Thai food is traditionally fairly hot and spicy, but most tourist restaurants tend to tone down the heat for the more fragile Western palate. Most Thai food is prepared with fresh ingredients such as lemon grass and coriander and rice is commonly eaten with most meals. Popular fruits are papaya, jackfruit, mangosteens, rambutans, pomelos (similar to grapefruits) and, above all, durians, which
farangs (foreigners) either love or hate. The thorny fruits have a rather malodorous scent which has even resulted in many hotels banning them from their premises.
Excellent food can be
found at the stalls of the many street vendors around the country as well as top-notch eateries. There are also many Asian and European restaurants throughout the major cities and smaller towns.
Things to know: Bars have counter or table service.
National specialties:• Tom yam (a coconut-milk soup prepared with
makroot leaves, ginger, lemon grass, prawns or chicken).
• Gang pet (hot 'red' curry with coconut milk, herbs, garlic, chili, shrimp paste, coriander and seasoning).
• Pad Thai (stir-fried rice-noodles) served with shrimp or chicken and garnished with peanuts.
• Desserts include
salim (sweet noodles in coconut milk).
• Well worth trying is sticky rice and mangoes (rice cooked in coconut milk served with slices of mango).
National drinks:
• Mekhong (local whiskey) and
SamSong (rum) are very popular.
• Singha and
Singha Gold are locally made beers which dominate the domestic market.
• Coconut milk straight from the shell during the harvest season is particularly refreshing in the heat and humidity.
Legal drinking age: The government has raised the legal drinking age from 18 to 20.
Tipping: Most hotels and restaurants will add 10% service charge and 7% government tax to the bill.
NightlifeBangkok offers a wide range of entertainment venues, from
nightclubs,
pubs,
bars,
cinemas and
restaurants, to massage parlours, pool halls and
cocktail lounges. The nightlife is concentrated in three districts of Bangkok - Banglamphu, Patpong (between Silom and Surawong roads), Sukhumvit Road and the nearby street of Soi Cowboy. Bangkok's sex industry is as blatant and booming as ever.
Many venues are open all day and late into the night, although bars and clubs are supposed to close at 0200. Sometimes there is an admission fee but this usually includes one or two drinks. The dress code is very relaxed, although a few of the nightclubs do enforce smarter clothing.
Performances of traditional religious and court dances can be seen at the
Thailand Cultural Center and
Patravadi Theater in Bangkok. Elsewhere on the mainland, nightlife takes the form of traditional dances. The islands are renowned for their nightlife but attendance is almost exclusively by foreigners. The
full moon parties are notorious and continue well into the following morning. Performances by the infamous
katoeys (lady boys) are worth a visit, with the most famous seen at the
Calypso Cabaret in the
Asia Hotel in Bangkok.
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