Bangkok Guide
Southern downtown
The southern downtown area, sometimes known as Bangrak, stretches south and west from Thanon Rama IV and Lumphini as far as the Chao Phraya River. Bangkok's financial district is here, centring on the high-rise, American-style boulevard of Thanon Silom, with its smoked-glass banks and offices, plush hotels and, opposite a Carmelite convent, the dark heart of Bangkok nightlife, the Patpong sex bars. There is plenty more sophisticated nightlife, both gay and straight, in this most wealthy and image-conscious neighbourhood, especially around Silom 4, along with the city's top gourmet restaurants; many of Bangkok's finest hotels are also here, some of them in panoramic positions on the banks of the Chao Phraya.
Sights are in short supply in this part of the city, with the refined former prime-ministerial abode, M.R. Kukrit's Heritage Home, and the Snake Farm, run by the Red Cross at the Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute, the main attractions. The big highlight, however, is the nightly performance by puppeteers and their stick-jointed charges at the Traditional Thai Puppet Theatre.
As a place to stay, this area has options in most categories, including a few cheap guest houses in the small, occasionally seedy, travellers' ghetto of Soi Ngam Duphli and adjacent Soi Sri Bamphen and Soi Saphan Khu. It's best known, however, for Bangkok's biggest selection of top hotels, which are among the most opulent in the world. Staying by the river in the atmospheric area around Thanon Charoen Krung, also known as New Road, has the added advantage of easy access to express boats.
The Silom Line of the BTS Skytrain system runs through this area and, among many other destinations, give you access, via Saphan Taksin station, to the Chao Phraya express boat service, for Ratanakosin, the Grand Palace and Banglamphu. The subway also serves some corners of the southern downtown district.
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