Cultural Experiences

Culture is all around you in Thailand -- and there are ample opportunities to take part in the daily activities, festivals, ceremonies, events, and practices that weave the fabric of this society. Keep an eye on free magazines such as BK Magazine or local newspapers, The Nation and Bangkok Post, for major events during your stay. You may want to check with the TAT (tel. 1155) or the Bangkok Tourism Bureau (tel. 02225-7612), though these organizations may not always be as well informed as the local press. The best part of Thai festivals is that, whether getting soaked by buckets of water at Songkran or watching candlelit floats drift downstream at Loy Krathong, foreign visitors are usually invited to join in. Thais are very proud of their cultural heritage, and opportunities abound to learn and participate.

Thai Cooking

Fancy a chance to take back some of the delicious recipes you have been feasting on? Thai cooking is fun and easy, and there are a few good hands-on courses in Bangkok. You'll learn about Thai herbs, spices, and unique local produce. You'll never look at a produce market the same again. Lectures on Thai regional cuisine, cooking techniques, and menu planning complement classroom exercises to prepare all your favorite dishes. The best part is afterwards, when you get to eat them.

• The Oriental Cooking School is located in a quaint colonial house across the river from the famed hotel. Morning courses run daily (except Sun), and end with lunch. Their chefs are excellent and you'll learn, through demonstration and practice, every aspect of Thai cooking. The course is open to anyone from beginner to expert. Different dishes are taught each day, so you can attend for a week and always learn something new. The cost is 4,500B (US$128/#69) per person, per day. Call the hotel at tel. 02659-9000.

• The Blue Elephant is part of a large, Belgian-owned Thai restaurant chain popular throughout Europe. The cookery school stands in the same locale as the restaurant, a yellow-painted mansion close to Surasak BTS. Classes begin at 8:45am, with a visit to the market to pick up fresh ingredients for the day. Back in the classroom, you'll first watch demonstrations before stepping up to your own cooking station to practice what you've learned under the watchful eye of a teacher. Afterwards, you can share your creations with the rest of the class, as part of a delicious lunch spread. Visit them at 233 South Sathorn Rd., just below Surasak BTS, or call tel. 02673-9353 (www.blueelephant.com). One-day (group) courses cost 2,800B (US$80/#43) per person; private classes are available.

• The woman behind Mrs. Balbir's is hilarious, dedicated, and an indefatigable charity worker as well as a TV star. The giggles that abound in the home of this regionally acclaimed, Malaysian-born chef are all part of the fun. Cookery courses with Vinder Balbir are (unlike hotel or restaurant courses) no sedate affair; eager students gather around her giant kitchen table to chop, pare, or grind ingredients before rallying around her stove to see her reveal some of her secrets. Because Vinder is fluent in several languages (including English and Thai), these lessons are much more informative and interactive than most. She will carefully explain why a particular type of herb is required or what ingredients can be used as replacements in your home country. True to her ethnic roots, she can also teach fabulous Punjabi cuisine, as well as Thai. After a Saturday morning spent cooking with Mrs. B. you'll have paid next to nothing but leave filled with good humor and great food. Courses start around 1,200B (US$34/#18) per person and take place at her home, close to her restaurant (tel. 02651-0498), in the first sub-soi at 155/18 Sukhumvit Rd. (Soi 11 close to Nana BTS). For all course inquiries, call her restaurant Tuesday to Sunday from 11am-2pm or 6-11pm. Or see the website, www.mrsbalbir.com.

Thai Massage

A traditional Thai massage involves manipulating your limbs to stretch each muscle and then applying acupressure techniques to loosen up tense muscles and start energy flowing. Your body will be twisted, pulled, and sometimes pounded in the process.

For Thai massage to be beneficial, it should be fairly rigorous and at times it can be punishing: If the therapist is loath to use pressure from the start, you'll know you are wasting your time. If you chose a street-side spa, chose one away from tourist areas -- such as Khao San, Sukhumvit, or Silom roads, where Thais are patrons. Note: Many massage or foot reflexology parlors on Silom and Sukhumvit roads are fronts for brothels where (male) tourists will be propositioned for a variety of sexual favors.

There are countless spas and massage parlors around Bangkok, many offer good services at very reasonable rates, such as the humongous Healthland (tel. 02637-8883; 120, Sathorn Rd.), which operates a bit like a neon-lit, spa production line, or the quieter Ruen-Nuad (tel. 02632-2662), a small, but homely spa tucked in a small soi opposite the BNH Hospital on Soi Convent (in between Silom and Sathorn rds.). It offers excellent foot massages as well as authentic Thai massage.

Wat Po has long been promoted as the only place to learn Thai massage, and though it's cheaper than some, it's still pretty overrated. These days, better options abound. Good courses are offered at the Sukhumvit Road location of the award-winning Chiva-Som Academy (tel. 02711-5270; www.chivasomacademy.com). These cover therapies such as Reiki and other alternative treatments, but Bangkok's finest spas are almost always those in the most respected hotels where time and money are invested in training and language skills. The Banyan Tree Spa (tel. 02679-1054; www.banyantree.com) and The Oriental Spa & Ayurvedic Penthouse (tel. 02439-7613; www.mandarin-oriental.com) are two of the finest places going but come with a hefty price. Yet you pay for expertise that leaves your muscles soothed, gets your blood flowing, and gives you a feeling of unparalleled well-being.

Budget spas that use untrained staff with no English skills make for not just an unpleasant experience, but a potentially painful one. If your masseuse doesn't understand a word of English, or there is no one to help translate your needs or aspects of your health such as varicose veins or respiratory or skin conditions, you are taking a serious risk.

Thai Boxing

Muaythai, or Thai Boxing, is Thailand's national sport, and a visit to the two venues in Bangkok, or in towns all over Thailand, displays a very different side to the usually gentle Thai culture. The mystical pre-bout rituals, live musical performances, and, of course, the frenetic gambling, appeal to fans of this raw, and often bloody, spectacle. In Bangkok, catch up to 15 bouts nightly at either of two stadiums. The Ratchadamnoen Stadium (Ratchadamnoen Nok Ave.; tel. 02281-4205) hosts fights on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday, while the Lumphini Stadium on Rama IV Road (tel. 02251-4303) has bouts on Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday. Tickets cost 1,000B to 2,000B (US$29-US$57/#15-#31) at both venues; ringside seats are only bookable in advance. In the second-class seats, you may still have a good view of the action in the ring and will see close-ups of the gambling action. The guys with multiple cellphones screaming and shouting often overshadow the action in the ring.

Keen to try some kicks and punches yourself? Check out the website www.muaythai.com, which details training camps for rookies.

Meditation

The House of Dhamma (tel. 02511-0439; www.houseofdhamma.com) and Wat Mahathat serve as meditation centers for overseas students of Buddhism. The latter is one of Thailand's largest Buddhist Universities and has become a popular center for meditation lessons, with English-speaking monks overseeing students of Vipassana, also called Insight Meditation. Instruction is held daily; call ahead (tel. 02222-6011) to get the schedule and to make an appointment. Both offer good introductions to basic techniques.

Thai Language Study

So you've learned your "Sawadee-khrup" or "Sawadee-kha," but want to take it a little further from there? Thais are very gracious and welcoming with foreigners butchering their language (the tones make you pronounce the most mundane phrases in laughable ways), but there are a few good schools in Bangkok to help you get the pronunciations right. Among the many offered, try the superlative American University Alumni Language Center (179 Ratchadamri Rd.; tel. 02252-8170) or the Union Language School (7th floor, 328 CCT Office Building, Phayathai Rd.; tel. 02214-6033; www.unionlanguage.com).

Other

Lovers of all things reptilian can witness a sight rarely encountered anywhere else. The Red Cross Snake Farm, at 1871 Rama IV Rd. (tel. 02252-0161) is located in the heart of Bangkok (opposite the old Montien Hotel). Don't expect a bucolic "farm" setting; this is in fact nothing more than a cluster of pretty colonial buildings in the heart of the city, which provide a research institute for the study of venomous snakes. Established in 1923, this was the second facility of its type in the world. For a fee of 70B (US$2/#1.10), you can see slide shows and snake-handling demonstrations weekdays at 11am and 2:30pm; and on weekends and holidays at 11am. You can also watch the handlers work with deadly cobras and (equally poisonous) banded kraits with demonstrations of venom milking. The venom is later injected into horses, which produce antivenin for the treatment of snakebites in humans. The Red Cross sells medical guides and will also inoculate you against such maladies as typhoid, cholera, and smallpox in their clinic. The institute is open daily Monday to Friday 8:30am to 4:30pm, and Saturday and Sunday 8:30am to noon.