What have been your best buys?

[Miss Jolly]

We had this thread last year on the Baltic board and it was very helpful so I thought I would start one off for the asian ports. So if you have bought something very special to you, or come across some fantastic bargains in your travels, could you please share it here? We would like to know what you bought, where you bought it and its approximate price. Also whether bartering was part of the process involved.

[Spikesgirl]

Miss Jolly, if you'd like to drop me an email at charliekirby@comcast.net, I'd be happy to share our Bangkok to Beijing diary with you. It details many of the purchases that we made during the cruise.

 

Off the top of my head, the best buys were: pearls, lacquer ware, batik material, and Mao watches (the favored souvenir 5 to1).

[mrlevin]

Vietnam - silk. Silk lanterns for $4 each. Marble at Marble Mountain. Knock off of everything in Saigon.

 

Shanghai - pearls. Many strand for around $10. Watches anywhere from $4 - $14. Ball caps for less than $1. Slime for less than $1.

 

Japan - kimono, obi, swords, furniture, screen, dolls, china, ceramics.

 

Cambodia - hand carved walking stick $5.

 

Bangkok - suits - one 100% cashmere and one 100% silk $300 total.

 

Hong Kong - clothing at Stanley Market; Jade at Jade Market.

 

Singapore - just electronics.

[Keith1010]

Vietnam, great place to bring home gifts for family and friends. Very reasonable prices.

 

Bangkok. We went to Jim Thompson. Lots of great ties (long and bow ties for men), lots of beautiful purses many that are made of silks and easy to pack for women along with many other types of clothing.

 

Hong Kong. There are several clothings stores in the Peninsuila Hotel. I had a custom tuxedo made for me and a couple of custom tuxedo shirts.

 

Keith

[Miss Jolly]

Thank you. Let's keep it going. Hello Keith101. You were wonderful help to me in planning our trip latr year. Nice to hear from you again.

Jen

[whitey02]

going on the navigator in september

but would love to try an aisian cruise , can anyone reccomend a cruise line and intinary its our 25th annivery next july and would love to do something different as we have sailed round the med many times

thankyou

x

[Pop-I]

Fine & Rhine - two shops - one in Kowloon, one on HK island. For knock-off Judith Liebers (around $200 each, but you get what you pay for - the crystals fall off after a few uses); snd she has great clothing that's a season ahead of what will be in Barneys.

Eyeglass frames, at any optical shop - about 1/2 of what you'll pay back home; and they will even put prescription is - but they use glass, so just get frames and bring home.

Cashmere sweaters - good shop in the Peninsula

[jstducky]

Not sure where your cruise goes and when you'll be in Bangkok, but if you are there on a weekend and have the opportunity, you must go to the Jatujak weekend market. It is the largest outdoor market in the world. It's enormous and has everything Thai that you could possibly want. And it's all about bargaining, it's part of the experience.

[suekay]

Whitey02

 

Just did a quick search for Asia cruises July 2009. Sun Princess do a 14 night cruise from Australia to ?Singapore, Costa Allegra does a 14 night from/to Singapore (good itinerary) and Costa Classica do a couple of 6 nighters from Shanghai. IMHO Princess is far superior for the cruise experience, but we did Costa Classica for the Middle East itinerary and it was OK as an overnight taxi. Most cruiselines don't do the Far East at that time of year

[whitey02]

suekay

 

THANKS VERY MUCH FOR THE INFO

I WILL LOOK INTO THESE CRUISES

X