Same same, but different. Its Thailish T-shirt philosophy that neatly sums up Bangkok, a city combining the tastes of many places into a unique and often spicy dish that is never, ever boring.

Such contradictions give the City of Angels its rich, multi-faceted personality. Delve just a little deeper and you’ll find a city of climate-controlled mega-malls and international brand names just minutes from 200-year-old village homes; of gold-spired Buddhist temples sharing space with neon-lit strips of sleaze; of slow-moving rivers of cars bypassed by long-tail boats plying the royal river; and of streets lined with food carts selling Thai classics for next to nothing, overlooked by restaurants on top of skyscrapers serving international cuisine.

If all this sounds dizzying, rest assured that despite its international flavor, Bangkok remains resolutely Thai. The capital’s cultural underpinnings are evident in virtually all facets of everyday life, and most enjoyably through the Thai sense of sànùk, loosely translated as ‘fun’. In Thailand anything worth doing – even work – should have an element of sànùk. Whether you’re ordering food, changing money or haggling at the vast Chatuchak Market, it will usually involve a sense of playfulness – a dash of flirtation, perhaps, and a smile.

In fairness, there are times in Bangkok that is more fun than others. The city’s three seasons (cool, hot and wet) are all pretty warm, but November to February is the most enjoyable – not that the rest of the year is impossible – and the tropical storms of the wet season bring a dramatic relief.

Weather
At the centre of the flat, humid Mae Nam Chao Phraya delta, Bangkok sits at the same latitude as Khartoum and Guatemala City, and can be as hot as the former and as wet as the latter.

The southwest monsoon arrives between May and July and lasts into November. This is followed by a dry period from around November to May, which begins with lower relative temperatures until mid-February (because of the influence of the northeast monsoon, which bypasses this part of Thailand but results in cool breezes), followed by much higher relative temperatures from March to May. It usually rains most during August and September, though floods in early October may find you in hip-deep water in certain parts of the city. An umbrella can be invaluable – a raincoat will just make you hot.

It’s worth remembering that we’re talking about the weather here, a temperamental beast if ever there was one. So all the dates above are flexible. In 2008, for example, Bangkok was flooded by a major storm in normally dry January, and the cool season stretched well into March.