Thailand - Pantip Plaza (Bangkok)

on-going promo with gorgeous dancers performing outside

I have read and heard about this indoor IT mall since I started visiting Thailand. This place is known as an IT and electronic paradise according to some write-ups. Nothing great I told myself thus I didn't even bother to visit the place during my previous stay in Thailand since I thought I can find all my IT and electronic needs in Manila especially at SM North Annex. I remember, the only time I spent in Pantip PLaza was when I watched a dance sales promo outside its main doors last year. However, my initial impression with Pantip Plaza was shattered due to two circumstances. 

Few months back, my youngest kid complained that his Ipod Shuffle USB connector was broken, as usual. I wasn't surprised because most of his gadgets eventually ended up in trash especially those with cables such as ear & head phones, USB chargers and so on. In short, I bought him from CD-R King an ipod Shuffle replacement cable for around 180 pesos, as I remember. Few weeks back, the replacement cable went kaput. Nothing to worry. I told my wife to purchase another replacement cable from CD-R King. The cable was out-of-stock in all CD-R King branches for quite some time thus I started to get worried. From that time I started seeing on my FB wall about an "unusable Ipod Shuffle" and pictures of damaged connector. When I arrived at home last week, I can't bear seeing him using his Champ mobile phone to listen to his music and if he wasn't satisfied he'd use our Yamaha stereo. I need to act fast. Otherwise, I'd go crazy whenever he played those "noises" on our stereo.

In addition to the above, I bought my daughter a couple of years back an Asus netbook, Eee PC 1000H netbook. After a year, the battery went dead. My wife and I have been searching for a replacement battery in Philippines and in Dubai duty free ever since. Sad to say, we were not able to find a replacement battery even from Asus distributor in Philippines. I pity my daughter because she had to bring with her the charger wherever she will use her netbook.

Because of this, I begged my wife to allocate some time in searching for those items in Pantip Plaza; we were in Pratunam area last weekend to purchase merchandise for our daughter's new online shop. Fortunately, Pantip Plaza remains open until 9 pm hence after our shopping galore at Platinum mall, it closes at 7 pm; we trekked down to Pantip Plaza. I wasn't expecting much though because we have been frantically searching for these items in Manila for quite some time without any luck. Actually, we focused in Manila's shopping malls only since we have no time to visit other places such as Quiapo and Divisoria.

Upon entering Pantip Plaza, I felt that maybe we'd find the items we were searching for since the place was teeming with all electronics items I can dream of. This building is truly a shopping paradise for those who are looking for consumer electronic and IT products.

We approached one mobile shop and asked for Ipod Shuffle cable. Unfortunately, they didn't have replacement cable; they have original Ipod Shuffle set only. Nevertheless, they asked their assistant to search for the cable and after 10 minutes we were testing the new cable. The price tag was 250 Baht but I was able to haggle it down to 150 Baht. I tried my luck, I asked if they have replacement battery for my daughter's netbook. After 30 minutes I have the item in my hand. The initial price was 1650 Baht with one year warranty but I was able to lower it down to 1500 Baht. I knew it was quite expensive but considering the effort we spent looking for it I never regretted paying that much for I knew that my daughter would truly enjoy using her netbook with a new and working battery.

We decided not to explore Pantip Plaza anymore after we have purchased these two items due to fatigue and sore legs and feet.

Hence, as what my Thai friend once told me, you will find all the electronic and IT items you need in Pantip Plaza including pirated DVD and CD; he was correct indeed.

By the way, Pantip Plaza is just one building away from Platinum mall along Phetchaburi road. Diamond Plaza is in between them.