Siam Center & Siam Discovery Center

These linked shopping malls are surprisingly subdued, almost comatose compared with frenetic Mahboonkrong. Thailand’s first shopping centre, Siam Center was built in 1976 but, since a recent nip and tuck, hardly shows its age. Its 3rd floor is one of the best locations to check out local labels such as Fly Now, Senada Theory and Tango.

In the attached Siam Discovery Center, the 4th floor continues to be a primary outpost for the Thai design scene. Panta creates modern furnishings and objets d’art out of uniquely Asian materials, such as water hya­cinth and bamboo. Bangkok-based French designer Gilles Caffier and his store, 2 Gilles Caffier, sells hand-beaded vases, palm-wood chopsticks and other Asian-esque decorative objects that have landed his designs in Alain Ducasse’s restaurant. Doi Tung-Mae Fah Luang is a royally funded crafts shop selling handmade cotton and linen from villages formerly involved with poppy production. Check out the beautiful handmade rugs. On the same floor is a huge branch of Asia Books, which carries a wide selection of design magazines, Thailand fiction titles, and new guidebooks.

Siam Discovery Center is also, somewhat incongruously, one of the best places in town to stock up on camping gear. Within tent-pitching distance of each other on the 3rd floor are Pro Cam-Fis, Equinox Shop and the North Face.