Bangkok

Bangkok’s reputation as a polluted city belies its forte as an outdoor-dining capital. Despite the modern conveniences of air-conditioning and contemporary cafes, some of the most memorable meals in the city (not coincidentally called the 'Big Mango') are had at the open-air markets and food stalls. Forget about three square meals; in Bangkok locals snack throughout the day, packing away at least four meals before sunset. It would be rude not to join them.

Jim Thompson, the late American entrepreneur, used his traditional Thai-style home as a repository for age-old Thai traditions and artwork. Thompson mysteriously disappeared in 1967 and today his former home is a museum – one that every visitor secretly wishes to live in for a day or more. Why? The rooms are adorned with his exquisite art collection and personal possessions, including rare Chinese porcelain pieces and Burmese, Cambodian and Thai artefacts, and the garden is a miniature jungle of tropical plants and lotus ponds.

Easily Bangkok’s most charming neighbourhood, Banglamphu is the city’s former aristocratic enclave, once filled with minor royalty and riverside mansions. Today, the old quarter is dominated by antique shophouses, backpackers seeking R&R on famous Th Khao San, civil servants shuffling between offices and lunch spots, and bohemian artists and students. Vendor carts and classic restaurants also make a patchwork quilt of Banglamphu, offering ample options for a roving stomach, and the area is also home to some of the city’s best live music.

In a city obsessed with commerce, Chatuchak Weekend Market takes the prize as Bangkok’s biggest and baddest market. Silks, sneakers, fighting cocks and fighting fish, fluffy puppies and souvenirs for the insatiable fa·ràng (Westerner) – if it can be sold in Thailand, you’ll find it here. From everyday to clubby, clothes dominate much of the market, but this being Thailand, food and drink also have a strong – and refreshing – presence, making Chatuchak as much about eating as it is about shopping.

The grounds of Wat Pho claim a 16th-century birthday, predating Bangkok itself. In addition to being the country’s biggest temple, Wat Pho is home to a school of traditional Thai medicine, where on-site massage pavilions facilitate that elusive convergence of sightseeing and relaxation. Still not impressed? Let us not forget Wat Pho’s primary Buddha, a reclining figure that nearly dwarfs its sizeable shelter. Symbolic of Buddha’s death and passage into nirvana, the image measures 46m long and is overlaid with gold leaf, making it truly larger than life.

Even avowed anticonsumerists fold in Bangkok. One minute they’re touting the virtues of a life without material possessions, the next they’re admiring the troves of street merchandise and mapping out the route to the nearest night market. In this city shopping malls daisy-chain into an infinite shopping universe with serious space-time warp, and footpaths serve as retail space for every shop without a postal address. Bangkok is also an established destination for bespoke tailoring, and has its own emerging fashion scene.

Mae Nam Chao Phraya (Chao Phraya River) is always teeming with activity: hulking freighter boats trail behind dedicated tugs, river-crossing ferries skip across the wake, and children practise cannonballs into the muddy water. You can witness this from the shore (ideally from Ko Ratanakosin or Thonburi) from a chartered long-tail boat or while on the deck of a river taxi. Regardless of your vantage point, as the blinding sun slips below the horizon in serene streaks of reds and golds, sooty Bangkok suddenly looks beautiful.

Forgive us for suggesting that Bangkok’s Chinatown is something of an Asian El Dorado. The neighbourhood's main artery, Th Yaowarat, is crowded with gold shops – sealed glass-front buildings that look more like Chinese altars than downtown jewellers. Likewise, the Buddha statue at Wat Traimit has more gold than you’ve likely ever seen in one place. And the pencil-thin lanes that branch off Talat Mai are decked with gold-leaf-coated goods. Throw in the blazing neon signs and smoky, open-air kitchens and you have an urban explorer’s fantasy.

Why let a plump tummy be the only sign of your culinary visit to Thailand? Instead, spice up your life – and your future dinner-party menus – by learning to create the kingdom’s zesty dishes in your own kitchen. Cooking schools in Bangkok range from formal affairs for amateur chefs to home cooking for the recipe-phobic. Everyone always has a grand time – visiting a wet market, fumbling with ingredients, tasting the fruits of their labour and trotting home with new cooking techniques.

If the idea of a multiday, no-holds-barred, water-based war appeals to you, make a point of being in Bangkok during mid-April. With origins in an ancient religious practice of Buddha images being ‘bathed’, in recent decades the celebration of the Thai lunar New Year has evolved into a citywide water fight. Foreigners, especially well-dressed ones, are obvious targets and the majority of the mayhem occurs on Th Silom and Th Khao San. In addition to water-throwing, festivities include open-air concerts and visits to Buddhist temples.