Guenmai

HI...i'm sitting in the Emporium Mall in Bangkok at the internet cafe and I just passed the site of the Paragon Mall on the sky train. It's on the site of the old Siam Intercontinental hotel...where I used to stay...which is at Siam Skytrain stop next to the Siam Shopping Center. As for textiles...I collect them too, but didn't buy any serious ones on this trip to Bangkok. The River City Mall has gone down a bit. I bought handpainted Indonesian batik on silk down in Singapore last week. There is a Batik specialist on Arab Street that I go to. It took 6 months to produce my piece. The price was about one-third the cost of batik at Bin House...the Indonesian textile shop in Singapore and down in Indonesia...and the quality I bought was higher than Binhouse. It's good I bought some textiles there since I haven't been lucky in Bangkok. But if you want some nice pieces of Thai cloth to use for sarongs or table runners then go to the Amarin Plaza...one stop from the Siam skytrain stop at the Chitlom stop and there is a place on the third floor called Come Thai that has great pieces. I have to get over there now to pick up my custom-made, Thai raw-silk sarong. I picked a piece of fabric, but it was too short...folks here are about 5 feet tall...so the owner will add 6 inches to the waist to lengthen it...all for 1400 baht. I've done business with her over the years and like her. Happy Travels!