ur creativity comes from struggles, coincidence, yoloness 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 didn’t help us.” He is now suing the government – “It’s hard, but it’s the right thing to do,” he says – and has become a minor celebrity. “He’s a hero to those of us in the food and drink world,” exclaims my press attaché at one of the city’s new hotels. “He’s saying all the things we want to say but are too afraid to.” Her current full-time job is working for the hotel, but she and her boyfriend have just started a stall in a nearby food market, where it’s only open a few nights per week – but her ambition is to grow it into a full-time gig. PHOTO SVEN ELLSWORTH PHOTO 76 CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM
