My 20 Pics Of Nocturnal Bangkok’s Mysterious Neon Glow

by Patrick Penrose Published Nov 14, 2025

During the July heat of the Buddhist Holiday, Asalha Puja, I landed in Bangkok on a journey to uncover the hidden nocturnal side of the Thai capital with my new photobook and photo series, Bangkok Phosphors.

For many visitors, their experience of this beautiful city is centered around the popular tourist areas such as Sukhumvit or the Grand Palace, but for me, the attraction was in the paths less traveled: from the massive oil refinery on the banks of the Chao Phraya River to the dark intertwined side streets of the Khlong Toei night market and shantytown.

Bangkok Phosphors was captured over a period of five weeks as I went out every night to discover the changing face of the megacity between the old way of life and modernity. Bangkok is a city defined by neon lights and the shadow of night. From concrete canals and forgotten temples shining under the glow of streetlights and neon signs to old cars rusting on the streets next to blaring television sets in the night markets.

Because Thailand is always so hot, many people live nocturnal lives and there are these moments when you sometimes see just a slight shadow of someone late at night. In the cover shot from the photobook, I photographed a young ‘iceman’ delivering large blocks of ice from the back of an old truck in an alley silhouetted against the Temple of Dawn around midnight. For other stunning pictures, I captured highways and concrete buildings, empty streets, and the way the city which has so much traffic and chaos during the day becomes eerily peaceful at night.

Bangkok Phosphors was shot with the Sony Alpha camera and successfully published via Kickstarter in 2019.

More info: derive.tokyo | Instagram | behance.net | kickstarter.com