Tita Honghirunkham

Sometimes you've got a situation. The urgent evenings, the spontaneous detours, the surprise non-vanilla desires. And you need way more than four walls and a lock. So off you go: love hotels. They exist purely for that sweet zone between naughty and practical. Bangkok's got them scattered around town – themed rooms, playful touches and cheeky purpose-built spaces designed exactly for steamy occasions like yours.

Thai cinema is no longer the thing you’ll get round to eventually. From the family heartbreak of How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies to Hunger’s fine-dining pressure cooker and The Medium’s Isaan folk horror, these Thai movies on Netflix Thailand give you plenty of reasons to clear an evening. This year’s additions include scam-revenge thriller The Red Line, action romance My Dearest Assassin and crime thriller The Debt Collector, alongside classics such as My Girl and The Overture. Netflix says more than nine in ten of its members in Thailand watched local content in 2025. If your watchlist hasn’t caught up, start here. Streaming catalogues change, so check the title in your Netflix Thailand account before settling in.

'Thai taste' isn’t confined to carved wooden trim and a whisper of xylophone any more. At Bangkok’s new wave of Isaan restaurants, vinyl cafés and music bars, it might mean larb with a proper kick in Bang Kapi, mor lam records spinning in Nang Loeng or live Thai music over cocktails in Ari. Six new places have joined this guide, bringing more reasons to follow your ears as well as your appetite. Food may bring you through the door, but music often keeps you there: the crackle of a mor lam record, a room singing along to reggae-ska, classical Thai melodies or a properly romantic jazz set.  Some places put food first – fiery som tam, clay-pot chicken and grilled lamb ribs – while others are worth visiting for the records or live bands alone. Here’s where to start. We update this guide regularly, so check back for the latest.

Thai fabric has moved well beyond the temple wardrobe. Designers across Thailand are turning Hmong embroidery, northern sinh, southern pha thung and handwoven silk into mini skirts, slip tops, dresses and ready-to-wear pieces you can put on today. Chalay’s Manora embroidery even reached Tyla, while smaller labels are making local weaving easier to wear without losing the work behind it. There’s plenty to look for: Kahlong’s northern prints, Malinee’s adjustable skirt made from Nan’s mud-dyed cloth and Angelmæd’s Isan pha khao ma, a chequered cotton wrap, reworked with an eye on waste. Ketsarin offers made-to-measure batik skirts, while Sanæ, Cherlyn Ornika and Sirimon bring Thai silk into contemporary wardrobes.These eight brands give the craft – and the people making the cloth – a place in everyday fashion. These eight brands give the craft – and the people making the cloth – a place in everyday fashion.

 

      Photograph: Time Out Bangkokkhao Yai Art Forest   The day starts in a building that still smells faintly of its own history. Bangkok Kunsthalle sits down a lane off Soi Nana in Chinatown inside the old Thai Wattana Panich printing house. The building burned, stood empty for two decades and now holds art without hiding the damage. Its staircases are scorched and its beams remain exposed. At 9.45am on Saturday, the light falls through the upper windows in long, flat slabs. The whole place feels like a room left alone to think. At 10am,a B500 round-trip shuttle leaves from outside, Thursday to Sunday,. Book ahead because seats are limited. It is an unusually civilised arrangement: turn up at a Chinatown gallery and, a few hours later, step into a forest three provinces away without driving or making another decision. We sleep for the first hour, as you do. The road out of Bangkok is dull until it suddenly isn't. Flyovers give way to billboards, warehouses and car dealerships, then limestone appears somewhere past Saraburi. The land stops looking flat before you quite register the change. Approaching Pak Chong, the roadside becomes unmistakably Khao Yai: corn stalls, sunflower fields, garden centres, a farm advertising alpacas and plenty of Tuscany rendered in Thai concrete.   Stop for Isan lunch at Penlaos Photograph: Time Out BangkokLunch and coffee at Penlaos Stop at Penlaos on the way in. What began more than a decade ago as a street stall is now a barn-like restau

Over the past half-decade or so, much has changed in the way we live, work and play in our cities. It wasn’t too long ago that lockdowns rendered the city centre all but obsolete and brought to the fore the vital role of our immediate neighbourhoods and communities.  Now, the balance has been restored. Our local neighbourhood remains fundamental: mini-villages where the barista knows your order, where local restaurants, bars and indie businesses thrive, and where communities continue to band together for all sorts of cool stuff, from art walks and day festivals to creating greener streets and pedestrian-friendly spaces. And six years on from the pandemic, the city centre is seeing a renaissance, with brand-new music venues, galleries, coffee shops and more opening up and welcoming a new generation of hybrid workers and the back-to-the-office crowd (and, of course, city-breakers and tourists).  On this year’s list of the world’s coolest neighbourhoods, you’ll see this mix play out. There are downtown hubs and seaside strips, homely enclaves and warehouse districts, all nominated by our global network of on-the-ground experts. This lucky lot spends their time exploring every corner of their hometowns to discover the best places to eat, drink, shop and hang out right now, so you can trust we know what we’re talking about. To decide the final ranking, a panel of Time Out editors vetted each neighbourhood against a range of criteria, including food and drink, nightlife, unique loc

Khalid last played Bangkok in 2018 – back when our interviewer was still in high school. Eight years on, the singer is older, a little wiser by his own admission, and very ready to see what the city does after dark. This time he plays UOB Live, EmSphere on November 29 with the It's Always Summer Somewhere' Tour, and he intends to fit more than soundchecks and setlists into the trip. Photograph: thegr8khalidKhalid - Exclusive interview The songs you grew up with If you were near a phone speaker in the late 2010s, you know Khalid. The El Paso-raised singer built his career on warm R&B and songs that include ‘Location’, ‘Young Dumb & Broke’, ‘Talk’, and ‘Better’. Four studio albums and seven Grammy nominations later, he is bringing the full catalogue back to Bangkok. Khalid’s latest, After the Sun Goes Down, arrived in 2025. As he puts it:  ‘It's really an album about freedom – letting your hair down, going out there and having fun, embracing the night for the mysterious experiences it has to offer.’ The tour name comes from the same impulse. ‘Summer, to me, is an emotion,’ he explains.  ‘It means feeling your most fun, free, going out, exploring the night, celebrating life with your friends and bringing the heat wherever I go.’   He remembers playing a show at around -1°C and still willing summer into the room:‘'We really are bringing this summer with us wherever we go.’ The man commits to the concept. Photograph: thegr8khalidKhalid - Exclusive interview Khalid wants a prop

Bangkok’s best film nights rarely feel like a standard multiplex trip. This month, Thailand’s Oscar contender opens BKKIFF 2026 at ICONSIAM before reaching House Samyan, while Sala Saneha turns a 70-year-old building into a 25-seat wine-bar cinema.  Add French, European and Thai films at Alliance Française Bangkok and you’ve got a sharp running diary of screenings worth pencilling in.

There’s a version of Thailand that exists purely on screen: a jagged limestone island hiding a villain, a beach so perfect it sends backpackers wild, a rooftop bar where four strangers wake up with no memory of the night before. None of it is fake, exactly. Somewhere along the way, though, the line between ‘shot here’ and ‘must go here’ blurred – and Thailand’s tourism board took notice. This isn’t a list of films that happened to use Thailand as scenery. Plenty have, and most changed nothing. This is about the handful that did: the ones that turned a cinema seat into a boarding pass and a scene into a bucket-list photo, before the government eventually stopped watching from the sidelines and started engineering the effect. Call it set-jetting or film-induced tourism; either way, films have been shaping Thai travel itineraries since 1957. 1957: the film that renamed a river Photograph: The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)The set-jetting guide to Thailand Start with the strangest case of all: it wasn’t even filmed in Thailand. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) was shot in Sri Lanka, won  seven Oscars and told a heavily fictionalised story of the Death Railway – the brutal Second World War line built by Allied prisoners of war and Asian labourers under Japanese occupation, whose construction killed well over 100,000 people. Photograph: Niels MickersThe set-jetting guide to Thailand   Then came the real plot twist. The bridge is in Kanchanaburi, but the river was never call

Every Thai kid of a certain generation knows the scene: sitting cross-legged in front of the TV, remote ready, waiting for the theme song that made everything else wait. Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon had their place, but Thailand had its own universe of  Channel 3 line-ups, homegrown studios and characters who felt like neighbours. Most never entirely disappeared. YouTube has become an accidental childhood archive, with official releases, scattered uploads and more English dubs or subtitles than you might expect, often free to watch.  For anyone now in their early 20s, this is a nostalgic guide to the Thai cartoons that defined childhood – what still holds up, what remains Thai-only and where to find each one today.

Chestnut ice cream, craft-soda sorbet, chocolate and yet more ice cream – with steamed buns, vinyl and sunset cocktails breaking up the sugar rush. Eight Song Wat stops, one afternoon and no time to dawdle. Song Wat Road runs about 1.2 kilometres between Chinatown and the river, making  it a natural walking route rather than a checklist. Laid out under King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) after a major fire that swept through Sampheng, the road is said to follow a line he personally traced on a royal map – hence Song Wat, roughly ‘drawn by the king’. Its first section was completed in 1892 and the road reached its present form in 1907, becoming a vital commercial artery as the district rebuilt around it. For much of the next century, Song Wat simply got on with business: warehouses, gold traders, family-run shophouses and goods moving in from the river.  Then came the street artists and coffee roasters. In 2022, local Kiattiwat Srichanwanpen launched a community initiative that has grown from 10 businesses to around 60.  This crawl came down to eight stops in four hours. I started around 2pm and needed to leave before 6pm, so allow at least four hours: three and a half is possible only if you keep every stop brisk. Give yourself longer if you’d rather linger, check each venue’s opening hours before setting out and don’t cut it so fine that you miss golden hour at Sober Record Bar – that would defeat the point of all the rushing.

RD Resort keeps the focus on a private place to spend time together. Its love-hotel setup favours a low-key escape over the elaborate fantasy sets elsewhere on this list. It’s on Arun Amarin Road in Bangkok Noi, making it an option on the Thonburi side of the river when you want to slip away from the evening’s bustle. Location: Arun Amarin Road, Bangkok Noi, Bangkok

Romrudee takes the themed-room thing and gives you an entire world to choose from. Standard rooms come in Morocco, Safari, China, Venice, Mexico and USA. Deluxe rooms offer Zen and Nordic themes; the Exclusive rooms move on to Roman, Phra Nakhon, Harlem and The Emperor. Choose a setting and settle in. The hotel is in Nonthaburi, so allow time to get there. This is a place to pick for its range of rooms and its unabashed enthusiasm for a theme.  Location: Soi Liang Mueang Nonthaburi 13, Nonthaburi

If the full-scale fantasy sets aren’t your thing, G Boutique has a more contemporary look. It still makes room for a little theatre: options include a Love Themed Suite and an Executive Suite with an outdoor, cave-style jetted hot tub. Its Surawong Road address makes dinner and drinks in Silom easy to fold into the night. No elaborate journey required. Location: Surawong Road, Bang Rak, Bangkok

Follow Somsak’s story to Ekkamai Somsak is built around a fictional London cab driver who wins the lottery and comes home to open his dream Isaan restaurant. The team behind Fatboy Izakaya and Kim Jeong Grill tells the story in hot pink, yellow and neon, with village-pop touches throughout. On the table, look for grilled lamb ribs marinated in makwaen, herbs and spices, and smoked-beef koi with pickles, cha plu leaves, chilli peanuts and jaew. The food gives rustic Isaan flavours a playful, city-ready turn. Somsak G/F, Ekkamai Corner, Sukhumvit. Open daily 11am–11pm. Tel. 083 262 9154

Bring your appetite to Jae Bank Jae Bank’s Emsphere dining room takes Gen-Z village maximalism for a spin: a golden horse overhead, lucky charms, corrugated tin and film posters spoofing chef Wichanu ‘Bank’ Premphak. Its cheeky tagline is ‘Where the somtum is more violent than your ex’. Start with koi goong koi jai, bouncy fresh prawns tossed in a punchy dressing, then follow with fiery tom saep. DJs and live bands turn up on some nights. Jae Bank 5/F, EmWonder, Emsphere, Sukhumvit. Open daily 5.30pm–2am. Tel. 081 110 0569

Turn up the heat at Dao Rung Dao Rung wears its Sakon Nakhon influences all over its Sathon Soi 12 space. Luk thung-pop graphics and beauty-pageant glamour sit alongside bamboo fish traps, rows of sato bottles and a glass kitchen where crispy-skinned clay-pot chicken roasts in view. The food has the same bold streak: som tam Dao Rung comes with soft khanom jeen to soak up the pla ra, while juicy suea rong hai works especially well with sato. The zesty larb moo is another good call. Dao Rung Sathon Soi 12. Open Mon–Fri 11am–2pm and 5pm–midnight; Sat–Sun 11am–midnight. Tel. 096 154 9696

Gather the larb people at Labkrung Social Club At this Sathon clubhouse, som tam, larb and koi are taken seriously, though the mood is anything but solemn. The owner’s love of cooking Isaan food grew into two branches, and the Chan Road spot makes a strong case for sticky rice alongside koi suea khua and punchy tam puu pla ra. There’s also a Melbourne-style steak made with marinated, grilled beef striploin. Order a chilled chrysanthemum tea, settle into the after-work chatter and leave room for another plate; prices are friendly. Labkrung Social Club Chan Rd., Thung Wat Don, Sathon (in Vanilla Moon). Open daily 4pm–midnight. Tel. 094 717 9161

Get in early for Isaan food at Fung Lam Bang Kapi’s Fung Lam fills up fast, so arrive early for the larb, koi, soi jub and tom saep – sour, spicy, salty dishes loaded with fresh herbs. The raw space sits somewhere between a village house and a building site, with the easy feel of eating and drinking at a mate’s place. The owner had kept the name ‘Fung Lam’ on the shelf while opening two other venues, then returned to it because this style felt most like home. Come for the food and stay for the room-wide sing-alongs. On Wednesdays, the bar opens but the kitchen takes the night off, so you can bring in food from neighbouring stalls while you sip and listen. Fung Lam Happyland Soi 1, Bang Kapi. Open daily 6pm–1am. No reservations or phone number. Line Official: @funglambkk

Pull up a chair at Chamnan Kan Sura This tiny, old-school grocery-shop near Phahon Yothin Soi 1 is an easy after-work stop, whether you arrive with friends or on your own. Drinks, inexpensive snacks and a soundtrack that keeps the evening moving do most of the work. When the inside fills up, chairs spill onto the pavement. Keep an eye out for the uncle who cycles by selling ground squid – you can order some straight to your table. Chamnan Kan Sura Phahon Yothin Soi 1, Phaya Thai. Open daily 6pm–1am. Tel. 082 954 0754

Lisa's latest footwear choice came from PACE Shoes, the Bangkok label founded in 2014 by Pimpisa ‘Patty’ Promfang. Its handcrafted sandals and sculptural heels have the feel of art objects rather than mass-market accessories, with shapes you will not find on every shop floor. The label grew from Promfang’s ‘make them yourself’; to see the pieces in person, make an appointment at Casa De Pace in Wang Thonglang. Casa De Pace (appointment only), 70 Soi Lat Phrao 80, Lane 20, Khwaeng Wang Thonglang, Khet Wang Thonglang, Bangkok 10310.

By Krusty, the day’s sugar-to-coffee ratio had tipped decisively towards sugar, and I wasn't complaining This small, newly opened café is pastel, pared-back and naturally photogenic, with proper fried ice cream as the draw. It is not one of Song Wat’s loud, long-established names; it is a quiet, cute stop for anyone café-hopping through the neighbourhood, which was precisely why it worked before the afternoon changed gear. 1222/3 Song Wat Rd, Samphanthawong, Bangkok 10100. Daily, 11am–7pm.

Hidden down an unmarked alley, Choch is devoted to Thai bean-to-bar chocolate made with cacao from provinces including Lamphun and Chumphon. The staff are happy to explain each bar’s origins. I chose the Choco Roselle, although the King Thangkwian with manuka honey was tempting, and paired it with a matcha canelé that disappeared almost immediately.  1192 Song Wat Rd, Samphanthawong, Bangkok 10100. Monday-Thursday 10am-6pm, Friday-Sunday 10am-7pm.

Your thighs have had a long break. Phu Kradueng National Park in Loei reopens its summit for hiking and overnight stays on October 1 2026, with the season scheduled to run until May 31 2027. That puts the climb to Wang Kwang, sunrise at Pha Nok Aen and the cliff walk towards Pha om Sak back on the itinerary – subject to the park’s route and safety rules. The summit has been closed since June 1 to allow the ecosystem to recover and to keep visitors off the trails during the wetter months. Pick your route You can start the climb between 6am and noon; descents are permitted from 7am to 1pm. On the summit, the cliff zone opens at 8am, including the route towards Pha Lom Sak. If you’re heading there for sunset, leave the viewpoint by 6pm. You can also visit Pairat-Thanchai Reservoir from 6.30am to 5pm, and Tham Yai Waterfall and Lan Phra Srinakharin, home to the Phra Phuttha Metta Buddha image, from 8.30am to 2pm. These areas are listed for independent visits.  Two outings require a park guide, with one departure each day. For sunrise at Pha Nok Aen, meet at Wang Kwang Visitor Centre at 5am; the walk runs until 7am. The waterfall route to Phen Phop Mai, Phon Phop and Phen Phop meets at the same centre at 8.30am and runs until 2pm. Rangers can close any route they judge unsafe, so check the day’s instructions before setting out. Allow time for the climb  It's about 5.5km (3-5 hours) uphill to Lang Pae, followed by roughly 3.5km across the summit to Wang Kwang – around 9km before an

If ‘the baddest b! ain’t in LA’ has been all over your FYP, there’s now an offline sighting in Bangkok. ADÉLA’s advertising display for her debut album PRIMA is up at Union Mall in Lat Phrao from September 22-29. If you’re passing through, here’s your chance to see the campaign before it disappears. Photograph: Universal Music ThailandBangkok   ADÉLA, real name Adéla Jergová, is the 22-year-old Slovak singer who appeared on HYBE and Geffen’s The Debut: Dream Academy, the competition that formed KATSEYE. She missed the final line-up, then struck out on her own. ‘Ain’t in LA’ took off on TikTok and made her the first Slovak artist to enter the Billboard Hot 100. The song appears on PRIMA, her 11-track debut album, released through Capitol Records on September 4. The album entered the Billboard 200 at number four and topped the US Top Album Sales and Vinyl Albums charts. It also reached number one in Slovakia and the Netherlands, and the top 10 in the UK and Australia. She has played Lollapalooza too. If you’re already near Union Mall, the display makes an easy detour for a fan photo – and you have until September 29. Where: Union Mall, Lat Phrao, BangkokDates: September 22-29What to look for: ADÉLA's advertising display for PRIMA and ‘Ain't In LA’

Thailand’s book world rarely does things quietly. The 31st National Book Fair – officially Book Expo Thailand 2026 – takes over Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre from October 23-November 1, with ten days of books, comics, manga, BL titles, children’s reads, second-hand finds and foreign-language editions. The numbers from the previous edition set a fairly daunting benchmark. The 30th National Book Fair in March drew more than 1.5 million visitors over 11 days and generated more than B474 million in sales – both record figures for PUBAT, the Publishers and Booksellers Association of Thailand. More than seven in ten visitors were Gen Z, while horror and detective fiction were among the strongest-selling genres. So much for the image of book fairs as hushed affairs populated mainly by people browsing poetry . This edition is slightly shorter at ten days, filling  Halls 5-7 on QSNCC’s LG floor. The familiar seven-zone format returns, covering general books and fiction, Wonder Y – the fair’s dedicated BL/yaoi section – Book Wonderland for comics and teen reads, children’s and educational books, second-hand titles and a foreign-language section for anyone looking to stock up on English or Japanese books . This year’s theme is ‘Unread Messages’, playing on the idea that opening a book can feel like finally around to a message that has been waiting for you. PUBAT has carried the concept through its ‘you've got a new message’ campaign, including a competition to design the fair

Bangkok’s newest hair trend draws on a centuries-old tradition. Known as  malai klao phom, or ‘garland-wrapped hair’, it has sent a fresh wave of visitors to Pak Khlong Talat, Thailand's biggest flower market. According to the story circulating online, the trend began when a Gen Z influencer asked a vendor to fasten a garland around her bun instead of her wrist, then shared the clip. It spread across TikTok and Instagram almost overnight. Within days, women of all ages were queueing to try it. Pak Khlong Talat has already had one viral flower moment this year: in April, visitors posed holding a single lotus stem. The malai trend feels less disposable because phuang malai garlands are deeply rooted in Thai life. Strung by hand, flower by flower, they are offered to monks, hung from taxi mirrors for safe travel and placed over couples’ hands during wedding water blessings. Uusually fragrant with jasmine, sometimes roses or marigolds, they carry ideas of luck and respect. Wearing one in the hair gives a familiar tradition a fresh, highly photographable twist. Start at Pak Khlong Talat Photograph: Tonson H.Bangkok’s viral flower-garland hair trend Pak Khlong Talat sits where Khlong Ong Ang meets the Chao Phraya, on Chak Phet Road in Bangkok’s old city. It sold produce and fish until the 1950s, when the city moved the flower trade here. Today, it is reportedly one of the world’s largest wholesale flower markets and runs 24 hours a day. Daytime is gentler than the famous 3am deli

Ask a Talat Noi local for directions and you may be sent past a mechanic elbow-deep in a carburettor, a 200-year-old shrine wreathed in incense and a queue for filter coffee. The neighbourhood has never felt the need to choose between grease, history and flat whites. Apparently, that’s exactly the point. Time Out Global has revealed its 40 Coolest Neighbourhoods in the World for 2026, with Talat Noi at No.14 – Bangkok’s best-ever result on the annual list. The riverside neighbourhood has spent roughly 150 years changing jobs, from port to engine-parts district, while newer cafés, bars and creative studios have moved in around the old guard rather than pushing it out. Who else made the cut? Here’s the global top 15, with Bangkok between Lisbon and Stockholm. The coolest neighbourhoods in the world 2026 – top 15 Jongno 3-ga – Seoul, South Korea L'Ocean District – Rabat, Morocco Neos Kosmos – Athens, Greece Chinatown – Los Angeles, USA Govanhill – Glasgow, UK Kitakagaya – Osaka, Japan Chapinero Alto – Bogotá, Colombia Koenji – Tokyo, Japan Downtown – St. Catharines, Canada Esquilino – Rome, Italy Russafa – Valencia, Spain Tân Định – Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam São Bento – Lisbon, Portugal Talat Noi – Bangkok, Thailand Slakthusområdet – Stockholm, Sweden See the full 40 on Time Out Global → Why Talat Noi, why now? If you haven’t made it down to Talat Noi, the appeal is simple: it’s the slice of riverside Bangkok that never quite decided what it wanted to be – and stopped apologis

If your For You Page has served up a steady stream of indie-pop heartbreak over the past two years, Malcolm Todd needs little introduction. Bangkok can now hear it live: the American singer-songwriter brings the Do That Again Tour to UOB LIVE at EMSPHERE on December 6, setting up one of the year’s louder breakup singalongs View this post on Instagram A post shared by Malcolm Todd (@malcolmtodd)   Todd built his following the modern way, with early singles going viral on TikTok before he signed to Columbia Records. His warm, melancholic sound moves between indie pop and alternative R&B – made for replaying after a breakup you’re not quite over. His 2024 single ‘Chest Pain (I Love)’ was his breakout hit after taking off on TikTok, while ‘Earrings’ became a global sleeper hit and reached the top 20 in Thailand and several other markets. He also has a track simply called ‘Thailand’ on his Sweet Boy mixtape, making this Bangkok date feel rather overdue. View this post on Instagram A post shared by UOBLIVE (@uoblive_bangkok) ‘Earrings’ and ‘Chest Pain (I Love)’ should get the loudest reception at UOB LIVE, though the setlist is likely to draw from across Todd’s back catalogue – plenty of breakup-diary material to choose from. Tickets start at B2,500, with VIP packages rising to B10,900. Sales open in three stages from September 28. Where: UOB LIVE, EMSPHEREWhen: December 6 2026Tickets: Fanclub Presale: September 28, 10am–10pm Live Nation Tero Pr

Photograph: GDHHENRY's First Dates Thailand is getting its own 50 First Dates – with the original’s memory-loss twist reversed. GDH’s HENRY's First Dates opens nationwide September 17 2026, starring tNadech Kugimiya, known for the horror hit Death Whisperer 2, and Minnie Nicha Yontararak, an i-dle member making her acting debut. Here,  the male lead’s memory resets each night and the female lead must make him fall for her again each day. Henry runs a small hotel on the Phang Nga coast and wakes each morning having forgotten the previous day. Lucy, a hot-air balloon pilot who travels for work, falls for him anyway and must court him again from scratch. It reverses the 2004 film, in which Drew Barrymore’s character had short-term memory loss and Adam Sandler did the chasing. The production filmed across six provinces – Prachuap Khiri Khan, Chumphon, Phuket, Phang Nga, Krabi and Chiang Rai – spanning major tourist hubs and lesser-visited destinations.  The film is Sony Pictures International Productions’ first production made in Thailand, in partnership with GDH – the studio behind Bad Genius and the Oscar-shortlisted How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies. Director Mez Tharatorn (I Fine..Thank You..Love You) co-wrote the screenplay with Thodsapon Thiptinnakorn (How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies) and Benjamaporn Srabua (Love Destiny: The Movie). Kiat Kitchareon, Ble Patumrach and Vivien Tipakorn Chaiprasit complete  the cast. Announced in August 2025 as one of five upc

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Central Chidlom (@centralchidlom) What it is Created by Vivienne Westwood Ltd with Nomad Exhibitions, the show spans more than four decades of the late designer’'s jewellery. Archive and runway pieces appear for the first time across eight rooms covering punk roots, Wonderland fantasy, the eco-conscious Do It Yourself years, 18th-century parures and the house’s signature Orb. Why it matters here Bangkok is the tour’s fifth stop, after Wellington, Shanghai, Chengdu and Macau. Its next destination is yet to be announced, so this is the window to see the collection in Thailand. What to expect The jewellery is staged with clothing, photography, video and complete catwalk looks, showing how each ring or brooch worked as part of an entire outfit rather than as an isolated object. An on-site Vivienne Westwood Exhibition Shop handles the inevitable temptation afterwards. The jewellery, in context Westwood used jewellery as an argument. Her anti-establishment politics, environmentalism and fascination with British history all took physical form. The Orb is the clearest example: created in 1985 by placing a Saturn-like ring around the traditional British sovereign’s orb, it splices space-age imagery with royal iconography. That collision of old authority and deliberate disruption sums up her design philosophy in one object. Worth seeking out The Galaxy Room makes its debut in Bangkok through a collaboration with Microsoft. Choose the pi

Some films fade. Love of Siam still hasn’t. When Chookiat Sakveerakul’s coming-of-age drama opened in November 2007, its gay romance was largely absent from the marketing. Audiences discovered it mid-film, stirring controversy before the reviews turned to acclaim. By the end of awards season, it had swept Best Picture at Thailand’s major national film awards. Nearly two decades later, it is often credited with helping clear a path for Thailand’s booming Boys’ Love industry. For a generation shaped by Siam Square, it remains the local coming-of-age film against which the rest are measured.  We spoke to Pich Witwisit about what Love of Siam still means nearly two decades on – read the interview here. Now GMMTV is giving the story a second life on stage. View this post on Instagram A post shared by GMMTV (@gmmtv) GMMTV has confirmed Love of Siam The Musical, a stage adaptation at Muangthai Rachadalai Theatre. The  announcement has the pull of an old cassette rediscovered – the same melody and ache, ready to play again. Production details remain scarce. Fans are already wondering how the musical will recreate Siam Square, handle songs including ‘Gun Lae Gun’ and ‘Piang Ter’ and bring Mew, Tong, Ying and Sunee to the stage. It is a demanding film to adapt without flattening its emotional weight, but  GMMTV has picked a title with a devoted audience and plenty to argue about. For now, the dates and venue are confirmed: Love of Siam The Musical runs at Muangthai Ra

Bangkok International Film Festival 2026 opens on September 13 with a film already carrying some serious momentum: Thailand’s official Oscar submission, 9 Temples to Heaven. View this post on Instagram A post shared by BKKIFFofficial (@bkkiffofficial) Sompot Chidgasornpongse's Cannes-premiered family drama leads the opening at ICONSIAM, where Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya Sirivadhana Barnavadi will preside over the ceremony. The red carpet unfolds beside the Chao Phraya River, with international actors arriving by boat to dock at the venue – a suitably cinematic start for a festival still rebuilding its scale after several years away. From there, BKKIFF runs until September 27, with more than 150 films screening across Doc Club & Friends, Samyan Mitrtown, Paragon Cineplex and CentralWorld’s SF World Cinema. Screenings, Q&As and competition strands run daily, making this a city-wide festival rather than a single-cinema showcase. The Oscar connection gives this edition an especially strong opening hook.  9 Temples to Heaven was selected from a shortlist of eight films by Thailand’s National Federation of Motion Pictures and Contents Associations following wins at Shanghai and New Zealand and a Directors' Fortnight premiere at Cannes – the first Thai film in that section in 19 years. Its BKKIFF screening comes just days before its nationwide release on September 17. For a festival only in its second year back, opening with a film already attracting that level

Thailand has chosen a Cannes-premiered family pilgrimage drama for the 99th Academy Awards – months before most local audiences have had the chance to see it. Photograph: 9 Temples to Heaven, 2026Thailand’s Oscar 9 Temples to Heaven has been selected by the National Federation of Motion Pictures and Contents Associations as Thailand’s official submission for Best International Feature Film. The announcement follows a festival run spanning Cannes, Shanghai and New Zealand, all before the film’s Thai theatrical release . Written and directed by Sompot Chidgasornpongse, the film follows nine members of one family on a one-day pilgrimage to nine temples. They race to ‘make merit’ in the hope of changing the fate of their grandmother, who has been told she has little time left. The premise is rooted in Thai belief, though Sompot has described its underlying themes – family, faith and hope – as universal. That unusual route began with a world premiere in Directors’ Fortnight at the 79th Cannes Film Festival. It was the first Thai film selected for the section in 19 years, following Pen-ek Ratanaruang’s Ploy in 2007. As Sompot’s first narrative feature, it was also eligible for the Caméra d'Or. Photograph: 9 Temples to Heaven, 2026Thailand’s Oscar Awards followed at the 28th Shanghai International Film Festival, where Sompot won Best Director and lead actor Sompop Songkampol won Best Actor in the Golden Goblet Awards’ Asian New Talent competition. In New Zealand, the film later

If you’ve ever lost an evening scrolling through pictures of other people’s cats, this one’s for you. Ma Ma Meow brings more than 1,000 cat stamps from around the world to the Thailand Stamp Museum – proof that postal services everywhere share your priorities. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Thai Stamp Museum (@thaistampmuseum) Meet the cats behind the stamps The centrepiece, ‘Every Cat Tells a Story’, spotlights 100 cats submitted by members of the public, each with a short story. Forget famous felines: these are ordinary cats curled up on someone’s sofa – arguably far more interesting if you’re a cat owner. There’s also a guide to 20 popular cat breeds for anyone keen to learn more about the animals behind the stamps.   View this post on Instagram A post shared by Thai Stamp Museum (@thaistampmuseum) Turn your own cat into a stamp The exhibition isn’t just for looking. At the ‘Make Your Cat Stamp’ station,  visitors can transform a photo of their cat into a stamp design, adding to the museum’s collection with every contribution. Elsewhere, ‘Meow Mission’ invites visitors to fold origami cats to add to the exhibition. Cat-loving collectors can also browse the new iStamp collection and hunt down a series of especially cute stamps around the museum. When: August 15–October 18, 2026; Wednesday–Sunday, 8.30am–4.30pm (closed Monday, Tuesday and public holidays) Where: Thailand Stamp Museum, Saphan Kwai, Bangkok. Nearest station: B