Clothes, shoes and accessories

While Orchard Road in Singapore (in the picture) and Pat Pong in Bangkok are regular fare, go through them with a fine tooth comb and you will find shops where you are not likely to bump into your local dabba shopwallah.

At Pat Pong, you will discover acrylic shoes with bright sunflowers and strings, string bikinis to go with the shoes, amazingly packaged 'Friends' T-shirts that make great looking gifts and fake Diesel bags that are hard to tell from the original!

Of course, for the more tasteful, there is always the Peruzzi leather shop in Venice. And there is great stuff on the Venetian streets as well -- bags, glass beads and knit scarves in a city known for its legacy of crystal, lace and elegant leather products.

If you are trotting across Amsterdam, do it with authentic clogs. Take a day tour to the village of Edam and buy yourself a pair of traditional clogs from the clog-making factory there.