, including the Aranzi Aronzo bunnies, for just over £1 altogether!
After some more wandering we went to Daiso, a branch of the amazing Japanese ¥100 shop, except in this case everything was double the price (about £1), possibly the only time we found kawaii that cost more in Thailand than in Japan. Being a worldwide chain store, I recognised many many things from the Tokyo and London shops so didn’t really buy much. I could not leave without an adorable panda wash mitt though. So cute!
On a return trip much later in my trip we found the awesome Winnie Gift Land stall set up and full to bursting with cheap cute stationery. I found the cutest sad panda bag in the entire universe on sale for a mere £1 and then found it difficult to buy anything else as it was all technically more expensive than a bag. I did get some cute seal stickers though.
If you’re visiting Bangkok, the chances of you not passing through Siam are pretty minimal so do yourself a favour and have a wander round Siam Square – there really is lots to see.
Kawaii panda wash mitt from Daiso
Cute stationery from 2:Spot
Nothing says ‘Congratulations’ better than hordes of fanged monsters
Bunny wrapping paper. Aranzi Aronzo in the middle.
Cute seal stickers, meant for your computer keyboard
I love my panda bag!
Applique shop window. Downstairs is a fashion accessories shop
2:Spot shop front
How to get there
Siam Square is just outside the Siam Interchange where the BTS (Skytrain) and MRT (subway) meet. Siam Square itself is a bit of a rabbit warren so just have a wander around to find the shops I mention. Applique products can also be found in many other shops throughout Bangkok.
What else to do in Siam Square
Lots and lots of shopping! The Paragon, Discovery, MBK and Central World malls are all nearby. See my Bangkok Shopping Guide page for more.
