Bangkok Entertainment and Night Life

Bangkok's evening entertainment scene goes way beyond its overpublicised naughty nightlife image.

Today's Bangkok offers a heady assortment of entertainment venues, nightclubs, bars, cafes and discos appealing to every sort of proclivity. Many specialise in live music - rock, country & western, Thai pop music and jazz - while you'll hear the latest hits in the smaller neighbourhood bars, as well as in the mega-discos. Hotels catering to tourists and businesspeople often contain discos as well.

All bars and clubs are supposed to close at 1am or 2am (the 2am closing time applies to places with dance floors and/or live music), but in reality only some establishments obey the letter of the law.

Live Music

Bangkok's live music scene has expanded rapidly over the past decade or so, with a multiplicity of great, new bands and clubs.

A casual spot to hear music is the open-air bar operated by Ruang Pung Art Community (tel 513 7225), next to Chatuchak Weekend Market. Thai rock, folk, blues and jam sessions attract an artsy Thai crowd; it's open 11am to 10pm on weekends.

Not to be overlooked is the strip of music bars along Th Sarasin; Brown Sugar (mostly jazz) and Old West (folk and Thai pop). Blue's Bar (tel 252 7335), Johnny Walker and Shakin' usually feature recorded music, with occasional live bands on weekends.

Concept CM2 (tel 255 6888), a multi-themed complex in the basement of the Novotel in Siam Square, hosts a rotation of live Western bands and Thai recording artists - generally focusing on what passes as alternative acts these days - interspersed with DJ dance music.

The talented house band at Radio City (tel 266 4567), next to the Madrid Restaurant on Soi Patpong 1, performs oldies from the 1960s, '70s and '80s. The Thai Elvis Presley and Tom Jones impersonators who perform here nightly really get the crowd going.

Dance Fever (tel 247 4295), a large club at 71 Th Ratchadaphisek in the burgeoning 'Ratchada' entertainment district, features a state-of-the-art sound and lighting system, giant video screens, a bar and restaurant. International touring bands like Bush, Blur and others have played there.

Metal Zone (tel 255 1913), around the corner from Th Sarasin on Soi Lang Suan, just north of Lumphini Park, offers Thai heavy metal - with plenty of hair throwing and lip-jutting - nightly. Along with the dungeons-and-dragons decor is a regular lineup of bands ranging from thrash and gothic to speed metal. The volume level is perfect - loud enough for chest compression, but not so loud as to extract blood from the ears. Rock Pub (tel 208 9664) on Th Phayathai opposite the Asia Hotel is similar.

Bangkok's better-than-average Hard Rock Cafe (tel 254 0830, Siam Square, Soi 11), features live rock music most evenings from around 10pm to 12.30am, including occasional big names.

The spacious Witch's Tavern (tel 391 9791, 306/1 Soi 55, Th Sukhumvit) features live pop music nightly.

Imageries By The Glass (2 Soi 24, Th Sukhumvit), owned by Thai composer-musician Jirapan Ansvananada, boasts a huge sound board and closed circuit TV for its stage shows, which welcome local as well as foreign bands of all genres.

An eclectic line-up of bands, including touring ones, also play nightly at The Brewhouse.

Many top-end hotels have bars with imported pop bands, of varying talent, who play mostly covers. Angelini's in the Shangri-La Hotel usually has one of the better cover bands, as does Spasso in the Grand Hyatt Erawan.

Jazz

The famous Bamboo Bar in the Oriental Hotel has live jazz nightly in an elegant atmosphere. The Colonnade at the Sukhothai Hotel offers jazz from Tuesday to Saturday.

Fabb Fashion Cafe (tel 658 2003, 540 Th Ploenchit), near the Chit Lom Skytrain station, features jazz piano and saxophone 8pm to midnight, Monday to Saturday.

Latin

Clubs featuring all or mostly Latin dance music have exploded in Bangkok over the last couple of years. A Filipino band mixes up the salsa at Baila Baila (tel 714 1898), off Soi 63 (sub-Soi 4), Th Sukhumvit, where there are Latin dance lessons nightly.

At the flashier El Nino (tel 656 0760), in the President Tower Arcade on Th Ploenchit, a Colombian band plays nightly Monday to Saturday, dance lessons are available. The most serious venue for learning to salsa or cumbia is The Salsa Club (tel 216 3700) in the Patumwan Princess Hotel, attached to Mahboonkrong shopping centre, Th Phra Ram I. La Havana (tel 204 1166), in a small plaza area off Soi 22, Th Sukhumvit, features a small Cuban combo nightly they play late, so this is the place to go if the others start to fade early.

Pubs & Bars

Trendy among Bangkok Thais these days are bars that strive for a sophisticated but casual atmosphere with good service, good drinks and a good choice of music. The Thais often call them pubs but they bear little resemblance to the traditional English pub. Some are 'theme' bars, conceived around a particular aesthetic. All the city's major hotels feature Western-style bars as well.

In Banglamphu, Gulliver's Traveler's Tavern, on the corner of Th Khao San (Khao San Road) and Th Chakraphong, is an air-conditioned place with the atmosphere of an American college hang-out. Salvador Doll, a block north on Th Rambutri (towards the west end) and tucked away amid a row of noodle stands, is a comfortable, two-storey air-con bar with a quieter and more intimate feel.

The on and off (often closed during slow months) Hole in the Wall bar, on a short, dead-end soi towards the western end of Th Khao San, is a cheap place to drink and chat with Th Khao San denizens.

More happening is the low-key Susie Pub, in an alley off the north side of Th Khao San, and its sister pub down another alley off the south side of Th Khao San, Austin Pub. Both pack in a heavily Thai clientele. If you want more of the Thai bar scene, head for Th Tanao south of Th Ratchadamnoen, where you'll find Window Seat, Yellowish, Spicy, Go 6, Song Muai, Fifa Pub and Zoda, all of which draw a young crowd.

Shenanigans (tel 266 7160, 1-4 Sivadon Building, Th Convent), (formerly Delaney's Irish Pub) also in the Th Silom district, is one of only two places in Bangkok that serves Guinness on tap; the interior wood panels, glass mirrors and bench seating were all custom-made and imported from Ireland. Bands of varying quality play from Tuesday to Saturday, and the place is often packed from 6pm till closing. O'Reilly's Irish Pub (tel 632 7575, 62/7-2 Th Silom), at the entrance to Thaniya Plaza (corner of Th Silom and Soi Thaniya), draws a slow pint of Guinness or Kilkenny in a comparatively more low-key setting that resembles an old camera shop. Early drinkers will find O'Reilly's open at 11am. Both pubs feature daily happy hours when their otherwise pricey beers are temporarily discounted.

The latest Irish-style pub to open in Bangkok is the rustic Dubliner, in Washington Square on Th Sukhumvit between sois 22 and 24. An excellent blues band plays on Saturday night.

Three low-key, British-style taverns include Jool's (tel 252 6413), on Soi 4 near Nana Plaza, the Ship Inn, just around the corner from Soi Cowboy on the west side of Soi 23, and Bull's Head & Angus Steakhouse (tel 259 4444, Soi 33/1, Th Sukhumvit), which tends to get very smoky inside if there's much of a crowd at all.

For slick aerial city views, the place to go is the 93-storey Baiyoke Sky Hotel on Th Ratchaprarop in Pratunam. On the 77th floor there's an observation deck that's open 24 hours, or you can scope the cityscape while dining in one of the restaurants on the 78th and 79th floors. The Compass Rose, a bar on the 59th floor of the Westin Banyan Tree on Th Sathon Tai, is also sky high; it's open 11.30am to 1am.

Brewery Pubs

The Brewhouse (tel 661 3535, 61/2 Soi 26, Th Sukhumvit), associated with the Taurus dance club opposite, features four brews (including low-alcohol 'Dynamite Lite' and high-alcohol 'Naked Killer Ale'), in a split-level interior beneath a metallic dome.

In the Siam Discovery Center (attached to the Siam Center by an enclosed walkway), Hartmannsdorfer Brau Haus (tel 658 0229) does fresh beer, sausages, cheeses and other stout German fare in a polished but pleasant atmosphere.

Londoner Brew Pub (tel 267 0238, basement, UBC II Bldg, Soi 33, Th Sukhumvit) has recently begun serving its own beers and ales but the ambience is limp.

If you find yourself stuck at Bangkok International Airport, you could do a lot worse than the Taurus Brewhouse (tel 535 6861), towards the south end of Terminal 2 on the 4th floor, not far from the indoor carpark. The menu of sandwiches, burgers, salads, pastas, soups, pizza and Thai specials is quite good. It's open 6pm to midnight daily.

Cigar Bars

One half of the lobby in the Regent Bangkok is devoted to the smoker, with Dominican and Cuban brands (including Montecristo and Cohiba) available from the hotel's humidor. The Regent also claims the largest selection of single-malt whiskies in Asia - 64 of them, dating back to a 1940 Glenlivet.

La Casa del Habano, in The Oriental Hotel, has 25 brands of Cuban cigars ranging from US$3 to US$120 per cigar, with a tiny lounge equipped with a select list of fine cognacs, port and single-malt whiskies. Other hotel cigar lounges include Cigar Cafe (Hilton International), Siam Havana (Dusit Thani) and Club 54 (Montien Hotel).

Discos & Dance Clubs

Bangkok is famous for its huge high-tech discos that feature mega-watt sound systems, giant video screens and the latest in light-show technology. The clientele for these dance palaces is mostly young, moneyed Thais experimenting with lifestyles of conspicuous affluence, plus the occasional Bangkok celebrity and a sprinkling of bloodshot-eyed expats. Cover charges are typically 400B to 500B per person and include three drinks on weeknights, two drinks on weekends. The most 'in' disco of this nature continues to be Phuture on Th Ratchadapisek, attached to the north side of the Chaophya Park Hotel.

Another biggie is Energy Zone (tel 433 7147, 14/4 Th Arun Amarin) in Thonburi.

The extremely popular Taurus (tel 267 3991, Soi 26, Th Sukhumvit) offers a 'classic' pub and gourmet restaurant in addition to the lively disco, spread out over several levels.

A string of small dance clubs on Silom Soi 2 and Silom Soi 4 (Soi Jaruwan), both parallel to Patpong sois 1 and 2, off Th Silom, attracts a more mixed crowd in terms of age, gender, nationality and sexual orientation than either the hotel discos or the mega-discos. Expect to hear techno, trance, hip-hop and other current electronica. Main venues (some of which are small and narrow) include Disco Disco (DD), JJ Park and DJ Station on Soi 2; Icon, Deeper, Om Trance, Hyper, Kool Spot, Speed and Sphinx on Soi 4. If you tire of hip-hop and techno, slip into Que Pasa for recorded Latin dance sounds. The larger places collect cover charges of around 100B to 300B depending on the night of the week; the smaller ones are free. The clientele at these clubs was once predominantly gay but became more mixed as word got around about the great dance scene. Things don't get started here till relatively late - around midnight; in fact, on most nights the Soi 2 and Soi 4 dance clubs serve more as 'after hours' hang-outs since they usually stay open past the official 2am closing time.

All the major hotels have international-style discos that cater to well-heeled tourists and business travellers. Only a few - those at the Dusit Thani, Grand Hyatt, Regent Bangkok and the Shangri-La - can really be recommended as attractions in themselves. Cover charges are pretty uniform: around 300B on weekday nights and around 400B on weekends, including two drinks. Most places don't begin filling up until after 11pm.