Cloud 11: Bangkok's Shiny New Playground (Ages 18-29, Others Please Wait Outside)

Bangkok has a new place to lose an afternoon, and I'm too old for it. Cloud 11 is a 27-rai (10.7-acre) complex on Sukhumvit, near Udom Suk BTS station, designed as a hub for content creators. It has studios, shops, event spaces and Bangkok's largest sky garden. In practice, it's where a generation that films its lunch goes to film its lunch in better lighting.

The Family Business

Cavernous public spaces remind me of a 21st-century Logan's Run

Cloud 11 is the work of MQDC, a developer owned by the youngest daughter of Dhanin Chearavanont. Thippaporn Ahriyavraromp is the company's founder and board chairman. The Chearavanont name belongs to the CP Group dynasty, the same family empire behind Thailand's 7-Eleven stores. That explains why the 7-Eleven here is no ordinary corner shop. It's a concept store, and its star attraction is INFINITUU, a ceiling-high fridge built for photos. Even the oden, from 9 baht a piece, comes with a good angle. It's the only convenience store I know where you might queue for a selfie before a snack.

Where I Slept: YOTEL Bangkok Sukhumvit

The complex's first hotel (and indeed Thailand's first for this brand) is YOTEL, which opened in October this year with 250 compact rooms and is an "associate" property in the Hilton Honors network. This YOTEL likes to call itself a "smart hotel," and it's right. Everything is streamlined, automated and gently baffling to anyone who remembers keys.

Premium Queen Corner Room (supplied)

I stayed in room 1610, a small but very comfortable corner room with an excellent view. It was the view that tempted me out to explore the rest of Cloud 11 properly, so I suppose the hotel did its job. Rooms look over the rooftop park or Bang Krachao, Bangkok's "green lung." Rates start at THB 1,800 per night, which is ultra keen for a room with that view.

The concierge robots I dubbed D1 and D2. #ifkyk

Then there are the concierge robots. They glide through the minimalist, Kubrick-esque lobby with a purposeful, slightly menacing air, instantly reminding me of the Daleks from Doctor Who. I'm giving away my age again, since the people around me had no idea why I was muttering "Exterminate!" at a luggage-carrying machine. Happily, they proved far more helpful than their television ancestors and have yet to conquer anything.

I had breakfast in the ground-floor restaurant and bar and was thoroughly impressed. It's a lively, bright spot where I was possibly the only guest not filming my plate.

Squid Game, Minus the Casualties

Red light, green light. Run!

The pastel colours, giant staircases and doll-face art and playground-sized spaces will remind you of Squid Game. The difference is that nobody here is eliminated. The worst that can happen is losing your spot in the queue for the viral fridge. No one is shot for failing Red Light, Green Light, though a dropped iced coffee on the big stairs does draw a tense silence.

Logan's Run, Minus the Carousel

The crowd is so young that I felt like I'd wandered into Logan's Run, the 1970s film set in 2274 in a city where nobody is allowed to live past 30. I recalled Sir Peter Ustinov's character, the Old Man who has somehow survived in the "outside" into his golden years and is baffled by the glowing youth around him. All I needed was a cat. Nobody tried to send me to the Carousel, but a barista offered me a seat, which was somehow worse.

The Verdict

Cloud 11 is bright, buzzing and very photogenic. Go for the sky garden, stay at YOTEL, say hello to the Daleks, and bring someone under thirty to translate.