Shopping / Appliances
Electric power in Thailand is 220 volt (50 cycle) like in most European countries, Australia and Japan but unlike the US (110 volts). Sockets are not standardized though most are for two pin plugs.
TV’s, radios etc are slightly cheaper in Bangkok than in Europe. Most of them are Japanese brands. They are, however, normally manufactured in Thailand.
Computers and peripherals, on the contrary, are slightly more expensive in Thailand than either in Europe or the Asian shopping cities of Hong Kong and Singapore. However, as the government has abolished luxury taxes on computers in mid-1991, the trend is for prices to become almost as low as in Europe. There is much less danger of being cheated outright in computer stores in Bangkok than in Hong Kong.
As of this writing (November 1991), pirated software is available at almost any computer store in Bangkok, and often it’s even openly advertised. A going rate seems to be just 20 Baht per double density and 40 Baht per high density program diskette copied.
Also available are cheap reprints of computer books. It very much seems that these books are reprinted illegally as there is generally no note indicating that they are legal reprints (and reprints they are for sure as can be judged by the cheap paper used). Prices of manuals are about 25% of what they are in Europe or the US.
That pirated software as well as manuals will be available long beyond this writing may be doubted. The US Business Software Alliance, an association of software producers, has become increasingly active in mid-1991 and it has been announced that Thai law enforcement agencies are set to raid on behalf of the Business Software Alliance shops that have been selling pirated software in the past.
The best address for computer shopping (hardware, software, literature) is the Pantip Plaza shopping center on Petchburi Rd. There are about two dozen computer shops. In some of the shops the staff isn’t very knowledgeable and doesn’t speak much English. This writer found Byfar, owned by the Thai Indian Sarab Paul, one of the best around there. Sarab Paul speaks English well. To get to Pantip Plaza from the Sukhumvit area is simple: any aircon bus No 11 from Sukhumvit Rd passes Pantip Plaza.
Not only computer software and manuals are pirated but also tapes. Pirated cassette and video tapes are sold everywhere but the quality can vary and is often poor. Along Sukhumvit Rd ambulant vendors sell copies even of latest releases for 20 Baht. Imported classical and popular records and CD’s as well as tapes are available in department and music stores.
At Penang Market in Klong Toey (see above) appliances are said to be cheaper than anywhere else in Bangkok. According to the Traveller’s Guide to Thailand, published locally by Saen Sanuk, Penang Market is "chiefly for electrical goods that have mysteriously fallen overboard from the ships which come to the port. The good have also mysteriously lost all tax levies and thus they are cheaper than the department stores - guarantees are dubious and pretty well worthless. Check the products because sometimes they have been recycled."
Along Sukhumvit Road, between Soi 33 and Soi 39, are a number of fairly large stores specializing in lighting equipment.
Photographic film is, according to Asiaweek of August 16, 1991, more expensive in Thailand than in Singapore, Malaysia or Hong Kong but cheaper than in Indonesia, the Philippines or Japan (where it costs around 30% more).
| 
