pantip
By far the best place to go in Bangkok for any sort of computer-related products is the five-storey Pantip Plaza in Pratu Nam, near the impressive Central World shopping mall. Prices are predictably cheap and the range rather extensive, though not that many vendors speak an awful lot of English.
pantip bangkokThe Plaza houses hundreds of hardware and software shops as well as a couple of booths on the ground floor. In this very same complex are fast food, restaurants, coffee shops and a somewhat scruffy food court. Near the main entrance, there’s even a KFC to cater to Chavvy visitors!
In case you run short of cash, there’s plenty of cash machines within the mall as well as a money changer at the nearby bank. Watch out for Nigerian scammers though.
And while there is a huge variety of computer-related products for sale on the cheap, Pantip is most associated with the massive amount of pirated software available. A lot of them are located in booths right next to factor outlets. For some reason, they just co exist in perfect harmony. There are literally tonnes of different vendors shifting hacked versions of software of all sorts and they’re usually the most up-to-date too.
When in Pantip, haggling over price is what they call a time-honoured tradition. Last month I went to pick up a 160GB external hard drive that finally cost me a mere 2000 baht (£35/$65) and, yes, it did come with the box and 3-year warranty.
And to those of you highly sensitive gits, don’t be offended by the guys approaching you saying “CD” (”seedy” more like) in a bid to sell you pornos. They do this to virtually everyone regardless of your horny look or not. Obviously, they’re just doing their job so it’s best just to ignore them unless you want to add some new titles to your fast-growing collection!
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