Summer in Thailand can feel endless, with the hot weather varying between dry and wet seasons. Thai locals are experts at living with high temperatures – and useful guides on how to beat the heat, keep cool and look good all year round. We asked three busy Bangkok tastemakers, working across art, music, retail and culture, to open their suitcases and share their summer travel plans.
Pranitan ‘Pete’ Phornprapha
CEO and founder, Scratch First
Scratch First is the company behind the Wonderfruit music festival. Thailand’s answer to Glastonbury or Burning Man is a December fixture on the region’s calendar. This year, Phornphrapha is spreading his wings to Japan with Chapters Kyoto, a cultural gathering debuting in October. The four-day event for 100 ticketholders promises to be as unique and unmissable as the inaugural Wonderfruit in 2014.
Favourite ice cream?
Watermelon and salted fish crumbs. It’s a Thai delicacy and usually [eaten as] an appetiser. I tried it at an ice-cream shop in Pattani, [a city in southern Thailand].
Beach or mountains?
Always mountains. I like skiing and hiking. I like the energy. I feel more grounded in the mountains.
Where are you heading this summer?
I just came back from Switzerland – [first to] Villars-sur-Ollon, then Gstaad. It was a short trip to send the kids to summer camp but I always like to leave time to explore. Then it’s Shanghai to send off my other daughter, followed by the Maldives for a real holiday.
Why the Maldives?
I like snorkelling, scuba diving and surfing. It’s shoulder season, so the waves should be good. In the Maldives you can surf in the middle of the ocean, right between the islands.
Where will you stay?
Soneva Fushi. It’s the original Soneva and barefoot-luxury pioneer. It’s important to choose the right island and I like going to the natural ones that are slightly more remote, wild and lush. Very Robinson Crusoe.
What’s in your suitcase?
Shorts, swimming trunks and sunglasses – classic Ray Bans and a Japanese brand called Nackymade. I’m a creature of habit, so I wear the same labels. Industry of All Nations does basics really well. Its products are all naturally dyed.
What are you reading or watching?
I read four or five books at a time and skip around. I was given The Hidden Life of Trees and my partner bought me Empire of Pain about the Sackler family. I picked up Strange Parallels: Southeast Asia in Global Context, c. 800-1830; it’s very academic but I want a deeper understanding of this region.
Any essentials?
My diary. I write a lot, I always have. I found my current journal at Pettinaroli in Milan. It’s leather bound and I really like it. I don’t bring my computer when I’m on holiday. I check in with work a little bit but I usually do calls.
Who’s on your holiday playlist?
There’s this English electronic jazz band called Portico Quartet and one of the members [Jack Wyllie] has a special project called Paradise Cinema. He collaborated with a Senegalese musician. Gorgeous cinematic jazz featuring West African instruments.
Anything to drink?
I like my wine chilled and crisp. Someone recently introduced me to a beautiful white rioja. Burgundy for reds and mezcal for a little more fun.
Adulaya ‘Kim’ Hoontrakul
Director, Bangkok Art and Culture Centre
Art historian Kim Hoontrakul became the youngest director of the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre in 2022. Her stewardship has given the publicly funded contemporary-arts centre fresh relevance. Hoontrakul is one of the four curators of the next Bangkok Art Biennale, which opens on 29 October 2026. Exhibitions under the theme “Angels and Mara” will be on show across various venues in the Thai capital until 28 February 2027.
Favourite ice cream?
Mint chocolate.
What’s your local getaway?
Scuba diving. Any chance I get, I will do a quick escape to one of the islands. Koh Tao is one of the best diving spots and it’s never the same dive. I fly from Bangkok to Koh Samui, then take a boat.
Beach or mountains?
Definitely both. My instinct is always the beach, but for the past 10 years I’ve been doing a lot of trekking. Walking along a path gives a whole different type of view. One of my most memorable treks was in Sikkim, India.
Where are you heading this summer?
The Sā Ladakh Biennale is this August. It only lasts 10 days and you trek through all of these villages [in Ladakh]. I’m still optimistic that I can find time to go. Either way, I’ll be in Italy in September for a roadtrip through the Dolomites.
What’s in your suitcase?
If I’m diving, my dive gear. If I’m trekking, my Fastpack shoes from The North Face. If it’s just a city break, [then I pack] an array of outfits because I am an overpacker and I must have all options for every kind of weather. My holiday clothes are an amalgamation of everything that I’ve picked up on my travels. I challenged myself to do a 10-day trip to Okinawa with only hand luggage and it was the worst experience of my life. Never again. I will gladly lug around a giant suitcase.
How about your beach bag?
I just transfer [the contents of] my normal day bag – [my] Kindle, AirPods, sunblock and sunglasses – into my huge beach tote, a lime-green Loewe shopper. I stopped buying designer sunglasses and now I only go for specialist eyewear brands. My Ray Bans have served me well for the past five years.
What’s on your Kindle?
So many half-read books. I’ve been trying to finish Possession, which is about all the looted artworks that are scattered across the Western world, but I keep getting distracted by memoirs. I’m really into provocative writers with a strong, obnoxious voice. I’ve just finished Problems by Jade Sharma. It’s about one part of the author’s life when she was a drug addict. I connected [to the story] as a woman, it helped me to understand addiction and it was a nice break from reading academic papers.
Any essentials?
My red Gucci horsebit loafers and a handheld fan. It’s so strong it can almost blow dry my hair. I bought it for a trip to the Netherlands earlier this year, at the start of the heatwave. Europe has no concept of air conditioning so I had to be prepared.
What’s to drink?
Iced tea.
Paul Sirisant
CEO, Cloud 11
DJ and former executive of Universal Music Thailand, Paul Sirisant jumped into the world of real estate when he was appointed CEO of Cloud 11. The Snøhetta-designed mixed-used development in Bangkok opened in July with offices tailored to production studios and spaces for musicians, filmmakers, designers and other creatives, along with a shopping mall and hotels. Interested to learn more? Sirisant will be speaking at The Monocle Quality of Life Conference in Lisbon this year. Book your ticket here.
Favourite ice cream?
Rum and raisin. A good amount of rum without getting drunk.
How do you escape the heat in Bangkok?
I go wing foiling. When the ground gets too hot, it produces thermal heat and that becomes thermal wind. There’s a great lake in Bangkok about 10km away from Sukhumvit, while Hua Hin has some of the best thermal wind anywhere in the world.
Where are you heading this summer?
I usually take my family to England. We have a place in Taplow near Windsor. The kids love driving around with the windows down and breathing the fresh air. And Legoland is 15 minutes from where we live. No frills, no long lines, hassle free.
What’s in your suitcase?
Timo boardshorts and two pairs of sunglasses – Oakleys for running and Oliver Peoples for chilling. I have a habit of buying vintage T-shirts from the Red Building in Chatuchak and cutting off the sleeves to create some air flow. That’s my summer thing and it drives my kids crazy.
What will you be reading?
The memoire Liberation Through Hearing by Richard Russell, the founder of XL Recordings. I like contemporary music history. This same guy was behind The Prodigy, The XX, Dizzee Rascal and Adele. How crazy is that?
Any essentials?
Rekordbox. It’s an integrated DJ software that I have on my phone. The app is connected to my sets and I have it with me all the time. I’m still DJing after 30 years and I’m very particular about how I organise my music. I colour-code each song by energy level.
What’s on your summer playlist?
I have a bad habit of trying to DJ for my family in the car. I queue songs that I want to introduce my kids to based on what they are listening to. They have gotten into Japanese rock through watching anime, so I’m going to play something with the same range, such as Muse. I fall in love with new music all the time. I listened to Kelsey Lu recently after reading an interview with them in a magazine.
What are you drinking?
Natural orange wine during the day because it cleans the palate. At night, if I’m out, I love white spirits. Gin, tequila or vodka with soda. Clean and light, day or night.
Top tip for keeping cool?
Understand the wind. Learn how it flows in each season and how it changes. I am a surfer and, no matter where I am, I figure out the wind direction.
