Bangkok at sunset is best from above. The Silom-Sathon spine has three of the city's tallest bars within walking distance, and the trick is to start before the light goes.
Arrive at the Mahanakhon SkyWalk by 17:00 — the glass floor on 78F is more impressive when you can still see traffic moving below it. Stay in the same building and drop down a few floors to the SkyBar for the first drink of the evening; the haze over the river takes on a copper edge around 18:15 and is gone by 19:00. Sit on the south side.
Walk back through Sala Daeng to Vertigo & Moon Bar at the Banyan Tree by 20:00. The 61F open-air room faces northwest — the Sirocco dome is already visible from your table, lit gold against the dark. Order one cocktail, eat nothing.
Close at Sirocco itself. The State Tower's rounded balcony is the cliché shot for a reason. By the time you arrive the city below is fully neon, and you're a forty-minute walk or a five-minute Grab from anywhere on the Silom line.
