Sunday 3 May 2026

Good morning Bangkok. Happy Sunday.

🌡️ Weather: 30-39°C (86-102°F). A wide range today, with the morning starting at the lower end before heat builds significantly through the afternoon. TMD forecasts isolated afternoon showers possible for Bangkok and surrounding provinces, with conditions cooling slightly into next week. UV index extreme through midday.

🌫️ AQI: 138-160 (Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups to Unhealthy). Elevated across the city today. Mask recommended for any outdoor activity beyond a short walk. Children, elderly residents and anyone with respiratory conditions should minimize outdoor time. Morning hours are the cleaner window if you need to be outside..

PTT and Bangchak raised prices across all major fuel types from 5AM on May 1, the same day Thailand observed Labour Day. Diesel B7 and B20 both rose by ฿0.60 per litre. Petrol, Gasohol 95, Gasohol 91, E20 and E85 all rose by a larger ฿0.85 per litre. The driver is straightforward: global diesel closed at approximately US$179 per barrel on April 30, up from US$167 per barrel on April 22, a jump of roughly 7% in eight days. The Oil Fuel Fund Executive Committee simultaneously approved an increase in the diesel subsidy by ฿0.94 per litre to ฿3.12 per litre, meaning the government is still partially absorbing the shock but no longer enough to hold prices flat. The Hormuz situation remains the primary cause. Despite the Idemitsu Maru transit last week being a positive signal, overall strait traffic has not normalized, and global oil markets are continuing to price in ongoing disruption risk. The April 21 cut, welcomed as good news here, lasted less than two weeks before the market moved against it. Thailand's Oil Fuel Fund is carrying a deficit exceeding ฿53 billion and the Finance Ministry is simultaneously preparing an emergency decree to allow up to ฿400 billion in borrowing guarantees, significantly larger than the ฿20 billion approved by Cabinet last week, reflecting how seriously the government is modeling the long-term risk if Hormuz remains disrupted through the second half of 2026. The National Economic and Social Development Council estimates that every ฿1 increase in diesel prices reduces GDP by approximately 0.02%, with agriculture, manufacturing and transport as the three sectors most directly affected.

Bottom Line: The April 21 cut was real but it was a window, not a floor, and that window has now closed. Fill up before prices move again, and if you have a business with fuel costs built into your pricing model, the responsible assumption right now is further volatility rather than stability. The ฿400 billion decree framework in preparation is the government signalling it does not expect this situation to resolve quickly.

The third edition of World of Coffee Asia, the Specialty Coffee Association's flagship trade event for the region, runs May 7-9 at Bangkok International Trade and Exhibition Centre in Bang Na, marking the first time Thailand has hosted the event after Busan in 2024 and Jakarta in 2025. The SCA's CEO described Bangkok's selection as a recognition that Thailand's specialty coffee community "has grown in remarkable ways over the past decade," and the city's credentials back that up: Bangkok now competes meaningfully with Tokyo, Melbourne and Seoul as a third-wave coffee destination, and Thai-grown single-origin beans from Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai are appearing on the menus of top international roasters. The headline competition across the three days is the World Cup Tasters Championship, held in Thailand for the first time, where competitors work through rounds of triangulation cuppings under intense time pressure to identify the odd cup out, a format that gets more extraordinary to watch the further into the competition it goes. Beyond the competition, the exhibition floor brings together roasters, equipment manufacturers, green coffee suppliers and producers from across Asia, with a Producer Village on the show floor where farmers and cooperatives from growing regions present live coffee seedlings, processing demonstrations and direct conversations about their work. The event runs daily from 10AM to 7PM. Tickets are available on-site and online at asia.worldofcoffee.org. BITEC is accessible via BTS Bang Na station, with the venue a short walk or tuk tuk from the exit.

Bottom Line: Even if you are not a coffee industry professional, this event is open to enthusiasts and worth a visit if you are curious about where Bangkok's cafe scene actually comes from. The Producer Village alone is a rare opportunity to close the gap between the cup in your hand and the people who grew the beans in it. For anyone seriously into specialty coffee, clearing Thursday from the calendar is the move.

Above Eleven is one of the most consistent rooftop experiences Bangkok offers, and on a Sunday evening when you want something that actually delivers rather than just photographs well, it tends to win. The concept is Nikkei, the Peruvian-Japanese fusion cuisine that combines the clean lines of Japanese technique with the punchy, citrus-forward flavor profiles of Peruvian cooking. It is a combination that sounds like a stretch until you eat it, at which point it becomes obvious. The menu covers all the expected Nikkei territory well: a solid sushi and sashimi selection, ceviche, tiradito, sharing platters of meat and seafood, and a cocktail list built around Peruvian-inspired signatures that carry the same citrus confidence as the food. The views are broad and unobstructed in multiple directions across the Sukhumvit skyline, and the venue knows what it is doing with light: sunset hits the terrace in a way that feels genuinely considered rather than accidental, and the atmosphere moves naturally from golden hour drinks into something livelier as the evening develops, with DJs running from Wednesday through Sunday. The Soi 11 location is one of the more practical in the city for an expat Sunday evening, close enough to everything that the night has room to go wherever it goes after dinner. With a 4.6 on Google and over 6,000 reviews it’s worth checking out.

TIP: Book a dinner table rather than arriving walk-in for drinks if you want a good position at sunset. The terrace fills fast after 7PM on weekends.

(Confirm times and ticketing directly before heading out.)

See you tomorrow morning.

— Devon