Doraemon fans, this one’s for you. The 100% Doraemon and Friends Tour arrives in Thailand for the first time, following stops in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Shanghai. The event celebrates Fujiko F. Fujio’s 90th anniversary with life-sized manga figures. Inside, expect two key zones. The first is a manga-inspired space with life-sized figures of Doraemon and his crew – each standing at 123.9 cm, just like in the comics. The second includes a themed cafe and pop-up store with items exclusive to the tour. A giant inflatable Doraemon – the world’s largest – will also debut by the Chao Phraya River, adding a surreal new landmark to Bangkok’s riverside. May 1-June 22. B199-1,790 via here. Attraction Hall, Icon Siam, 10.30am-9pm
May arrives not with a bang, but a sigh – the kind that follows weeks of blistering heat. There’s rain, finally, though only just enough to soften the pavements and slow the city’s pulse. What remains is a delicate window, a rare pause, where culture rises to fill the gaps left by the sun.
Making a stop in Bangkok, the 100% Doraemon and Friends Tour feels less like visiting an exhibition and more like entering a shared memory. A few train stops away, KAWS: Holiday Thailand offers a different kind of spectacle. Here, the 18-metre COMPANION figure reclines in public space like an interloper who’s overstayed his welcome. Playful, yes, but also unsettling – a glossy contradiction of scale and softness. Its presence is hard to ignore, yet just opaque enough to resist meaning.
Meanwhile, Kyle Legacy - The King of Crowdwork trades polish for unpredictability. No script, no safe distance. It’s comedy as tightrope – part chaos, part charm – thriving on the discomfort of strangers turned spectators. Nothing rehearsed, everything vulnerable.
Then comes grandeur. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers in Concert lands with orchestral force. Over a hundred musicians and a soaring choir channel Shore’s score into something almost transcendent. It’s not subtle, nor brief. But in a month like this – lush, strange, saturated – that’s exactly the point.
If all that still leaves you twiddling your thumbs, we’ve rounded up the top happenings, late-night antics, curious pop-ups and oddball outings across Bangkok this May.