THE BOUTIQUES @ SIAM SQUARE ONE

I was super excited when Siam Square One opened since I kept seeing the construction works while I stand on the Siam BTS platform for a period of about two years on past trips. 

Then I was kinda disappointed when I finally got to visit it some months ago. No air-condition in public spaces! I'm one who whispers a big THANK YOU! to the inventor of air-condition(er) whenever I walk into cool air from the Sahara Desert outside. At this huge mall, they have it at the basement where the little shops gather but it's free Bangkok air from the ground floor up. Hot but true!

Aside from this unfortunate state of eco-friendliness, the mall does have its good share of terrific restaurants (separate blog post) and local brands. So please adopt a very Zen and unperturbed state of mind, battle the heat out and sashay immaculately from store to store.

I am a huge fan of Thai retail design and in this mall, there are quite a few that are just eye-catching inside out. They tempt me in, even if it's just to window shop. And once inside, the design and creativity of the products are often Bangkok WOW worthy.

The Concept boutique is one of the very few here that has plenty of sartorial choices for the male customers.

Labrador has excellent accessories and stuff you don't really need but absolutely desire. 

At Very WHALE, I'm very impressed at their very extremely happy collection of printed bags and accessories this season. 

COTTO CURIOUS is an interesting concept store. It serves coffee and cakes and has a motorbike parked in it but the rest of the space seems to be for different collaborations that changed every time I popped by. It could be an exhibition, a new hi-tech product, or a combination of various interesting launches. 

On the top floor, which is now de rigueur with many new malls, are the many skin and lazer clinics that don't claim to promote extreme makeovers. But if you try everything they promote, it can also make you become a Jackie Chan who asked "WHO AM I ?". Not on top of a mountain like he did in the movie but in front of a mirror, most probably!

I shall end this post with something not terribly glamorous but it is something I like to encourage. Have your teeth cleaned and scaled in Bangkok. It's so much cheaper (like half the price when I compare it to Q&M) and executed in a better environment than that squeezy space you have to endure in Singapore. There is almost one in every shopping mall in Bangkok and I treat it as an hour's rest when my feet are tired from all that walking. 

At Inspire Smile on the top floor of Siam Square One, cleaning and scaling is 900 Baht, which seems to be the going rate in malls at Bangkok.