Sukhumvit Road

A long, broad road runs east from the centre, the elevated railway humming above it, lined with malls, hotels, restaurants, bars, and street stalls, with narrow side streets branching off into a maze of city life. This is Sukhumvit Road, the spine of modern, cosmopolitan Bangkok and one of the longest, busiest streets in the city.

Sukhumvit is less a single sight than a whole world, a vast commercial and social artery where international Bangkok lives: smart hotels and condominiums, shopping centres, office towers, and an endless run of places to eat, drink, and shop. It is the modern counterpart to the old riverside city.

The elevated railway runs above much of its length, which is the easiest way to travel it, sliding above the traffic from one busy station and district to the next. Each station marks a different neighbourhood with its own character.

The side streets, known as sois, branching off the main road are where much of the life happens. Numbered along the road, they range from quiet residential lanes to dense strips of restaurants, bars, and markets, so the real exploring is done off the main artery.

The area is famous for food at every level, from cheap street stalls grilling and frying on the pavements to international restaurants of every cuisine, reflecting the many communities that live and visit here. Eating along Sukhumvit can take you around the world.

It is also the centre of much of the city's nightlife, from rooftop bars high above the traffic to dense entertainment strips, some of them famous and frank about what they offer. The road has a reputation as well as a buzz, and it pays to know which sois are which.

Shopping runs the full range too, from glossy malls and designer boutiques to night markets and pavement stalls selling clothes, gadgets, and souvenirs, so the street serves both the wealthy and the bargain-hunter.

Sukhumvit is the most international part of the city, home to many foreign residents and visitors, with the comforts and the prices that brings, a different Bangkok from the temples and markets of the old town.

The contrast along its length is part of the interest: gleaming towers and luxury hotels rise directly above old food stalls and tangled wiring, the polished and the gritty side by side at every step.

For a visitor, the road is best treated as a base and a cross-section of modern city life rather than a sight to tick off, a place to stay, eat, and dip into the sois rather than to walk end to end.

A few practical notes. Use the elevated railway to move along it, dive into the sois for the best food and atmosphere, keep your wits about you in the busy nightlife areas, and pick your neighbourhood to match your taste. It runs for many kilometres, so choose a stretch.

Ride the railway above the road at night, with the lit towers, the malls, and the street stalls flowing past below, and modern Bangkok lays itself out around you. Sukhumvit is the city's restless, international present. When you climb down into a soi for a bowl of noodles, the global city narrows back to a single street corner.