Welcoming over 20 million foreign tourists each year, Thailand has certainly earned its reputation as being one of the top international shopping and tourist destinations of the world. So much so, that one of the most popular tourist activities in Thailand is in fact shopping, alongside visiting pristine beaches and masquerading in its outrageous night life that is.
The best shopping deals, as any seasoned shopper will tell you, are locally grown or produced products, especially textiles such as clothing, silk, handicrafts and even luxury goods like precious colored gemstones and gold and silver jewelry. Shopping the local outdoor open-air markets can be tremendous fun and there are many deals to be found, especially with low priced budget goods (many of which are imitations of branded designer products) on offer. However, when it comes to luxury goods, such as jewelry and precious colored gemstones, it's worth paying a little extra for quality and deal only with reputable vendors.
Chanthaburi is known as the gemstone capital of the world. Precious colored gemstones from all over the world are brought to Chanthaburi to be cut, polished and traded. Following the trend of a large gem trade, it was inevitable that soon a sizeable jewelry industry would develop alongside as well. And so it did, Thailand is now producing high quality gold and silver designs for the international marketplace. The assortment of colored gemstones available in Chanthaburi ranges from white diamonds to rare rubies and sapphire and to every other kind of precious gem imaginable.
Gems of all types and all qualities are traded in Chanthaburi, including industrial grade, commercial grade, fine quality and top grade, world-class gemstones. There is also a strong thriving synthetic gem industry as well. Being aware of what you're buying and paying fair market prices for any particular gem type and grade is important to all and since most high quality gemstones are expensive even when traded at wholesale prices, consumers must indeed be aware.
It's a known fact that most tourists traveling to Thailand will not be gem experts, so finding reliable and honest dealers is paramount and the task of finding good dealers is complicated even more by the fact that many of the best gem trade dealers do not have easily found and accessible street-level retail shops. Instead, most wholesale dealers will have offices tucked away in areas that most passer-by's wouldn't be passing by at all.
GemSelect suggests researching your Thailand gemstone shopping expectations on the internet before you arrive in Bangkok or Chanthaburi. At GemSelect, we upload our entire virtual catalog of inventory directly on our website, including full details, accurate pictures and updated prices, so we invite you to browse our gems and compare our gem specifications and prices with other gem dealers before you come to Thailand so you can protect yourself from scrupilous gem trader's fraudulent attempts. We also have the largest archive of gemstone and jewelry articles, so you can easily learn all about how to choose and purchase precious colored gemstones. All of our gemstones come with GemSelect's guarantee of 100% authenticity and although many of our precious gems are already certified by independent gemological laboratories, all of our gems can be ordered with additional gem certification if required.