How is bangkok

The world's most beautiful pain. Tourists get a foot massage in Khao San road in Bangkok, Thailand. Traditional Thai massage is renowned the world over, and for good reason: it's painful, but you'll never sleep sounder once you get back to your room and you'll be bounding with energy the next day. The well-known HealthLand Spa offers many types of massage from quick finger rubs to two-hour full body oil marathons that will leave your muscles wondering what just happened.

Adrenaline-fueled affordable mass transit. Throw in the haggle-happy tuk-tuks and motorbike taxis and the permutations are complex enough to make those "Amazing Race" amateurs throw in the towel. Privately-owned green minibuses are the bulls in Bangkok's china shop. Often seen flying around corners with the ticket attendant hanging out of the door with one hand, bored out of his mind, they don't offer the safest trip from A to B via S, but it's certainly not the dullest.

Party like it's Put on your leathers and aviator shades and walk in with your fist held high. Best place to see cutting-edge trends that you don't get. On weekends, the maze of shopping aisles at Siam Square BTS: Siam is crowded with teenagers wearing the latest and greatest Bangkok fashions.

In vogue this week: outrageously impractical high heels; eyeglasses with no lenses and teased hair that recalls the glory days of Joan Jett.

Begin shaking fist at darn kids in 3, 2, Swinging-est politician. They don't come much livelier than Chuwit Kamolvisit, the massage parlor tycoon-cum-politician. After an alleged kidnapping following his threats to release the names of the people he's given "gifts" to, he unsuccessfully ran for governor of Bangkok -- twice -- and had most of the city's power elite sweating when he said he had hours of security camera footage from his various after-hours establishments.

His in-your-face campaign billboards are sadly no more. It's easy to give back. There are plenty of worthy charities in Thailand, and most are based or have offices in Bangkok. The language barrier and various levels of mismanagement often make it difficult to find something, but a local blogger named Dwight Turner has put a lot of work into separating the wheat from the chaff.

See a sunburned British college kid dance in the street with a tipsy African businesswoman while downing a falafel sandwich and a Laotian beer. The in famous Khao San Road is still the champion of whacked-out people watching, with every nationality, age, color, occupation, education level and smell getting equal representation. Take a seat on the curb outside of Buddy's Bar and get to know the local punks who flock here for after-hours beers. Eat without touching your food. If you're feeling lazy -- really lazy -- the helpful girls at the aptly named "No Hand Restaurant" there are several around the city will help you out by actually putting food in your mouth for you, leaving your hands free for other more worthy pursuits, such as drinking beer or playing PSP.

Great food where you least expect it. Pantip Plaza, the dingy Roman-columned monument to all things tech, has a surprisingly awesome food court on the 3rd floor. Try the khao soi gai chicken and egg noodles in a tangy coconut curry , dished up by possibly the surliest old lady since "The Goonies.

World-class acrobatic mash-ups. If you've never seen a guy spike a wicker ball over a net with his foot -- while upside down -- you've never seen Takraw. Imagine Jackie Chan playing volleyball with his hands tied behind his back.

Pizza toppings most likely to give an Italian heartburn. Thailand sure knows how to shake things up pizza-wise. Normally eaten with ketchup, popular ingredients include squid, octopus, corn, green curry, mayonnaise, broccoli and salad dressing. Great for the adventurous epicure, but if you prefer a more traditional pie, check out Ronnie's New York Pizza on Sukhumvit soi 4. Order something custom to ensure they cook it fresh and your taste buds will be dancing. The coolest night market.

Forget Pat Pong and Suan Lum, with their shopkeeps numbed by the clumsy haggling of sweaty tourists. Ancient typewriters, refurbished Vespa bikes, hipster clothing and funky apartment decorations shine brightly under the bare light bulbs strung from overhead wires.

An outrageous variety of street food. Bangkok's well-deserved reputation for hour street food gets crazier with each corner. Barbecued duck tongues and soup made from bird saliva are passe.

Head to Phraeng Phuton a few blocks west of the Giant Swing in Chinatown to indulge in some pig brain soup that's surprisingly good World's hippest musical grandma. Doreme music shop at the back corner of Siam Square soi 11 is run by a musical-minded lady who can chat about everyone from Billie Holliday to the Clash to Green Day. Her little store is stocked with an incredibly disparate variety of Western and international music, and she can help you find just the thing to spice up your library.

Rally an army for a few bucks. Bangkok's trusty motorbike taxis -- recognizable by their orange vests -- are the under-utilized chore champs of Asia. Need a package delivered? Bill paid? Envelope dropped off? Friend picked up? Someone to lead you to your destination while you follow behind in your taxi as lost as you've ever been? They're willing to help with pretty much any task you have, after a bit of haggling, of course.

Best part -- no waiting in traffic. The disappearing school uniform. Every year around September, the same stories turn up in the press about the incredible shrinking university uniform favored by female Thai students.

Dresses get shorter, blouses get tighter, conservatives get louder and the rest of us sit back and watch the brouhaha. Although, when you see students climbing stairs sideways because going straight up would mean a flashing, you have to wonder if the powers that be have a point. Affordable luxuries. Maids, manicures, massages, tailors and personal drivers can all be enlisted for a fraction of what you'd pay in any Western country.

Expats be warned: Friends back home don't want to hear you grouse about how you've forgotten how to do your own laundry or drive a stick shift. Most indulgent movie theaters. Any recently built cinema in Bangkok offers some type of Gold Class seating. For the price of a regular ol' ticket in the West, you get a plush recliner, a pillow and blanket, and even a welcome drink.

Statue with the craziest back story. First group of foreign tourists arrive at Suvarnabhumi Airport during the first day of the country's reopening campaign, part of the government's plan to jump start the pandemic-hit tourism sector in Bangkok, Thailand November 1, There were 1, foreign arrivals and Thais on 40 international flights on the opening day on Monday, senior health official Kiattiphum Wongraijit said.

The waiver covers more than 60 countries, including the United States and China, plus several places in Europe, from where some were escaping the winter blues.

Peeti Kulsirorat, who owns a restaurant in the area, is also fearful that visitors will lead to a spike in cases: "Then the tourism industry will be blamed as the villain again. It will be the scapegoat just like the way drinking alcohol is. Mr Kulsirorat said ongoing restrictions - including the inability to sell alcohol in much of the country - will have a negative impact on people's holidays: "The complete tourism experience has to come in a package of both ambience and convenience.

It will eventually slow down and people will start to get bored with all the restrictions. Meanwhile, on the popular tourist island of Phuket, the pandemic has brought the economy to a standstill. Reporting by Pasika Khernamnuoy and Katie Silver. Thailand reopening to 10 low risk countries. Travel red list cut to just seven countries. Covid threat looms over Thailand's plans to open.