It was a riotous year for Thailand in 2010. The rural masses took to the streets of Bangkok and brought the city to a standstill with their futile attempts to get to the front of the queue for an imported brand of donut, only to be shooed away by the middle classes who had been camping outside Siam Paragon for weeks.
Join us now as we unravel the mystery of this phenomenon and more in our list of the best and worst that went down in Bangkok and its surrounds in 2010.
Best event: Big Mountain
The hills of Khao Yai came alive once more in December for Thailand's largest music festival, Big Mountain. Thousands of campers turned up to revel in the wild and reaffirmed Thailand's place on the region's musical map.
All the usual suspects were in attendance to bring the house down, including Bodyslam, Clash, T-Bone et al, as well as the cream of Thailand's DJ elite.
Best citizen journalist: Florian Witulski
At the start of the year nobody knew who Florian Witulski was, let alone how shiny his flowing locks were.
Then the Bangkok red shirt protests hit and suddenly the Twitter masses had a new hero to worship in the 24-year-old blogging German, whose credits include being shot with a rubber bullet and doing an interview for Vogue magazine.
Although still a student, Florian has traveled the world and never goes anywhere without a bag full of gadgets to tell the world what's going on.
Worst law enforcement: Flip-flops banned
When a red shirt supporter was arrested in October for selling flip-flops emblazoned with the face of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, it could have been just a one-off, a glitch in the Matrix.
But when more arrests followed and hordes of flip-flop vendors were deemed in breach of the Centre for Resolution of the Emergency Resolution’s order to prohibit the sale of “goods, clothing, or other materials which bear pictures, illustrations or anything that will instigate unrest or cause disunity among the public," it was a clear sign that all was not well in the capital. (The ban has since been lifted.)
Best new addiction: La Monita Taqueria
The favored Bangkok venue for Tweetups, La Monita Taqueria touts itself as a Mexican restaurant by foodies, for foodies, and we have no reason to doubt that claim thanks to tip-top tacos and the madness of its monkey wings.
Best athletic achievement: Thailand take takraw gold in Asian Games
Kung-fu kicks and mind-boggling backflips were on the menu at this year's Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, but nobody could fend off Thailand's men's and women's takraw collectives in the regu and team events as the champs came home with heads held high and medals in hand.
Best new luxury hotel: Siam Kempinski
Bangkok’s tourism industry might have taken a huge beating thanks to this year’s political unrest and a strong baht, but the world’s luxury brands haven’t given up on the city yet.
European brand Siam Kempinski was the latest to join the city's high-class ranks, bringing with it a unique new dining experience in the form of Sra Bua by Kiin Kiin and a resort-like atmosphere smack next to hi-so haunt Siam Paragon.
Worst shocker of the year: Aborted fetuses
It took the discovery of more than 2,000 aborted fetuses in a Bangkok temple to put the abortion debate on the table and wake people up to the fact that there are only two ways abortions can be done: safely or illegally.
Best gadget: Amazon Kindle
How could we overlook the iPhone and iPad for this year's best gadgets? Quite simply because the Amazon Kindle is a hell of a lot cheaper (from about 5,000 baht) and it's perfect for reading books, magazines, papers and PDFs.
Less of a fashion statement and more of a practical reading tool, the Kindle is simple, wireless and app free.
Best Youtube celeb: Bon Rattanabannakit
It's difficult to know how to classify Bon. Her amusing forays into teaching Thai “the Bon's way” won her heaps of international admirers in 2010, but her quirkiness didn't end there.
Numerous skits and even a “Bon on stage” talkshow interview with her neighbour's mother, who can apparently communicate with dead people, have cemented Bon's reputation as an Internet oddity who is at times adorable, at other times bamboozling.
Best party: DJ Die @ Glow
Of late, Bangkok hasn't had the kind of drum 'n' bass parties that once brought the junglists out from the woodwork.
But ever-reliable Bristol bass-head DJ Die did some damage at Glow in November and delivered a message to promoters, DJs and clubbers alike: there is more to life than trendy house.
Best club night: Wrong Disco
Ever the stalwarts of serious underground beats, the Wrong Disco boys have been quietly doing their thing in the dark corners of the Bangkok club scene for years while celeb DJs cash in on superstar status and play sub-par sets to huge crowds of partygoers. Catch the wrongness at Glow every month.
Thailand Darwin Award for best/worst death: Man dies in pad Thai-eating contest
A pad Thai-eating contest in Phetchaburi took a turn for the worse early on in 2010 when a hungry pensioner got so carried away with the festivities that he choked to death, apparently unaware of his own noodle-chomping limits.
Hing Laichan, 66, was looking good to win the competition, by all accounts, but it wasn't to be and family members were left distraught.
Best drink: The Bangkok Bastard at Soul Food Mahanakorn
There are plenty of people who could aptly be described as Bangkok bastards, but none of them are as palatable as new restaurant Soul Food Mahanakorn's explosive -- and drinkable -- concoction of bourbon, gin, kaffir lime leaves, a dash of bitters, fresh lime juice and ginger ale. It's a drink that definitely led to a few killer hangovers in 2010.
Best new sugar fix: Cupcakes at Sparkles
Bangkok dessert shops have picked up on the worldwide cupcake craze, but few have been able to get it right. Too sweet, not sweet enough or just plain awful.
But as one judge in CNNGo's Best Eats feature pointed out, there's really only one venue that offers the real deal -- Sparkles. Forget that this place is in trendy Thonglor. There's nothing fake or faddish about these U.S.-style cupcakes, made with the best ingredients while eschewing excessive sweetness.
Worst trend: Krispy Kreme craze
They queued. And they queued. And they wouldn't stop queueing because they just really, really, really loved donuts.
The sickly sweet Krispy Kreme brand made its way to Thailand this year and quickly became the most talked about snack in recent history. Confused onlookers didn't dare question why people would stand in line for hours just to get a donut, but stand in line they did.
Lazybums even went so far as to pay over the odds for blackmarket Krispy Kremes sold on the sidewalk while the staff at Dunkin' Donuts cried into their milk.
Best concert: The Charlatans
There weren't a whole lot of eyebrow-raising band lineups in Bangkok in 2010, so it was like a breath of fresh air when British indie veterans The Charlatans popped over in November to show the wannabes how it's done, while CNNGo faves The Standards did a fine job as the support act.
Worst fashion trend: Lensless glasses
The hipster thing is wearing thin now. We get it. You guys deliberately like to look as kooky as possible. You don't follow trends, you wait for your friends to make them, and then you modify them slightly.
Geek has been the “new” chic for years now, so it's no wonder that nerdy specs are all the rage, but glasses? With no glass? Next thing you know they'll be riding bikes with fixed gears.
Best website redesign: Nothenation.com
There were rumors, fears and concerns that satirical website Not the Nation had lost steam and all but given up on the dizzying task of mocking current affairs in Thailand.
But then the NTN crew came bounding back and they even gave the website a makeover in the process and promised T-shirts for all in the near future.
Best protest-related action: Red shirts spill blood
We don't want to get too political here, but when the dastardly red shirts poured 60 gallons of their own blood on the ground outside PM Abhisit's house, the world stood up and wondered just what the hell was going on in Thailand. As a symbolic gesture, it sure beat shutting down airports.
Worst food-related debate: Outrage over foreigners cooking Thai food
The very thought that a foreigner could cook Thai and do it well sent a shudder down the spines of purists and nationalists alike.
It all started when Aussie David Thompson opened a branch of his famed Nahm restaurant at The Metropolitan. The debate raged on and food critic Suthon Sukphisit pledged to boycott the eatery. Meanwhile, normal people continued to eat food they thought was tasty, regardless of who cooked it.
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