If you’re looking for somewhere in Bangkok, Thailand to eat, shop and enjoy traditional Thai entertainment, look no further than Silom Village Trade Center. Popular with tour groups, both Thai and tourist, Silom Village Trade Center is the perfect way to enjoy a great night out in Bangkok, while experiencing some of the city’s history too.
What is Silom Village Trade Center? – Not a particularly inspiring name, it’s far more wonderful than it sounds. Located on Silom Road, just a few minutes walk from Surasak BTS sky train station, the Silom Village Trade Center is a popular nighttime spot as it encompasses incredible shopping, great food and traditional Thai entertainment that, even if you’ve lived here for years like me, is still incredibly fun to watch.
The buildings that house the Silom Village Trade Center are a group of traditional Thai houses and Thai teak houses, originally built from 1908 to the 1920s. These houses were set up in the early 1980s as a small entertainment complex, to showcase traditional Thai arts like fruit carving and flower folding, traditional Thai dance and a place where you could buy Thai handicrafts and eat fresh seafood.
Since the1980s, Silom Village Trade Center has blossomed into an enormous entertainment complex with lots of pretty little handicraft and gift shops, a large restaurant, dancing displays, a huge hall that seats several hundred people for a traditional Thai Kantoke dinner (Ruen Thep Thai), which includes a full show of Thai music, dance and a classical Thai theater performance.
While it’s a marvelous place for visitors to Thailand, to come and learn something about Thai culture, it’s also quite popular with Thais themselves, who visit Silom Village Trade Center for special occasions or just to enjoy good food and fun entertainment.
A Typical Silom Village Trade Center Evening – There are several options for an evening at Silom Village Trade Center depending on what you’re looking for.
The first, and very popular option, is to buy a ticket for the Ruen Thep Thai classical theater performance and dinner.For a reasonable price, you get a full meal with drinks, and a six-act theater performance with Thai musicians, actors and dancers in full traditional costumes. I did this with my father one night when my mother was ill and we both had a fabulous time. The food is quite tasty (made for western taste, so not too spicy) and the performance is gorgeous, especially the dancers, who dress in stunning jeweled Thai costumes complete with ornate head dresses and long golden fingernails.
The second option is to eat dinner at the Silom Village Restaurant within the complex. Here, you can sit inside or outdoors on one of the beautiful patios and, while you eat, watch Thai dancing performances and be serenaded by Thai classical musicians.
The third option is to simply head to Silom Village Trade Center for a spot of shopping at the truly lovely handicrafts and gift shops. Prices are slightly higher than at similar places but I always find things here I don’t see anywhere else. Sit afterward and enjoy a coffee or a beer at one of the courtyard tables. It’s such a pretty place.
If you’re looking for a fun, relaxing evening in Bangkok surrounded by a bit of Thai culture, you can’t go wrong with Silom Village Trade Center. The entertainment is fun, the shopping excellent and, if you like Thai food, you’ll love Silom Village restaurant – they’ll even make it for ‘western taste’ if spicy really isn’t your thing.
Silom Village Trade Center is at 286 Silom Road in downtown Bangkok. about a 10 minute walk from Surasak sky train station.
Check out their website too – gorgeous photos and tons of information