Bangkok - Event

HM The King's Birthday in Bangkok takes precedence over all his birthday celebrations. See coloured lights and decorations around Ratchadamnoen Avenue and the Grand Palace and head to the Sanam Luang field for a festival of music and Thai culture.

Royalty in Thailand is a serious affair. Failing to show respect for the Queen will do nothing to endear you to ordinary Thai people. Pictures of the royal couple grace many a mantelpiece and to dishonour them in word or deed is an activity bordering on the illegal.

Otherwise, this is an opportunity to see the kind of light display that the Thais are so good at turning on for special (read royal) occasions.