BANGKOK’S NEW WAVE
BANGKOK’S NEW WAVE Brash, cosmopolitan and increasingly shedding its reputation for cheap thrills, the Thai capital is transforming into one of the world’s most compelling cities. By Brian Noone PHOTOS FROM LEFT: © THE STANDARD, © ROSEWOOD 40 CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM
The geometric Rosewood Bangkok rises amid other skyscrapers in central Bangkok; opposite: Ojo serves up modern Mexican dishes in goldtrimmed splendour ur creativity comes from struggles, coincidence, yolo-ness and shitty government,” says Niks Anuman, as we sit in one of his four bars on the edge of Bangkok’s bustling Chinatown. Anuman is talking about the growth of his own businesses, but he might as well be talking about Bangkok itself. It is a strikingly defiant tone for the relatively conservative country, which underwent a coup d'état less than a decade ago and where any criticism of the idiosyncratic king (google “Air Chief Marshal Foo Foo”) is punishable by up to 15 years in prison. But Thailand in 2023 is very different from its pre-pandemic days: this sort of opposition is increasingly tolerated – and, indeed, voted for. The two parties that won the most votes in the national elections in May both have young leaders (42 and 36 years old, respectively), and they are part of a growing swell of progressive, youthful ambition that seems to be leading Bangkok, and Thailand, into a new era. Anuman, like so many of the city’s young entrepreneurs, wears a number of different hats. During the Covid lockdowns, he took a leading role in defending the hospitality world politically. (Anuman has a degree in political science from the country’s top university, so it wasn’t too much of a stretch.) “So many restaurants and bars closed,” he explains. “The government CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM 41
