Sooner or later, one of your electronic gizmos will go on the fritz while you’re in the tropics. Here at WoWasis, our USB thumb drive went out while we were in Bangkok. It stores all our backups, and we wanted to preserve some of the data on it before buying another drive. We were referred […]
Read the rest of this entry »Archive for the 'Shopping & Fashion' Category
Bangkok’s streetside sewing & shoe repair: good quality, great price, and close!
Quite a few visitors to Thailand have told us here at WoWasis that they like the quality and price of streetside shoe repair and sewing so much that they actually bring their shoes and clothes from home to be repaired here. It’s cheaper than repair in their own countries, or buying new. In all Thai […]
Read the rest of this entry »Electric shaver in Bangkok: Where do I find pre-shave lotion?
Here at WoWasis, we found out the hard way that hardly anyone in Bangkok uses electric shavers. On our last flight, our pre-shave lotion broke open in the luggage and all was lost, so we had to buy pre-shave lotion for our Norelco electric shaver after arrival in Bangkok. And we found that nobody sells […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: Martin Booth’s ‘The Dragon Syndicates’
If, like those of us here at WoWasis, you’re a veteran traveler in SE Asia, you’ve done business with the Triads, the underworld syndicates that have their hands in businesses ranging from noodle shops, to food carts, to politics. That goes for some Western cities too, including London, New York, and cities in the San […]
Read the rest of this entry »Miserable shopping experience for WoWasis in Taipei airport
The bookstore at the departure lounge in Taipei airport was staffed by three people, a girl at the cash register, a guy stacking magazines, and another guy just walking around. Your WoWasis correspondents noticed a high-design writing pen behind a locked glass door, selling for USD $150, and we wanted to see it, so asked […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis Top 5 sights in Rangoon (Yangon) Burma
Tour Yangon now! Welcome to Rangoon (also known as Yangon), with its amazing golden Shwedagon Temple, traditional architecture, and ubiquitous tearooms. WoWasis visitors will find Rangoon to be a fascinating, rambling city mixing new and old. At night you’re likely turn a corner to find a street taken over by a raucously fascinating puppet theatre […]
Read the rest of this entry »One way to beat the heat: why WoWasis loves Thailand’s Prickly Heat Powder
There are lots of ways to beat the extreme temperatures of Southeast Asia, beginning with cold beer and aircon. But one of WoWasis’ favorites is the liberal use of Snake Brand’s Prickly Heat Powder, which you can use for a lot of stuff, and it’s cheap and readily available, too. It’s usually sold in a […]
Read the rest of this entry »Shops & markets in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Shopping opportunities abound in Kuala Lumpur, with everything ranging from high end boutique items to brand-name knock-offs that keep international lawyers busy. Jalan Petaling: Same Old, Same Old, Day and Night By day, on two blocks of one of Chinatown’s main streets, you can visit Chinese shops selling everything from incense to dresses, but by […]
Read the rest of this entry »Lacquerware in Chiang Mai, Thailand
There are still a few lacquerware shops operating in and around the Chiang Mai area. Chiang Mai lacquerware was designed to provide a waterproof finish to bowls, trays, and cabinets, utilizing lacquer produced from a tree found in Burma and northern Thailand. Today, lacquer, which is officially banned in Thailand due to its toxicity, is […]
Read the rest of this entry »Antiquities and Crafts Shopping in Bangkok
Bangkok is one of the world’s meccas for antiquities, fine arts, and crafts shopping. Here, you’ll find everything from age-old statuary to stunning tribal crafts, in venues ranging from the large to the out-of the way. Virtually every Bangkok visitor will have heard of the venerable Chatuchak weekend market, but for the buyer with a […]
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