Pratunam is Bangkok's garment heartland, a frenetic grid of wholesale and retail clothing markets crammed into the blocks around the Pratunam intersection. The sprawling Pratunam Market and the towering Platinum Fashion Mall draw shoppers and small-business buyers from across the region hunting for cheap clothes, accessories, and fabric by the bagful.
The area is also a transport hub, with express boats on the Saen Saep canal cutting across town and the Airport Rail Link station at nearby Ratchaprarop. Looming over it all is Baiyoke Tower II, for years the tallest building in Thailand, with an observation deck and revolving restaurant near the top.
It is a working, sweaty, bargaining sort of place rather than a polished one -- come for the shopping and the energy, not the sightseeing.