Bangkok > In and Around > Ploenchit and Chitlom Bangkok - Ploenchit and Chitlom
If any area of Bangkok is to stand apart as being a step up in class then its Ploenchit and Chtilom with its 5 star hotels, designer shops in expensive shopping.
Ploenchit and Chitlom is a place to window shop and browse and stop for a coffee with friends in one of the many coffee shops in the area or even too grab a quick snack at one of the small backstreet restaurants and cafes. An area this well located has excellent access to the BTS sky train from both the Ploenchit and Chitlom stations, and other parts of the city are easily reached from here.
Ploenchit is home to one of the most famous public parks in Bangkok, Lumpini park, a welcome escape from the busy concrete jungle surrounding it where you can get a relaxing massage, jog, take out a pedal boat, join in with the Tai Chi exercises are simply lay back on the grass and take a deep breath away from the sometimes claustrophobic Bangkok.
Shopping Ploenchit / Chitlom
Ploenchit is an area where a lot less shopping is done on the street in favour for the shopping malls in the area, many of them offering high end expensive European designer brands such as Omega, Christian Dior, Cartier, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Mont Blanc and Tag Heur to name but a few. The most luxurious malls are the Gaysorn Plaza and the Erawan both of which can be accessed directly from Chitlom BTS sky train station, and the Peninsula Plaza which also has a branch of the famous Christie's auctioneer house.
If you’re interested in Thai handicrafts then look no further than the Narayana Phand shopping centre, located just across the road from the World Central Plaza it's the place to find those gifts and household decorations to bring a little bit of Thailand back home with you.
Also in this area for a little less expensive shopping is the Central Chitlom department store with its excellent food court, the World Central Plaza (formerly World Trade Centre) and Sogo Department store. For food and household shopping then the Big C shopping centre is certainly worth a visit, even if you just want to stop in to catch a quick movie at the cinema there.
Just down the road from Ploenchit you can bargain hunt at the Pratunam market, one of the largest markets in Bangkok for clothes and fabric shopping, and a little further along from this is the Pantip Plaza, a mall famous for it's bootlegged DVDs, computer software, games and cheap computer parts. Heading towards Siam you will see the building site where the soon to be opened Siam Paragon is to be opened.
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