Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
With its wide boulevards, manicured parks, imposing palaces and statues dedicated to
former kings, Dusit has a knack for making you second-guess what city you're in. The
reality check comes in neighbouring Thewet, where the soggy riverside setting, busy wet
market and relentless traffic are classic Bangkok.
Although many generations removed from the motherland, Bangkok's Chinatown could
be a bosom buddy of any Chinese city. The streets are crammed with shark-fin restaur-
ants, gaudy yellow-gold and jade shops, and flashing neon signs in Chinese characters.
This is Bangkok's most hectic neighbourhood, where half the fun is getting completely
lost.
Multistorey malls, outdoor shopping precincts and never-ending markets leave no doubt
that Siam Square, Pratunam and Ploenchit combine to form Bangkok's commercial dis-
trict. The BTS (Skytrain) interchange at Siam has also made this area the centre of mod-
ern Bangkok, while only a few blocks away, scruffy Ratchathewi has a lot more in com-
mon with provincial Thai cities.
Although you may not see it behind the office blocks, hi-rise condos and hotels, Mae Nam
Chao Phraya forms a watery backdrop to these linked neighbourhoods. History is still
palpable in the riverside area's crumbling architecture, while heading inland, Silom,
Bangkok's de facto financial district, is frenetic and modern, and Th Sathon is the much
more subdued embassy zone.
Japanese enclaves, French restaurants, Middle Eastern nightlife zones, tacky 'sexpat'
haunts: it's all here along Th Sukhumvit, Bangkok's unofficial international zone. Where
