Thong Lor & Ekkamai
Two sois where Bangkok's own moneyed young go out — and where the city's café and cocktail culture is invented before it reaches anywhere else.
Thong Lor literally translates as 'molten gold', but the name has nothing to do with gold. It comes from Thonglo Khamhiran, a naval officer of the 1932 People's Party who owned land and houses in the area. Before the Second World War this stretch of Sukhumvit was quasi-rural and much of it was occupied by the navy.
The soi runs about 2 km from Sukhumvit to Phetchaburi Road, and walking all of it in the heat is a mistake. Locals take a motorbike taxi from the BTS to the house number they want; fares are posted at the orange-vest stand at the mouth of the soi. The Commons on Soi 17 — an open-air 'vertical village' of stairs and shaded terraces instead of air-conditioned corridors — became the model a dozen Bangkok developments have copied since.
Ekkamai next door is Japanese Bangkok: ramen counters and izakaya run to Japanese standards for a resident community, not a themed one, plus Gateway Ekamai mall. Ekkamai Bus Terminal is the departure point for Pattaya, Rayong, Chanthaburi and Trat — the mainland gateway to Ko Chang and Ko Samet.
Come after dark. Much of Thong Lor is closed or empty at midday; the district's real character appears between 7pm and 1am.