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Entertainment & Recreation
Parks and Gardens
Bangkok's parks and gardens offer welcome respite from city heat
and noise. They include:
Lumphini Park at the northern end of Silom Road, and
bordered by Wireless and Rajdamri roads. Lumphini Park is
popular with joggers, keep-fit enthusiasts, families and
sportsmen, particularly during the early morning and late
afternoon.
Chatuchak Park near the Paholyothin and Viphavadi Rangsit
Highway junction at Lard Prao, on the way to Bangkok's Don Muang
Airport, is also the site of a famous weekend market that sells
almost everything made and grown in Thailand.
Khao Din Zoological Garden is an artfully landscaped
enclave with an artificial lake. The zoo neighbours
Ratchadamnoen Avenue's Royal Plaza, and National Assembly
Building, and contains a fine collection of African and Asian
mammals, reptiles and birds.
King Rama IX Park or Suan Luang Gardens is an extensive
park with fine botanical gardens deep inside Sukhumvit Soi 103
in Bangkok's eastern suburbs. The botanical gardens were opened
with private and public donations in 1987 to celebrate H-M. King
Bhumibol's auspicious 60th birthday.
Amusement and
Theme Parks
Magic Land at Lat Phrao, just northeast of Bangkok's Central
Plaza Hotel, is the capital's major amusement park. The complex
offers a wide range of exciting rides and other amusements
including haunted houses and sideshows.
Similar facilities are found in the eastern suburb of Minbun at
the Siam Water Park. The water theme park features an artificial
sea replete with authentic waves, waterfalls, water sliders,
whirlpools, and numerous water-related activities.
The adjacent Safari World features a collection of African and
Asian mammals, including lions, tigers, giraffes, zebras and
bears, that live in natural surroundings. The sprawling complex
also contains Asia's largest aviary with over 4,000 birds.
Theatre
Theatrical events in Bangkok include Thai dance and puppet
performances, English and Thai-language dramas, concerts by
visiting international artists, musical performances, and
infrequently imported mimes and plays. Visitors are advised to
consult the English-language newspapers, particularly the weekly
or daily calendar of events, to ascertain the times and dates of
current performances.
Major theatrical venues include:
Thailand's National Theatre, adjacent to the National
Museum at Bangkok's Sanam Luang. The theatre is the venue for
concerts and Thai classical dramp a performances. Weekend
performances of Thai dance dramas are periodically staged.
The Thailand Cultural Centre on Batchadapisek Road, the Alliance
Francaise Auditorium on South Sathorn Road, the AUA Language
Centre Auditorium on Ratchadamri Road, the British Council
Centre in Siam Square, and the Goethe Institute on Soi
Attakarnprasit, off South Sathorn Road, also stage theatrical
and musical performances.
The Hotel Siam Intercontinental periodically stages British
plays, mostly comedies, from London's West End, with
accomplished British actors.
The KAD Performing Arts Centre in Chiang Mai, in northern
Thailand, includes the lavishlyequipped KAD Theatre with a
seating capacity of 1,550 and the KAD Playhouse, with a seating
capacity of 500. The KAD Performing Arts Centre is geared
towards staging imported fullscale theatrical and musical
productions from abroad, performed in the original language, and
original Thai dramatic and musical productions.
International and
Thai Sports
Golf, soccer, boxing, badminton, tennis, bowling and snooker
figure prominently among international sports enjoyed by Thais.
Indigenous games and sports include world-famous Thai boxing,
takro, kite-fighting and boat racing.
International sports the visitor is
likely to enjoy include:
Deep-Sea Game Fishing
Bang Sare Fishing Club, just south of Pattaya, is the principal
centre for fishermen seeking marlin, king mackerel, tuna, sharks
and other denizens of the Thai Gulf. Major fishing centres on
the Indian Ocean coast include Ranong and Phuket.
Golf
Thailand's clement weather means that golfers can enjoy their
sport all year round at a wide variety of challenging courses.
Thailand's major public golf courses are located in Bangkok,
Nakhon Pathom, Hua Hin, Chon Buri, Pattaya,Phuket and Chiang
Mai.
Horse Racing
Weekend races, each averaging 10 races,can be seen at Bangkok's
Royal Turf Club and Royal Bangkok Sports Club.
Motor Sports
The 2.4 kilometre Bira International Pattaya Circuit regularly
features local and international motor and motorcycle racing.
Sailing
Hobie Cats, Lasers and Prindles are availa in Hua Hin and Phuket.
Scuba Diving / Snorkelling
Thailand offers some of Southeast Asia's finest diving
opportunities in Gulf waters around Pattaya, Sattahip, Rayong's
Samet island, Trat's Ko Chang Marine National Park, Chumphon and
Surat Thani's sparkling archipelago which contains the beautiful
Samui island and Angthong Marine National Park; and in the
Andaman Sea on Thailand's Indian Ocean coastline around Surin,
Similan, Phuket and Phi Phi islands, and Tarutao Marine National
Park near the Thai-Malaysian maritime border. Professional dive
shops in Pattaya and Phuket teach neophyte divers. Snorkelling
opportunities abound throughout Thai waters.
Tennis/Badminton/Squash
Numerous opportunities are found in leading Bangkok and resort
hotels. A list of courts where visitors are allowed can be found
in the Bangkok Telephone Directory's Yellow Pages.
Windsurfing
Pattaya's Jomthien Beach is the major centre of this popular
sport.
Further opportunities can be found at Cha Am, Hua Hin, Ko Samui
and Phuket's Patong Beach.
Thai sports the visitor will enjoy include:
Thai Boxing
This developed as a form of self-defence during the Ayutthaya
period (1350-1767). Boxers are forbidden to wrestle or bite.
However, they may kick, shove and push and unreservedly use bare
feet, legs, elbows and shoulders, besides fists, to batter each
other into submission. Thai boxing is featured throughout the
week at Bangkok's Ratchadamnoen Stadium (Monday,
VVednesday,Thursday and Sunday) and Lumphini Stadium (Tuesday,
Friday and Saturday).
Takro
This sport is traditionally played by a loosely formed circle of
men who use feet, knees, thighs, chests and shoulders to
acrobatically pass a woven rattan ball to each other,
encleavouring to keep it airborne, and eventually kick it into a
basket suspended above their heads.
Kite-Fighting
During Hot Season months, particularly March and April, opposing
teams fly male Chula and female Pakpao kites in a surrogate
battle of the sexes. The small, agile Pakpao kite tries to fell
the more cumbersome Chula while the male kite tries to ensnarl
the female kite and drag it back into male territory.
Boat Racing
Regattas are featured in many country fairs which celebrate the
end of the annual Rains Retreat. The long narrow, low-slung
wooden boats are festooned with flags and flowers, manned by
oarsmen and raced with great gusto. The most noteworthy boat
races are at Nan, Phichit, Nakhon Phanom, Surat Thani, Ayutthaya
and Pathum Thani, near Bangkok.
Entertainment
Thais are a fun-loving people.
Nationwide, boxing stadiums, race and golf courses, tennis and
squash courts, billiards halls, opulent nightclubs, gourmet
restaurants, discotheques, concert halls, teahouses, cocktail
lounges, amusement parks, bars, museums, theatres, art
galleries, massage parlours, zoo logical gardens and cinemas
lure pleasure seekers throughout the year.
Thailand's English-language newspapers carry daily listings on
concerts, exhibitions, displays and cinematic offerings.
Complimentary weekly tourist publications such as This Week,
Explore Pattaya, etc., contain additional information with
emphasis on dining and nightlife attractions. Beer bars,
cocktail lounges and pubs are mostly concentrated in the
Sukhumvit, New Petchaburi and Silom Road areas.
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