Entertainment in Bangkok

Entertainment in Bangkok

Food and Drink

There are many Asian and European restaurants. Thai food is hot and spicy, but most tourist restaurants tone down the food for Western palates. Most Thai food is prepared with fresh ingredients and lemon grass and coriander are often added to enhance flavours. Rice is commonly eaten with most meals and generally the various dishes ordered are shared by all the diners. Excellent food can be found at the stalls of the many street vendors around the country. Popular fruits are papaya, jackfruit, mangosteens, rambutans, pomelos (similar to grapefruits) and, above all, durians, which farangs (foreigners) either love or hate. Owing to the strong smell of durians, the majority of hotels do not allow them onto the premises.

Things to know: Bars have counter or table service. There are no licensing laws.

National specialities:
• Tom yam (a coconut-milk soup prepared with makroot leaves, ginger, lemon grass, prawns or chicken).
• Gang pet (hot ’red’ curry with coconut milk, herbs, garlic, chillies, shrimp paste, coriander and seasoning) served with rice.
• Pad Thai (stir-fried rice-noodles) served with shrimp or chicken garnished with peanuts.
• Desserts include salim (sweet noodles in coconut milk).
• Well worth trying is sticky rice and mangoes (rice cooked in coconut milk served with slices of mango). This is a favorite breakfast dish in the mango harvest season (March to May).

National drinks:
• Local whisky, Mekhong and rum SamSong are very popular.
• Singha and Singha Gold are locally made beers which dominate the domestic market.
• Coconut milk straight from the shell during the harvest season is particularly refreshing in the heat and humidity.

Legal drinking age: The post-coup government has proposed raising the legal drinking age from 18 to 20.

Tipping: Most hotels and restaurants will add 10% service charge and 7% government tax to the bill.

Nightlife in Bangkok

Bangkok offers a wide range of entertainment venues, from nightclubs, pubs, bars, cinemas and restaurants (many of which are open air), to massage parlors, pool halls and cocktail lounges. The nightlife is concentrated in two districts of Bangkok - Patpong (between Silom and Surawong roads) and Soi Cowboy (Sukhumvit Road) and every night both areas are thronged with people. Bangkok’s sex industry is as blatant and booming as ever.

Many venues are open all day and late into the night, although bars and clubs are supposed to close at 0200. Sometimes there is an admission fee but this usually includes one or two drinks. The dress code is very relaxed, although a few of the nightclubs do enforce smarter dress. There are no casinos in Thailand as gambling is illegal.

Performances of traditional religious and court dances can be seen at the Thailand Cultural Center and Patravadi Theater in Bangkok. Elsewhere on the mainland, nightlife takes the form of traditional dances. The islands are renowned for their nightlife, and attendance is almost exclusively by foreigners. The full moon parties are notorious and continue well into the following morning. Performances of the infamous katoeys (lady boys) are worth a visit, with the most famous at the Calypso Cabaret in the Asia Hotel in Bangkok.

Shopping in Bangkok

Thailand is one of the best places in Asia for bargain hunting and visitors will be spoilt for choice with the huge, glitzy shopping malls, department stores, small shops and bustling street markets. Both Bangkok and Chiang Mai have excellent night markets. Good buys include Thai silks and cottons, leather goods, batiks, silver and gold, pottery with celadon green glaze, precious and semiprecious stones (in particular rubies and sapphires are indigenous to Thailand), pearls, dolls, masks, painted umbrellas, lacquerware, pewterware, bamboo and wood artifacts and bronzeware. The weekend market at Chatuchuk in Bangkok is a regular cornucopia with hundreds of stalls stocking items ranging from genuine antiques to fighting fish. Tailor-made clothes are also good value and can be made in a matter of days, yet the standard is very high.

Duty-free shops are located throughout the country and items can be purchased there and delivered to the airport in time for the departure flight. Value Added Tax (7%) can be refunded on goods bought in shops labeled ’VAT Refund for Tourists’, where there is a minimum transaction of ฿2,000 including VAT. VAT Refund Application for Tourists forms are completed at the time of purchase and it is necessary to show one’s passport. Cash refunds (minimum ฿5,000) can be obtained in the airport departure hall and often the goods purchased must also be shown. Shopping hours: Mon-Sun 1000-2100/2200.

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