Culture of Bangkok

Bangkok is the cultural center of Thailand, it holds various festivals each year and is home to many different art galleries and sporting clubs.

Sport

Boxing stadiums: There are two venues in Bangkok for this type of sport.

• Ratchadamnoen Stadium (สนามมวยราชดำเนิน), Ratchadamnoen Nok Road.
• Lumphini Stadium (สนามมวยลุมพินี), Rama IV Road.

Turf Clubs: Horse racing in Bangkok is at the Royal Turf Club and Royal Bangkok Sports Club. Tennis: Since the success of former Thai tennis player Paradon Srichaphan, many middle-class Thais have taken up the game and lots of courts are scattered around the city.

Spas

Meditation: It has been said^{[citation needed]} by monks that it is impossible to become enlightened in Bangkok. Bangkok is not a haven for the spiritually inclined but there are a couple of centers which offer practice. It is possible to reside at one of the capital's temples, but permission needs to be sought beforehand.

Thai Traditional Massage: This therapeutic and highly soothing form of massage purportedly evolved from rishis (forest-dwelling Brahmin hermit ascetics) who relieved the physical stress of extended periods of meditation by adopting certain postures. Wat Pho is the best known centre for massage and massage tuition. Major hotels also offer Thai massage services.

Food

Main article: List of food venues in Bangkok

In Bangkok, it is common to greet with the phrase "Kin khao rue yang?" (Have you eaten?) that is simply the equivalent of "How are you?". Food is as much an integral part of Thai culture as Muay Thai or traditional Thai massage. In the city of Bangkok you do not have to walk very far to find something to eat, food carts can be found in every street corner as well as in many small Soi (lanes) which are full of varieties of food stalls. There are many of restaurants in Bangkok, there are noodle stands, fruit stalls, curry shops, Pad Thai stalls, road-side barbecues and even carts selling fried insects; and then there are countless superb restaurants serving international as well as Thai and other Asian cuisine to suit most tastes and budgets. The range of options is quite staggering and very few visitors or ex-pats can claim to have tried everything Bangkok restaurants have to offer.

Food location

Yaowarat (Chinatown): This area is clotted with cheap restaurant and stalls dishing up Chinese food. Due to the area once being the center of Chinese immigrants, the Chinese food sold is probably the most authentic in Thailand.^{[citation needed]}

Phahurat (Little India): This district, since it is the home to countless families of Indian origin, is the best place in Thailand for Indian food.^{[citation needed]}

Siam Square / Sukhumvit Road / Silom / Soi Lang Suan: Plenty of international restaurants are situated in these areas. Most however, are quite trendy and up-market.

Banglamphu: Banglumphu caters predominantly for budget backpackers. Besides just cheap Thai food, innumerable international restaurants have sprung into business over the past few years.

Nightlife

Bangkok offers a widely variety of nightlife. The city is famous for its massage parlors, go-go bars, host bars and karaoke venues, with Patpong, Soi Cowboy and Nana Plaza being the main areas catering mainly to male tourists. There are westernized clubs and cafes for the rich, and lower-cost bars and pubs that are very popular with the locals. The city's Phra Nakhon district is home to probably the most varied worldwide example of a "backpackers' ghetto", Khaosan Road. Sukhumvit Road boasts some of Asia's most crowded clubs along the 5 km (3 mi) section between Ekamai and Withayu.

Types of nightlife in Bangkok include:

• Discos, which are popular with the younger trendier crowd
• Live Music Joints, that play either Thai Folk or English classics
• Karaoke clubs, that can be found all around and where customers can either sing to everyone or rent a private room.
• Barbecues, which are large restaurants which play music and serve alcohol to the smaller restaurants (unlike the other venues).
• Thai pubs, which cater to the younger Thais and university students.
• Western pubs, many of which serve draft beer and mixed drinks. There are also a few Irish pubs.

Bangkok has the biggest gay scene in Thailand. More than 200 bars, clubs, discos, saunas are concentrated in the Bang Rak area around Patpong and Phaya Thai. They are found randomly distributed along Sukhumvit Road and around Ramkhamhaeng University (mainly local crowd).

External links

• Lifestyle Asia: Bangkok (An informative City Guide to Bangkok)