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luce_uk
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Hi everyone
I am interested to know what the market shopping is like in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam? Is it like Thailand but cheaper, and where is the cheapest places to shop? I love the clothes in the thai markets and all the pretty locally made stuff but it can be expensive in Thailand unless you're really prepared to haggle. Also we will be on a bit of tight budget so don't want to shop in Thailand and then find i can get the same sort of stuff for half the price! Also is it easy and reliable to post stuff home or should i spend the extra £ to get it couriered back?
Thanks for your replies!
#1 Posted: 9/4/2010 - 23:03
busylizzy
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I can't comment about the shopping as I really didn't do too much while travelling. Having said that, I did buy a few things along the way and posted them home.
I posted from Singapore and from Vietnam, by sea, and box packages arrived safely and within a reasonable timeframe. It's expensive though! You need to consider the added cost when buying something - it may be cheap at 500baht or whatever - but is it still cheap at 800baht if you add on the postage?
#2 Posted: 10/4/2010 - 02:52
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luce_uk
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True true, very true point indeed, however the temptations are just too strong and the shopping is just too good. The credit card might take a battering but i'll figure what to do about that later on... :s
#3 Posted: 10/4/2010 - 03:59
idreamofdur-
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There's beautiful handicrafts in Laos, but the majority of market clothing is either cheap tourist t-shirts and fisherman pants or traditional Lao clothing. The Luang Prabang night market is the best place in Laos to shop and prices are a little better than Bangkok.
Every big city has a post office that can send your purchases back home... just remember to package it up well (box, masking tape), especially if you're sending it the by sea as it takes a couple months.
#4 Posted: 10/4/2010 - 12:06
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somsai
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I love the night market in Luang Prabang because when I see things I instantly think of Chang Mai in Thailand where the stuff comes from. The big bales of clothing leaving by push cart and tuk tuk to go direct to the Chiang Mai night market, Bangkok, Luang Prabang, and even Dalat Sao in Vientiane.
The scraps of old Hmong embroidery culled from so many villages in China, imported to Thailand, distributed to villages where so many busy households sew on machines for piecework, to be colated by the middlemen, brought to Warorot Market, and to end up colorfully displayed beneath the soft neon glow of a fluorescent light at the night market in Luang Prabang, tended by a high school girl who chats on the telephone or texts to her girl freinds and answers questions in the English she has so carefully studied.
"What?" "Where is this made?" "It is by my mother of course, with carefull attention to detail in the same way her mother made it before her for generations back into eternity" "Me?" "Oh no, no one knows how to make any more, the art will be lost forever, this is the last one, buy it now"
#5 Posted: 11/4/2010 - 22:26
MADMAC
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"What?" "Where is this made?" "It is by my mother of course, with carefull attention to detail in the same way her mother made it before her for generations back into eternity" "Me?" "Oh no, no one knows how to make any more, the art will be lost forever, this is the last one, buy it now"
Funny sales pitch.
#6 Posted: 18/4/2010 - 15:20
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Sophia_India
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I buy loads whenever i am in Asia, mainly in India and Thailand. I have had somethings - ornaments/carpets etc being shipped over but that takes ages and so most of the stuff i bring with me.
#7 Posted: 2/6/2010 - 18:55
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