Some great deals to be had (in the right place) ...

[Smiles]

Thailand is well know for cliches as well as great looking young men (and some older and wiser :blackeye: ): One of the favourite annoyances is that Thailand is the Land of the Cheap Copy . . . ubiquitous fake Louis Vuitton bags (those brown ones with that chintzy looking LV logo plastered over the entire surface, and of course the ever-present Rolex floggers, whom even they themselves admit that the thing might just last the length of your holiday before biting the dust. One guy in Patong actually said that to me.

But I have two finds which (of course discovered serendipitously) tell me that with enough diligence and willingness to wander markets for lengthy periods of times that one really can find gems and really-good-deals every so often here.
Both these examples were found in my Thai home town, Hua Hin . . . one at the main touristy Farang night market, and the second at another HH market just outside of town aways, which, although always crowded, is majority Thai folks.

This leather messenger bag is the ultimate perfection in a man's shoulder bag . . . just big enough for all the junk, just small enough to loop over the shoulder without feeling the weight too much. This baby carries my wallet, keys, extension docs, the Kindle, the phone, a few bananas, wet wipes, face cloth, reading-plus-sun glasses with hardly a bulge to be seen. I can stuff more in if I wish, but travelling light is my middle name (and desire).
It's got beautiful soft leather in a sweet colour, well lined with a strong clothe which has the Mulberry of England doodad on it, and inside a Mulberry tag, and outside the Mulberry embossed on the leather itself. It's the real deal, not a knockoff: and simply the best bag I've ever bought. 1200 Baht!
I presume it's an old model Mulberry, the closest one on their website shows the same bag with one extra improvement mine doesn't possess. And it's listed at over 500 pounds.
Don't know how do they do it for the money???!!!





The second Great Find was, appropriately, second hand. The less-than-touristy market in Hua Hin (unlike the one selling the above) abounds in second stuff. I love these places (both in Thailand and in Canada ... where I once scammed a perfectly fine Gloverall wool duffel coat for 20 bucks) but in Thailand shopping for shoes is a mugs game when one has size 12 feet (and beyond).
Cruising through the little 2nd hand shops in the market a few years ago my eyes glombed onto these puppies: real Birkenstock Sandals in a very manly navy blue leather and looking like they'd never been worn. And my perfect size: We're in heaven.
And the price? 400 baht. These very same model clodhoppers sell for 3500 baht in my home town in Canada.
I wear them still (as I carry the bag) and they've molded to my feet as good Birkenstock's do. Have to be careful on the beach though: the sand and salt grind them down out of proportion to their age ... so the beach demands plastic or rubber anything.





Try looking yourself in some crowded market somewhere in the boonies. You'll be surrounded on all sides with shite (shite being where the money lies), but I guarantee you that there are gems hidden there if you have the patience to look for them.

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[arsenal]

I love the bag. Completely gorgeous.

[arsenal]

And to continue the theme..The shop on the right hand side just before you get to Walking Street sells beautiful Thai silk shirts (large size) for 150 Baht.

[dab69]

those sandals will look great with matching dark blue socks.

[arsenal]

Socks with sandals.....no no no.

[Beachlover]

How do they do it for the money?

Easy... Stolen intellectual property. Zero design costs. Zero market research. Zero advertising costs. Zero investment in brand marketing. 80% of the stuff legitimate businesses need to do to put a viable product on the market is skipped.

[Thor69]

How do they do it for the money? Easy... Stolen intellectual property. Zero design costs. Zero market research. Zero advertising costs. Zero investment in brand marketing. 80% of the stuff legitimate businesses need to do to put a viable product on the market is skipped.

That sounds exactly like how most asian countries operate. You expect THEM to respect intellectual property laws?
Maybe in your dreams! :glasses7:

[cottmann]

How do they do it for the money?

Easy... Stolen intellectual property. Zero design costs. Zero market research. Zero advertising costs. Zero investment in brand marketing. 80% of the stuff legitimate businesses need to do to put a viable product on the market is skipped.

And if you read US history about how it developed its industries after gaining independence, you will find that that is exactly what the Americans did to kick-start their own industrial development. See, e.,

Trade Secrets: Intellectual Piracy and the Origins of American Industrial Power. By Doron S. Ben-Atar. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004. xxii, 281 pp. $38.00, isbn 0-300-10006-X.)
Lawrence A. Peskin
+ Author Affiliations
Morgan State University Baltimore, Maryland
Doron S. Ben-Atar offers a provoking answer to the question of how American manufacturers achieved industrial dominance: They cheated. Americans stole much of the technology associated with the early industrial revolution, often with governmental support.


Pots and kettles

[jolyjacktar]

And of course Smiles wears his sandles with his white socks on thinking how trendy he looks.

Judging by some of the sights I see daily (some of whom would look better in a Hallowe-en mask), I really think many members ought to look in the mirror before criticising somebody over the completely trivial matter of whether they wear socks with sandals or not.

:laughing3: