Travel Well: Bangkok Is Always Different

When we travel with intention, a ticket takes us farther than merely reaching a destination. It gifts us with new shared memories. It gives us the sense that we truly know a place. It is an invitation to build personal connections. With this series, created in collaboration with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, we invite you to make every trip something special. We begin with Bangkok.

“Tuktuk?”, “Massage?”, “Boy-show?”, “Where you go?” Much seems unchanged on Silom Road, one of the Thai capital’s best-known tourist stretches and the center of the queer nightlife. Around the Skytrain station Sala Daeng there’s daily hustle and bustle. Every few meters you can snag a Beer Chang T-shirt, just like two decades ago. There’s noodle soup and McDonald’s, at Starbucks you’ll find an iced latte, and—very important for sweaty travelers—a working air conditioner. And the scammers? We still politely ignore them with a friendly smile.

A City in Constant Flux

But Bangkok isn’t really a city for the set-in-stone, routine-loving traveler. If you return to Thailand after a year or two, you might not recognize the capital. The City of Angels is changing at a breathtaking pace. For instance, across from Lumpini Park, the new Central Park shopping mall has opened. And you may not have even stepped foot into the gigantic One Bangkok complex yet. Where the old shophouse with its tasty street kitchen used to stand, there’s now a gleaming apartment tower. Even the transit map for Bangkok’s rails has grown substantially. For two years now there’s been the MRT Pink Line, and you’ve probably not yet ridden this monorail.

Bangkok keeps surprising. The changes invite you to rediscover the metropolis with every visit. It never gets boring. Still regarded as a tip-off is the Chao Phraya Sky Park—a relatively new green space on an unused railway bridge above the river, offering fantastic Insta-worthy photo moments. A bit more well-known is the historic Talat Noi neighborhood on the edge of Chinatown, which is rapidly evolving into a hip hub for street art. And if you love cool night markets, you’ll want to check out the new Jodd Fairs Ratchada near the Thailand Cultural Centre MRT station.

First Time in Bangkok?
If Bangkok is your first stop, plan at least a week to see the essentials! The Grand Palace, Wat Pho—the temple with the reclining Buddha—and Wat Arun across the river are crowded with visitors, but you simply can’t miss these spots in Thailand’s capital. Even after numerous trips, I still discover something new there. And yes, you should bargain at Chatuchak Market on weekends, ride a rickety canal boat along the Saen Saep, climb the 344 steps to the Golden Mount, and at night pick up 100 red roses at Pak Klong Talad, the flower market. If you skip all that, you haven’t truly experienced Bangkok.

Going with the Flow Off the Beaten Path

If you want to explore this mega-city as an “advanced” traveler, you’re better off not over-planning your hotel stay. Head out onto the street and let yourself drift. Hop on any old bus, ride it to the terminus, and take a stroll. It’s off the tourist track that you’ll find the best, most affordable food, the friendliest locals, and the most exciting encounters. As a queer couple, you don’t have to hide anywhere: at the start of the year, with the introduction of marriage equality, rainbow stickers appeared at every immigration counter at Suvarnabhumi Airport.

“Thai food, German food, ice cold beer.” The German restaurant “G’s” at the start of Silom Soi 4 is still a solid launchpad for a queer night out in Bangkok. But even this little scene has evolved. I still can’t quite understand how the legendary “Telephone Bar” became “Circus” after a change in ownership. The share of visitors from Japan, Singapore, China, and South Korea has grown noticeably, bringing with them new bars. In the expanded drag club “Stranger” at the end of the soi, the party every evening is wild.

Some say that for a city with an estimated 16 million residents (nobody knows exactly), Bangkok’s queer nightlife is relatively modest. Even when you count the traditional disco “DJ Station” on Silom Soi 2, the loud gay clubs in Ratchada and other venues where Thai gay men largely mingle within their own circles, the LGBTQ party lineups of the newer scene, or the cool new bar “Pickle” in Sala Daeng, the scene still feels intimate. But visibility doesn’t require exclusive venues in Bangkok’s liberal milieu.
Recently I wandered into Wang Burapha Café, a plain neighborhood dive in the Wutthakat district, where a bearded singer in a dress entertained the patrons. In Bangkok, that’s completely normal.