About
Exploring Thailand in all its cultural depth
From Bangkok, we craft private cultural journeys and immersive experiences in Thailand, as close as possible to heritage, communities and landscapes, with a bespoke approach founded on local expertise, curiosity, genuine encounters and a sense of detail.
Our vision
A certain idea of travel in Thailand
Through the programmes we design and offer, Rock Around Siam upholds an approach to travel founded on culture as the privileged way into Thailand. Far from the logic of appearances, this vision favours a discovery that is more accurate, deeper and more attentive to the nuances that give the country its singularity. It speaks to travellers for whom comfort is inseparable from meaning, and who seek bespoke experiences that are at once elegant, enriching and lastingly memorable.
Why “Siam”?
Presenting Thailand in all its historical depth
The word “Siam” evokes the kingdoms, the exchanges, the traditions and the influences that shaped this land over the centuries — from Sukhothai (13th century) to Ayutthaya, Thonburi and Bangkok.
The name “Thailand” is a more contemporary political construction, adopted in 1939 and then reinstated in 1949. To use “Siam” is not nostalgia: it is the expression of our ambition to reveal the country's cultural diversity and the continuity of its heritage.
Our perspective
A cultivated reading of the land
Every itinerary goes beyond a simple visit or an organised stay. It offers a nuanced reading of the land, founded on the quality of content and storytelling, the coherence of the journey, the relevance of the sites, the choice of activities and the intelligence of the gaze brought to the country. The ambition is not only to show, but to illuminate, to connect and to give meaning, in an approach that is cultivated, accessible and deeply embodied, in the service of a more accurate and sensitive understanding of the country.
Our signature
Rock Around — the exploratory philosophy of our journeys
The “Rock Around” concept is the very essence of our philosophy: an invitation to leave the beaten track and approach Thailand from a genuinely exploratory angle. Far from conventional circuits, our approach favours deep immersion at the heart of the land, where cultural nuances, the richness of heritage and the historical continuity of Siam reveal themselves. We address epicurean and curious travellers who seek to go beyond the mere status of visitor: those who do not simply wish to collect stops, but to understand, to feel and to live a singular, elegant and memorable experience.
Our catalogue
A collection of a la carte cultural journeys
Our programmes bring together cultural walks of a few hours, thematic days, journeys by bicycle, on foot or by tuk-tuk, as well as multi-day programmes, designed to adapt to the pace and expectations of each traveller. Some formats, such as Bangkok a la carte, offer complete freedom of composition. Each experience is crafted according to the wishes, interests and tempo of the group, with the same rigour of selection, coherence and personalised support.
Our model
A transparent model, with three levels of service
We distinguish three levels of service, billed separately and with full clarity:
- Design alone of a journey — a travel-designer service — is billed as a flat fee.
- The organisation and execution of the journey is billed as a fixed percentage of the total all-inclusive cost (less the design fee).
- The guiding of tours is billed according to duration and the number of participants.
Please contact us for rates and general terms of sale.
What strongly sets us apart
Three strengths at the service of your journeys.
Knowledge of heritage
In the fifteen years we have spent exploring the heritage of Siam, we have learned its essential components. This intimate knowledge — historical, artistic and spiritual — allows us to convey its depth through immersive experiences faithful to its soul.
Capacity for innovation
The tools we design — the TravelDesigner App and the Siamnity audio-guide platform — put technology at the service of the discerning traveller. They allow us to personalise every journey with finesse and to raise the quality of the experience, without ever standardising it.
Guidance
Far more than guides, our companions are bridges between cultures. They open contextualised conversations, carried by uncompromising storytelling — exacting in substance, always warm in tone — to give meaning to every encounter.
Our story
From a motorcycle journey across Asia to the founding of a cultural agency in Thailand
The story of Rock Around Siam begins long before the agency itself. It has its source in 2010, during a long motorcycle journey across Southeast Asia. From Vietnam to Cambodia, from Laos to Thailand, and on to Indonesia, Eric Monteil discovered a region he wished not merely to travel through, but to understand. On the road, it was as much the landscapes as the cities, the architecture, the communities, the traditions and the ways of life that held his attention. Thailand soon took on a particular place in this exploration. In January 2011, he chose to settle in Bangkok.
This arrival marked the beginning of an immersion that would last more than fifteen years. In 2011, Eric founded Rock Around Asia, a gallery devoted to contemporary Asian art and craftsmanship, before creating Art Consulting Asia in 2017, specialising in interior design. These two ventures brought him into daily contact with artists, artisans, architects, designers, hoteliers and local communities. In parallel, he continued to roam Bangkok and travel across Thailand, with a curiosity that had become almost methodical: observing neighbourhoods, researching their history, understanding their architecture, identifying local know-how and meeting those who keep the memory of these places alive.
Over the years, a genuine personal cartography of Siam took shape — made of back roads, historic districts, temples, markets, workshops, communities, landscapes and addresses rarely found on conventional itineraries. This knowledge of the ground gradually gave rise to a conviction: Thailand possesses a considerable historical and cultural depth, yet one that often remains obscured by a touristic reading focused on a limited number of emblematic sites.
Bangkok offers the most obvious example. Behind the Grand Palace, the great temples, Chinatown or the floating markets lies a far more complex capital, heir to several centuries of Siamese history. To understand Bangkok, one must go back to Ayutthaya, to the international exchanges developed under the reign of King Narai in the 17th century, then follow the shift of power to Thonburi before the founding of Rattanakosin in 1782. The contemporary city then becomes the latest chapter of a much longer history, shaped by the successive legacies of Sukhothai, Ayutthaya, Thonburi and Rattanakosin.
As the Covid-19 pandemic drew to a close, this conviction gradually took the form of a new entrepreneurial project. Eric decided to turn years of personal exploration into structured cultural experiences. Historical research, scouting, encounters, the selection of places, itinerary trials and real-world testing led to a method founded on curation, narrative coherence, the rhythm of the journey and the quality of transmission. The aim was no longer merely to lead a visitor from one site to another, but to build a narrative in which each stage offers a key to understanding the next.
In 2024, Rock Around Bangkok was born. The agency developed its first experiences around the capital, envisaged not as a succession of must-sees, but as a cultural territory whose history can be read through its neighbourhoods, its river, its communities, its religious heritage, its architecture, its arts and its urban transformations.
Very quickly, this approach naturally called for going beyond Bangkok. Ayutthaya makes it possible to trace the historical foundations of today's capital; Kanchanaburi opens onto landscapes, contemporary memory and wide-open spaces; Isan reveals other legacies, other spiritualities, other traditions and a rural Thailand still deeply structured by its communities. Explorations multiplied and the agency's scope widened.
Rock Around Bangkok then became Rock Around Siam in early 2026. This change of name reflects more than a geographical extension: it affirms a way of travelling born on the roads of Asia in 2010 and patiently built ever since. To explore before proposing. To research before recounting. To meet before transmitting. And to regard each itinerary as a narrative capable of connecting places, people and history.
From that first motorcycle journey to the cultural experiences imagined today across Thailand, the guiding thread has remained the same: to seek what lies behind the immediate image of a place, so that heritage is not merely visited, but understood, contextualised and passed on.
Our ambition