Asok E5, Sukhumvit M7 Sky Sub Xchg :: Description
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The Asok (aka Asoke) BTS Skytrain station and the MRTA Sukhumvit subway station interchange is located here, connected by adjacent escalators. (Ticketing is separate, as they are run by two different companies.)
"Asoke Rd.", also known as Sukhumvit soi 21 (north side), is just a renamed 2 kilometer part of Ratchapisek Road, a very long and old main thoroughfare which circles inner Bangkok, a sort of ring road, going far north and down south of Sukhumvit, and crossing the river at two far away points. In fact, the subway line follows underneath Ratchadapisek Rd. for most of its route, in order to serve the business and government establishments which grew up along Ratchadapisek Rd., as well as where Thai suburbia is very crowded.
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Highrise office buildings line Asoke and Ratchadapisek roads, as it is the main office center of the Sukhumvit region.
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Traffic is usually very bad on Asoke and Ratchadapisek, one of the worst roads in Bangkok to drive or take a taxi. During rush hour, cars are often backed up for kilometers, and it often takes me half an hour to drive 1 km from my office on Asoke to the expressway shortly before and after the rush hour periods.
Photo on left from the skytrain passing overhead.
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 Photo on right taken Sunday afternoon about 1.5 kilometers down facing back towards skytrain.
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The region around the Asoke/Sukhumvit interchange station is diverse, being in a tourist district, with ecclectic shopping, luxury hotels, restaurants and bars, some naughty nightlife, residential highrises, plus a small number of houses in this region.
There is construction on both the northwest and northeast corners of the Sukhumvit and Asoke intersection, right beside the station interchange. A highrise is well under construction on the northeast corner, whereas work on the northwest corner has just begun, with the last remaining old shophouses coming down in December 2007 (noisy jackhammers all day).
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The station currently features an elevated walkway (leftside photo) between the street and the rail platform, connecting the station to the Sheraton Hotel, Robinson's department store / Westin Hotel, and the Times Square shopping center.
A photo of the Sheraton Hotel's elevated walkway entrance is on the right.
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There is also a very small underground "Metro Mall" on the way to the subway station. It's just a hallway with coffee shops, internet, snacks, and a few other things. (Photo leftside)
The Sheraton has one of the nicest swimming pools I've seen, winding between natural fauna and statues, with poolside dining and drinking popular among guests. (Photo rightside)
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The highrise residential areas, as well as the ground level restaurants and other business establishments, are mainly down soi 19 (northwest), soi 23 (northeast), and Sukhumvit soi 16 (southeast) which starts a good 100 meters going south down Ratchadapisek Road (i.e., does not actually branch off Sukhumvit Road; many veterans haven't been down this soi). The southwest corner has some restaurants along the main road, but the residential area behind the facade is mainly old houses and old lowrise condo and apartment buildings down the quiet and sleepy sois 8, 10, 12 and 14.
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View north beside Asoke station from the top floor of the Sheraton. Offices down Asoke on the right, residences all over, and the Westin hotel in the foreground.
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Nighttime photo of a block mixing highrise residential and office buildings between Sukhumvit sois 19 and 21 (Asoke). (The Thai flag on the building is a giant sticker.)
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Sukhumvit sois 10 to 14 residential region. It's mostly old houses and lowrise condos and apartments. The highrises on the left are office buildings along Ratchadapisek.
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The nightlife around the Asoke station is lively compared to the rest of Bangkok, but is less than what's around the next two stations, Nana and Phrom Phong.
Soi Cowboy is a main male tourist and sexpat hangout, featuring go-go bars, most of them with pole dancers. Soi Cowboy is a wide alley connecting Asoke (Sukhumvit 21) with Sukhumvit soi 23, about 100 meters north and parallel to Sukhumvit Road, almost right next to a subway exit.
Soi Cowboy, west end (Asoke) looking east. |
Soi Cowboy east entrance (23) facing back west towards Asoke. |
Soi Cowboy bargirl ushers. |
Another of the most infamous nightlife places in Bangkok, the Thermae bar, should be mentioned here since it is within short walking distance from the Asoke station right on Sukhumvit Road near the corner of soi 15, located underneath Ruamchit Plaza, where a large number of freelance hookers mix with western and Japanese drinkers. (Photos below and to the right) Fills up after 11pm.
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While these sex tourist and sexpat places draw a constant stream of males, these magnets are surrounded by a variety of non-bargirl clubs and restaurants spilling around which are relatively popular compared to other parts of Bangkok, though not many Thai lady customers (or service people) show up who have a middle or upper class background. For more "mainstream" Bangkok nightlife places, you should go outside of the Asoke region.
Notably, some of the Thai ladies hanging out at places such as the Sheraton nightclub are gold diggers who have refined their appearance and mannerisms to a more sophisticated and self-confident level but have a similar background to bargirls.
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For more highly educated and more mainstream Thai nightlife, you really should go out to the suburban side, though you can find some of it around stations two or more removed from Asoke.
The immediately neighboring stations:
Map of the Asoke station area
Photo gallery of the Asoke station area
