A Night Out in Bangkok: Jazz Happens

See the locations on Bangkok Jazz Google Map

Bangkok is rich of Jazz Bars. And rich of Thai Jazz Musicans. The best locations for Jazz:

Brown Sugar Pub & Restaurant: 231/20 Sarasin Road. "An excellent jazz bar that showcases great local jazz musicians. In addition to jazz standards voiced by able singers, as the night moves on, rock and pop influenced music comes to the fore", writes Brian Jungwiwattanapron. See a video of Mellow Motif, playing at Brown Sugar.


Cotton Jazz Bar: 3 Floor Shanghai Mansion Bangkok Hotel, 479-481 Yaowarat Road. In a former Chinese Opera house. Thai jazz artists like Siam Swing Band, Harmony and Marshmallow play all types of jazz, from avante-garde to bebop to jazzy interpretations of classic pop songs. See video. Open daily from 6.30 pm to 10.30 pm.


Jazz@Vie: See videos on Facebook. See video of Koh Mr Saxman.


Jazz Happens: 62 Phra Athit Rd. This bar on the 2nd floor of Bar Bali is run by Silpakorn University’s Faculty of Jazz, the performers are students or teachers. Homepage at hi5.com. See videos on Facebook

Look at this video;





Mello Yello Jazz & more: RCA, Zone S. Mon - Sat: 6.30 pm - 2.00 am.


Niu's on Silom: Between Silom Soi 17 and Soi 19 at Baan Silom Arcade. Italian and Thai dishes, international and Thai musicians, especially emerging musicians from Mahidol University. Very good reviews on tripadvisor.com


Saxophone Pub: 3/8 Victory Monument, Phyathai Road. "The Saxophone Pub and Restaurant is a favorite venue for local Thai and foreign music fans. Saxophone hosts a variety of music acts every night from local jazz groups playing standards to acoustic guitarists, big band, and the blues along with T – Bone, the fathers of Thai Reggae, who play every Friday night", writes Brian Jungwiwattanapron. See pictures by Nonchalante.


The Bamboo Bar:: At Mandarin Oriental Hotel, 48 Oriental Avenue.


The Living Room: 1st Floor, Sheraton Grande, 250 Sukhumvit Rd.


If you like to learn more about Thai Jazz, look out for these
Thai jazz musicians:

Darin Pantoomkomal: Piano

Kom Wongsawat: Drums.

Krit Buranavitayawut: Saxophone.

Mellow Motif: Jazz and Brazilian Music. With
singer Oong Natasha Patamapongs. See video by esprithin.

Natasha Patamapongs: Jazz singer of Mellow Motif.

Noppadol Tirataradol: Double Bass.

Rangsit University Jazz Orchestra: See video by polarxen.

Mahidol Jazz Orchestra

Saksri Pang Vongdharadon: Pianist and composer. His album *Seagull" is genuine Thai Jazz. See videos by VinyaIssraRecords and by Saksri Pang Vongdharadon on myspace.com

Sarayut Supunyo: He is the band leader and piano/keyboardist of Thai jazz-fusion band "Infinity". See his cover version of Nat Myria's song "Why" on by sansana on youtube.

The Pomelo Town:

Wednesday April:

วงแม้นศรี (วงคณาจารย์ คณะดุริยางคศาสตร์ มหาวิทยาลัยศิลปากร):

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Your Guide to Bangkok

You discover Bangkok through the eyes of people, who have been there. This blog collects their voices from blogs and travel-related forums like tripadvisor.com or travelfish.org and their pictures from flickr.com and other sources. Google Maps help you to create your own tour. Links give you background. Welcome to Krung Thep!




Guesthouses, Hotels and Homestays: Fromt not expensive to luxurious beds and some very charming places like Phranakorn Nornlen: Guesthouses, Boutique Hotels, Hotels and Homestays.








Restaurants: Where grandmothers cook the best noodle soup, where you dine on the river and on the top: Mouthwatering Food





Bangkok by Boat: How to use the express boats up and down the river, where you can change for the Skytrain and where you can rent longtail boats for a tour to the Khlongs, Bangkoks canals: Bangkok by Boat



Move by trains and buses: How you get to the city with the new Airport Link, where you find train- and busstations and timetables: Skytrain, Metro, Buses and Railways



Bike tours in Bangkok: There are many tour operators, who lead you through small streets off the big traffic. Or you can rent bikes. Bike in Bangkok



Famous and hidden markets: Looking for food, flowers, clothes, household-goods or animals? Bangkoks districts are full of markets, some are full of tourists, others still to discover - also some floating markets. Bangkoks Markets


Discover Old Bangkok: Discover old shophouses near Wat Pho as well as temples in Rattanakosin: Good morning Old Bangkok and Good morning Old Bangkok 2




Explore the heart of Chinatown: Goldsmith and herbal medicine shops, temples and markets: Bangkoks Chinatown is pulsating for neraly 24 hours: Walking tour in Chinatown



Treasures along the Khlongs: Discover the life along Bangkoks waterways with beautiful temples, teak houses and markets: Khlong Bangkok Yai, Khlong Bang Khun Thian, Khlong Bangkok Noi, Khlong Om andKhlong Phra Khanong and Prawet Burirom








The green lung of Bangkok: Bang Krachao, a peninsula in Chao Phraya River, surprises you with greenery and pristine mangroves. And you find a floating market on weekends and fireflies: Bang Krachao



Ko Kret - the Mun Island: Small and sleepy villages, palm trees, bananas, temples and pottery: Ko Kret, an island in Chao Phraya River, is a pretty place for a boat and walking trip: Ko Kret




With a hidden railway to Amphawa Floating Market: For this daytrip towards the Gulf of Siam you use two railways, a ferry and a bus and see a lot of the countryside: Amphawa Floating Market





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Where to go on Chinese New Year

Picture by gerrypopplestone
Chinese New Year at Wat Mangkong Kamalawat


Say goodbye to the Year of the Rabbit and hello to the Year of the Dragon: Bangkoks Chinatown celebrates Chinese New Year on Monday (January 23) and until Tuesday. There will be street parties with drums, dragons, firewirks, a lion dance contest, Chinese opera, fashion shows and a lot of Chinese food. HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn will preside over the opening of the Bangkok Chinatown Festival 2012 on January 23 at 5 pm. This takes place at the King’s Birthday Celebration Arch at Odeon Circle. Two cultural shows, one presented by Thais and the other hosted by China's Ministry of Culture, will be performed, followed by a one-and-a-half-hour Yaowarat Cultural Showcase. Some streets in Bangkoks Chinatown are turned to Walking Streets from 6 pm on Sunday 22 until 4 am on Tuesday 24.

Already Sunday is a good time to visit Chinaatown, "as everyone is getting ready for the Chinese New Year", writes Richard Barrow on thaitravelblogs.com. Tipps for a Walking Tour and a Map: Explore the heart of Chinatown


More activities:

Shows by Chinese artists at shopping malls: At Parc Paragon of Siam Paragon, Discovery Plaza of Siam Center and Siam Discovery and at the Central Court, 1st floor of CentralWorld. Read more.

Bangkok's 5 most luxe menus for Chinese New Year: Read on lifestyleasia.com

Big celebrations for Chinese New Year also happen in other cities of Thailand:
In Suphan Buri, celebrations will take place from Jan 23-29 at the Museum of the Descendants of the Dragon. In Ayutthaya, the festival will take place from Jan 24-29 along Naresuan Road, from Chao Phrom Market to Chao Ai Chao Yi Chedi. In Ratchaburi, celebrations will take place from Sun, Jan 22-26 in front of the Ratchaburi National Museum. In Nakhon Sawan province, also known as Pak Nam Pho, the ongoing celebrations citywide will last until Jan 27. In Chiang Mai, celebrations will take place during Jan 23-24 at Lao Chow Lane. The Chinese National Opera will perform on Jan 24. In Phuket the Phuket Chinese New Year Festival 2012 will be held from Jan 28-30 at Phuket Old Town on Klang, Thalang and Thepkasatri roads. Read more on thaitravelblogs and on bangkokpost.com

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Bangkok Boutique Hotels

You find the locations on this Bangkok Boutique Hotels Google Map and here you get the kmz-file for Google Earth.

When I prepared my trip to Bangkok I wanted to stay away from the big hotel chains. So I scanned the internet and found some Boutique Hotels. They are mentioned in travel reviews in newspapers and magazines. You see them ordered by districts:



Banglamphu บางลำพ

Phranakorn Nornlen - Hidden Gem: Hidden oasis with organic food and very Thai. And nearly on top by ratings of tripadvisor.com. Read more about slow life in Bangkok

Picture marhas1


Lamphu Tree House: From 900 to 1800 Baht. 155 Wanchat Bridge, Phachatiptai Road, Phranakhon. Lamphu Tree House has a small swimming pool and roof-top area for relaxing and sunbathing. Guests love this new hotel according to reviews on tripadvisor.com

Picture Lamphu Tree House

Picture Lamphu Tree House


Bang Phlat บางพลัด

Bangphlat Resort รีสอร์ทบางพลัด: From 2200 Baht. 2 Charansanitwong Rd. 77/1. A number of ancient Thai two-storey wooden houses were conserved and customized as an urban resort.



Picture Bang Phlat

See more pictures at resortbangphlat.hi5.com


Praya Palazzo: From 10000 Bath. 757/1 Somdej Phra Pinklao Soi 2. This palace in italian style with Chinese elements is only accessible by boat from Chao Phraya River. Their private boat departs from Wat Rajathiwas pier every 30 minutes and services Phra Arthit pier on request. The more than eighty years old mansion on the Thonburi side of Chao Phraya has been turned into a luxury hotel with 14 rooms by Wichai Pitakvorrarat, assistant professor at Rangsit University's architecture faculty and principal of Process Architect and Planner Co, and his wife Preeyadhorn. Read how they fell into love with this old building, see a video about the restauration and more pictures here.

Picture Praya Palazzo



Bangrak บางรัก

Baan Saladaeng: From 1000 to 2500 Baht. 69/2 Soi. Saladaeng 3, Saladaeng Road. A designer residence. 9 individually designed guest rooms, suites and penthouses, by a variety of young, up and coming Thai designers. New and therefore only one (good) review on tripadvisor.com

Picture Baan Saladaeng

Modern Oriental Room. Picture Baan Saladaeng

The Moroccan Suite

Mediterrannean Sky Penthouse


La Residence Hotel - Hidden gem: From 1400 to 3700 Baht. 173/8-9 Suriwongse Rd. Enormous suites are "home away from home" according to very good reviews on tripadvisor.com. Singles a bit small.

Studio Suite with garden balcony



Luxx: From 3300 to 5100 Baht. A five-floor shophouse on Decho Road (a few steps from Silom intersection) has been transformed into a hotel. Beautiful timber flooring, luxurious beds and wooden bathtubs bring warmth to the 13 guest rooms. As you can read at tripadvisor.com guests often get an upgrade to a better room. But there is no elevator and if this upgrade leads to the fifth floor you have to me well trained in stairs climbing. You can hear the noise from the street in den rooms, but its not a too busy street.


Siam Heritage Hotel - Hidden Gem: From 2800 to 10000 Baht. In Surawongse near Patong. The hotel was built on the site of an old familiy home and opened 2004. The old timber was used to decorate the interior rooms. Paintings and sculptures of Thai artists are shown at the Heritage Art Gallery and also in the elegant rooms. The doors, windows, frames and furniture have been crafted by artisans from Chiang Mai and Ayuthaya with traditional design. There is a small rooftop-pool and a small gym. Read more: Bangok Legacies. Good reviews on tripadvisor.com

Picture Siam Heritage Hotel


Swiss Lodge: From 3800 to 6150 Baht. 3 Convent road, Silom. With swimming pool. Good reviews on tripadvisor.com



Picture Swiss Lodge



Chinatown/Samphanthawong

สัมพันธวงศ

Shanghai Inn - Hidden Gem: From 2900 to 8000 Baht. In Chinatown. Pink and purple lanterns, bamboo floors, antique four-poster beds and more Chinoise decor transform the 55 rooms into old-time oriental glamour. If you want to have daylight in your room ask for rooms with sight to the street (a very busy street during 24hours). Yin Yang Massage and Spa offers an authentic Chinese massage. The breakfast seems not to be very famous following to the comments on tripadvisor.com

Picture Shanghai Inn


Khao San Road ถนนข้าวสาร

Buddy Lodge:From 2000 to 2400 Baht. 265 Khaosan Road, Taladyod, Pranakorn. Nice pool on the fifth floor. Good reviews on tripadvisor.com



The Pool


Khlong Toey คลองเตย

Ariyasom Villa:. From 3750 Baht. 65 Sukhumvit Soi 1. Built around a beautiful 1940's house, with pool, vegetarian and seafood restaurant and also spa as well as lush gardens. Good review by telegraph.co.uk



Picture Ariyasom Villa


Atlanta Hotel: From 700 to 1700 Baht. 78 Soi 2 Sukhumvit Road. "Sex tourists not welcome“, this hotel writes on it's homepage. "Sex tourism is exploitative, socially damaging and culturally demeaning: those who want to buy sex should do so in their own country." Anmd they go on: "The Atlanta is popular with cultured occidentals, with writers, academics, artists, cinema & theatre and other professional people, with dreamers and innocuous eccentrics, and their families, who can afford to stay at more expensive places but choose to stay at The Atlanta." The Atlanta is proud of the oldest unaltered hotel foyer in Thailand designed by the Berliner Dr Max Henn (1906 - 2002) and his wife in the 1950s and influenced by central European theatre architecture and set designs of the 1920s and 1930s. The Hotel plays Western classical music all day. Music composed by The King of Thailand is played during lunch time. And the hotel promises: "Absolutely no pop music". A path through a lush garden leads to a pool surrounded by hammocks. The reviews on tripadvisor are controversial. Some guests love the hotel, even if the rooms are quite basic (budget hotel!). Others complain abut the management. But everybody seems to agree, that the restaurant has an excellent kitchen (many vegetarian dishes). The Blog Ghost Walk has pretty pictures (for example of the big library)




















The Art Deco Foyer
























Lounge and Coffee Shop
























One of the oldest hotel pools in Thailand


Darjeeling Hotel: From 50 to 68 USD. 390/35-36 Sukhumvit Soi 18. New hotel.


Dream Hotel From 4300 to 12480 Baht. Good reviews on tripadvisor.com



Picture Str1ke
Neon Room




Sukhumvit, design hotel, 100 rooms. Small rooftop pool. Good to great ratings at tripadvisor.com

Tata Young's video El Nin-yo, produced at Dream Hotel:





Drop Inn Bed and Breakfast - Hidden Gem. From 1600 to 2200 Baht. 392/28-31 Sukhumvit Soi 20. nveniently located, at few minutes walking distance from the Asoke subway and skytrain station and Prompong as well as the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center. "Great litte hotel" according to the reviews at tripadvisor.com

Picture Drop Inn


The Davis: From 2900 to 15000 Baht. At Sukhumvit, near Sky Train-Station Promprong. The 247 guest rooms start from 33 square meters and have a separate bath and shower cabinet. According zo The Davis 60 percent of the rooms differ in design, so there is a lot to try. Rooms toward street are noisy. The Davis could also be a design hotel in New York City, it looks international and not authentic Thai. On tripadvisor.com many guests critisize the location as too outside of Bangkoks attractions. But there are a lot of positive comments about the quality of the hotel.

Picture The Davis




The Eugenia - Hidden Gem From 5800 to 7200 Baht. 12-room, with antique furniture and fittings. 19th-century colonial-style house with 12 rooms in Sukhumvit, full of antiques, which Taiwanese owner and Bangkok resident Eugene Yeh and his familiy collected from British & French Colonial Burma, India & Indo-China. You find hand-beaten copper bathtubs and four-poster beds in the rooms. And also a swimming pool is not missing. And all the beddings are imported from Belgium in pure white linen with feather pillows and duvets. Good reviews on tripadvisor.com






Picture The Eugenia


The Key: From 2400 to 3500 BAht. Soi Sukhumvit 19. Mixed reviews on tripadvisor.com



Pathumwan ปทุมวัน

Golden House: From 1400 to 2300 Baht. 1025/5-9 Ploenchit Road. 27 rooms. Simple lodging according to virtualtourist.com. Quiet location, means travelfish.org
See a picture by flickr.com



Phra Nakhorn พระนคร

The Bhuthorn: From 3200 Bath. 96 – 98 Phraeng Bhuthorn Rd. Three guestrooms in shophouse from 1906 in Samphraeng, in the heart of the Old Town of Bangkok, decorated in colonial style. The owners are the architects Chitlada and Direk Senghluang. Execellent reviews on tripadvisor.com. Read more and see detail pictures on Limzhu Photography. And check the review by tannetwork.tv

Picture Bhuthorn

Picture Bhuthorn
Salpasart Room

Picture Bhuthorn
Nara Room

Discover, what you can find nearby on Good morning old Bangkok 2



Ratchathewi ราชเทว

Hotel de Bangkok: From 1500 to 2200 Baht. No reviews, quite near the expressway.


Rattanakosin รัตนโกสินทร์

Arun Residence - Hidden Gem From 3100 to 5500 Baht. Eighty years old Sino-Portuguese style building on the bank of The Chaopraya River, close to The Temple of the Reclining Bhudda (Wat Po). Located on Soi Pratoo Nok Yoong off Maharaj Road, the hotel is at Ratanakosin Island. Arun Residence has seven bedrooms. The windows open to a view of Wat Arun, The Temple of the Dawn. Arun Residence is built on land owned by Wat Po and enjoys a special relationship with the Wat Po Thai Traditional Medical and Massage School. Masseurs provide service in the hotel, including ritual oriental foot massage and the classic therapeutic total body massage. The “Deck by the River” restaurant overlooks the river against the majestic backdrop of the Rattanakosin skyline. High Tea is available every day as the sun sets across the river. One should be aware, that Arun Residence is in a busy place, where fishers bring in their catch early in the morning and the river traffic can be loud also in the night. The river boat Pier is just some steps away. As you can read on tripadvisor.com the staff does not speak English well and this can lead to complications. Good reviews on tripadvisor.com

Picture marhas1

Picture Arun Residence
Restaurant The Deck

Picture Arun Residence
Jasmine Suite

Picture Arun Residence
Roof Garden Suite


Aurum River Place Hotel - Hidden Gem From 3400 to 4900 Baht. A 50 years old warehouse on Rattanakosin island, turned into a modern luxurious hotel with 12 rooms on the bank of Chao Phraya River, in the neighborhood of old warehouses and just a five minutes walk away from Wat Pho Temple and with easy access to the Boat-Lines on the river. Some rooms have very good river view. See their Map. The rooms have dark hardwood floors and furnishings. Quiet old Bangkok around. Good reviews on tripadvisor.com

Picture Aurum Hotel

Picture Aurum Hotel



Suvarnabhumi Airport ท่าอากาศยานสุวรรณภูมิ and nearby

Mariya Boutique Residence: From 1700 Bath. 1627/2. Onnuch-Ladkrabang Road. Very good reviews by tripadvisor.com. There are restaurant and a spa nearby. And transfer from and to airport is organised by the hotel.



See also:
Bangkok Hotels
Bangkok Guesthouses
Bangkok Homestays




Discover more in Bangkok:
Your Guide to Bangkok


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