Bangkok is a vast city – like, really huge. However, it’s safe to say that most visitors – and a good chunk of Bangkok’s expats – spend much of their time within a relatively small area.

Within this square, many of Bangkok’s best hotels, restaurants, malls, cinemas and tourist attractions are located, and if they’re not, it’s a good bet that transport to them will be.

Two of Bangkok’s most densely packed hotel areas are along Sukhumvit Road and along the Chao Phraya River, and we often get asked which one is better. Well, how long is a piece a string? It’s a good question to ask, but a hard one to answer. Both places offer their own unique settings, have their own hidden corners and great hotels, and both places have drawbacks and compromises that will have to be made. Let’s look at them in greater detail:

 

Sukhumvit Road

Sukhumvit is one of the longest roads in the world, and goes all the way to the Cambodian border! However, most of the action is stuffed between soi 1 and soi 71-ish (Soi is Thai for road). A hundred years ago it wasn’t much more than a dirt track but today it’s Bangkok’s Broadway. Lined with tall office towers and five-star hotels – and in between those countless restaurants, massage shops, tailors and stores – it’s pretty easy to stay on Sukhumvit and have a great, if not very adventurous, Bangkok escape. With even-numbered sois on one side and odd-numbered sois on the other, it’s easy to navigate. On top of that, each soi is its own little community, and no two are ever the same. It’s a great area to explore!

Pros: The biggest one is the BTS skytrain running right down the middle of Sukhumvit, which makes it a snap to get in and out, and avoid Bangkok’s famously bad rush hour traffic. Lots to eat, lots to drink, and English is widely spoken.

Cons: No matter where you think you are, this ain’t really Thailand. With light from McDonalds and Starbucks logos lighting up the sidewalk, some of Bangkok’s most notable red light districts, and plenty of touts begging you to buy a suit or gems or have your cards read, saying you experienced Thailand on Sukhumvit is like saying you saw Star Wars on your iPhone.

Chao Phraya River

Called the River of Kings, the mighty Chao Phraya has been Bangkok’s lifeblood for centuries. Before the roads and highways and airports, this was Thailand’s link to the world. The riverside communities that line it go back centuries, and are responsible for Bangkok becoming the city it is today. The Bangkok (east) side is where most of city’s best known luxury hotels are (including The Siam and the Mandarin Oriental), while the Thonburi (west) side is largely undeveloped, at least in terms of tourist infrastructure, although this is changing fast with the opening of the lavish Icon Siam complex. But no matter where you stay, daily life on the river is a unique and bustling experience, and it’s easy to spend a few hours simply sipping a drink and watching it all play out.

Pros: Great views, constant breeze, and a great opportunity to take the cheap and scenic river taxi, not to mention easy access to those lovely khlong tours that are always a fun afternoon. Easy access to interesting areas such as Chinatown and Rattanokosin Island (for the Grand Palace, Wat Pho etc). Lots of little sois and streets to explore, and if you’re staying near Saphan Taksin Bridge, you might even get a great fireworks show for no reason.

Cons: Unless you know where the MRT and BTS stations are and how best to get there, it’s often a pain getting in and out of the area to see things. Similarly, unless you know how to find the good, authentic restaurants, you might be stuck eating at more expensive restaurants that cater to lost tourists. Also, lots of one-way streets around here – if your taxi driver gets turned around, it’s often an adventure getting back to where you started!

Ready to plan your Thai adventure? Contact Us and one of our adventure travel consultants can help you plan the perfect vacation and recommend great hotels in either of the two key areas!

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Everyone knows that when they travel, they will be immersing themselves in a different culture. It’s part of the adventure. Along with this comes different rules, expectations, dos, and don’ts. But no matter how obvious this may seem or how prepared you think you are, it’s never a bad idea for a bit of a refresher. Here’s a good one, just for fun.

But it’s not always so light-hearted. This was brought to light recently when Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his wife dined at the Israeli Prime Minister’s house in Tel Aviv. By all accounts dinner was great – until dessert was served in a shoe. Yes, like… a shoe, filled with dessert, on the dining table.

First of all, that’s weird, right? Like, who serves food in a shoe? But okay, it was a purpose-made metal shoe filled with chocolate. Still weird, but not the end of the world. But hang on – the Prime Minister of Japan? Some of you are no doubt cringing right now because you understand that in Asia, wearing outdoor shoes inside is bad enough – putting a likeness of one on the dining room table is an outrageous breach of social etiquette. Thankfully, diplomacy carried the day, and we avoided the Great Loafer War of 2018.

These are the kinds of things one must keep in mind as they expand their horizons in Southeast Asia. You don’t need to know every detail of every social cue, but it helps to have even a broad understanding of how an unfamiliar culture thinks.

In his book The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently, and Why, Richard Nisbett says that westerners see the world as a stable, linear, mechanical place. Things work (or should work) in fairly predictable patterns, and when they don’t, fixing it becomes job #1 (this, of course, doesn’t apply to government bureaucracy). Asians, however, see the world as complex, dynamic, always changing. It’s mad! It’s unpredictable! And you need to roll with the punches, or you’ll just end up tearing your hair out.

This would help to explain why you’ll see groups of westerners on mountainous jungle roads losing their cool over a bus that’s an hour late, while the locals will be snacking (again) while they relax in the shade.

But these little cultural speedbumps are not only good for a curious little “Huh, interesting” mental note – they can often help kickstart a bigger effort to understand the culture in a much broader sense.

One seemingly small detail that hints at the bigger picture is noise, something that big Asian cities have in spades. Some westerners may find the cacophony jarring or confusing – I mean why is it necessary to blast music outside of a drug store in a shopping mall? But for many Asians, the loud music isn’t just a distraction, it’s a representation of action. Dynamism. Commerce. It’s a cue that this is where things are happening, and you should come here to check it out!

There are plenty of other truisms that hint at the larger makeup of Asian culture that might come into play as you travel. For instance, in western countries respect generally needs to be earned, but in Asia it’s often automatically given based on age, job, or perceived social standing. Who’s in charge when an older person meets a famous young doctor? What happens when you meet a politician or a famous actor half your age? Well, we don’t know either, but it’s fascinating to watch someone figure it out.

Losing face, touching someone’s head, dressing appropriately when going to religious sites… all of these are probably familiar to anyone with a passing familiarity with Asia, but there’s more here than simply smiling when you’re mad, stroking someone’s hair, or covering up those sunburned shoulders.

Each taboo can be extrapolated to gain a bit of insight into the culture you’re about to explore. So while watching Iron Man beat down an evil robot or whatever on the flight over is certainly enjoyable, it’s much more valuable to do a bit of research into the culture you’ll be leaping into.

Or better yet, let us provide all the necessary local information and cultural suggestions and answer any questions you may have before departing on a Smiling Albino adventure!

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Around the full moon at the end of the Buddhist Lent in October, tens of thousands of people make the trek to a cool, misty expanse where the mighty Mekong River marks the border between Thailand and Laos. They’re there to witness firsthand a phenomenon that has been observed for at least 100 years – the mysterious Naga Fireball. A conclusive explanation of the event has yet to be agreed upon. During this event visitors say that one can see balls of light shoot up from the river, rising high up into the night sky along a 250 km stretch east of the Laos capital Vientiane and Thailand’s popular border town of Nong Khai, which sit near each other on opposite sides of the Mekong. Some years, people will see hundreds of Naga Fireballs in a night, other years only a dozen or so across many nights.

Legend says that the fireballs are produced by the Naga, a large mythical serpent that features prominently in Laotian mythology and culture, but for years skeptics have been trying to find an alternate explanation. In 2002 a Thai TV program claimed that the fireballs were produced by tracer fire from Laos. This was furiously refuted by local villagers on both sides of the river who were both offended at the insinuation that the Naga doesn’t exist, as well as the suggestion that they were trying to pull the wool over people’s eyes. Another explanation says that the fireballs are a result of flammable methane or phosphine gas generated by plant and animal life on the river bed, or even some sort of bioluminescent creatures flying off into the sky. But no matter which explanation you buy into, the only thing that’s for sure is that there’s been no definitive scientific explanation of the phenomenon either way, despite experts and high-tech equipment making the rounds every year.

Although the mysterious light-show has been happening for decades, it’s only since the early 1990s that people have begun to throng to the best viewing areas along the river banks, eating, drinking, dancing, and socializing in a Thai version of a tailgate party. Indeed, some savvy (unscrupulous?) people sometimes set off fireworks to the great delight of the crowd, no doubt keeping the masses there to cheer, and wait, and spend money. [Tweet “This year’s Naga Fireball event on the Mekong River takes place Oct. 27-29.”] This year’s full moon will be on Tuesday October 27, 2015 and the viewing will be its best from October 27 through 29. The Smiling Albino team here on the ground in Bangkok can assist you with planning your travels around any of these unique Festivals found throughout Asia. If you’re in Thailand or Laos in early October during the full moon, go take a look and see if you can explain it. Let us know what you come back with, because we’re not sure either!

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