Understand
While Rattanakosin represents Thailand's history and culture, Siam Square represents Thailand as a newly industrializing economy. Siam Square's first buildings were only constructed in the 1970s, on land of Chulalongkorn University which tried to get some extra rental income for the university. It started with ordinary shops, but has since expanded to a shopping and entertainment mecca that has everything upper-class teenagers and college students could possibly want â luxury shopping malls and glitzy department stores filled with designer labels and hip fashion boutiques.
Despite the name, it is not a square in the traditional sense. It could better be described as a warren of small sois filled with hundreds of tiny boutiques, restaurants, cafés, record stores and bookshops, mostly catering to upper-class 20-something Thais, shopping-spree Malaysians, and working ex-pats. If you're not up for a trip to the Gap or a pink martini, it's still worth a visit just to see the Bangkok-of-the-future. The area north of Rama I Road does feature some kind of courtyard on the second floor, which functions as the entry point for the Siam Center, Siam Discovery and Siam Paragon shopping malls.
Going east on Rama I Road, the shopping experience continues at Ratchaprasong, an area that received worldwide fame when red shirt-wearing political protesters set up their camp here in May 2010. It is home to CentralWorld, the largest shopping mall in Thailand, which was set on fire during these protests, though it was restored within a few months. It gets more quiet as Rama I Road changes its name into Phloen Chit Road in the east. There are some shops and restaurants here, but the area is mostly home to foreign embassies and airline offices.
