Tita Petchnamnung

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. Valentine's coming round so call it strategic planning, but these spots work any night you want to shake things up a bit, or maybe a lot!

New year, new you. Sure. But what about that anger you’re still hauling around? The stuff that didn’t get the fresh start memo. It’s just sitting there, or worse, popping off at random over something small that you know isn’t even the actual issue. You could journal it out. Meditate. Talk to someone. But if you need to actually move the feeling through your body, that’s what this list is for. Important note: nobody’s condoning actual violence here. But there are places built specifically for this – controlled, legal, supervised. Bangkok and the surrounding areas have spots where you can smash things designed to be smashed, hit bags that exist to be hit, move hard and fast enough that the anger just flies out.  Here’s where to take it when the talking part stops working. Better than letting it leak out sideways into your actual life where people don’t deserve it!

Gift-giving can feel daunting when the festivities pile up and you want to get it right for everyone. You want to melt your grandparents’ hearts a little, stay the cool one with your younger cousins, not overthink it but also not phone it in. So we put together a lineup that’s thoughtful first and practical always. Happy gifting! May your New Year presents land well and your thank you texts come back loaded with heart emojis and exclamation marks.

Okay so maybe you went too hard in Thonglor. Maybe it was that last shot that did you in. Now you're here reading this: awake. Sort of. Head pounding, mouth like sandpaper, possibly still wearing last night’s clothes. No judgement here, just solutions. Here’s your rescue list. Can’t promise miracles depending on how deep you went, but it’s a start.  

Tattoos are often described as art on skin, with each piece uniquely connected to the person who wears it. Some tattoos hold deep, soul-stirring meaning, while others are playful mementos of a spontaneous moment. Either way, they turn skin into a bold canvas for human creativity. If today feels like the day to walk into a tattoo shop and express yourself on your own body – even if you're simply flirting with the idea – here are our recommendations for standout Bangkok tattoo parlours that give peace of mind with their clean and efficient expertise and their caring attitude to this ancient form of personal artistic expression.

Waxing in general is hit or miss. Bangkok's no different. Battle-tested speaking: when a spot here is good, it's really good. Skilled hands, proper wax, no double-dipping and everything clean and above board. And if you're team laser, we see you. That less maintenance over time thing. Still, waxing has its place. It's instant, flexible and sometimes works better for certain skin types and lifestyles. There's no one-size-fits-all winner. It comes down to what suits your body and life. So these are the tried and tested waxing spots – from my own trial-and-error plus the ones my girls keep dropping pins for in the group chat.

Finding a proper bagel in Bangkok used to be a real mission according to my dad and uncle, self proclaimed ‘bagel scholars’. Now they reckon ‘we're spoilt for choice’, which is great news! New York’s thick chewy bad boys and Montreal’s sweeter rings are everywhere now plus some wildcard geniuses doing Thai fusion.  The bagel situation escalated quickly. You’ve got the OGs who gambled on bagels when nobody even knew if Bangkok cared, the pandemic bakers who got a bit too into their lockdown hobby and never looked back and the Singaporean vets with battle-tested recipes. Here are all the bagel joints you knead to know.

Before cramming into photobooths and leaving with strips destined for your fridge became standard Bangkok practice, someone had to make it happen.That someone is Pea Sarit – Chula architecture grad turned actor turned co-owner of Sculpture Bangkok, the photobooth operation with ever-changing themes dotting the city.But rewind a bit. Born and raised in Bangkok, Pea pieced together a life between blueprints and spotlights long before the booths took over. In 2014, Nadao Bangkok's Hormones: The Next Gen came calling, landing him in Season 3 of the cult series Hormones and kickstarting an eight-year run with Nadao that lasted until 2022.Now, whilst Sculpture Bangkok turns fleeting moments into grids upon grids of frames, we're turning Pea's day-stretched-into-night into paragraphs.Here's Phrom Phong at Pea’s pace. 10am – Real Grocers for Brunch Photograph: realgrocers 'I don't really function before noon,' Pea says flatly. But Real Grocers on Sukhumvit 39 opens at 9am and specialises in bringing people back to life anyway.Pea orders a pesto pasta with fresh orange juice. 'Morning juicing for a body boosting,' he says. 'Not really a coffee-caffeine guy!' View this post on Instagram A post shared by REAL GROCERS (@realgrocers) A carb-heavy pasta choice at 10am might be unconventional breakfast territory, but it makes sense when you're fuelling up for a photobooth business that generates a steady stream of 24/7 logistics. Bookings, collaborations, pitches. P

Old Town Bangkok makes you move like you have all the time in the world. It sits in the Phra Nakhon district, which literally means ‘royal city’. Here, things move at their own inherited pace, not the calculated slow of somewhere trying to be quaint, but the rhythm of a place that’s simply always existed this way. Rattanakosin Island, as it’s also called, sits snugly between the Chao Phraya and a maze of canals. Before Bangkok became the kind of city where ancient temples back onto phone repair shops, this was ground zero. Since 1782, lives have been building up here, one generation on top of another. The density’s part of the charm. This neighbourhood still holds its weight – you can feel it was once the centre of everything.   Photograph: Maksim Romashkin The Grand Palace, Wat Pho, Wat Arun: the big three temples holding down the district, the giant guardians still on duty. Holy ground that hasn't been museumed. There’s a faint smell in some alleys, jasmine mixed with coconut from street snacks that’ve been made the exact same way for decades. Tuk-tuks navigate impossibly narrow passages. They shouldn’t fit, but they always do. Bangkok’s racing ahead naturally, but somehow nothing that shaped this corner ever really disappears. The river flows. The flower market opens before dawn, same as it has for generations. People here just move differently, so you end up flowing through the neighbourhood in an oft-paused, wandering manner. You don’t even realise you’re doing it. Wha

The interview wrapped, but Dave Milligan of Exotic Originals stuck around to drop his personal poster hall of fame on us.   Photograph: Exotic Originals Before anything else, here’s Dave being honest: ‘It’s my personal top ten, though the order isn’t set in stone or anything. It might change tomorrow or even the day after because it's hard to narrow things down!’ With that preface, what follows are Dave’s current right-this-second rankings, courtesy of today’s Dave. Tomorrow’s Dave might shuffle the deck, swap out entries, or flip the order entirely. That restless, ever-shifting perspective is exactly what makes Exotic Originals worth circling back to. 1. Apocalypse Now (1979) Photograph: Exotic Originals Right out of the gate, we’re going nuclear. This is ‘a huge, stunning two-sheet piece by Thailand’s greatest cinema poster artist of all time’ – a certain Tongdee Panumas – and if that sounds like overblown praise, the list will make believers out of you. Quick fact drop before you go hunting on the usual online listings: ‘it was never a regular Thai size one-sheet, that’s a well-known fake’, so if someone’s peddling that story to you, run. Now, about acquiring one of these. Deep breath. ‘It’s extraordinarily rare and has changed hands for crazy money. I’m not going to state a price range here, because I think it’s massively overpriced and I don’t want to qualify this price in any way.’ Dave’s diplomatic restraint is clear here. When the market goes bananas, silence can

Photograph: How to lose a guy in ten days Rewatching How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days with my best friend spiralled into a dare. What if I went full Andie Anderson, but in Bangkok, with my desire for city wanderings and the inconvenient fact that I write stuff? Spoiler: I did. Not a scheme to be cruel, just curiosity about seeing my home city’s food scene through a rom-com lens, with someone new in tow (again and again). What followed were five evenings of the most improvised, accidental food tour of my first and only run at being a twenty-something dating in the city – maybe in the name of romance but really just a love letter to the city of Bangkok. Here’s what happened.

The plan was New York. Bags packed, eyes on the concrete jungle. But life had other ideas for Steve Lim, who’s now a lifestyle content creator based in Thailand, the very Good Morning Bangkok! guy on TikTok and founder of Sabai Run club ‘Everything was ready except my visa, so I made a quick stopover in Bangkok. What was meant to be a three-week stay stretched into nearly eight months as my visa dragged on and somewhere along the way Bangkok began to feel like home. I started working remotely for a tech company and ended up building a life here.’ Funny how that happens. One day you’re killing time between flights, the next you’re eight months deep and the street food guy knows your order. You’ve got a favourite coffee spot. That thing you thought was temporary? It’s putting down roots.  Steve didn’t plan to fall for Bangkok. But somewhere in the waiting, he was living too. The city let him in – so warmly, so familiarly. It started feeling suspiciously like a destination rather than a detour.  Here’s the story of how he realised home isn’t always where you’re headed, but where you stop running. ‘What do I really want out of life?’    Photograph: imstevelim It’s a story that starts in New Zealand, in the stillness of lockdown. Steve was working at an investment bank, driving Uber Eats in his spare time and asking himself the kinds of questions that surface when the whole world pauses:  ‘What do I really want out of life?... I didn’t hate my job, but I knew deep down that I

It's a full-throttle themed love hotel with fantasy sets front and centre – jungle oases and love boat cabins, Wild West saloons, military bunkers and all sorts of scenarios. It’s less elegant restraint, more fun unleashed. If a quick, themed escape from the everyday sounds like your kind of fun, this could be just the absurdly playful night out you’re after. It’s a little way out of Bangkok, but that only adds to the adventure, setting the mood before the place takes it even further. Location: Bangraknoi, Nonthaburi

Probably the most self-aware fantasy and fun offering in the bedroom game. It goes full sci-fi: metallic surfaces and neon glow like an alien spaceship. Maximalism pushed as far as it'll go – a bedroom that's gone completely off the rails with celestial, sexy, cosmic something-or-other and an astronaut just... floating through a galaxy.  It's a bit of a drive outside of Bangkok, but you don't pull out of something this hot! One heads-up though: they're unexpectedly old school when it comes to payment. No QR code scanning, no bank transfer – only cash or credit card (we asked!). So show up sorted or you'll be sat there in your intergalactic love nest with absolutely nowhere to park it. Location: Bang Khu Wiang, Bang Kruai, Nonthaburi 

Mirrors everywhere – full 360-degree viewing pleasure of whatever recreational activities you've got going on. Retro details cranked to 11, iconic feminine iconography watching from the walls (sexy-cheeky or ever-so-slightly creepy?), but the whole seduction number stays firmly on the classy side of the line and never tumbles into tacky territory. Location-wise, it's close enough that getting there from the CBD doesn't feel like mounting an expedition, yet kind of far that you probably won't run into that coworker from accounting. As love hotels go, this one wears its old-school heart firmly on its sleeve and pulls it off beautifully. Location: Lat Phrao 122, Bangkok

Right in Thonglor, a neighbourhood that already runs classy, flush and in the best sense dissolute, PlayHaus slots right in. It is a design-conscious stay, with rooms dressed in gold-rim details that feel almost palatial, like a palace imagined through a slightly mischievous lens, made for princes and princesses who know the script and are happy to lean into it. Despite the playful energy, practicality is locked down. Wi-Fi runs throughout the property, parking is on site and the location makes city-hopping easy, whether you’re stretching the night or planning a longer stay with that special someone: art spaces like 9:53 Art Mall are close by, Terminal 21 is a short drive away and even a green escape like Bang Kachao is within reach when you need to come up for air. And for the thirst you've worked up, the lounge bar does cracking cocktails!   205/22-23, Thonglor soi 9, Sukhumvit 55, Sukhumvit, 0 2712 5747. BTS Thonglor. 

The name pretty much does what it says on the tin. Walk through those doors and your fantasies genuinely do run wild – there are many options. Will you be staying in a boxing ring? Or perhaps a Batman cave? It's basically a theme park for adults, except the rides happen in rooms with themes that are absolutely barmy. It’s on Bangkok’s edges, stretching into Nakhon Pathom for off-the-radar fun. Best for couples with a proper sense of humour. The sort who book the spaceship cockpit, walk in, immediately lose it laughing and then fully commit to the bit anyway. Location: Lam Phaya, Nakhon Pathom  

Another one just outside Bangkok proper. This is your no-frills love hotel – colourful rooms split into tiers from standard to VIP, with three whole floors if you're the type who likes a bit of a run-around. What's genuinely lovely is that actual customers rave about the food, so when everyone's knackered you can just order room service and refuel without having to put actual clothes back on. Nothing’s too showy here, even with all the colours. For couples who reckon those elaborate themed rooms are doing a bit much, this is a proper shout. Location: Phra Pradaeng, Samut Prakan

If you somehow end up near Rambuttri and find yourself in desperate need of an eyebrow rescue or a little smooth skin magic, go here. It’s calmer than Khaosan but still buzzing in that easy, low-key way. The place has been around since 1998, which in Khaosan years is basically prehistoric. The prices honestly feel unreal. Brazilian, bikini or Hollywood waxing for B700 for women and B800 for men. I know it sounds like a hope-for-the-best situation, but it's actually good. They use a brown wax that peels off clean with no strips and somehow it doesn’t hurt the way waxing is supposed to hurt. Private rooms, calm professional staff and nothing ever feels rushed or awkward. By the time you leave, you’re already thinking about booking a Thai massage just because. 108/3 Thanon Ram Buttri, Talat Yot, Phra Nakhon, Bangkok

Over on Sukhumvit 22, this place handles it all: hair, nails and waxing, so when you're feeling run down and overdue for everything, you can sort it all in one go. It’s genuinely unisex in a way that makes sense. Your partner can get a trim while you’re getting smooth, no awkward waiting. The energy is easy. You’re welcomed in, not rushed and the staff actually listen instead of nodding and doing their own thing. The products feel good without the scary price tag that usually comes with them. A women’s Hollywood starts at B1,190, men’s at B1,600. Fair pricing, reliable results. 265/1 Sukhumvit Alley 22, Khlong Tan, Khlong Toei, Bangkok

This is the overachiever of Bangkok waxing with five locations across the city in Bangna, Huai Khwang, Asoke, Ngamwongwan and Chidlom so chances are there’s one not too far from wherever you are or wherever your day takes you. It was founded by Khun Su who cares about how everything feels, thought through in a very reassuring way. Private rooms are actually calm, not clinical. European wax is imported from France. Technicians are trained on technique, body positioning and how to move with confidence, which weirdly makes you relax more. Tools are UV-sterilised between every client and they use techniques designed to minimise pain. Hollywood waxing starts at B1,790 for women and B2,290 for men. They also offer specialised training for waxing pregnant clients so technicians understand safe positioning and care. 180 Sukhumvit 16, Khlong Toei, Bangkok

You don’t really stumble into La Nature. You kind of get sent there, the way girls do when something is actually good and not meant to be shouted about. Although this one kind of deserves the loudest shout out. It’s slightly hidden as it sits in the basement of Lumpini Park View Condo near MRT Lumpini. Khun Nut and Khun Noie have been running this spot for decades and you can feel that in the smallest details. No double dipping. No reused wax. No cutting corners. They work with Cirepil hard wax and roller wax from France, all gluten-free, paraben-free and cruelty-free. Sometimes more than one technician will tag team to get you done faster so it really can be an in-and-out situation. A Hollywood wax for B1,000 feels like a steal for somewhere this tight and professional. 1026 Rama IV Rd, Thung Maha Mek, Sathon, Bangkok

This place on Sukhumvit 47 genuinely changes how you feel about waxing appointments. It feels less like a chore and more like a small reset moment, which is really all you want from these self-care rituals anyway. You know how most of the time you’re mentally bracing yourself and speed-walking through the whole thing just to get it over with. Not here. Glow Room is a pink, calm little space that somehow makes you forget you’re literally there to have hair ripped off your body. They hand you a glass of bubbly when you walk in. What many people love is that they do the full beauty trifecta of nails, lashes and waxing so you can knock everything out in one visit and leave properly sorted. Bikini and Brazilian services stay under B2,000 so you’re paying a reasonable price for somewhere that doesn’t make you want to sprint out the door the second it’s over. 777 Sukhumvit 47 Alley, Khlong Tan Nuea, Watthana, Bangkok

You know that bit in the California rapper’s hit Taste where he’s ticking off cities? LA gets a taste, Miami gets a taste, then New York, Chicago, Houston and Portland get their shoutout. Well Bangkok's next on his worldwide roll – Ekamai to be exact. Photograph: salonedivita SALONE DI VITA’s hosting the whole thing with Hennessy behind it, launching their X.O La Carafe at the venue. So there's your excuse to feel fancy before inevitably losing all composure to ‘Rack City’.   The details:  When: Friday January 2 2026  Where: SALONE DI VITA, Sukhumvit 63 (Ekamai)  Reservations: LINE @salonedivita or call/WhatsApp +66 83 982 6262 Entry is table reservations only. No tickets sold.

There’s something deliciously cruel about realising you spent your twenties on the wrong person, isn’t there? Givēon knows it and he’s dragging those Long Beach heartbreaks straight to Bangkok. He peddles a particular kind of devastation as a singer – what many call velvet-smooth heartbreak, wrapped in a deep baritone. The seven-time Grammy-nominated R&B singer has announced his first ever Thai concert at UOB LIVE at EmSphere on Monday February 2 2026. It’s part of his Dear Beloved Tour, named after his second studio album Beloved, which dropped last July to critical praise and reached No. 8 on the Billboard 200. His breakthrough hit ‘Heartbreak Anniversary’ turned post-relationship misery into streaming gold and his new album Beloved continues mining that same vein. Tracks like ‘Twenties’ and ‘Rather Be’ explore the peculiar pain of wasted time and hindsight regret, all delivered in that signature baritone. Givēon told Rolling Stone that Beloved ‘was made live, so it’s made to be performed live’. He’s planning to bring strings, horns, background vocals and a full eight- to ten-piece band to create what he describes as a ‘movie-like world’ on stage. Bangkok has every sign that it will be part of that promise. Pricing and where to purchase Mastercard and Live Nation Tero member presales have ended. General tickets are now available at Thai Ticket Major in two price tiers (all standing): B2,500 and B3,200. Photograph: Live Nation Tero Event details Date: Monday February 2 202

Thailand just officially declared its native cat breeds a national symbol. Not metaphorically anymore, but cabinet-approved, stamped and sealed – these cats are now part of the kingdom’s official heritage. The fab five of Thai feline culture Suphalak Photograph: Maewboran A rare reddish-brown beauty that’s been prowling Thai soil for centuries. Pure native bloodlines are increasingly hard to find. Korat   Photograph: Veda Napha Naramit The silver-blue good luck charm. One of Thailand’s oldest breeds, traditionally given as gifts to bring prosperity and happiness. Siamese (or Wichienmaat)   Photograph: Elite Veterinary Care Perhaps the most famous globally, but thoroughly Thai at heart. Temple cats of ancient Siam, documented for over 700 years. Konja   Photograph: The Thai Cat Center The sleek black beauties with a rich history in Thai folklore. Native to the region and revered in traditional beliefs. Khao Manee   Photograph: Octavio.hgc Those stunning odd-eyed white cats that look like they're judging your life choices. Once exclusive to Thai royalty, they’re ancient symbols of good fortune. These cats have been padding around Thai homes, temples and manuscripts for centuries. There’s literally an ancient text called the Tamra Maew (basically a mediaeval cat encyclopaedia). They’re woven into local beliefs, good luck charms and cultural folklore – the whole nine lives, if you will. Why this matters (beyond the obvious cuteness factor) Sure, it sounds like the Thai

Your last call on a night out in Thailand might be pushed later into the night as Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul is pushing hard to scrap the country’s alcohol-zoning rules, extend closing times to 4am nationwide and axe the ban on selling alcohol between 2pm and 5pm. If all goes to plan, these changes will roll out in January 2026. Right now, only certain licensed zones get to party past 2am: Silom, RCA and Ratchadaphisek in Bangkok, as well as hotspots like Phuket, Chiang Mai, Chon Buri and Ko Samui. Everyone else has to shut down at 2am, no exceptions. It’s a system that’s been criticised as outdated and a bit arbitrary. Many say why should geography determine when you can order another round? The proposed reforms would level the playing field. Instead of jumping through hoops to get entertainment venue licensing, all alcohol vendors could register directly with the Ministry of Interior as liquor outlets for that ‘simple, streamlined’ structure. The government’s motivation isn’t purely altruistic, of course. Extended hours and fewer restrictions are expected to pump up tourism-related numbers and generate hundreds of billions of baht in additional tax revenue.  Both the Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Public Health have been tasked with figuring out the logistics of actually killing off these zoning regulations through ministerial channels. As mentioned, it’s early days, but if the cabinet thinks this is the way to go, Thailand’s hospitality industry (and anyone w

Halloween’s creeping up and the city’s got spooky activities lined up for this haunting season on every major soi (full lineup here). But before you reach for the witch’s hat or vampire cape, here’s a thought: why not dress up as Bangkok itself – its beloved faces, its everyday heroes, its homegrown icons? Bangkok has more personality in one street corner than most places have in their entire downtown. It’s colourful, unpredictable and iconic, so wear that energy on your sleeve, literally. Be the one at the party who thought outside the box, or in this case, outside Chatuchak’s costume stalls. Here’s some inspo to get you started: Tuk-tuk  Photograph: TAT Start strong with a local icon. Go DIY by grabbing a large cardboard box, paint it that unmistakable blue and red combo, strap it around your waist. Throw on a short-sleeved button-up (bonus points if it’s slightly faded) and you can optionally layer a vest over it to give that motorbike jacket energy. Khaki or dark blue work trousers keep it authentic. Maybe tuck a mini Bangkok map in your pocket. Finish with worn trainers or sandals and, really important, a neck towel for that ‘I’ve been driving all day’ effect. What you need: Cardboard box, blue and red paint, short-sleeved button-up (any colour, faded preferred), dark vest, khaki or navy work trousers, folded map, neck towel. If Thailand could win Best National Costume at Miss Universe 2015 with a tuk-tuk, we’re betting hard you’ll win best dressed at your Halloween pa

Friday October 3, the very same day The Life of a Showgirl hits streaming, Sukhumvit 31 goes shimmering-naughty for Bangkok’s Swifties with a Nightify Bar Crawl: Taylor’s Version. The long night includes five crawl stops, three all-night sanctuaries and DrinkAid keeping watch in the backroom, which means every ticket comes with hangover support.   Photograph: nightifyth   The route:  Soho House – 5pm onwards Backstage energy. Listening party. Screening. Eras Tour atmosphere at maximum saturation. Peppina – 6.30pm-8pm Italian food with Taylor-inspired drinks. Special pricing on à la carte cocktails. Treehouse Cafe and Bar – 8pm-9.45pm Trivia warfare. Deep cuts. Lyrical forensics. Pin 31 – 10pm-10.45pm 10 percent off cocktails. Projections. DJ sets. OFTR – 11pm-late Live bands. Complimentary shots keeping momentum vertical. Afterparty. All-night sanctuaries: Luka Buy-one-get-one cocktails and Suntree beers. Taylor bingo rewarding album knowledge with shots. Kenny’s Set menu, drink specials, themed decor, Taylor soundtrack on loop. C.A.L.M. Live band covering her greatest devastations from 8pm-11pm. Outdoor seating, food, cocktails, stars overhead. Basically, you get: Taylor-coded cocktails and bites at every venue. Trivia that separates casual fans from vault-track scholars. Photo ops and projections turning walls into Taylor moodboards. Live bands reimagining her catalogue. DJs spinning remixes until dawn. Free DrinkAid to keep you going. Plus surprise discounts, shots and p

So, there’s a performative male contest happening at Thammasat Rangsit University on October 1, put together by @sl4y3rr.rika, @sapphostirical, @ingmaroan, @ptricica, speakableherb and the Toa Hin On (โต๊ะหินอ่อน) collective. It’s part of a bigger phenomenon that started in America, famously in Seattle, then San Francisco joined in. The events drew hundreds. Sponsors even stepped in, funny enough a matcha label. Then colleges got FOMO: Cornell, University of Florida, Memphis, Yale, everyone wanted their piece of the action. And now Bangkok’s being Bangkok: a city where all gender expressions feel natural, where global movements find fertile ground and grow into something distinctly Thai. And it’s happening at Thammasat Rangsit Campus, Thailand’s progressive intellectual institution, where student movements were born and never really stopped. The place practically runs on boundary-pushing. Always has. So when the winds of change blow through, Thammasat makes it matter.   Photograph: @sl4y3rr.rika, @sapphostirical, @ingmaroan, @ptricica, speakableherb and the Toa Hin On (โต๊ะหินอ่อน) collective The invitation post reads: ‘Everyone’s welcome! This is a lighthearted event organised by students. Come join us for fun and entertainment! P.S. Don’t forget to bring all your performative essentials – books, matcha latte, wired earphones, your favourite CD and any literature! See you Wednesday October 1 at the SC1 Hall.’ Still, the contest’s poster makes clear the matcha latte can’t b

Sony Pictures just handed one of their biggest rom-com properties to Thailand’s GDH. If you’re not familiar, this is the Bad Genius studio, the same house that got How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies Oscar-shortlisted for Best International Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards. This Thai production powerhouse now claims 50 First Dates.   Photograph: GDH The 2004 Hollywood original is a pure amnesia romance. Drew Barrymore’s Lucy wakes up memory-wiped daily while Adam Sandler’s Henry relives the same courtship ritual. Love on permanent reset yet still choosing each other every sunrise. But in Thailand’s version, love rewinds in a whole new way: he forgets, she recalls.   Photograph: Sony Pictures The casting doubles down on surprises. Thai-born I-DLE’s Minnie Nicha leaps from K-pop stages to her first film role.    Photograph: min.nicha   Opposite her is Nadech Kugimiya, Thailand’s eternal heartthrob and box office guarantee, whose film Death-Whisperer 2 became the highest-grossing Thai film of all time in 2024, raking in B825 million.    Photograph: kugimiyas   Behind the camera is Mez Tharatorn, whose credits include co-writing How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies as well as hits like The Little Comedian, The Con-Heartist and I Fine… Thank You… Love You.   Photograph: Content Thailand   Since the announcement, everyone’s talking about cultural translation. GDH rarely does shallow remakes and we already see them reshaping the core story. What changes whe

Moo Deng’s first birthday bash has come and gone. Over four days, 28,890 local and international visitors flooded Khao Kheow Open Zoo to celebrate this basin baby. Photograph: Khamoo and the gang They carved her a cake from earth’s bounty. A fruit-and-veggie cake was sculpted for the birthday girl herself.  Photograph: Khamoo and the gang Then Moo Deng rang in her first year with a birthday shower that gave us a chaotic, wet-floor ballet.  Photograph: Khamoo and the gang Next came the first-ever official Moo Deng Coin by B.Leila, a collectible currency crafted for the Wildlife Sponsorship Programme. Photograph: Khamoo and the gang As the confetti settles, the zoo offers its star resident (and us) the ultimate grand gesture: a rebrand of the Khao Kheow Open Zoo’s Hippo Village. Plans are still under wraps but teaser visuals appeared on the zoo’s Facebook page, causing fans to swoon in the comments: ‘So pretty, just like Moo Deng,’ said one. ‘Hey, Moo Deng, let me know when it’s finished so I can visit often,’ said another. Post-birthday, her keepers wrapped it up with heartfelt words on Facebook: ‘The event’s wrapped up – thank you to everyone who came to see Moo Deng! And to the international fans who flew in from all over the world. We never thought people would cross oceans just to see a hippo standing in a basin.’ And that’s our girl, closing out her first chapter. This went from a full-blown zoo celebration to an international spectacle, with fans crossing oceans

Chut thai where ‘chut’ cuts straight to the bone, meaning ‘outfit.’ But peel back the surface and you're staring into centuries of textile artistry and encoded culture.  From the Dvaravati to the Srivijaya eras, spanning the sixth to thirteenth centuries, the wrap skirt was designed to move with the monsoon and with meaning. It’s fashion, function, faith and flirtation, all woven into one. You could trace it back to a story told in homegrown silk and the ancient trade routes that pulse through Thailand’s past.  For women, there’s the ‘pha nung’ and its cousin ‘pha sinh’. From North to South, each province translates climate and spirit into their chuts. Mountain communities speak different textile languages from coastal cities.  Then in 1964, Queen Sirikit unveiled chut thai ‘phra ratcha niyom,’ a polished royally endorsed national costume. The men’s suea phraratchathan followed in the late 1970s, rooted in that Raj-pattern legacy with modern grace. Now the story moves forward: UNESCO recognition. Thailand aims to immortalise the artistry behind its national costume, the know-how, craftsmanship and rituals, by seeking a place on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list, with evaluation set for 2026. This nomination is part of a larger cultural preservation effort, an ever-growing vault of 396 relics and rituals already safeguarded as national heritage, with Muay Thai and Songkran circling close by.  The proposal weaves a story of shared heritage and mutual respect, threaded

History walked in wearing the face of Wanlop Rungkumjad. The first Thai to claim Best Actor at the 27th Taipei Film Festival, the so-called throne room where cinema gets consecrated. Mongrel delivered him there, a Taiwanese sledgehammer directed by Chiang Wei Liang and You Qiao Yin. Rungkumjad and his colleague Atchara Suwan breathe life into the undocumented, embodying those who exist like ghosts made flesh in society’s blind spots. The movie’s synopsis goes: An undocumented Thai immigrant moves through Taiwan's rugged mountain shadows. For survival, he tends to the elderly and disabled while his own spirit fractures. Days blur into survival, each breath borrowed time. When dignity starts slipping through cracked hands, the film asks: when everything conspires to hollow you out, what's left to call your own? With the gold horse in his hands, standing before the crowd and Mandarin sharp on his tongue, Rungkumjad said: ‘Before Mongrel, I was ready to give up. I thought it was my last shot at acting. But Taiwanese cinema gave me a rebirth. It made me part of something bigger.’ Throwing it back to 2019, Manta Ray was a submerged meditation directed by Phuttiphong Aroonpheng. Rungkumjad played a fisherman sheltering a Rohingya refugee that caught Venice’s eyes and The Orizzonti Award for Best Film landed in Thai hands for the first time. Six years forward, Rungkumjad has discovered what the margins know well: truth lives in the spaces too dangerous for the centre. In Mongrel, he

The Asian water monitors, omnipresent fixtures sunning themselves at Lumpini Park, just crawled out of legal limbo and into economic opportunity. The Department of National Parks has lifted these prehistoric reptiles from decades of commercial prohibition via a Royal Gazette announcement. While still under the watchful eye of wildlife conservation, water monitors can now be legally farmed for commercial purposes – their skin supple as fine leather, with a finesse worthy of haute couture, driving an entirely new economic sector. The rule is you can breed them but only at licensed hatcheries. No wild capture. No bare-handed snatching from the wild. Each one gets a microchip, a barcode beneath the skin. They’re not trophies, not to be hunted as prey, but to be handled as important national economic assets. But this eco-entrepreneurship of water monitors settles into an ethical grey zone, rooted in wildlife-to-wardrobe capitalism. The fashion world knows intimately how to romanticise skin, call it exotic leather, ship it to Milan, shoot it in monochrome. Yet many see that beneath those arm candies was a living creature, once breathing air. This thrums with the weight of extinction, survival and the strange tension between power and preservation. Water monitors were originally only ‘tolerated’ as urban scavengers. Acting like low-key park janitors, they helped clean the city and control pests naturally. But when their numbers exploded to an estimated 400 giants, some reaching thre