Kaweewat Siwanartwong

October arrived with a bit of rain, but Bangkok doesn’t really do dull seasons. The city thrives on contrast – traffic outside, white-walled calm within. It’s a place where art lives in every possible corner: vast museums with echoing halls, hidden rooms above coffee shops, galleries that look like they might collapse yet hold works that could floor you. If you want to be confused, delighted, unsettled or quietly moved, this city rarely disappoints. The variety is unruly. One evening you might stumble across a show where neon tubes light up the politics of migration, the next morning you’re staring at a centuries-old portrait that feels impossibly alive. There’s contemporary work that questions what it means to exist in a city like this, modernism reinterpreted for the present, and the occasional old master hanging with surprising confidence. What complicates things is choice. With new exhibitions opening constantly, picking where to spend an afternoon can feel like work in itself. So think of this less as a definitive guide and more as a starting point – a way to orient yourself in a city that refuses to stop making, showing and questioning through art, no matter the weather. Stay one step ahead and map out your plans with our round-up of the best things to do in Bangkok.   Get ahead of the game and start planning your month with our list of top things to do this October. Whether you're a regular gallery-goer or just art-curious, these are Bangkok’s best spots to live the ar

October in Bangkok doesn’t tip-toe in. As the rains finally turn polite and the air dries, the city arms itself with spectacles that crackle in neon, shadow and trembling melody. Museums open new worlds. Theatres unfurl fresh tales. Bars and cafes welcome midnight whispers. On the music front it’s chaos of the best kind. The Smashing Pumpkins return after nearly three decades, giving a set that could flicker from 1979 to their new rock-opera. Mariah Carey is back too, hair flips intact, marking 20 years since The Emancipation of Mimi with seven-octave theatrics Bangkok hasn’t seen in years.  Sean Paul finally touches down for his Thai debut, bringing the riddims that once soundtracked every school disco. Connan Mockasin drifts in with his woozy dream-funk, while Blackpink stage a three-night stadium takeover that will probably sell out faster than you can open a group chat. Over at the Contemporary World Film Series, Something Like an Autobiography plants its flag. Penned by Mostofa Sarwar Farooki and his actress-wife Nusrat Imrose Tisha during lockdown, it folds their marriage into fiction, even as Farooki steps in front of the camera for the first time. It’s a quietly radical piece about memory, identity and how lives unspool when we least expect. And for those who sleep with their lights off: the Junji Ito Collection Horror House turns dreams into architecture. Over 1,500 square metres, you might find Tomie’s cursed beauty, balloon-headed predators or Souichi’s mischievous

Here we are again, only this time we’ve landed at Funky Lam Kitchen – a modern Laotian menu that doesn’t flinch from bold, full-throttle flavours. The cocktails and the wine list aren’t there to soothe but to spar, chosen deliberately to hold their ground against the fire. Step inside and you’re in a space that feels like someone’s memories turned into design: a renovated shophouse lined with old BMW motorbikes, walls hung with images that hint at histories both personal and political. Funky Lam isn’t simply another addition to Bangkok’s dining map. It’s the dream realised by Sanya Souvanna Phouma – the man who gave the city Bed Supperclub, Maggie Choo’s and Sing Sing – alongside his fellow Laotian partner Saya Na Champassak, whose grandmother, once the princess of the south, was famed for menus devised with the palace chef for royal tables. Together, they’ve built something more than a restaurant: a love letter to Lao cuisine, a revival staged with funk, grit and affection. Photograph: Funky Lam Kitchen And that’s why I’m here, to ask how two men who grew up in Paris, haunted by both French kitchens, the stories tucked between plates of olam and glasses of Beer Lao and Laotian memories, ended up here. The inheritance of nightlife and airways ‘It’s in my DNA,’ Sanya says when I ask if his father’s club influenced him. His father, Prince Panya Souvanna Phouma – Harvard graduate, son of a Prime Minister, head of Royal Laos Air – once co-owned The Third Eye, a psychedelic club

We’re officially in the tenth month of 2025. The fight still feels alive, the fire in us burning just as bright. October drifts in with a full slate of cultural highlights, nights that pull you off the sofa to enjoy the pulse of the city. Thursday nights come with the promise of laughter. Thursday Night Comedy delivers stand-up that lands perfectly between sharp and intimate, while The Comedy Gong Show Bangkok tests nerves and timing: three red cards, a gong, and either four minutes of glory or abrupt dismissal, with the crowd deciding who rises. Music lovers get their fix too. Brooklyn’s Musclecars touch down, pairing deep New York house with Bangkok’s Transport collective. DJ Deep arrives alongside SARAYU and DOTT, turning the booth into a masterclass in underground rhythm. Marco Lenzi and his Molecular Recordings crew push techno to its limits, weaving long builds and pulsating basslines into a hypnotic narrative. Vintage hunters and collectors can wander Vintage Revival at Gaysorn Amarin, discovering sofas, rugs, vinyl and rare decor while snacks and drinks keep energy up. Meanwhile, The Swifties Night transforms a venue into glittering spectacle, with karaoke, drag, themed drinks and cabaret lighting celebrating Taylor Swift in full fan-force. Get out there and enjoy.  Get ahead of the game and start planning your month with our list of the top things to do this October. Stay one step ahead and map out your plans with our round-up of the best things to do in Bangkok.

Let us tell you straight off: if someone in Thailand says they’ve never heard of Arak ‘Pae’ Amornsupasiri, I’d raise an eyebrow. He’s lived through so many chapters – starting out as a guitarist in Slur in the late ’90s, then branching into solo music and acting, and lately daring to helm his own films. His debut The Stone: Phra Tae Kon Ke didn’t just stir the Thai scene – it went international. We found a fitting place to talk in one go: REC.Bangkok, the sleek Wireless Road bar we’ve taken over for the afternoon. Its dim lights, sharp corners and relaxed energy felt like the perfect backdrop for Pae’s many facets – cool, intense, playful.   Photograph: STYLEdeJATE Each role, a fresh mountain to climb Pae isn’t someone you can pin down to one job description. Singer, actor, director – each title could be its own full-time career, yet he insists on doing all three. Not out of some restless inability to choose, but because every role offers him a new kind of friction to wrestle with. And he seems to enjoy the fight. What links these identities is a stubborn urge to not simply meet expectations but to vault quietly over them. As an actor, he’s always battling that silent question: how do you satisfy the director, the writer or the creative who hired you? Sometimes their request is modest, almost underwhelming. Yet Pae wants to push further, or at the very least match the depth of what they had in mind. When he switches to music, the challenge shapeshifts. He asks himself: how

If you wanted to make a film, how would you promote it? A trailer, perhaps. A poster campaign. A carefully timed festival debut. What you probably wouldn’t think of – unless you’re Note Pongsuang – is opening a bar. I’m sitting inside Doi Dum Punk, the small bar decorated with bits of art on the wall, newspaper pasted as wallpaper and a guitar that looks like it’s never been touched. Outside, a tag hangs on an electric post declaring, almost gleefully, ‘fun fact, punk is dead’. Before sitting down, Note handed me a hand-drawn tag with a list of movie roles to choose from: a lonely punk boy, a heartbreak monk, a drunk tourist or a mountain zombie. Of course, I go for an ‘undercover prostitute’. Now, with a gin and tonic in hand, I watch him talk through this improbable scheme with the easy certainty of someone who has, more than once, bent Bangkok nightlife into new shapes. Photograph: Note Dudesweet Photograph: Note Dudesweet Note is the founder of Dudesweet, a name still uttered like an inside joke that turned into a generational movement, and of National Bar, a space that looks like it tumbled out of his Silpakorn sketchbooks. As a living archive of the city’s indie scene, and for me – someone who grew up hearing stories of early-2000s warehouse parties with badly photocopied flyers – it feels like slipping behind the curtain of a myth. His legend is well known, but Doi Dum Punk, a pop-up bar designed to fund and promote a screenplay, is the reason I’m here with a came

This list is from 2024. Our latest ranking for 2025 is live here. In 2024, what exactly makes a neighbourhood cool? Craft breweries, natty wine bars and street art are well and good, but the world’s best, most exciting and downright fun neighbourhoods are much more than identikit ‘hipster hubs’. They’re places that reflect the very best of their cities – its culture, community spirit, nightlife, food and drink – all condensed in one vibey, walkable district. To create our annual ranking, we went straight to the experts – our global team of on-the-ground writers and editors – and asked them what the coolest neighbourhood in their city is right now, and why. Then we narrowed down the selection and ranked the list using the insight and expertise of Time Out’s global editors, who vetted each neighbourhood against criteria including food, drink, arts, culture, street life, community and one-of-a-kind local flavour. The result? A list that celebrates the most unique and exciting pockets of our cities – and all their quirks. Yes, you’ll find some of those international hallmarks of ‘cool’. But in every neighbourhood on this list there’s something you won’t find anywhere else. Ever been to a photography museum that moonlights as a jazz club? Or a brewery with a library of Russian literature? How about a festival dedicated to fluff? When communities fiercely support and rally around their local businesses, even the most eccentric ideas can become a reality. And that, in our eyes, is

These days, the vegan scene feels impossible to ignore, especially in Bangkok. From hidden street stalls to refined fine dining, plant-based food has become a way to explore the city differently, to taste its traditions without compromise. That’s how we stumbled across Lokal Vegan, an Instagram account devoted not just to food, but to the culture, stories and communities behind it. At the helm is Vladislav ‘Vlad’ Tolokontsev. He’s not only running Lokal Vegan, he’s also the mind behind Vegan Guide: Street Food in Bangkok and an intricate map of the city’s plant-based eateries. His work isn’t simply about listing restaurants – it’s about uncovering the city’s hidden gems, spotlighting family-run stalls, and showing that eating vegan can be adventurous, delicious and connected to local culture. Photograph: lokalvegan It’s a neat parallel to what we do at Time Out – telling our readers where to go, what to eat and what makes a city tick – but through Vlad’s lens, Bangkok’s flavours and stories are filtered entirely through plant-based living. We caught up with him to talk about why he stayed, how he navigates the city’s complex food scene and the dishes that continue to surprise even the most seasoned vegans. Photograph: lokalvegan A mission beyond the plate ‘I want to change people’s perception of vegan food,’ Vlad begins, almost apologetically, though he needn’t. ‘I want to show how delicious, diverse and affordable it can be, so that more people choose plant-based options

These days, the vegan scene feels impossible to ignore, especially in Bangkok. From hidden street stalls to refined fine dining, plant-based food has become a way to explore the city differently, to taste its traditions without compromise. That’s how we stumbled across Lokal Vegan, an Instagram account devoted not just to food, but to the culture, stories and communities behind it. At the helm is Vladislav ‘Vlad’ Tolokontsev. He’s not only running Lokal Vegan, he’s also the mind behind Vegan Guide: Street Food in Bangkok and an intricate map of the city’s plant-based eateries. His work isn’t simply about listing restaurants – it’s about uncovering the city’s hidden gems, spotlighting family-run stalls, and showing that eating vegan can be adventurous, delicious and connected to local culture. Photograph: lokalvegan It’s a neat parallel to what we do at Time Out – telling our readers where to go, what to eat and what makes a city tick – but through Vlad’s lens, Bangkok’s flavours and stories are filtered entirely through plant-based living. We caught up with him to talk about why he stayed, how he navigates the city’s complex food scene and the dishes that continue to surprise even the most seasoned vegans. Photograph: lokalvegan A mission beyond the plate ‘I want to change people’s perception of vegan food,’ Vlad begins, almost apologetically, though he needn’t. ‘I want to show how delicious, diverse and affordable it can be, so that more people choose plant-based options

Thailand’s music calendar has been playing coy this year. Rumours of cancellations, whispered talk of comebacks, line-ups teased then quietly reshuffled – it’s been messy, but in that very Thai way, somehow the beat goes on. Even with the uncertainty swirling around some of the city’s biggest names, Bangkok remains blessed with an embarrassment of festivals, from single-day marathons to sprawling weekend escapes. It helps to be strategic. Do you want a sunburnt afternoon by the sea or a midnight rave in a warehouse? Do you tolerate camping, or does the idea of queuing for a shower fill you with dread? Whether you’re loyal to one genre or happy to let the algorithm of chaos decide, there’s something with your name on it. Beachfront chill-outs, rooftop hip-hop sessions, jazz in the park, electronic odysseys that stretch until sunrise – Thailand does it all, often in the same week. And if you’ve been slow on the tickets, don’t panic. Festival season here stretches itself thin, spilling across months like an endless afterparty. Hip-hop, afrobeat, rock, disco, experimental electronica – you can take your pick, or try them all, until your ears give up. Thailand isn’t short on sound, only on weekends. So yes, it’s chaotic, sometimes unpredictable, but it’s also glorious. Have a scroll through our guide, circle a date and prepare to swap the city’s traffic jams for something infinitely louder. RECOMMENDED: Bangkok’s best upcoming concerts in 2025

Some instruments seem destined for Bangkok. Saxophones in neon bars. Guitars on makeshift stages. Even an occasional sitar wafting through an incense-lit cafe. But a five-string banjo? Not exactly. Yet that’s what Sunny – Chanasinj ‘Sunny’ Sachdev – chose as his pandemic obsession. What began as an algorithm-fed curiosity has spiralled into a community movement, pulling the unlikely sound of bluegrass into the city’s rooftops, beer halls and YouTube feeds. Through Bluegrass Underground Bangkok, rooftop jam sessions and even a road trip to North Carolina, Sunny has positioned himself at the centre of a scene few expected to exist in Thailand. He calls it community-building, but it feels like something stranger and more cinematic: an offbeat soundtrack to Bangkok nights, carried on strings that once belonged only to Appalachian hillsides. Photograph: Bluegrass Underground Bangkok   We caught up with Sunny via email – a fitting medium for a conversation that meanders between banjo twang, superhero comics and the quiet revolution of turning Bangkok into a hub for Irish reels and American roots music. The accidental banjo player Sunny admits it was never part of a plan. ‘YouTube algorithm! It turned my friend into a flat earther, and me into a banjo player,’ he writes. It wasn’t just novelty. He had long been drawn to older traditions, even if he hadn’t labelled them. ‘Medieval-sounding Irish tunes would sneak into my playlists at house parties, confusing everyone. I suspect a l

August disappeared in the blink of an eye, leaving only a memory of heat and neon nights, and now here we are in September, month nine. If you’re the type to take luck seriously, it’s supposed to be a good number, so fingers crossed. And really, this month looks like it might just deserve that luck: September is absolutely stuffed with things worth leaving the house for. Start with How Do You Do, Snoopy? The 75th anniversary exhibition brings Snoopy and the Peanuts gang to Bangkok like you’ve never seen them before – four immersive zones, over 25 artists, 24 fashion collaborations and a treasure trove of archival comics that somehow feel entirely alive. If you’re hunting for something a little grittier, the Tay Flea Market is back, all 90s nostalgia, band tees, Carhartt jackets and leather. Hia Jump has curated chaos in the best possible way. Music lovers can catch Summer Salt, breezy and intimate or Tyler, The Creator, whose Chromakopia Tour promises the spectacle that turns a venue into another universe. Then there’s Sting, still sharp, still inventive, with the Sing 3.0 World Tour bringing decades of hits into a lean, thrilling set. Finally (but not really), film fans can rejoice: the Bangkok International Film Festival makes its long-awaited return with over 200 international films, kicking off with Tee Yod 3 (Death Whisperer 3). There’s never been a better time to wander, listen and watch – September is shaping up to be the kind of month that reminds you why you live in

Chaiyot Jindakul’s latest series was born during a turning point in his life: becoming a father. Each canvas is threaded with the quiet astonishment of watching his first son grow, the weight of new responsibility balanced with the wonder of innocence unfolding before him. Love here doesn’t appear as sentimentality but as something sharper, etched into colour and form. For Chaiyot, art is never detached from living – it begins with action, discipline and a stubborn fidelity to searching. Every work becomes a record of perseverance, a refusal to accept easy conclusions, a reminder that beauty alone cannot measure value. What emerges instead is an intimate cartography of fatherhood, labour and faith in process, where each painting feels like both witness and offering. Until October 26. Free. Joyman Gallery, 11am-6pm

Imagine Sukhumvit unfolds across the gleaming maze of the Em District, where more than eighty artists scatter their visions through Emporium, Emquartier and the newly opened Emsphere. The premise is deceptively simple: to tell the story of one of Bangkok’s most restless neighbourhoods through art. Yet what makes it compelling is how differently each artist interprets the same terrain. For some it’s a portrait of urban speed, for others a study of what gets lost when glass towers rise. The line-up is deliberately eclectic, pairing big names with newcomers whose work feels raw, unpredictable and urgent. Taken together, the exhibition is less about a single narrative than about a neighbourhood in flux, a stage where established voices and the next wave share equal space. Until October 15. Free. EM District, 10am-10pm

Constellation of Complicity gathers work from Myanmar, Iran, Russia, Syria and communities long marked by displacement or autonomy struggles, places often reduced to headlines about conflict. What emerges instead is a map of connections, where power flows less as isolated regimes than as a network of cooperation – diplomacy stitched to military force, economies buttressed by shared violence, sovereignty used as camouflage. The exhibition doesn’t rehearse trauma so much as trace how oppression migrates, mutates and reappears across borders, and how resistance too moves in unexpected echoes. Its title signals a double act: exposing complicity while gesturing toward solidarity. Aesthetics here function as tools – ritual, forensic, speculative – reminding us that art can be evidence, a method of seeing patterns the news rarely lingers on. Until October 19. Free. Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, 10am-8pm

This exhibition is a mirror held up to a country suspended in uncertainty. In Thailand, instability has stopped feeling like an interruption and begun to resemble a permanent state – politics without direction, policies that drift, and a population caught between fatigue and quiet despair. Anxiety Storage and Artsaveworld respond to this condition with work that wears irony as armour. At first glance their pieces seem playful, even comic, but beneath the surface is an unmistakable weight: frustration, grief, the stubborn refusal to collapse. What makes the show distinctly Thai is its humour, born out of contradiction and absurdity, a coping mechanism that lets people laugh in order to keep standing. In the cracks of satire, fragments of hope remain. Until November 16. Free. MunMun Art Destination, 10.30am-7pm

Still Blossom, the latest exhibition from one of Thailand’s leading abstract painters, feels like an antidote to the noise outside. The canvases are filled with flowers, not as decorative objects but as reminders of what it means to be alive and attentive. Shapes blur, colours clash then soften, and somewhere in the space between intensity and delicacy you find yourself pausing longer than expected. Each piece suggests that presence itself is enough – nothing needs to transform, nothing has to strive. The flowers remain flowers, and in their refusal to be anything else they mirror us at our most human. The show isn’t about spectacle so much as sensation, asking viewers to lean in and feel with the heart rather than simply look with the eyes. Until October 12. Free. Number 1 Gallery, River City Bangkok, 10am-7pm

For the first time, the Prix Pictet has arrived in Thailand, bringing with it 12 photographers whose work has been shortlisted for the award’s tenth cycle. The theme, ‘Human’, is both vast and uncomfortably precise. Each artist approaches it from a different angle, tracing the mess and wonder of being alive – whether through documentary, portrait, or images that test the very limits of light. The subjects are unflinching: the violence of borders, the fragility of childhood, the slow collapse of economies, the endurance of Indigenous communities, the marks left behind by industry. Collectively, they ask who we are and what we have done to the planet entrusted to us. Founded seventeen years ago, the Prix Pictet has never felt more urgent. Until November 23. Free. Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, 10am-8pm

Since its velvet curtains first swished open in 2015, Sing Sing has played the part of fever dream as much as nightclub. The interiors alone feel like a set piece from a film Baz Luhrmann might have directed after a long night in Bangkok – lacquered cages, glowing lanterns, shadows thick enough to lose your friends in. But it’s the music that has carried its legend. Gilles Peterson baptised the decks in its first year, and since then Dixon, DJ Tennis, Âme and Henrik Schwarz have left their signatures behind, threaded with Bangkok’s own restless talent. ‘A Decade of Decadence’ isn’t just a neat anniversary, it’s a salute to the community who’ve blurred the line between spectacle and sanctuary, keeping the club alive as both playground and temple of sound. October 11. Reservation via 063-225-1331. Sing Sing Theater, 11pm onwards  

Halloween doesn’t need much encouragement to go theatrical but Murder Box at Speakerbox leans straight into the drama. The venue that usually goes with live sets is shifting shape for one night only, trading sticky floors and stage lights for something darker. The team behind it, Madame Rouge, already notorious for twisting cabaret into something closer to fever dream, are promising their most unsettling creation yet. There’re two rooms rigged for chaos, three bands loud enough to rattle your spine, DJs lurking behind decks like villains, and performers sliding through the crowd as if they’d just stepped out of a nightmare. It’s not just a gig, not quite theatre either – more like walking headfirst into the film you were warned not to watch alone. October 31. B444-666 via here and B999 at the door. Speakerbox, 8pm onwards

Evenings like this ask you to slow down, to feel the swell of strings as they move through space. Symphonies no. 7 and 8 turns the concert hall into a living room of sound, where every note from Beethoven’s pen seems to breathe anew. Graeme Norris and Tasana Nagavajara on violins, Omporn Kowintha and Miti Wisuthumporn on violas, and Leslie Tan on cello weave together textures both bold and intimate. The seventh symphony pulses with restless energy, while the eighth carries a playful, almost conspiratorial wit, each phrase a quiet conversation between musicians and audience. It isn’t just listening – it’s inhabiting the music, tracing the arcs of tension and release, discovering in familiar works a freshness that only a live string quintet can offer. October 5. B500-1,200 via here. Neilson Hays Library, 6pm

Kaneko Ayano arrives in Bangkok carrying the quiet gravity of an artist who makes every note feel personal. Her voice – delicate yet unwavering – threads through melodies that linger long after the music stops. The Street Hall will become more than a venue; it will be a room suspended in attention, a space where pauses matter as much as crescendos. Known for her indie sensibility, Ayano blends simplicity with depth, crafting songs that feel intimate without ever shrinking their scope. Fans can expect moments of hushed reflection, sudden bursts of warmth, and performances that feel less staged than shared, like listening to a friend hum in your living room. By the end of the night, the city outside will seem quieter, the world a little softer. October 5. B1,500 via here. The Street Hall, 7pm

Some collaborations feel more like conversations than takeovers. Leela, helmed by Chef Manav Tuli of Hong Kong’s Tatler Top 20 and Michelin fame, is stepping into JHOL with a menu drawn from the royal kitchens of Lucknow and Awadh – dishes steeped in heritage yet sharpened by his exacting style. It’s a rare chance to taste centuries-old traditions reimagined for a Bangkok table. The story won’t end here. Later this year JHOL’s Chef Gaurav Gupta will head to Hong Kong, carrying with him the restaurant’s signature coastal interpretations – seafood-laced, spice-rich, and informed by founder Hari Nayak’s modern lens. Together, the exchange stitches north to south, palace kitchens to seaside villages, reminding us that Indian cuisine is less a monolith than a map of endless journeys. October 4-5. Starts at B2,200. Reserve via here. JHOL.

Swifties in Bangkok are about to get their own midnight theatre. Run For Cover Fest and Who’s Ur Party are turning the release of Taylor’s new album into something far louder than a listening session. Think DJ sets that span every era – from the early confessions to the synth-drenched reinventions – plus karaoke for those who’d rather take the mic themselves. Gisele Rafael brings drag drama to the stage, while themed drinks keep the room fuelled for a night stitched together with glitter and heartbreak. The venue itself won’t escape transformation: cabaret lighting, walls drenched in Taylor iconography and a photo corner to immortalise every fringe and friendship bracelet. It’s less a party, more a full-bodied declaration that Bangkok’s Swifties don’t just stream – they show up. October 4. B399 via here. Speakerbox, 9pm-1am

Bangkok has always been a city of contradictions: glass towers beside crumbling shophouses, high-speed rail hovering above traffic that hasn’t moved in half an hour. Yet one constant has been the BMTA’s ageing fleet of buses – often too hot, too loud and too old. Now, after years of half-promises and trial runs, change is finally on the horizon. The BMTA has announced that 1,520 ageing, non-air-conditioned buses will be reincarnated as electric vehicles, part of a plan titled ‘Electric Bus (EV) to Improve Service Quality, Reduce Pollution, and Establish a New Standard.’ Titles aside, it’s a significant shift. The numbers tell the story: fuel costs down 70 percent, over B1.4 billion saved every year, and a cleaner commute for half a million daily passengers who have long accepted the city’s buses as both indispensable and unbearable. The rollout won’t happen overnight. The wheezing non-aircon fleet will continue to circle the city until September 2026, when the first EV buses are expected to arrive. The government has also promised not to bump up the fare – keeping rides at B8 – to spare commuters an extra squeeze on their wallets. For a city where public transport often feels like an afterthought, the shift matters. Bangkok isn’t short on infrastructure dreams, but most have a habit of unravelling in bureaucracy. This project, if it holds together, could set a new standard for daily travel in a city where the gap between the sleek BTS and the rickety bus has long been a metap

  For months the whispers were hard to ignore. Reddit threads, speculative tweets, fans clutching early bird passes yet side-eyeing the silence. Rolling Loud Thailand was supposed to roar back this November, turning Pattaya the region’s biggest hip-hop gathering for the third year running. Instead, it’s crickets. Organisers confirmed the cancellation in an official statement, blaming ‘circumstances out of our control,’ which feels both heavy and vague, leaving fans to fill in the blanks. The disappointment didn’t land out of nowhere. Ticket holders had been restless for months, swapping theories on Reddit threads and firing off posts on X. Early bird passes went on sale with promises of another chapter at the same seaside venue that staged the 2023 and 2024 editions. By early October, though, not a single artist had been revealed. For a festival known for announcing headliners months in advance, the silence spoke volumes. Refunds are being processed, but the sting lingers. In a scene that measures excitement in line-up drops and viral clips, waiting for next year feels like an eternity. Rolling Loud hinted at a comeback somewhere in Asia, nudging fans towards a mailing list for updates. Whether that means a Pattaya revival or a new city altogether remains anyone’s guess. Photograph: Rolling Loud Thailand The brand has always been about scale – massive crowds, international names, moments engineered for the internet. But the scrapped 2025 edition raises questions about how m

Bangkok isn’t short of nightclubs, but very few manage to blur memory with fantasy the way Sing Sing Theater does. Walk through its entrance and suddenly you’re somewhere between Shanghai in the 1930s and a dream stitched together after one too many late nights. Lanterns burn red above, balconies curl with wrought iron detail, and shadows deepen in corners where secrets tend to stay. For 10 years, it has refused to be ordinary, choosing instead to play host to theatre as much as parties, turning every night into a performance with no guarantee of an encore. When the velvet curtains first parted in 2015, Sing Sing Theater announced itself with a Halloween party so ambitious it became instant folklore: King Kong looming over the dancefloor, costumes as wild as the city outside, a delirium that made Bangkok stop and look. Since then, the space has doubled as playground, experiment and cultural stage. Music has always been its heartbeat. Gilles Peterson christened the booth in the club’s opening months, his set signalling that this was no provincial playhouse but a stop with global intent. From there, Dixon, Âme, DJ Tennis and Henrik Schwarz would all leave their mark, weaving their names into the club’s identity while sharing the booth with Bangkok’s own restless selectors. Photograph: singsingtheater.bangkok But music is only half the story. Sing Sing Theater has always thrived on theatre, and theatre has a way of slipping into memory more stubbornly than beats per minute. 20

Vintage is having another moment, though did it ever really leave? Made By Legacy, Bangkok’s favourite curator of things with too much history to throw away, is staging its annual Vintage Revival from October 3-12, this time tucked inside the G Floor of Gaysorn Amarin’s Forum Zone. The theme, ‘The Found and Reels’, reads like a love letter to design’s awkward romance with memory – it’s dusted with nostalgia and cinematic flair. The stretch of 10 days will see more than 30 furniture vendors drag their cabinets, lamps, rugs and eccentric treasures into the city centre. Imagine carpets heavy with stories, posters once pinned to cinema walls, records that still crackle when played on your uncle’s gramophone, and sofas that seem to sag in precisely the right places. The collection runs deep – over a thousand pieces to rummage through – halfway between archive and living room. Photograph: madebylegacy A highlight this year is the ‘Grand Salon’, where vintage rugs roll out beside film posters that once lured audiences to the cinema before trailers started autoplaying on YouTube. They’re described as ‘old but gold’ but really they feel like talismans, conjuring a different pace of living, a slower time when you actually studied the typography on a film poster. Photograph: madebylegacy The appeal isn’t only the excitement of finding something rare to lug home, though that’s part of it. There are snack stalls and drinks to hand, because no one should have to debate the merits of a

If you're picturing polite choreography and TikTok routines in matching joggers, close this tab immediately. Bangkok doesn’t exactly lack for parties, but Bad Vibes has never been interested in playing by the rules. What began as a scrappy competition in 2022 has evolved into a five-day carnival of sweat, music and stubborn pride, a stage where dancers turn defiance into choreography and the audience becomes part of the storm. Now in its fourth year, this hip-hop showdown has grown into a full-blown international face-off. We’re talking dancers from Thailand, Japan, China, Vietnam and India flying in with serious footwork and enough attitude to fill HOSTBKK. Photograph: badvibes_battle Yes, there are judges. Yes, there are official categories – hip-hop, house and crew battles. But this is less a contest, more a street party dressed up as a festival. Dancers don’t just perform – they taunt, they flirt, they dare each other to go harder. The crowd? Loud. Unapologetic. Fully in it. It’s all gloriously unhinged and you’ll love every second. Taking place October 23-27 at HOSTBKK, the event spills across multiple days with a mix of theatre, workshops and pure dance carnage. One night you're at Pulse of Origin, a genre-scrambling performance that weaves cultural storytelling into movement. The next, you're at a panel that unexpectedly turns into a freestyle cypher. Highlights: Dance Battles on hip-hop and house (solos, duos, crews) with world-class DJs and judges Theatre Night: P

It’s time to take your pet to a film screening. Not the indoor, stale popcorn kind, but one where the breeze does most of the cooling and the grass insists on being your carpet. A city park transformed into a cinema, your dog happily sniffing the air while you argue over whether Legally Blonde counts as high art (it does). The beauty lies in the mix – movies on the big screen, live music drifting across the lawn, pets doing what they do best: stealing the show. From October 31-November 2, CU Centenary Park becomes the city’s open-air living room thanks to PMCU and Skyline Film Bangkok. Six titles have been picked not just to entertain humans but to keep their four-legged companions in the frame too. Expect a strange cocktail of canine loyalty, haunted basements and Hollywood’s favourite caped saviour. Photograph: Skyline Film Tickets are B390 via Ticketmelon right here. But that hardly captures the exchange: three nights where cinema, music and the antics of overexcited pets all collapse into one long, messy, very human memory. Here’s the lineup: Friday October 31 Photograph: Ghostbusters 4.30pm – Ghostbusters Need a ghost problem sorted? Call the Ghostbusters. This iconic action-comedy follows three eccentric scientists who swap academia for proton packs to launch a ghost-hunting biz in New York. With high-tech gear and zero chill, they take on the city’s unruly spirits – until a much darker force shows up.  Photograph: The Sixth Sense Meet Cole, an eight-year-old boy

Oh my pretty pretty boy, I love you – like I never ever loved anyone before. Those words could sum up the soundtrack of a generation, a sweet echo of youthful innocence that M2M gifted to fans around the world. If you’re part of Gen Y, this isn’t just nostalgia, it’s a warm invitation to rewind to those carefree days when pop was simple, heartfelt and utterly charming. Last year, something unexpected happened: M2M reunited after 22 years, sparking excitement among ’90s music lovers with news of a tour marking the 25th anniversary of their formation. They played their first comeback show in May at the Thunder Dome in Muang Thong Thani, and they’re coming back this November. Photograph: marit2marion M2M is the brainchild of two Norwegian singers, Marit Larsen and Marion Raven, whose initials lent the duo their name. Their rise was swift, fuelled by distinctive voices and catchy melodies that felt fresh and effortless. Their debut single, ‘Don’t Say You Love Me’, dropped in 1999 and found its way into Pokémon: The First Movie – an unexpected yet perfect boost that propelled them beyond Norway’s borders. The following year saw the release of Shades of Purple, a 14-track album that cemented their global appeal. Songs like ‘Mirror Mirror’, ‘The Day You Went Away’, ‘Pretty Boy’ and ‘Everything You Do’ became international hits, topping charts and soundtracking teenage bedrooms everywhere. This isn’t a show that’ll fade into the background; it’s one you’ll remember long after the l

Connan Mockasin has always felt like the sort of artist who wandered in from a parallel dimension, guitar slung over one shoulder, humming something half-remembered from a dream. When he last appeared in Thailand back in 2019, it was a blink-and-you-miss-it affair. This time he’s coming back stripped bare – just him, a guitar and a catalogue that slips between surreal lullabies and funk-soaked hypnosis. Born Connan Tant Hosford, the New Zealander has spent more than a decade crafting a sound that refuses to sit still. His debut Forever Dolphin Love arrived in 2010 like a transmission from a warped ‘70s lounge, all elastic basslines and falsetto whispers. Caramel oozed into being three years later, woozier and more groove-driven, while the twin Jassbusters records played like lost film scores beamed from a late-night TV station that may or may not exist. He’s never been shy of collaboration either. Ade joined him for It’s Just Wind, a loose collage of electronic soul and analogue haze. Elsewhere, he’s turned up alongside Charlotte Gainsbourg, Dev Hynes, James Blake, MGMT and even John Cale, drifting across genres as if categories were more of a suggestion than a rule. So when October rolls around, expect something intimate, unguarded and quietly strange. Take note – this won’t be a night that slips quietly by. Here’s what you need to know. When is Connan Mockasin performing in Bangkok? Connan Mockasin will perform a one-night-only live show in Bangkok on Thursday, October 23.

When Thailand legalised cannabis in 2022, the shift was seismic. A nation once synonymous with draconian drug penalties suddenly became the region’s green frontier. It wasn’t only about new rules, it was about atmosphere. Suddenly, weed wasn’t whispered about in back alleys; it was sold in broad daylight alongside cold brew and coconut water. Out of that cultural swerve came festivals like Nudkinpuk Fair – a cheeky celebration of all things leafy. This year, the fair takes place at Chang Chul Creative Park on November 8-9 from 4pm-midnight. Once a one-night affair, it now stretches into two evenings, giving space for more than 100 vendors to pitch up. Think cannabis cultivators, kratom brewers and health food makers rubbing shoulders with indie artisans and wellness enthusiasts. It’s a collision of markets and mindsets, but one that insists on sustainability and responsible consumption. Photograph: Chang Chui Chang Chul’s grounds will be split into three zones – healing, battle and stoner. Each offers its own peculiar mood: massage and herbal workshops in one corner, a boxing ring doubling as a stage in another, then a haze of smoke and soundtracks in the last. It’s music, but not music alone. You might leave with a new strain, a new opinion, or a new yoga posture. Headliners this year lean into eclecticism: Srirajah Rockers, Desktop Error, Bomb at Track and Rejizz. But the real pull may lie in what Nudkinpuk is plotting for its near future. This year’s edition promises to

If your weekend calendar is looking a bit bare, then listen up. The final curtain is about to fall on Krung Thep Creative Streets. We’re talking heritage buildings throwing open their doors, murals popping up in the most unexpected places and whole streets throwing a proper street party. This whole shindig is a bit of a European love letter to Thailand, hatched by the French Embassy in Bangkok, with a little help from the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, the British Council and a bunch of other European embassies and local Thai partners. It’s all part of the European Heritage Days, a fantastic way to highlight the city's historic nooks and crannies like Charoen Krung, Talat Noi and Song Wat, by linking them with new masterpieces from both local and international artists. If you wander down Charoen Krung Road this week, you might stumble upon a wall in progress, half-finished, ladders still in place, the artist pausing for shade. Or find yourself at Hua Lamphong, where the traffic is briefly forgotten as a temple wall becomes a canvas. Watching the process is part of the point; the act of painting as performance, as memory-making. Ready to go? Here’s a breakdown of the programme: Photograph: BMA   Street art – September 3-21First up, the murals. Artists from Thailand and across Europe have been busy turning some of Bangkok’s most characterful neighbourhoods into their canvas. Think large-scale pieces popping up in places like Charoenkrung, Talad Noi, Song Wat, South Sath

Eco-friendly living used to conjure up images of hemp shirts, earnest lectures and a vague sense of guilt about takeaway cups. These days it’s starting to look a little different. At least in Bangkok, where sustainability is slowly being rebranded as something communal, playful and – dare we say – stylish. The latest proof? A four-day festival dedicated to swapping wardrobes and swapping ideas, all under the banner of what organisers call the Swap Up Festival. The festival, now in its third edition, gathers people who are tired of fast fashion’s churn and would rather give a second life to what’s already out there. Hosted by The PARQ Bangkok with Swoop Buddy and Go Green Girls, the festival gathers anyone who thinks fashion and responsibility can actually be the same sentence. Instead of treating clothes as disposable, it’s a chance to pass your former favourites to someone else, and maybe walk away with something you’ll actually wear more than once. The whole thing runs under the theme ‘Living the Circular Lifestyle’ – think of it as recycling with better outfits. Photograph: Swoop Buddy The festival runs September 18-21, 10am-7pm at The PARQ Life, just by Queen Sirikit MRT. But it’s not just about trading garments. Talks, workshops and art installations are stitched into the programme, as if to prove sustainability can be as inventive as it is necessary. The intention isn’t to guilt-trip, but to spark curiosity about what a circular life might look like when scaled beyond

The third weekend of blustery September is rolling in, and while Bangkok’s skies threaten another soaking, the city’s cultural calendar refuses to sit indoors. Forget hiding from the drizzle – this Saturday you could be stretched out on the grass at Benjakitti Park, book in hand, surrounded by others doing exactly the same. Reading in the Park is the latest chapter in the Offline Book Club series from the crew behind BKK Lit Fest. Instead of a hushed cafe or fluorescent library, they’re taking things outdoors, into the open-air amphitheatre where the skyline hovers politely in the background. It’s all about a communal pause button in the middle of a city that hardly slows down. It couldn’t be easier to join. Pack whatever you’re currently reading – dog-eared paperback, hefty hardback, your Kindle or the battered copy you’ve been meaning to finish since June – and something to sit on. The invitation is as low-key as it gets, just a willingness to put your phone away for two hours. Extra points if you bring a spare book to swap; nothing breaks the ice quicker than handing over a novel that wrecked you at 2am. There’s no cost, no sign-up, no algorithm nudging you into the ‘correct’ genre. Just a two-hour pause on Saturday September 20, from 4pm-6pm. Should the weather intervene, the plan is simply to try again another day – a refreshingly analogue solution in a world that loves to over-explain. Of course, Bangkok being Bangkok, a sudden rain could force a reschedule. But really,