Buy Thai!
Buy Thai!
July 20th, 2007*Please allow for preferential hiring of recently furloughed garment workers.
The beefy baht has soared to nosebleed heights and imports of luxury goods have reached nearly US$5 billion—the 2006 GDP of the Caribbean island of Haiti. Sure, it’s been 10 years since things were this cheap, but don’t succumb to the easy lure of buying foreign goods. In the interests of the “sufficiency economy” and the government’s new “Campaign to Increase People’s Awareness of Using Thai Goods,” we’ve compiled a list of perfectly good, homegrown substitutes to some of the more popular imported luxury goods and services.
| Foreign | Home grown |
| Washer and dryer | A maid* |
| Week of rehab in Switzerland | Monk ordination |
| MP3 players | Custom ring tones |
| Spa slimming | Prik kee noo |
| Paris Fashion Week | Nang Len on Friday night |
| Foie gras | Taap yaang |
| Chanel No. 5 | Nahm op |
| Foreign pop stars | Katoey look-alikes |
| MAC cosmetics | Uthai Thip |
| Designer diamond pendants | Jatukham amulets |
| Whitening creams |
Clorox ‘n’ Crisco |
| Offshore investments in USD | Thai Gold in clay pots |
.jpg "Escape Routes: Nov14, 2008")
