Tita Honghirunkham

The exact moment Bangkok fell for poke is up for debate. Ask around and you'll probably get either a history lesson or a shrug. What is not up for debate is that the Hawaiian bowl, popularised far beyond its island roots in California, has earned a firm place in the city's lunch rotation – often with riceberry, extra chilli and an oat latte somewhere nearby. So we spent the better part of a week eating our way through Bangkok's poke bowls. Some tasted like the beach holiday we keep promising ourselves. Others proved that fresh salmon alone cannot save a forgettable lunch. These are the ones worth ordering.

Bangkok’s community malls, creative warehouses and lifestyle hubs have quietly become some of the city’s most useful social spaces. Lately, I’ve found myself ending up cross-legged on a wooden bench at theCOMMONS, a plate of Boon Tong Kee chicken rice slowly going warm in front of me, or wandering through a WWII-era warehouse in Charoenkrung wondering who first decided vintage motorbikes, galleries, coffee and retail belonged in the same building. They were right, by the way. That is the pull of places like theCOMMONS in Thonglor and Saladaeng, Warehouse 30 in Charoenkrung, ChangChui in Bang Phlat, GalileOasis near Banthat Thong and the newly revived 1981 Soul & Sold in Ramkhamhaeng.They are not quite malls, not quite parks and not just places to shop. They are where Bangkok goes to eat, work, wander, shop small, catch exhibitions, take the dog out or lose a whole afternoon without meaning to. In a city short on easy public space, they have become a kind of social infrastructure – more useful, on some days, than any single street or park. What ties them together is not one look, though there is plenty of exposed concrete, reclaimed wood and greenery going around. It is more a shared refusal to behave like a traditional mall. Forget marble floors and piped-in music. Think open-air courtyards, communal tables, dogs underfoot, coffee counters beside galleries, n tattoo studios near vintage shops and restaurants that make staying longer feel like the point. Some of these places h

Out we walk from the bookstore chains. In we go to the independent spots, with dog-eared pages and well-worn spines. Bangkok Design Week's on right now and a big part of it is the Bangkok Book District Fest – folks are calling it the city's first proper 'Book Town'. Running through to February 8 2026, it turns Banglamphu and Rattanakosin into a neighbourhood where books are the common thread. Here's the lot – the Book Town stops and the everywhere else scattered throughout the capital. The Book District (Banglamphu & Rattanakosin) Photograph: bkk.bookdistrict

Running shows no sign of slowing in Bangkok. Morning, evening or after dark, Lumpini Park fills with people clocking kilometres, chasing a clearer head and earning that smug little post-run glow. But once the lap is done, the next question is always the same: where are we eating? Right now, the answer often comes with a crust. Sourdough has become the city’s favourite virtuous carb: naturally fermented, filling and just tangy enough to make breakfast feel like a plan rather than a panic order. Luckily, the streets around Lumpini are stacked with cafés and bakeries turning out fresh loaves, toasted sandwiches, brunch plates and proper coffee. Some are made for grabbing a loaf on the way home, others are built for lingering over a second cup. So whether you’ve just finished a run, wrapped up a cycle or simply fancy a better-than-average breakfast near the park, these seven spots are worth pinning.

Bangkok has given you temples, rooftop bars and enough street food to plan an entire trip around. But the city also has one of Southeast Asia’s stranger collections of curiosities: mostly museums, though a shrine and a snake farm have muscled their way in too. Some are macabre. Some are melancholy. Some are simply odd in ways that are hard to explain. All are worth your time, especially once you've done the obvious.

Thailand is hot enough already, granted. But some meals are worth turning up the heat for. Across Phuket, chefs are leaning into charcoal, smoke, steel and flame, using fire not as a gimmick but as the thing that gives a dish its depth, char and drama.Drawn from Koktail Kuisine, this list runs from dry-aged beef in a Josper oven to live teppanyaki theatre and open-air resort grills. Fire may be humanity’s oldest cooking tool, but in the right hands it still feels thrillingly alive.

Eight Thai films that haunt, consume, destroy and occasionally detach their own heads. Bear wanted Nikki to love him. So he bought a One Wish Willow, made a wish – casually, impulsively, catastrophically – and got exactly what he asked for. If Obsession rattled you, or if you watched it twice because it rattled you,  Thai cinema has been waiting.  For decades, Thai filmmakers have been exploring what happens when desire stops being romantic and turns into something else entirely: a ghost who refuses to leave her husband, a curse that turns devotion into a nightmare, lovers so determined to stay together they end up destroying everything around them. The supernatural love story has its own mythology here. Actually, several. The formula is deceptively simple: someone wants someone a little too much, something snaps and 'I just want you to love me' becomes a sentence nobody survives intact.

Bangkok loves karaoke more than it sometimes lets on. It might be a slick private room with table service and thousands of songs on tap, a late-night Japanese chain where the soft drinks keep coming, or a restaurant-bar where one more round somehow turns into a microphone handover. However it starts, this city knows how to turn a night out into a singalong. The scene breaks down into a few reliable types: Japanese-operated chains brought over from Tokyo and Osaka, Thai karaoke rooms built for groups who want to keep going all night, and restaurant-bars that add karaoke as a late-evening alternative to calling it a night. Here are the best, ranked from strongest recommendation to most niche.

Fact-checked June 2026. Opening hours and entry fees are subject to change, so  always check before you go. A few years ago, getting on a bike in Bangkok felt like either a bold lifestyle choice or a small act of self-destruction. Now, with more dedicated park lanes, purpose-built circuits and traffic-free pockets of green space across the city, there are genuinely good reasons to saddle up. The community has grown with it. Clubs such as Bangkok Photo Bike, known for its Friday evening rides through the old city, have given the scene more structure and social momentum. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has also been pushing towards a more cycle-friendly city, with pilot walking and cycling zones planned around Phrom Phong, Sam Yot, Lat Phrao 71 and Tha Phra as part of a broader active mobility strategy. Bangkok has never been more rideable. Here are the routes to prove it. These are all outdoor picks, but if the rain shows up or you’re more in the mood for indoors, here’s your backup list.

Bangkok keeps getting pulled into the fashion frame, sometimes boldly, sometimes through a detail you only catch on second look. A tuk-tuk in Burberry Check. Papaya salad reimagined as a sneaker. Muay Thai shorts turned into street wear. Each drop grabs a different piece of the city and sends it out into the world.  Tuk-tuks have gone Burberry. Som tam has gone sneaker. Bangkok – and Thailand at large – keeps slipping into the world’s biggest collections.  

The most compelling thing about Bangkok's current speakeasies is how little they resemble each other. A century-old apothecary basement in Siam, a forest-dark room high above Thonglor, a neoclassical mansion on Sathorn that has housed a tycoon, a Soviet embassy and now some of the most inventive bartending in Asia – these are not bars that share an aesthetic. What they share is the belief that space and story matter as much as what lands in the glass.  In 2025, Bangkok was the most represented city in Asia’s 50 Best Bars list, with seven venues in total, including a Thonglor studio that had been open for barely a year. The question is no longer whether Bangkok belongs in the conversation about Asia’s finest cocktail cities. It is which door to open first. There will be more doors. More basements. More unmarked entrances. Some are probably already open; others have not been imagined yet. Bangkok, at this hour, is still changing gear. The city is not, in any meaningful sense, finished. We'll keep a diary as we go. These are the ones we walked through. The ones that stayed with us.

Some of Bangkok’s best experiences cost nothing at all. They sit in plain sight between office towers, hide inside old neighbourhoods or unfold in front of people who pass them every day without really looking. If your idea of a good weekend leans towards wandering without much of a plan and lingering just long enough to people-watch, start here.

Tropical Summer Bowl knows exactly what it does well and does not overcomplicate it. The menu sticks closely to the familiar poke formula: salmon, tuna, shrimp or tofu layered over rice with colourful toppings and enough sauces to keep repeat visits interesting. The Century On Nut branch, a few steps from BTS On Nut, has the easy convenience of a mall lunch stop, though the bowls arrive looking surprisingly fresh for somewhere with such brisk turnover. The salmon remains the safest bet, all buttery cubes against avocado, seaweed, corn and edamame, while the spicy mayo adds warmth without drowning everything underneath. It won't convert poke sceptics, but it delivers exactly the reliable weekday lunch the format was made for. Tropical Summer Bowl. Century The Movie Plaza On Nut, B Floor, 2089 Sukhumvit Rd, Phra Khanong Nuea, Watthana, Bangkok (delivery also available). 10am–9pm

No Cafe Bowls is the latest spin-off from the team behind No Cafe Bagel, and while the bagels built the following, the bowls are not just a side project. The team has given them their own identity – ‘Your daily self-care’ – positioning them as wholesome, protein-packed bowls rather than just another lunch option. The menu is built around neatly composed rice bowls topped with house-cured salmon, avocado, edamame, cucumber and just enough dressing to sharpen the flavours without overwhelming them. It is cleaner, lighter and more restrained than many of Bangkok’s louder poke bowls. No Cafe Bagel. 15/243 Soi Sathorn 11, Yan Nawa, Sathon, Bangkok 10120. 7am–3pm

Shari Shari arrived via sushi burritos rather than poke bowls, and the crossover still shows. Bowls here read like deconstructed rolls, built around tuna zuke or salmon sashimi with toppings such as tobiko, kimchi and edamame, then finished with truffle shoyu or ponzu rather than anything more expected.  The PARQ outpost, beside the Queen Sirikit convention centre, is the most comfortable branch for a sit-down lunch, with a grab-and-go counter for anyone on the clock. Order a medium if you want it as a light meal, large if lunch is doing double duty as dinner, and do not skip the fried eggplant on the side, which turns out to be a genuinely smart pairing rather than a filler item.  Shari Shari. GLOWFISH Dining Hall, Sathorn Thani 2 Building, 92/4 North Sathon Rd, Silom, Bang Rak, Bangkok 10500, with further branch at The PARQ, 88 Ratchadaphisek Rd, Khlong Toei, Bangkok 10110 (delivery also available via Grab and LINE MAN). 10am–8.30pm

What sets Luerjai’s bowls apart is the sauce range rather than any showy gimmick: eight options including a proper larb dressing, a gochujang and a fish-sauce-forward namyum that reads more Isaan salad than Hawaii.  Salmon poke is the anchor, built on riceberry rather than white rice with tamago, edamame, tobiko and genuinely fiery Thai chilli if you ask for it. It's self-service at the counter, with free soup and drink refills that make the whole thing feel more generous than the modest bill suggests. A short walk from Siam BTS, it earns its place on any shopping-day itinerary. Luerjai. 4/F, Siam Square One, 388 Rama I Rd, Pathum Wan, Bangkok 10330, with further branches at Major Ratchayothin, Samyan and RCA (delivery also available via Robinhood, LINE MAN, Grab and Shopee Food). 10am–9pm

Halfie is one of those places you only seem to hear about through someone who knows. Found inside House Lagom, a converted 1970s home turned community space just off Sukhumvit 20, it feels more like a neighbourhood secret than somewhere chasing attention.  GROOBGROOBB, the small-scale seafood outfit behind it, has been sourcing directly from independent fisheries since 2021, and it shows in how clean the sashimi-grade cuts taste against rice that is not oversweetened. Rather than sticking to the classic Hawaiian formula, the menu leans Japanese, riffing on sushi-roll fillings and offering proper sashimi for anyone happy to leave the rice behind. It is a small counter inside a bigger, garden-facing complex. ‘Borderless’ is the team’s word for its cooking, and it fits: flavours drift between Japanese, Thai and whatever the day's catch suggests.  Halfie by GROOBGROOBB. House Lagom, 142 Sukhumvit 20 Alley, Khlong Toei, Bangkok 10110 (delivery also available via Line and GrabFood). 10am–12am

High above the city on the 40th floor of T-One Building, Paper Plane Project describes itself as a creative common ground. One of Bangkok's first venues to bring a co-working space, cafe and bar under one roof, it has become an all-day destination for work, coffee, food and, later, cocktails. By day it has long communal tables, a calm crowd, with free working Wi-Fi and no membership needed to use the space. As daylight fades, the mood shifts with it. The lights dim, the coworking space gives way to a lively bar, and drinks are sometimes accompanied by live music. If you're not ready to call it a night, take the lift up to Tichuca Rooftop Bar on the 46th floor for sweeping views across the city. Crowd: digital nomads and Thonglor creatives by day, a livelier drinks-and-DJ set once the sun goes down. Vibe: sky-high, dual-personality, work hard–play harder. 40/F, T-One Building, Sukhumvit 40 Alley, Phra Khanong, Khlong Toei, Bangkok 10110. Open daily 9am–1am.

The newest entry here is a full reinvention of the old, shuttered The Mall Ramkhamhaeng, relaunched by the same group as a ‘newstalgia’ hub for vintage fashion, secondhand goods, tattoo studios and DJ sets. A building that once anchored the neighbourhood’s retail identity in the 1980s is now betting that Gen Z’s appetite for resale culture and pre-loved everything can do the same job again. It is early days, so expect the tenant mix and hours to keep shifting as the project beds in. For now, treat a visit as catching a work in progress rather than a finished destination. Crowd: thrifters, vintage collectors and curious long-time Ramkhamhaeng residents checking back in on their old mall Vibe: nostalgic, in-progress and unmistakably a bet on where retail is heading next Ramkhamhaeng Rd, between Soi 15 and Soi 17, Huamak, Bang Kapi, Bangkok 10240. Open daily from 11am; closing times still settling, so check social channels before visiting

True Digital park is less cute community mall and more full-service campus for the outer-Sukhumvit crowd. It folds together retail, office space, co-working floors, a gym, walking paths and pet-friendly corners, so a dog walk, lunch, errands and a work session can all happen in the same visit. Highlights include 101 Hillside, a branch of the TK Park public library, a semi-outdoor running track usable even when it is pouring and a rooftop garden worth taking the lift for. It is a genuinely useful anchor for a part of town without many comparable options nearby. Crowd: Punnawithi and outer-Sukhumvit residents, remote workers and dog and cat owners out for a walk. Vibe: functional, campus-like, more useful than atmospheric Sukhumvit 101, Bang Chak, Phra Khanong, Bangkok 10260 Open daily 10am-10pm

Dropped right by BTS Chong Nonsi, BLOQyard is built around a shared seating area where you can order from several kitchens at once and eat together. No Drama Burger, an LA-style stall doing a single smashburger and capping it at 50 a day, is the one many people queue for, and Nihon Saiseisakaba brings a stand-and-eat Japanese motsuyaki izakaya format still rare in this part of town. Running  from breakfast to well past midnight, it is a flexible option for the office towers around Sathorn. Crowd: Sathorn office workers, commuters passing through Chong Nonsi BTS a later-night crowd once the kitchens keep going Vibe: fresh, communal and still finding its identity Near BTS Chong Nonsi, Chong Nonsi, Yan Nawa, Bangkok 10120 Open daily 9am-midnight

Five old shophouses at the mouth of Trok Tua Ngork alley have been turned into a rotating creative space rather than a fixed row of shops. Artists, designers and chefs use Baan Trok Tua Ngork to test out ideas through pop-ups, so the lineup changes far more often than almost anywhere else on this list.  Ground-floor pop-up restaurants come and go alongside the art, making social media checks essential before you visit. Up on the fourth floor, The Living Room at Baan Trok Tua Ngork is worth seeking out too – a cafe built for lingering with friends, open Wednesday to Sunday from 10am-6pm. Crowd: Bangkok’s design and art crowd, plus people chasing whatever pop-up is running that week Vibe: rotating, experimental and genuinely unpredictable Trok Tua Ngork, Pom Prap Sattru Phai, Bangkok 10100. Open Thursday to Sunday 10am-6pm

Founded by Slowmotion’s design director and a co-founder of fashion label Sretsis, Slowcombo is built around the idea that Bangkok could stand to slow down. The Samyan space brings together a healthy spin on classic rice-and-curry cooking, a flower shop championing Thai-grown blooms with a side of conservation messaging and a running programme of mindfulness and movement classes. It is less about hanging out aimlessly for hours and more about taking a deliberate, unhurried pause in the middle of the day. Crowd: students, nearby young professionals and wellness-minded regulars Vibe: mindful, unhurried and quietly earnest Chulalongkorn 50, Wang Mai, Pathum Wan, Bangkok 10330. Open daily 10am-8pm

Gump’s Ari is a small, deliberately photogenic outdoor space that doubles as a barometer for whatever cafe, kiosk or pop-up trend is currently having a moment in Ari. Selfie booths, rotating coffee stands and the odd short-term concept keep the place changing often enough that any fixed description risks ageing quickly – which is partly the point. Come for a coffee, a few photos and a quick read of what the neighbourhood is into right now.  Crowd: Ari cafe-hoppers, day-trippers, remote workers and pop-up chasers Vibe: bright, transient and always slightly different from your last visit Ari 4, Samsen Nai, Phaya Thai, Bangkok 10400. Hours vary by vendor; generally daytime through early evening

Tyson Fury is returning to the ring – and bringing the fight to Thailand. The former two-time heavyweight world champion faces Polish veteran Mariusz Wach at Max Muay Thai Stadium in Pattaya on Friday July 24. The charity bout also serves as Fury’s final tune-up before Fury’s proposed showdown with fellow Briton Anthony Joshua later this year. Fury's connection to Pattaya runs deeper than fight night. He trained in the city before his April comeback victory over Arslanbek Makhmudov in London and has described the Thai resort as ‘special’ to him. The bout is also a first for Max Muay Thai Stadium, a purpose-built arena known for weekly Muay Thai cards broadcast across Asia but yet to host a heavyweight boxer of Fury’s profile. There is a charitable angle too. Fury has reportedly agreed to fight without taking a purse, with net ticket proceeds going to the Father Ray Foundation, a Pattaya-based charity supporting orphans, children with disabilities and other vulnerable people. Only 1,500 tickets will be available. The WBC will also present Fury with its inaugural Humanitarian Title on the night. It is quite the pairing: one of boxing's biggest names headlining a charity card in a Pattaya arena built for Muay Thai, weeks before he is expected to face Joshua. For Thailand, it is another eye-catching addition to the country's international sporting calendar. When: Friday July 24 2026, 9.45pm–1.30am. Doors open at 10pm, with the first bout at 10.15pm. Entry is timed, and organisers

Thai tennis has just had its best Wimbledon in a generation – and it deserves some noise back home. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lanlana Tararudee (@l.tararudee) It began with a Monday for the record books. For the first time in the Open Era, two Thai players won Grand Slam main-draw matches at the same event, as Mananchaya ‘Mai’ Sawangkaew and Lanlana Tararudee both came through their openers at the All England Club.  Sawangkaew's victory was the more dramatic: trailing 6-2, 5-2 and facing match point against 20th seed Maja Chwalińska, she saw the Pole slip behind the baseline while chasing a routine ball. Chwalińska needed a medical timeout and never fully recovered her movement; Sawangkaew seized the opening, winning six of the final seven games to complete a 2-6, 7-5, 6-2 turnaround. ‘I felt that I had nothing to lose,’ she said afterwards. Her grass-court plan was equally direct: take the ball early, finish points quickly and fight for everything. A few hours later, Tararudee staged a comeback of her own, recovering from 5-1 down in the deciding set to beat 2025 Roland Garros junior champion Lilli Tagger 7-6(3), 5-7, 6-4. Both drew  on Thailand's brief but proud tennis history. Sawangkaew revealed that Tamarine Tanasugarn – the country's grass-court icon, whose 2008 Wimbledon quarter-final remains the national benchmark – had texted to congratulate her and urge her to enjoy the grass. Sawangkaew admitted she was touched that Tanasugarn h

Some songs you listen to. This one you walk through. Billed as an 'embodied music experience', Museum of Somnia runs July 25 to August 8 at centralwOrld LIVE – built entirely around the music of Thai singer-songwriter PUN, who’s emerged as one of Thailand and Southeast Asia’s most promising voices in pop and R&B.  Known for his intimate storytelling and genre-blending sound fusing alternative pop, R&B and hip-hop, PUN has built the exhibition into less a gallery and more a set of rooms designed to feel like the inside of someone’s head at 3am. Photograph: Universal Music ThailandPUN MUSEUM OF SOMNIA PUN describes it as a cinematic topography inspired by his thoughts, mind and soul, where music and dreams become one – and that's about as accurate a pitch as you'll get: cinematic visuals, layered soundscapes and spaces built on longing, goodbyes and the kind of waiting that never quite resolves, all stitched together from his back catalogue. Whether you know every lyric or are discovering his sound for the first time, this might just turn a curious newcomer into a fan. For longtime listeners, it's a chance to walk through the mind that created the music. Each room stands for a different chapter of life – joy, longing, hope, farewell, new beginnings – with no fixed interpretation attached, so it's up to you to find your own meaning in each space. The thread running through it all is one simple idea: dreams are sometimes more honest than reality. Here's the twist: no two v

Bangkok’s concert calendar has just added another big name. American singer Khalid, the voice behind ’Location’, ’Young Dumb & Broke’ and ’Talk’, is bringing the It’s Always Summer Somewhere Tour to UOB Live, Emsphere on 29 November 2026. The Grammy-nominated artist has spent the best part of a decade turning soft-focus R&B into sing-it-back pop moments, with songs that feel made for late-night messages, first crushes and feelings best left unsent.  Expect a set that leans into the hits while making room for newer material – less pyrotechnic spectacle, more thousands of voices singing every word back at him. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Live Nation Tero (@livenationth) When and where The concert takes place on Sunday November 29 2026 at UOB Live, on the sixth floor of EMSPHERE on Sukhumvit Road. Since opening, the venue has quickly become one of Bangkok’s go-to stages for international acts, and its late-2026 calendar is already looking busy.  How to get tickets Tickets are priced from B2,800-3,300. There are a few things worth sorting before presale day. Tickets are available exclusively online through ticketmaster.co.th, with no in-person sales at ThaiTicketMajor counters this time. You’ll need to set up a ticketing account in advance, and all tickets will be issued as e-tickets, so there is no physical ticket to collect. The presale schedule runs across several days and channels: Fan club presale: July 13, midday–11.59pm at bit.ly/itsal

Thailand has been named Asia's best place to retire for 2026, climbing to ninth worldwide in International Living's Global Retirement Index. That puts the kingdom one place higher than last year and, more importantly for regional bragging rights, ahead of Malaysia, which slips from seventh globally in 2025 to tenth this year. Now in its 35th year, the index ranks 24 countries across seven categories: housing, cost of living, visas and retiree benefits, development and governance, climate, healthcare and affinity.  Thailand scored 80 out of 100 overall, with its strongest showing in cost of living, where it posted 96. Development and governance followed at 84, while healthcare and visas and retiree benefits both came in at79. The result is less about one big leap than steady appeal. Thailand’s retirement pitch has long rested on the same familiar mix: private healthcare that punches above its price point, a cost of living that makes savings stretch further and visa options that make long-term stays realistic rather than wishful thinking. It also fits neatly with Thailand’s wider push to position itself as a global medical and wellness hub. For retirees, that means the usual postcard pleasures of warm weather, beaches and slow mornings come with a more practical pull: hospitals, clinics, condos, domestic flights and a lifestyle that can be scaled up or down depending on budget. The bigger shuffle is at the top of the table. Greece takes the global crown for 2026, knocking Panam

Prime Video's new shark thriller The Devil's Mouth turns Thailand's caves and coastlines into the setting for a survival nightmare with very little breathing room. Shot over eight weeks across Krabi province, Chiang Mai and Bangkok, the film brings a glossy Hollywood horror setup to some very familiar scenery – then floods it with teeth. Directed by Jeff Wadlow, whose credits include Imaginary and Truth or Dare, the film follows five college friends on one last trip together before adult life gets in the way. Their adventure begins with a guided swim through a remote cave system known as ‘The Devil's Mouth’. So far, so gap-year bucket list. Then they discover that a freak storm has flooded the caves with sea life. Most of it died in the fresh water. One bull shark did not. Photograph: Prime VideoThe Devil's Mouth The cast comes with plenty of young-screen recognition. Kathryn Newton (Abigail, Ready or Not 2), Lana Condor (To All the Boys I've Loved Before), Gavin Casalegno (The Summer I Turned Pretty), Nico Hiraga (Booksmart) and Tommi Rose (Outer Banks) play the friends, while Thai actor Tayme Thapthimthong, fresh from The White Lotus season 3, plays the guide who leads them into the caves. Production wrapped in September 2025, with James Kniest behind the camera and a score by Bear McCreary. The screenplay, originally titled Apex, was written by Aja Gabel and Myung Joh Wesner and appeared on the 2019 Hollywood Black List before Wadlow came on board. The Devil's Mouth stre

Bangkok's skyline always looks better with a film playing in front of it. This July, Skyline Film is back on the rooftop of River City Bangkok, turning the riverside building's fifth floor into an open-air cinema for four nights of movies under the sky. The setup is simple, but nicely spoiling: wooden deck chairs, noise-cancelling wireless headphones and a city view that starts doing the heavy lifting before the opening credits even roll. Instead of squeezing into a multiplex seat, you get your own little patch of rooftop, your own sound and a backdrop that shifts from gold to navy as the evening goes on. It works solo, on a date or as a low-key group hang. Nobody is fighting over the armrest here. The line-up: July 9-12 Each night brings two films back to back, so you can make a double bill of it or just catch the one that suits your mood. Thursday July 9 Midnight in Paris – doors 5.30pm, film starts 6.30pm (1hr 34min) The Princess Diaries – doors 8.20pm, film starts 8.50pm (1hr 51min) Friday July 10 Sleepless in Seattle – doors 5.30pm, film starts 6.30pm (1hr 45min) Black Swan – doors 8.30pm, film starts 9pm (1hr 48min) Saturday July 11 Once – doors 5.30pm, film starts 6.30pm (1hr 26min) Drive – doors 8.30pm, film starts 9pm (1hr 40min) Sunday July 12 Wild Child – doors 5.30pm, film starts 6.30pm (1hr 38min) Notting Hill – doors 8.20pm, film starts 8.50pm (2hr 4min) It is a properly mixed bag: wistful romance, ballet psychodrama, indie heartbreak, a getaway-driver

Some discoveries refuse to stay quiet. For Paul Ewing, this one began over lunch in Bangkok. Danny Whitehead, then head of the British Council in Thailand, placed a stack of hardback books on the table – bought, of all places, on eBay. Inside were plays written in English by His Majesty King Rama VI – and, astonishingly, almost entirely unstaged. 'I just had a eureka moment,' Paul says. 'I'm like, I've got to produce these.' What followed was six months of digging, reading and tracking down English-language plays by His Majesty that he could find. By the end of it, Paul – a Scottish theatre producer, former BBC presenter, Royal Shakespeare Company alumnus and honorary doctorate holder – was convinced. 'I just became absolutely certain that this was the project I was made to do.' The production that has emerged from that conviction is The King's Command, a one-act farce written by His Majesty King Rama VI in 1901 when the future king was around 20 and had been living in England for the best part of a decade. Educated at Sandhurst and Christ Church College, Oxford, His Majesty had fallen hard for the theatre, writing plays, staging them for friends and members of his royal retinue, and later bringing that passion back to Siam. The King's Command was performed once, informally, in England. Then, for all practical purposes, it disappeared. There has been no professional production since. Until now. 'When I first read it, I was struck by how quaint and sweet and innocent it was,'

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Live Nation Tero (@livenationth) Live Nation Tero has confirmed the Bangkok date for Zara Larsson's Midnight Sun Tour, bringing the Swedish pop star to UOB Live at Emsphere for one night only on November 1 2026. The tour takes its name from the Nordic summer phenomenon that keeps the sky bright long after midnight. For Bangkok, it adds another high-gloss pop booking to a concert calendar that keeps getting busier – and gives fans a date to lock in now. Tickets are priced at B2,800-B3,900, with VIP packages available at B9,000.  Getting your tickets Sales roll out across four presale rounds  before general tickets open on July 24 at 10am. Fan club presale – July 20, 10am-10pm: bit.ly/midnightsunbkk. Mastercard & Trip.com presale – July 21 at 10am to July 22 at 10am: tr.ee/M5F2ZQ. UOB Mastercard presale – July 22, midday-10pm: bit.ly/midnightsunbkk. Live NationTero member presale – July 23, 10am-10pm: bit.ly/ps-midnightsunbkk. Free to sign up. General sale – July 24, from 10am: bit.ly/midnightsunbkk. A few things before clicking refresh: each presale round and the general sale carry a limit of six tickets per order. To manage demand from July 20-24, buyers are advised to join the virtual queue on ticketmaster.co.th up to one hour before each sale opens. Presale access, whether via Mastercard or Live Nation Tero membership, does not guarantee tickets; allocation is first come, first served. Tickets are also non-transferabl

There's a moment, about fifteen minutes into a facial at Seren Le Moment, when you realise you haven't thought about anything. Not your phone, not your week, not the traffic you sat through on the way here. Just your skin – being read, worked on and genuinely improved – extraordinarily capable hands and the particular quality of silence that only very good rooms seem to hold. Easy to reach, easy to be in Photograph: Seren Le MomentBest Luxury Facial in Bangkok Seren Le Moment sits just off Sukhumvit 49 – close enough to Thonglor to be convenient, removed enough to feel like an escape. No big signage, no sense of being moved along. A short stroll from BTS Thonglor, or straight there by car with parking just steps away, and you’re in. In a city where most luxury experiences involve at least one mall corridor, the ease of arrival is its own small luxury. Privacy and discretion as genuine luxury   Photograph: Seren Le MomentBest Luxury Facial in Bangkok Beyond brighter, clearer, smoother skin, there's a rarer luxury at play: the sense that the time ahead genuinely belongs to you. The room is yours from start to finish. No waiting area full of other clients, no interruptions, no pressure to rush things along. The attention is entirely yours.The space has the considered calm of somewhere genuinely cared for. Not a chain's interpretation of serenity, but the real thing. For anyone seeking discretion, or something more intimate than Bangkok’s busy beauty counters, more personal,

There's a particular kind of validation that comes not just from chart position, but from the fact that people outside your home market have bothered to pay attention. ‘The Evil Lawyer’, the Thai courtroom thriller that has been cutting into everyone's evenings since June 11, has both.  According to streaming tracker FlixPatrol, the series is sitting in Netflix’s top 10 in 34 countries and at number one in Thailand. It has also picked up a three-star review in The Guardian, which called it ‘gripping, twisty and ludicrously hammy’ – a throwaway line, perhaps, but not a throwaway moment. Thai series do not often get reviewed by the British broadsheets. When they do, something has shifted. The numbers alone, though, do not explain why people are watching. The Evil Lawyer follows Mek (Nat Kitcharit), an idealistic young lawyer framed for the murder of a police chief's son. Stripped of the system he once trusted, he turns to Jittri (Rhatha Phongam), a defence attorney with a gift for finding loopholes other lawyers would not dare touch. Her  nickname, inevitably, is the Evil Lawyer. She will take his case, but only on one condition: he has to work for her. What follows is not one trial stretched thin across eight episodes, the trap plenty of legal dramas fall into. Netflix has billed the series as Thailand's first courtroom drama of this scale, and the structure backs that up:  multiple interconnected cases, each one picking at a different thread of the country's legal system, fro

Clear your Friday. Siam Square is turning Walking Street into a public dancefloor as its new monthly street event opens with vogue, ballroom energy, a rainbow LED backdrop and beginner classes for anyone who has never struck a pose in their life. The Property Management Office of Chulalongkorn University (PMCU) is behind it, building on the momentum of the earlier Siam Square World Dance Carnival. This time, the format has more staying power: Walking Street becomes a free public dancefloor every second Friday of every month, open to all and themed differently each time. The event is called Siam Square Full Moon Dance, and the first edition lands this Friday June 27. Pride first The opening night runs under the banner PRIDE DANCEVERSE, timed to Pride Month and part of the wider SIAM PRIDEVERSE 2026 celebration. The featured style is vogue,  framed here as an expression of confidence, individuality and acceptance, which is about as on-brief as a launch theme gets. Leading Thai dance school rumPUREE – World Dance Studio will run beginner classes on the night, guiding first-timers through the basics up close. No experience, no audition, no excuses. The night closes with a performance by Thailand Ballroom Girlies against a giant rainbow LED screen in the middle of Walking Street. Loud, spectacular and very Siam Square. Mark the second Friday, every month This is designed to stick. Each edition will bring a different dance style, concept and set of activities, giving Bangkok's danc