With its great selection of pubs, clubs and bars, Silom rarely disappoints the party crowd. Fancy sipping a Guinness while watching the latest football match beamed live from Europe? Make your way to Molly Malone's Irish Pub (formerly The Irish X Change) in Soi Convent, or O'Reillys right underneath the Sala Daeng BTS station. From homely sports pubs to swish swanky hotel lounges, bars and pubs in Silom and Sathorn include The Barbican, Hu'u, Met Bar, My Bar, Noriega's, V9, Zeta Bar, Zuk Bar, Molly Malone's and O'Reillys.

 

Or perhaps you fancy more trendy, more wholesome? Then seek out one of the clubs with live bands or beat-spinning DJs strung along Patpong Road. These get very busy around midnight, and include Radio City, Twilo, Funky Dojos and Lucifers. Nearby Silom Soi 4 - something of an age-old institution among long-time Bangkok revellers - is also home to a few clubs pushing pulsating beats, including the grotto-like house music club, Tapas, and hip-hop den Luminous.

 

 

The gay community and visitors also find their feet here. Silom - especially Soi 2, Soi 4 and nearby Suriwong Road - is considered one of Bangkok's most gay-friendly stomping grounds. Rainbow boys come to flirt and, yes, occasionally pick-up at legendary gay bars like Balcony Bar and Telephone Pub, ogle dream boys at the gay go-go bars off Suriwong, or dance into the small hours at full-on gay clubs like G.O.D. and DJ Station.

 

 

One of the world's most (in)famous red-light districts, Patpong is where it all started - Thailand's Go-Go culture. It has even been immortalised in a James Bond chase-sequence. Its two parallel side-streets, found between Silom and Surawongse Roads, house around 100 neon-lit strip bars offering risque sex shows, purchasable pole-dancers and post-op ladyboys. But while for men Patpong is likely to mean 'adult', for women, families and the kids Patpong definitely means 'market'. At night this teems with hawkers and humble stalls selling what is mostly tourist tat. For the serious flesh-seekers, Patpong has long since been usurped as the 'king of the scene' by its counterparts around Sukhumvit. However, its reputation means it's still a huge attraction, mainly for sightseers more interested in ogling at - rather than indulging in - the carnal delights and horrors on offer.