Silver/flatware/antiques

Start at the top of Soi Oriental (Charoen Krung Soi 40) and walk down towards Mandarin Oriental (see Accom), detouring into the little soi on your right to find at #9 Lin Jewelers / 02 234 2819 / linjewelers.com / for great picture frames, cufflinks and earrings, they can even engrave same day. Now totter down the soi and on your right you’ll see a large shabby old teak joint, Thai Home Industries / 02 234 1736 / where time has stood still and so have the shop assistants; no one has whipped round with a duster, ever. That said, it’s a rich repository of pearlware, bronze and nickel trenchers, flat and tableware. If it’s not in stock you can order. Behind this store on Soi 38 is O.P. Place / 02 266 0186 / which contains a cornucopia of swink-a-dink shopportunity from fashion to leather goods and jewels including Uma / G/F / for tasteful silver baubles and trinkets in glass and stone; objets d’art at Objects / 2/F / 2266 0186; and the divine antiques specialist Ashwood Gallery / 3/F / 02 266 0187 / the last word on Asian art. Swoon at how so many exquisite items came to be in one room; marvel at how you can’t afford any of them. Cry. Leave. Come out of O.P. Place, back onto Soi 38 and walk towards the main road Charoen Krung. Thirsty? Tongue Thai at #18-20 / 02 630 9918 / is in a little soi on your left. Totter back up to Charoen Krung Rd. and head left, hail a cab and alight at a row of shophouses called Captain Bush Art & Antique Collection, on the corner of Soi 30. Nip down the soi and a couple of stores to the left is Four Sisters in Gallery Café / 02 639 5580 / for beaded bags and frocks and Thai tucker plus upstairs Nuad-sa-bai / 02 639 5580 / for a handy Thai, Swedish or foot massage. Refreshed? Exit from the back of the café into the car park and skedaddle into Art 328 at #1112 for Chinese heirlooms, opium beds and medicine cabinets and Lek Gallery at #1124 / 02 639 5870 / has Thai and Burmese antiques. Retrace across the car park back onto Soi 30 and then head left, taking the first left into a cul-de-sac to find all the deliciously idiosyncratic bronze and brass designer tables at P. Tendercool (see Advanced Shopping), and more antiques, sculpture and C.18-19th Chinese furniture at Grusenmeyer / 02 266 4344 / grusenmeyer.be. Then simply trot to the end of the soi and bear right past the back of Sheraton to find the huge, four-storey cache of antique (and fauxtique) treasures at River City / Yotha Rd. / off Charoen Krung Rd. / 02 237 0077 / rivercity.co.th. Bargain like a bugger, and let caveat emptor be your motto. Some of the finest pieces are to be found at #322 The Verandah and #345 Pagoda (see Antiques). Phannee Tableware at #252 has an embarrassing name and a great range of coconut, horn, shell and pearl cutlery; Old Maps & Prints / classicmaps.com / at #432 sells beautiful… you guessed it; and Old Time at #402-405 carries a good selection of antique Euro clocks. Dry as an old stick? Run the escalator to the G/F and grab a riverside cocktail at Viva Aviv The River / 02 639 6305. / cont’d