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.gif) Entertainment and Recreation |
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 Parks and Gardens |
Amusement
and Theme Parks |
Theatre |
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| Internaational
and Thai Sports |
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| Parks and Gardens |
 Bangkok's parks and gardens offer welcome respite from city
heat and noise. They include: Lumphini Park at the northern
end of Silom Road, and bordered by Wireless and Rajdamri roads.
Lumphini Park is popular with joggers, keep-fit enthusiasts,
families and sportsmen, particularly during the early morning
and late afternoon. Chatuchak Park near the Paholyothin and
Viphavadi Rangsit Highway junction at Lard Prao, on the way
to Bangkok's Don Muang Airport, is also the site of a famous
weekend market that sells almost everything made and grown
in Thailand. Khao Din Zoological Garden is an artfully landscaped
enclave with an artificial lake. The zoo neighbours Ratchadamnoen
Avenue's Royal Plaza, and National Assembly Building, and
contains a fine collection of African and Asian mammals, reptiles
and birds. King Rama IX Park or Suan Luang Gardens is an extensive
park with fine botanical gardens deep inside Sukhumvit Soi
103 in Bangkok's eastern suburbs. The botanical gardens were
opened with private and public donations in 1987 to celebrate
H.M. King Bhumibol's auspicious 60th birthday.
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| Amusement and Theme Parks |
Magic Land at
Lat Phrao, just north-east of Bangkok's Central Plaza Hotel,
is the capital's major amusement park. The complex offers
a wide range of exciting rides and other amusements including
haunted houses and sideshows. Similar facilities are found
in the eastern suburb of Minburi at the Siam Water Park. The
water theme park features an artificial sea replete with authentic
waves, waterfalls, water sliders, whirlpools, and numerous
water-related activities. The adjacent Safari World features
a collection of African and Asian mammals, including lions,
tigers, giraffes, zebras and bears, that live in natural surroundings.
The sprawling complex also contains Asia's largest aviary
with over 4,000 birds.
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| Theatre |
Theatrical events in Bangkok include Thai dance and puppet
performances, English and Thai- language dramas, concerts
by visiting international artists, musical performances, and
infrequently imported mimes and plays. Visitors are advised
to consult the English-language newspapers, particularly the
weekly or daily calendar of events, to ascertain the times
and dates of current performances. Major theatrical venues
include: Thailand's National Theatre, adjacent to the National
Museum at Bangkok's Sanam Luang. The theatre is the venue
for concerts and Thai classical dramp a performances. Weekend
performances of Thai dance dramas are periodically staged.
The Thailand Cultural Centre on Ratchadapisek Road, the Alliance
Francaise Auditorium on South Sathorn Road, the AUA Language
Centre Auditorium on Rajdamri Road, the British Council Centre
in Siam Square, and the Goethe Institute on Soi Attakarnprasit,
off South Sathorn Road, also stage theatrical and musical
performances. The Hotel Siam Intercontinental periodically
stages British plays, mostly comedies, from London's West
End, with accomplished British actors. The KAD Performing
Arts Centre in Chiang Mai, in northern Thailand, includes
the lavishly- equipped KAD Theatre with a seating capacity
of 1,550 and the KAD Playhouse, with a seating capacity of
500. The KAD Performing Arts Centre is geared towards staging
imported full-scale theatrical and musical productions from
abroad, performed in the original language, and original Thai
dramatic and musical productions.
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| International and Thai Sports |
Golf. soccer,
boxing, badminton, tennis, bowling and snooker figure prominently
among international sports enjoyed by Thais. Indigenous games
and sports include world-famous Thai boxing, takro, kite-fighting
and boat racing. International sports the visitor is likely
to enjoy include:
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>>Deep-Sea
Game Fishing
Bang Sare Fishing
Club, just south of Pattaya, is the principal centre for fishermen
seeking marlin, king mackerel, tuna, sharks and other denizens
of the Thai Gulf. Major fishing centres on the Indian Ocean
coast include Ranong and Phuket.
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>>Golf
Thailand's clement weather means that golfers can enjoy their
sport all year round at a wide variety of challenging courses.
Thailand's major publice public golf courses are located in
Bangkok, Nakhon Pathom, Hua Hin, Chonburi, Pattaya,Phuket
and Chiang Mai.
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>>Horse
Racing
Weekend races, each averaging 10 races, can be seen at Bangkok's
Royal Turf Club and Royal Bangkok Sports Club.
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>>Motor
Sports
The 2.4 kilometre
Bira International Pattaya Circuit regularly features local
and international motor and motorcycle racing.
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>>Sailing
Hobie Cats, Lasers
and Prindles are available in Hua Hin and Phuket.
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>>Scuba
Diving / Snorkelling
Thailand offers some of Southeast Asia's finest diving opportunities
in Gulf waters around Pattaya, Sattahip, Rayong's Samet island,
Trat's Koh Chang Marine National Park, Chumphon and Surat
Thani's sparkling archipelago which contains the beautiful
Samui island and Angthong Marine National Park: and in the
Andaman Sea on Thailand's Indian Ocean coastline around Surin,
Similan, Phuket and Phi Phi islands, and Tarutao Marine National
Park near the Thai-Malaysian maritime border. Professional
dive shops in Pattaya and Phuket teach neophyte divers. Snorkelling
opportunities abound throughout Thai waters.
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>>Tennis
/ Badminton / Squash
Numerous opportunities are found in leading Bangkok and resort
hotels. A list of courts where visitors are allowed can be
found in the Bangkok Telephone Directory's Yellow Pages.
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>>Windsurfing
Pattaya's Chomthian Beach is the rnajor centre of this popular
sport. Further opportunities can be found at Cha Am, Hua Hin,
Koh Samui and Phuket's Patong Beach. Thai sports the visitor
will enjoy include:
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>>Thai Boxing
This developed as a form of self-defence during the Ayutthaya
period (13so-17sv). Boxers are forbidden to wrestle or bite.
However, they may kick, shove and push and unreservedly use
bare feet, legs, elbows and shoulders, besides fists, to batter
each other into submission. Thai boxing is featured throughout
the week at Bangkok's Ratchadamnoen Stadium (Monday, Wednesday.
Thursday and Sunday) and Lumphini Stadium (Tuesday, Friday
and Saturday).
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>>Takro
This sport is
traditionally played by a loosely formed circle of men who
use feet, knees, thighs, chests and shoulders to acrobatically
pass a woven rattan ball to each other, endeavouring to keep
it airborne, and eventually kick it into a basket suspended
above their heads.
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>>Kite-Fighting
During Hot Season
months, particularly March and April, opposing teams fly male
Chula and female Pakpao kites in a surrogate battle of the
sexes. The small, agile Pakpao kite tries to fell the more
cumbersome Chula while the male kite tries to ensnare the
female kite and drag it back into male territory.
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>>Boat Racing
Regattas are featured in many country fairs which celebrate
the end of the annual Rains Retreat. The long narrow, low-slung
wooden boats are festooned with flags and flowers, manned
by oarsmen and raced with great gusto, The most noteworthy
boat races are at Nan, Phichit, Nakhon Phanom, Surat Thani,
Ayutthaya and Pathum Thani, near Bangkok.
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>>Entertainment
Thais are a fun-loving
people. Nationwide, boxing stadiums, race and golf courses,
tennis and squash courts, billiards halls, opulent nightclubs,
gourrnet restaurants, disco- theques, concert halls, teahouses,
cocktail lounges, amusernent parks, bars, museurns, theatres,
art galleries, rnassage parlours, zoo logical gardens and
cinemas lure pleasure seekers throughout the year. Thailand's
English-language newspapers carry daily listings on concerts,
exhibitions, displays and cinematic offerings. Complirnentary
weekly tourist publications such as This Week, Explore Pattaya.
etc., contain additional information with emphasis on dining
and nightlife attractions. Beer bars, cocktail lounges and
pubs are rnostly concentrated in the Sukhumvit, New Petchaburi
and Silom Road areas.
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