星期四 [ 2010-1-7 10:28:27 | watches1013 ]   Faking On Fantasy Island Byline: FIONA DUFF the thai. bad for the Thais, good for visitors. Last year a pound would have got you around 45 baht, this year it's about 70. 'Buy jewellery,' a friend urged before I went. Buy anything became my motto. The island is awash with shops and stalls. Every beach is festooned with sarong sellers and brightly coloured batiks flutter in the wind. A glance of interest sparks off a frenzy and you discover that the thrill of bartering lands you with another beach wraparound for less than the price of a gin and tonic. T The main shopping drag is the beachfront in Patong, the main island resort. Here, among more sarongs, all is not what it seems. This is where tourists come for Rolex watches, Prada hand bags with slightly dodgy stitching and Gucci shirts, belts and wallets, all of them fake of course. If there's a logo you like, it'll be here, stamped on a T-shirt and yours for [pounds sterling]2.50. Bargain hunting becomes the main topic of conversation: 'I got a DKNY shopping bag for 400, reduced from 1,100,' 'My fake Cartier watch cost 600 baht and I got a silk scarf thrown in.' If it ever becomes an Olympic sport, Patong would be the perfect training ground. The fakes are, of course, what shopping in Thailand is famous for. titanium Corrosion Necklace On the day I left, the Phuket Gazette's headline announced the shock news: 'Patong is notorious as one of the world's leading purveyors of counterfeit clothing and watches.' Somehow I don't think the thousands of tourists haggling with stall-holders would have been surprised. The stalls are open late into the night, and tourists from all over Phuket come to shop. While dresses and sarongs are generally slightly cheaper from beachside stalls, and the best bargains are to be found in LOW-GO: Fake Phuket town in shops where the locals go, the atmosphere in Patong would be very hard to beat. Of course, everyone in Phuket knows someone who can help you part with money. A taxi driver we met, with the unfortunate name of Porn, took us to a silk shop where his sister worked and then arranged for his wife to make a dress. She did fabulous job and delivered it to the hotel within two days. Jewellery is very much in evidence. Phuket is a fairly major source of freshwater and cultured pearls, and sapphires, diamonds, rubies and many semiprecious stones are offered in every shop. But it would probably be inadvisable to shell out a large amount on baubles unless you know what you are doing. In our hotel bar sat Janice, who was beginning to worry about a ring she had bought for [pounds sterling]230. One guest suggested she had it valued on return to Britain, but perhaps that would make things worse. We were taken to Wang Thalang, just outside Phuket town which according to Porn is 'not rip-off place'. Then again, he is probably on a commission for carting tourists along. Still, they were game for a haggle and I bought a very garish topaz for about [pounds sterling]25. Replica Gucci Phuket caters for every size of wallet. There are still cheap hotels, but the Caribbean-style inclusive club hotels like those on recently developed Bang Thao Bay (also known as Laguna Beach) offer a fantastic holiday with everything on the doorstep, while still allowing the opportunity to travel between the hotels along the beach as well as laying on trips to Phuket town and Patong. Other articles:http://www.chinazgw.cn/Blog/View/?365 http://www.autoport.com.cn/Blog/View/?497 浏览(420) | 回复(0) |