Red curtains, glamorous feathers and long legs… and, since you are in Thailand. A fantastic evening at the Calypso involves a lot of dazzling performances by a wildly talented troupe of transvestite dancers, entertainers and lip-sync singers, not to mention bringing Marilyn Monroe and Michael Jackson back from the dead. Some say it’s touristy and strange, but we say it’s a star-studded evening with glistening stage design, extravagant costumes, thrilling soundtracks and simply superb entertainment.
Bangkok has a tropical monsoon climate and holds claim to being the hottest city in the world. Sitting at the same latitude as Khartoum and Guatemala City, it is both hot and humid in equal measure.
It may not be the warmest city in the world every day but, overall, it is unrelenting simply because it doesn't cool significantly at night. The two periods of April-May and September-October are the steamiest. The Southwest monsoons arrive between May and October and for many, this is a welcome respite.
The best months to visit Bangkok are December and January; these make up the ‘cold months’ in which discovering the city by foot will not involve drowning perspiration. During the evenings at this time of year temperatures have been known to drop below 20 degrees Celsius.
The summer period, or hot and dry season, is from March to June. At this time temperatures in Bangkok average around 34º C, but can often reach 40º C with the humidity levels of 75%.
Try and avoid April, unless you plan to be permanently submerged in the ocean, because this is the hottest month across the country.
The city demands that you be in the present and in the moment, not necessarily for a religious epiphany, but because the city is self-absorbed and superficial, blissfully free of wrinkle-inducing self-reflection. Smiles and sa nuk (the Thai word for ‘fun’) are the key passports into Bangkok society. A compliment here, a joke there – the demands of social lubrication in this megalopolis are more akin to a small village than an anonymous city and a necessity for survival.
You can jump between all of these worlds – wining and hobnobbing at a chic club, eating at a street side market, getting plucked and pummeled into something more beautiful or sweating profusely on a long unplanned march. Bangkok is an urban connoisseur’s dream come true.