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Urban Lifestyle

Bangkok unlike other Eastern cities notable Tokyo, Beijing and Seoul, does not have as much a stressing gloom over the city. Although, it is one of Asia's most important cities economically, the urban pace of the city is somewhat relaxed. The city offers enormous amounts of getaway locations and secluded greenery meets urban sprawl. Most Bangkokians tend to stress over the amount of traffic in the city, peak hours are between 6:30am - 9:30am and 4:30pm - 8:00 at night on weekdays with Friday and Saturday days with all round traffic jams.

A good number of Bangkokians leave town on weekends to visit seaside resorts such as Hua Hin and Pattaya. Others return home to visit elder relatives in Isan and Northern provinces. Bangkokian youth tend to stay within the city and use the weekends to relax and enjoy two free days from daily competitiveness. A good majority of them however do utilize Saturdays like their parents as a work day--a large amount of extra learning centers open on Saturdays as well as private tutors. It would not be unusual to see large groups of teenagers donning school uniforms on Saturdays, as with adults. Saturday is somewhat considered a work day to good number of Bangkokians. However, for the majority, people tend to use it as a day to run errands, meet friends and coworkers to discuss business and for the few, sightsee the many attractions that often are overlooked by Thais. For young Bangkokians, the most trendy spot would be considered Siam Square and other malls. Similar to many western countries, the urban lifestyle has taken over the youth of the nation, time would be spent at cafes, the movies and simply involving around friends as opposed to a family day. Young adults would pack the streets of Bangkok's known night club districts on Friday and Saturday nights.

Religion does not play a very influential role in the capital as it would compared to other cities. However, there are still a good proportion of the population that remain devout and daily offer monks that walk in neighbourhoods their thankfulness and grant them necessities and food. Temples are not as packed on weekends as they would have 20 years ago as the western lifestyle takes over many urban city dwellers. Muslims are often either assimilated entirely by the Thai/Western culture or are devout to live in remote parts of town such as the Nong Chok district where tradition Thai Muslims still live.