What to bring to Thai friends?

[bao-bao]

In another thread ("What do you stock up on?") Doug mentioned things he was bringing with him for his three-month stay. In his post he listed gifts of real Levis, chocolate, cologne, several cheap souvenir T-shirt from my city, a stock of maple leaf pens and pins

Every time I'm planning a trip to LOS I'm faced with the same old challenge: What sort of items shall I bring to friends there this time? Business associates are a different thing, there are established criteria for them; and I've read that "local souvenirs" from my home area are usually appreciated, but I like some variety.

In the past I've brought things that friends have mentioned they liked or couldn't find easily there, such as calendars, scenic picture books of the US or my state, candies, etc. One friend received the latest Harry Potter book that wasn't out yet in Thai.

Since I'll be there in about a month, I'm shopping and stocking up again. In addition to the inevitable suggestions of "necklaces, cash, rings, water buffalo, scooters", what would you bring?

What gifts have you brought to good friends that seemed to genuinely please them?

Thanks in advance, guys.

Deja vu...

www.sawatdee-gay-thailand.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1186&highlight=gifts (http://www.sawatdee-gay-thailand.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1186&highlight=gifts)

www.sawatdee-gay-thailand.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2047&highlight=gifts (http://www.sawatdee-gay-thailand.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2047&highlight=gifts)

A lot of Thais are soccer nuts. If yours is - a real souveneir from their favourite club.

[bao-bao]

Thank you, Joe. Those were good suggestions - I appreciate the link to the past thread. Here's a quick re-cap of some of what was listed there to save time, if anyone else is wondering:

Cologne
Levis 501
Nicely boxed chocolates and/or candies
Hand-held electronic games
Nice ties and belts
Shirts (if you know the size) that are not available in LOS
Liquor (Johnny Walker Black or Chivas seem to be the favorites)
Altoids mints (or other flavors)
Rechargeable razor or toothbrush
A shirt from their favorite soccer team
Underwear (CK or some brand that is NOT a Patong knock-off)

One of the better suggestions was to take the friend out shopping and let them help pick. I suppose that might work, too (within reason)!

If anyone has anything new or further to add here, please do.

As weird as it might sound, I once brought Mama some hot sauces from the US which she was absolutely craze about. I kept getting requests from the BF for more so he could give to Mama.

[AMARETTO-old]

Something I had bring on my last trip to Thailand was : I am using the translator as I don't know the word in english : carry-keys. It was a golden "carry-keys" from the wold's cup.
Here is a pic from it :http://upload4.postimage.org/1103990/schluesselanhaenger_pokal1.jpg (http://upload4.postimage.org/1103990/photo_hosting.html)

I brought 20 of them and they all seem happy with it (aunts, father, sisters, nephews, boyfriend, friends....). Maybe, you can find one with your city or country's emblem. Some of them are made with gold or silver for your special friends.

[allieb]

If its for BF then a mobile phone from your country that's a little different from the ones available in Thailand. If you can find one that's not available in Thailand then BF get a big high out of it when flashing it about with his friends. (Oh ! new model no have in Thailand yet) For other Thais then useable things like nice soaps. Things they would normally have to buy for day to day living and you have saved them the money

If its a Farang then ask him what he wants from wherever you are coming from. When people ask me what I want from London when coming to visit. I always ask for Marmite which is so difficult to find outside the UK. Better than the junk gifts which end up in a drawer and chucked away 10 years later. A friend of mine once asked me to bring some Yorkshire pudding mix to Pattaya he was a happy with that as BF was with his new mobile.

Apart from that we come to Thailand for shopping and everything is cheaper. Wait till you get there find out what people really want and buy it locally.

While it is not inexpensive, I have found my friend just loves Lucky Brand clothing from the US.

When you open the zipper of the jeans is spells out "LUCKY YOU" along the inside of the zipper. That garnished quite a few laughs the first time he saw it. With all the talk of luck in Thailand I knew these gifts couldn't go wrong.

They are made in the US and are of excellent quality. Fair warning. They are not inexpensive. A pair of jeans cost about $100 but they will last forever. I wear them myself and they are nice quality clothes that last.

They also sell t-shirts and other clothing items, along with cologne.

http://www.luckybrandjeans.com/default.aspx

http://www.luckybrandjeans.com/cImages/Website_0/type_132/LBX08767_126748.jpg
http://www.luckybrandjeans.com/cImages/Website_0/type_250/LBX08722_127237.jpg

It always modest bringing a lot off t-shirts XXXL, into Thailand for friend , friend and friends....

Thais loaf it ," the most popular soccer or is it sucker ? ". Well does not matter he's a hit any way !

http://upload4.postimage.org/1152174/22438_1.jpg (http://upload4.postimage.org/1152174/photo_hosting.html)

[bing]

I like the thought of bringing some nice things with me. American Levis 501 are No. 1, all the guys seem to like them if they are from America. You can probably get the same thing cheaper in the Royal Garden Shopping Mall. Really consider gifts that the guys will remember, take them to a dentist or Doctor if needed. When I give a gift it is to make me happy along with Thai guy. I observe surprise when I mention I want to take him to a dentist. I like the Dentists office across from temple on South Soi.

[bao-bao]

...would anyone have a recommendation for a dentist in Bangkok? I'd like to explore this for my friend and his nephew, who I'd guess has never been inside a dentist's office before.

[Brad the Impala]

The Dental Department of The Bangkok Nursing Home, Soi Convent, is great. We both got treated there recently, and we would both recommend it.

Something easy to sell, or better still CASH

My boyfriend loves things that are souvenirs of the other countries that I visit. I travel to Egypt a lot and sometimes combine trips to both places, flying on from Cairo to Bangkok. All the things that I would normally avoid, such as plastic masks of Tutankhamun, he loves.

He decorates his room with the things I get and a particular favourite is one of those glass spheres that has a model of a London bus inside and it snows when you turn it up side down. I just have to forget my own tastes and get him what he likes.

Cologne or aftershave is always welcome particularly if it's in a strange bottle with some sort of gimmick that will look good on the shelf over his sink.

One guy I know in Pattaya collects the empty cologne bottles so I have to be sure to get him one he's not had before.

My boyfriend likes some underwear which is better quality than the cheap stuff he buys although the last lot I gave him actually had "Made in Thailand" printed inside even though it was a genuine trendy brand. Getting him any other clothes is very difficult as he's so small.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y219/bkk_gwm/jeans.jpg

[Sen Yai]

bkkgwm, please consider the sensibilities of this community before posting such photos in poor taste.

If you wish to illustrate low-cut jeans, please post more images like this:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v291/SenYai/lowpink.jpg

How about a compromise? Have him pose in the ultra-low-rise jeans? :drunken:

[Doug]

As I mentioned before, I brought several gifts from Canada for BS. As a joke, while on the planes to get here, I collected all the freebees you can get on the plane and gave them to him in a nice bag. Well I'll tell you, he just went nuts over this stuff. Even though I had new regular toothbrushes, he only uses the little one from the airline. The flimsy slip-on sandals from Eva are a must while in the apartment. And his friends get the full story of each item when they visit. It's justa hoot.

BTW no proxy needed this morning.

PS. Any errors are due to the fact that many of the letters have wore off the keyboard here and for a hunt and peck typist. it's the shits.