Asiatique Bangkok

Asiatique has successfully combined two of the most popular shopping experiences in the city: a night bazaar and a mall. Ten minutes downriver from Saphan Taksin BTS station this once-bustling international trade port has been transformed, with over 1,500 boutiques and 40 restaurants housed under a huge replica warehouse complex. Open from 17:00, spending an evening here is no problem: you’ll have good fun browsing the boutiques, picking up gifts or something for yourself; you are guaranteed to find something you would like to eat and if this isn’t enough entertainment, shows are performed nightly: Calypso ladyboy cabaret and soon, a classic Thai puppets performance

The easiest and fastest way to get there is via boat. Take the BTS to Saphan Taksin and jump on the free shuttle at the end of the pier. It only takes ten minutes, and the boat runs until 23:00. Taxis are not recommended as the traffic can be terrible in this area. From the boat you step off onto a long boardwalk which runs for 300 metres that looks romantic once the sun has set. Wide streets run between each warehouse and Asiatique provides retro props for photo opportunities: a reproduction tram car, anchors and a push cart. The decor does feel a little overdone on occasion and not quite in keeping with the designers’ plans to evoke nostalgia for the 1900s but it’s so well planned, clean and spacious that the lack of history doesn’t really matter