Update on Sukhumhvit Soi 11, Sukhumvit Bangkok Thailand

Faithful readers of this Amazing Thailand travel blog – I know there’s one out there somewhere! – will know that one of my favourite sois (side street) in Bangkok is Sukhumvit Soi 11 which I blogged about a little while ago.

I just revisited the area, while staying at Le Fenix boutique hotel, and there’s a few places you really should know about …

The first is Bawarchi Restaurant, which is an Indian place about 100m on the right into the soi from the Sukhumvit Road Asok BTS station end. Neither the service nor surroundings are particularly flash but it’s all about the food. You know I always bang on about the Indian food in Bangkok in places such as Himali Cha Cha and Rang Mahal, well this is almost up there … but without the character, charm and ambience the others offer as part of the experience.

But if you want a damn good paneer, or chicken ticcas in gravy served to the accompaniment of lively and sultry Bollywood videos, this is the place, jing jing. Dinner for 2, with no alcohol, was 888 baht. (I know what you’re thinking – no alchohol, why not???) That's not even $30 to you for a great restaurant meal out.

If you’ve overdone the Thai curries and the Indian curries, your innards are threatening mutiny, and you just want something your poorly travelled stomach might recognize as real food, then just keep going on up the soi for a couple of hundreds metres or so till you find the Aussie Pub. Burgers and beers done just right, with football (any shape of ball you can think of) on the big screen.

That should keep you going. And then there’s still so much more to move on to in Soi 11 any time of day and night …

Read my previous Soi 11 blog here for some of the other nocturnal attractions of one of Bkk's hottest (or is that coolest?) streets.

Sukhumvit Bangkok nightlife - Sukhumvit Rd Soi 33's renaissance

Don't you hate it when old timers reminisce and say things like, when I was a lad, all this here was just open fields?

Well, I'm going to do exactly that!

On my first visit to Bangkok in 1987, a friend of mine suggested we get out of the busy downtown Sukhumvit area, and go for a quiet drink in far-flung rural Sukhumvit Soi 33.

After what seemed like days in a taxi we pulled into this soi, and trawled through low-rise darkened shophouses until we came across a couple that had lights on. Monet and Manet, I think their signs declared them to be. Oh, my friend's brought me to an impressionist art gallery I naively thought.

Wrong! They were Bangkok bars, but cut from a distinctly better cloth than the Bkk average, where barmaids in long flowing dresses plied us with beer and banter. A very pleasant memory ...

Fast forward to 2010 and so much has changed, but there again not really.

Monet and Manet are still here. But joined by other impressionists and surrealists. Such as Degas, Renoir and Dali.

But the latest entrant is 'The Horse Says Moooooooooo.' Jing jing! Can you imagine going to your bank manager and asking for a loan to start a new business called The Horse Says Mooooooooooo?

Near Phrom Pong BTS station, the street is initially dominated by the Lotus Hotel (formerly Novotel), and the cavernous Londoner Brew Pub, and then there's travel agents, restaurants, massage places, live music bars (Music Station has good vibes), and other bars -- but not of the go-go variety. If you want Coyote dancing, check out Mojo's.

The Office Bar & Grill is a great place to watch sports and get a great meal, as is Tenderloins Bar and Steakhouse (burgers only about 200 baht). The Office Bar is equipped with full-service secretarial support whereas Tenderloins is more of a restaurant but has a pool table too.

Livingstone's is another surreal site: giant elephant tusks herald this African hunting lodge-style hotel (moderately priced around 2000 baht per night) daubed in gaudy ndebele design. A drink around their pool is most pleasant and other-worldly. A little slice of Africa right here in Bangkok.

Basilico Pizzeria have some of the best Italian food in Bangkok, and about 10,000 choices of pizza, straight from their giant open ovens.

Further up and on the right is Bistro 33, pleasantly tucked away in a gracious old house. They often advertise attractive meal-and-wine buffet specials.

Soi 33 is now a busy, lively, and colourful hive, and very popular with the farang expats living in Bangkok, more so than with tourists. As such, it's a little more pricey than other areas of Bangkok, but it's nicely decked out, friendly, fun.

Some would say a real masterpiece of entertainment. That's my impression anyway.