Flint's water crisis

If Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha hadn't had a friend over to dinner in August, the public might still be in the dark about the lead contamination poisoning the water supply in Flint, Michigan.

Her friend was a water expert who had worked for the Environmental Protection Agency when the District of Columbia encountered similar issues there more than a decade ago.

When she told Hanna-Attisha that she had heard the city of Flint wasn't doing "corrosion control" to prevent lead in aging pipes from leaching into the water supply, the doctor didn't need to be told twice about the gravity of the potential consequences.

"When pediatricians hear anything about lead, we absolutely freak out," says Hanna-Attisha, director of the pediatric residency program at Hurley Medical Center, a public hospital in Flint.

"Lead is a potent known neurotoxin. The CDC, the AAP, everybody tells us that there is no safe level of lead," she says, referring to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Lead poisoning affects "your cognition and your behavior. It actually drops your IQ," she says.

"The very next day I started our crusade to see if that lead in the water was getting into the bodies of children," says the doctor-turned-campaigner who became the first to sound the alarm about the water crisis afflicting the struggling city.

Brown, smelly water and rashes

Through her work, Hanna-Attisha already had heard complaints from Flint residents since officials switched the city's water supply from Lake Huron to the dirty Flint River in April 2014 as a cost-cutting measure.

The water was brown, and it smelled and tasted bad. Residents reported developing rashes and eye irritations, and had been advised to boil their water because of the presence of E. coli.

The prospect of lead in the water made her realize urgent action was needed. Her response, she says, was to undertake "the easiest research project I've ever done."

The hospital routinely screened children -- who are most vulnerable to lead exposure -- at ages 1 and 2 for the substance, monitoring levels among infants who may have ingested the neurotoxin through eating paint chips in their homes, for example.

Her research involved comparing the lead levels in samples taken before and after the switch in the water supply.

What she found was incontrovertible.

Lead poisoning doubled in Flint children, doctor says

The percentage of children in Flint with lead poisoning had doubled, she says.

"In some neighborhoods, it actually tripled. (In) one specific neighborhood, the percentage of kids with lead poisoning went from about 5%, to almost 16% of the kids that were tested," she says.

"It directly correlated with where the water lead levels were the highest."

The findings went against trends across the country, which had seen lead levels dropping every year.

"Our mouths were ajar, and we couldn't believe that in 2016 now, in the middle of the Great Lakes, we couldn't guarantee a population access to good drinking water," she says.

Flint is about 70 miles from the shores of the Great Lakes, the largest group of freshwater bodies in the world.

Having uncovered the shocking data, Hanna- Attisha took the unconventional step of sharing the findings at a September press conference, flanked by medical colleagues.

"Research is not supposed to be shared at press conferences. It is supposed to be published in peer-reviewed journals, which it is now," she says.

"We had an ethical, professional, moral responsibility to alert our community (to) what was going on."

'Denial, denial, denial'

The news understandably created a big splash -- but an equally large backlash.

"We were attacked," Hanna-Attisha recalls.

She was labeled an "unfortunate researcher" and accused of causing hysteria. Critics said her figures did not line up with the state's findings.

Even though General Motors stopped using the city's water supply because it was corroding engine parts, the official reaction, Hanna-Attisha says, was one of "denial, denial, denial."

The criticism, she says, took its toll.

"I was physically ill. I think my heart rate went up to 200. You know, you check and you double-check, and you know your research is right. The numbers didn't lie, but when the state is telling you you're wrong, it's hard not to second-guess yourself."

A turning point came, however, through a conversation with a state health official who reached out, asking how she had come to her findings.

"They re-looked at their data and found, 'You know what? Our findings are consistent with your findings,' " she says.

Now Hanna-Attisha is working with former critics to address the crisis. "The state has apologized," she says. "I've accepted their apology."

Flint's woes

Attempting to mitigate the impact of an irreversible neurotoxin on a community requires a complex response -- one that a financially struggling city such as Flint is poorly equipped to provide.

"There's no treatment, but there's a lot of things that we can put in place for these children," Hanna-Attisha says, citing universal preschool, nutrition, education and health services.

"It's all of these wraparound services that we need to throw at these children now. That is why I feel that we're in a state of emergency, because if we don't intervene now, if we don't throw everything at these kids now, we will see these lifelong, multigenerational consequences."

She says she feels an obligation to the children of Flint, a city of 100,000, which, even before the water crisis, "had every disparity in the world."

The past three decades have been rough for the blue-collar city, which has experienced a drop in population and rise in violent crime since auto plants began closing in the 1980s. Local officials say about 40% of residents live in poverty. Fifteen percent of homes are abandoned. The city doesn't even have a grocery store.

"Every single obstacle for our children's success was already here," she says.

'My job is the kids'

Now the scandal has been brought to light, the political finger-pointing has begun in earnest to determine who should take responsibility.

"Accountability's important," says Hanna-Attish, adding that she looks forward to people being held responsible. "But that's someone else's job. My job is the kids."

Surprisingly, her experience fighting for vulnerable children -- weathering criticism and taking time away from her own two daughters -- hasn't left her jaded or weary.

"I am reinvigorated. My job, as a pediatrician, is to take care of that kid in front of me, but to make sure that they have the brightest future ahead of them," she says.

"We owe it to these kids to make this better. I may be an optimist, too much of an optimist, but we have to try hard to mitigate this exposure."

American student arrested in North Korea

A University of Virginia college student from Cincinnati has been detained in North Korea after being accused of a "hostile act" against the government.

Otto Frederick Warmbier was detained January 2 in Pyongyang, according to Young Pioneer Tours, the China-based travel company that organized his trip.

The company's website says it "provides budget tours to destinations your mother would rather you stayed away from."

North Korean state media said Warmbier, who reportedly entered North Korea on a tourist visa, is accused of carrying out "a hostile act against the DPRK," referring to the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea.

Warmbier entered the country "for the purpose of bringing down the foundation of its single-minded unity at the tacit connivance of the U.S. government," the report said.

The tour group said Warmbier's family has been informed and it is working with the U.S. State Department, the North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Swedish Embassy, which carries out some consular services for U.S. citizens in North Korea, to address the arrest.

Warmbier is a third-year student studying commerce at the University of Virginia, according to The Cavalier Daily, the school's student newspaper. School spokesman Anthony de Bruyn would only say that the school "has been in touch with Otto Warmbier's family and will have no additional comment at this time."

Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a 2016 GOP presidential candidate, tweeted Friday that "North Korea's arrest of an Ohio college student is inexcusable & he should be released & returned immediately."

John Kasich

U.S. Rep. Brad Wenstrup, whose district includes the area where Warmbier went to high school, also tweeted Friday that his office was trying to contact the State Department "to assist however possible in getting Mr. Warmbier home."

The North Korean government has arrested and accused other U.S. citizens of similar charges in the past.

The U.S. Embassy in Seoul says it's aware of the reports of the student's arrest.

North Korean officials recently allowed CNN to interviewanother American prisoner.

The man identified himself as Kim Dong Chul, a naturalized American, who said he used to live in Fairfax, Virginia.

"I'm asking the U.S. or South Korean government to rescue me," Kim said during an interview at a hotel in the North Korean capital.

Kim, 62, said he was arrested in October while meeting a source to obtain a USB stick and camera used to gather military secrets.

Know about Flint's water crisis

An once-quiet crisis in Flint is now drawing voluminous concern from around the nation as celebrities, politicians and presidential candidates steer attention to the toxic tap water in one of Michigan's biggest and most beleaguered cities.

It's hard to put anything about the issue in a nutshell, but a solid summary is as follows:

In charge of the city's budget amid a financial emergency, the state decided to temporarily switch Flint's water source from Lake Huron to the Flint River as a cost-saving measure until a new supply line to Lake Huron was ready. The river had a reputation for nastiness, and after the April 2014 switch, residents complained their water looked, smelled and tasted funny.

Virginia Tech researchers found the water was highly corrosive. A class-action lawsuit alleges the state Department of Environmental Quality didn't treat the water for corrosion, in accordance with federal law, and because so many service lines to Flint are made of lead, the noxious element leached into the water of the city's homes.

The city switched back to the Lake Huron water supply in October, but the damage was already done to the lead pipes. The state is now handing out filters and bottled water with the National Guard.

Here's a look at five recent developments:

State of emergency on three levels

Mayor Karen Weaver, who took office two months ago, and Gov. Rick Snyder, who has been at the state's helm since 2011, have both declared states of emergency, with Snyder calling in the National Guard to help deliver clean water to the city's nearly 100,000 residents.

Responding to Weaver's and Snyder's cry for federal assistance, which Snyder said would help with temporary housing and home repairs, President Barack Obama also issued a state of emergency Saturday.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security will lead Washington's response.

State Attorney General Bill Schuette is also taking action and said he will investigate how the crisis unfolded in an effort to determine if any laws were broken.

"The situation in Flint is a human tragedy in which families are struggling with even the most basic parts of daily life," he said in a statement.

Issue enters Democratic debate

Flint's water garnered some attention when leading Democratic presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders both made a point of mentioning it during Sunday's debate.

Sanders called out Snyder, a Republican, demanding his resignation and asserting that "a man who acts that irresponsibly should not stay in power."

Clinton said she sent a top campaign aid to meet with the mayor of Flint and said she had gone on a TV show to call for action.

"I think every single American should be outraged," Clinton said. "We've had a city in the United States of America where the population, which is poor in many ways and majority African-American, has been drinking and bathing in lead-contaminated water. And the governor of that state acted as though he didn't really care."

Snyder responded on Twitter that "political statements and finger pointing" were a distraction to those working to solve the crisis.

Governor Rick Snyder

Numbers back up Clinton's characterization of Flint, where 57% of residents are black and more than 41% of residents live beneath the poverty line (as compared to the state and national rates of 17% and 15%, respectively).

Celebrities stepping in

Joining the political heavies are familiar names out of Hollywood, some of the city's favorite sons and daughters, namely filmmaker Michael Moore, actress Sandra Bernhard and singer-actress Cher.

Cher and bottler Icelandic Glacial are joining forces to donate 181,440 bottles of water, slated for delivery to a local food bank Wednesday. Bernhard has been active on the talk-show circuit and social media, instructing her fans and followers on the best ways to get clean water to her hometown.

Sandra Bernhard

Perhaps it's unsurprising that Moore -- his film "Roger and Me" focused on the closing of a General Motors plant in Flint and he's also known for "Bowling for Columbine" -- had the most radical celebrity response: He started a petition calling for Snyder's arrest, saying Michigan "effectively poisoned, not just some, but apparently ALL of the children in my hometown."

A Snyder spokesman called the petition inflammatory at a time when Snyder's "administration is working very closely with our partners in Flint and Genesee County to address health and safety issues."

Mayor worries about the long term

State officials initially told residents everything was OK -- then-Mayor Dayne Walling even made a point to drink the water on local TV -- until Virginia Tech researchers in August performed tests and found the elevated lead levels. The scope of the problem came into even better focus when local pediatrician Mona Hanna-Attisha announced that records showed lead levels in toddlers had doubled, and in some cases tripled, since the switch from Lake Huron.

Lead poisoning is dangerous for anyone -- the related woes include skin lesions, hair loss, vision loss, memory loss, depression and anxiety, according to a class-action lawsuit -- but Weaver seems equally worried about the future. Research shows lead exposure can affect a developing child's IQ, resulting in learning disabilities. Weaver worries that Flint will need an influx of funding in the future to deal with mental health issues and "an increase in the juvenile justice system."

There could be greater demand for adoptive and foster parents "as a result of social services needed due to the detrimental effects of the high blood lead levels," she has said.

Blame game

As Snyder pointed out, there is a lot of finger pointing surrounding the crisis, and he realizes a lot of those fingers are aimed in his direction. He apologized for the debacle earlier this month.

Everyone CNN interviewed for a recent story -- including residents, city workers, Walling, Weaver and Democratic U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee -- said they hold Snyder and the state Department of Environmental Quality responsible.

A 2011 study found that before water from the Flint River could be considered potable, it would need to be treated with an anti-corrosion agent, a measure that would have cost the state about $100 a day.

Experts say that water treatment would have prevented 90% of the problems with Flint's water.

Attorneys will meet Tuesday to discuss two new class-action lawsuits filed by Flint residents that target the governor, the state Department of Environmental Quality and the former Flint emergency managers who took control of the city's purse strings after the financial emergency, among others, said Eric Hood, who is coordinating media for the plaintiffs.

The suits will detail government officials' culpability and will provide a more detailed timeline than the previously filed federal lawsuit, Hood said.

Five young children were found dead in a locked freezer

Five young children were found dead in a locked freezer in a South African town.

The children, ranging in age from 3 to 7, were discovered Tuesday evening by their grandmother in Kakamas, in northwest South Africa. They apparently suffocated inside an old freezer in the yard, police said. The children were believed to have been playing in the freezer when they accidentally got locked inside.

Police have begun an investigation into the deaths of the children, who were cousins.

Taiwan's first female president

With her landslide election win on Saturday, Tsai Ing-wen became the first woman to be elected president of Taiwan, and is poised to be the most powerful woman in the Chinese-speaking world.

But the 59-year-old opposition party leader, who can often be seen on the campaign trail with her two beloved cats, first came to Taiwanese politics as an outsider.

Called "Little Ying" by local media, Tsai grew up in Fenggang, a village in southern Taiwan, before moving to Taipei as a teenager.

A lawyer by training, she first studied at National Taiwan University, where she once reportedly failed a criminal law class.

Nonetheless, she kept furthering her law studies with a masters from Cornell University and a Ph.D from the London School of Economics, teaching the subject for some time. She's speaks English fluently and is regarded as the most internationally-minded leader the island has seen so far.

It wasn't until 2004 that Tsai joined the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). By 2008 she was made the party's chairwoman but it wasn't always smooth sailing.

She lost her first bid for the presidency to the incumbent Ma Ying-jeou in 2012 and resigned as DPP chairwoman after the defeat. It wasn't until 2014 that she resumed the position and made her second, this time successful, attempt at the presidency.

Self-made woman

Tsai isn't the first woman in Asia to be elected head of state -- Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi and South Korea's Park Guen Hye, among others, come to mind -- but she is the first to do so without being some kind of political legacy.

Suu Kyi's father helped negotiate independence for Myanmar from the British for example, while Park's father served as South Korea's president from 1962 until his assassination in 1979.

In a speech to the Council on Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. last year, she touched on whether Taiwan was ready to embrace a woman president.

"Of course, there are some people in Taiwan that are still rather traditional and they have some hesitation in considering a woman president. But among the younger generation, I think they are generally excited about the idea of having a woman leader. They think it is rather trendy," she said.

A tough negotiator, cat-lover, and LGBT supporter

Jean-Pierre Cabestan, a Hong Kong Baptist University professor who studies cross-strait relations said although she is from the DPP -- which has traditionally supported Taiwanese independence -- Tsai is "a pretty moderate leader who is interested in maintaining the status quo."

"She's tough, she's patient and ready to negotiate," Cabestan says.

"Comparisons have been made to Margaret Thatcher, you know as an Iron Lady, but a more accurate comparison is Angela Merkel of Germany because she's trying to build a consensus."

Those negotiation skills were honed in a previous stint serving as the chairwoman of the Mainland Affairs Office, the government arm that handles Taiwan's interactions with Beijing.

When she is inaugurated in May, Tsai has said her priority will be addressing the weak economy while helping to establish Taiwan's distinct identity from mainland China, a debate that has become heightened in recent days after a young Taiwanese pop star was forced to apologize online after she allegedly offended mainland fans by waving the Republic of China flag on TV.

蔡英文 Tsai Ing-wen

FBI top 10 fugitive captured in Colorado

Myloh Jaqory Mason, one of the FBI's 10 most-wanted fugitives, was captured in Thornton, Colorado, on Friday, the agency announced.

Mason was sought in connection with two bank robberies and shootings in the Denver area in September and November.

He was arrested without incident at a motel near I-25, the FBI said.

He could face charges of attempted first-degree murder, aggravated robbery, attempted second-degree kidnapping, first-degree assault, and second-degree assault, the FBI said.

During one bank robbery, three suspects wore skeleton masks similar to one worn in the "Scream" movies. The FBI said the suspects allegedly shot two people during their getaway.

The other two suspects had already been captured.

Backstreet Boys singer Nick Carter was arrested

Backstreet Boys singer Nick Carter was arrested Wednesday night in Key West, Florida, after he allegedly punched a bouncer.

Carter and a friend were denied service at Hog's Breath Saloon in Key West after appearing "highly intoxicated," police say.

A bartender refused to serve the pair "due to their level of intoxication," a Key West Police Department incident report said. The two were asked to leave the saloon after Carter became agitated and aggressive toward the bartender, the report said. Initially refusing to go, they made their way outside, where Carter allegedly sucker-punched the bouncer.

Carter, 35, was arrested and charged with one count of misdemeanor battery. The second man, Michael Rae Papayans, 27, was charged with the same count.

The pop star's bail was set at $1500 Thursday afternoon, the Monroe County Sheriff's Office said.

CNN has reached out to Carter's publicist for comment.

The Backstreet Boys shot to stardom in 1996 and became one of the top-selling boy bands, selling more than 130 million records. In late 2015, Carter was a contestant on the ABC hit show "Dancing With the Stars," where he announced that his wife is expecting their first child.

President Barack Obama issued a final passionate plea to voters on Tuesday

President Barack Obama issued a final passionate plea to voters on Tuesday to bridge the divide in American politics after he leaves office.

In his last State of the Union address delivered to a Congress that has often hobbled his ambitions, Obama expressed regret over his own role in Washington's political dysfunction, and lambasted Republican presidential candidates who he said are adding to the trouble.

He also offered his pitch to fix it -- including structural reforms to a political system he said even those in Washington don't like.

Here are five takeaways from Obama's speech:

Obama's lament

He was the candidate of transformational change -- and then the president who led during an era of shutdowns, dysfunction and the erosion of the political center.

Obama admitted his disappointment.

"It's one of the few regrets of my presidency  --  that the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better," Obama said. "There's no doubt a president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide, and I guarantee I'll keep trying to be better so long as I hold this office."

He offered a prescription, saying it's about the process, not the people who are elected.

Obama pitched the removal of legislatures from redistricting; a reduction of the influence of money in politics; and laws that make it easier to vote.

He also admitted that accomplishing those reforms is harder than the idealism that put him on the national political map might suggest.

"What I'm asking for is hard. It's easier to be cynical; to accept that change isn't possible, and politics is hopeless, and to believe that our voices and actions don't matter," Obama said.

He added: "As frustration grows, there will be voices urging us to fall back into tribes, to scapegoat fellow citizens who don't look like us, or pray like us, or vote like we do, or share the same background. We can't afford to go down that path. It won't deliver the economy we want, or the security we want, but most of all, it contradicts everything that makes us the envy of the world."

On this topic, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who rebutted Obama's address. offered some support for the President.

"Often the best thing we can do is turn down the volume. When the sound is quieter, you can actually hear what someone else is saying," she said. "And that can make a world of difference."

Obama's Trump rebuttal

Obama denounced "political hot air." He said politicians who say the economy is sagging are "peddling fiction." He declared the United States "the most powerful nation on Earth. Period. It's not even close."

And if there was any remaining doubt he was talking about Donald Trump, Obama got even more specific.

"We need to reject any politics that targets people because of race or religion," Obama said in a not-very-veiled reference to Trump's proposal to ban all Muslims from entering the United States.

"This isn't a matter of political correctness. It's a matter of understanding what makes us strong," Obama said. "The world respects us not just for our arsenal; it respects us for our diversity and our openness and the way we respect every faith."

Obama wasn't the only one who bashed Trump, though.

Haley -- tapped by House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell unloaded on the man who's leading the polls in her state's crucial Republican presidential primary.

"During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices," Haley said. "We must resist that temptation. No one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws, and love our traditions should ever feel unwelcome in this country."

Obama took a swing at other GOP candidates, too -- particularly Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who has said he wants to carpet bomb ISIS to "see if sand glows in the dark."

Obama said: "The world will look to us to help solve these problems, and our answer needs to be more than tough talk or calls to carpet bomb civilians. That may work as a TV sound bite, but it doesn't pass muster on the world stage."

Obama the preacher

The moments Obama's supporters will most remember long after he's left office have been aspirational: His "red states" and "blue states" speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention; his singing of "Amazing Grace" after the church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina.

Obama offered another on Tuesday night, harnessing his oratorical skills to call on Americans to put to use what Martin Luther King, Jr. called "voices of unarmed truth and unconditional love."

"I see it in the American who served his time, and dreams of starting over  --  and the business owner who gives him that second chance. The protester determined to prove that justice matters, and the young cop walking the beat, treating everybody with respect, doing the brave, quiet work of keeping us safe," Obama said.

"I see it in the soldier who gives almost everything to save his brothers, the nurse who tends to him 'til he can run a marathon, and the community that lines up to cheer him on.

"It's the son who finds the courage to come out as who he is, and the father whose love for that son overrides everything he's been taught.

"I see it in the elderly woman who will wait in line to cast her vote as long as she has to; the new citizen who casts his for the first time; the volunteers at the polls who believe every vote should count, because each of them in different ways know how much that precious right is worth."

Moonshot Joe

When he announced he wouldn't run for president, Vice President Joe Biden said he wants to see a "moonshot" to cure cancer in the United States.

Obama said he wants to give it to Biden -- whose son Beau, Delaware's attorney general, died of brain cancer last year -- and put his vice president "in charge of mission control."

"Last year, Vice President Biden said that with a new moonshot, America can cure cancer. Last month, he worked with this Congress to give scientists at the National Institutes of Health the strongest resources they've had in over a decade," Obama said.

"Tonight, I'm announcing a new national effort to get it done," he said. "And because he's gone to the mat for all of us, on so many issues over the past forty years, I'm putting Joe in charge of Mission Control. For the loved ones we've all lost, for the family we can still save, let's make America the country that cures cancer once and for all."

It was perhaps the only Obama policy pitch that drew strong applause from both sides of the aisle.

The cheers and smiles from Republican senators underscored the vice president's popularity on Capitol Hill, where he spent most of his adult life. It demonstrated why Biden has been able to do what Obama couldn't, playing an instrumental role in negotiating legislative deals with Congress to avert shutdowns and fund the government.

Ryan's stoicism

Americans accustomed to now-retired Speaker John Boehner's easy shows of emotion -- with tears flowing on many occasions -- might have been surprised to see the stone-cold expression on new Speaker Paul Ryan's face throughout Obama's speech.

Most of Ryan's words and gestures were toward Vice President Joe Biden, the man he debated on national television in 2012 when Ryan was Mitt Romney's choice as the Republican vice presidential candidate.

But he didn't react to Obama's policy talk -- nearly all of which was at odds with Ryan's priorities.

Obama did include an olive branch of sorts to Ryan, who recently apologized after characterizing the United States as full of "makers" and "takers." Ryan has said he hopes to address the issue of poverty while speaker.

"I also know Speaker Ryan has talked about his interest in tackling poverty. America is about giving everybody willing to work a hand up, and I'd welcome a serious discussion about strategies we can all support, like expanding tax cuts for low-income workers without kids," Obama said.

Bangkok's most stunning 9 bars

In Bangkok, The Bookshop bar confounds laws of gravity with its upside-down, every-which-way bookcases and "floating" books.

Across town, Tawandang German Microbrewery is housed within a giant, cavernous beer barrel.

In CentralWorld's trendy Groove wing, Tales of Gold Mine mimics a turn-of-the-last-century gold mine in the U.S wild, wild west.

Of course, design concepts need not be outrageous to be beautiful.

From a classic Parisian-style boozer to a sky-high stunner, here are nine of the Thai capital's most aesthetically pleasing places to go bottoms up.

Smalls

A sumptuous melange of crimson drapery, Rococo floor tiling, and contemporary artwork embellish this cozy, moody watering hole on Suan Phlu Soi, which over the past year has developed into a somewhat unlikely haven of cool, laid-back bars and restaurants.

Sprawling across three floors of a corner shophouse, Smalls is the latest collaboration between David Jacobson -- who first rose to local prominence as owner of now-defunct bar/club Q Bar -- and Bruno Tanquerel -- Jacobson's partner on the retro-styled French absinthe bar Le Derriere.

"We rather dislike slick, corporate, trendy bars, and industrial cement and wood with black steel-framed windows has been done to death," says Jacobson.

"We wanted a relaxed, funky, Parisian feel that did not take itself too seriously.

"Most of all, we both like originality in design, and enjoy creating atmospheres where people feel at home instantly."

A R. Sutton & Co Engineers Siam

Australian Ashley Sutton transformed the look and feel of Bangkok's bar world dramatically when he came to town in the late-00s.

It started with his fantastical ironworks slash cocktail lounge Iron Fairies, something of an overnight sensation that sparked a wave of imitators.

Then he continued with his equally eye-catching efforts on the dazzling interiors of The Bookshop and Mr. Jones' Orphanage, among others.

Sutton's latest endeavor (and the only bar he owns now) is the intimate A R. Sutton & Co Engineers Siam.

The place exudes a controlled eccentricity with its carefully placed jumble of brass fittings, coiled lighting and vintage furnishings.

In other words, Sutton's distinct fingerprints are all over it.

The place also functions as a gin distillery -- the signature Iron Balls is worth a try -- as well as Sutton's office.

Maggie Choo's

At Hotel Novotel Bangkok Fenix Silom, a discreet wooden door marks the entrance to this subterranean wonderland from the mind of -- you guessed it -- Ashley Sutton.

Sutton is no longer involved, but the place hasn't changed much since the Fico Group took over, which is to say it's still one of the sexiest spots in town to sip fine wines and cocktails over late-night jazz performances.

Modeled after an Oriental-style speakeasy of yesteryear, Maggie Choo's oozes secrecy and swagger, from its web of private rooms hidden behind steel doors to the dim lighting, plush furnishings, and beautiful people dangling legs from wooden swings.

There's a lovely Thai-Chinese restaurant here, too.

The Bar at The House on Sathorn

After three years of renovation, the 126-year-old colonial mansion on Sathorn Road has reopened as the city's latest drinking and eating destination.

Formerly a Russian embassy, The House on Sathorn is now part of W Bangkok next door.

The interior design pays tribute to the history of the house and takes inspiration from Russian and Thai royal glamor.

Many original features including the color scheme of the facade and interior of the house have been kept.

Signatures are cocktails with an Asian twist -- for example, Diva, a cocktail with Belvedere vodka, patron citronge, coconut water and rose and jasmine syrup.

Namsaah Bottling Trust

You can't miss Namsaah Bottling Trust, a Thai-fusion bar/restaurant located in an early 20th-century villa with snow-white shutters popping against a solid-pink facade.

Previously used as a soda producer's bottling office, a bank headquarters, and a royal adviser's residence, today the building is decked out in exquisite regional fabrics, antique furnishings, and bold Oriental ornamentation.

There's some serious star power backing this beauty, including Thai food celebrity Ian Kittichai, whose portfolio covers successful restaurants in Mumbai, Hong Kong, Barcelona, New York, and Bangkok.

At Namsaah, the menu is playful, with dishes like salmon tartare wonton tacos.

The cocktail list features such concoctions as a tangerine negroni and Thai rose apple martini.

Tep Bar

Returning to Bangkok after stints living abroad in Melbourne and Singapore, Kong Kangwarnklai saw that in the city's rush to embrace foreign ideals and influences, native "Thainess" was becoming something of an antiquated concept.

"The funny thing is that the trend in Thailand these days is quite Westernized," he says.

"Somehow, though, you need to be able to identify your roots."

Kangwarnklai's answer to that is Tep Bar, which he co-founded in 2015 with three partners.

Housed within a two-story, century-old shophouse in the buzzy Soi NaNa area on the fringes of Chinatown, Tep Bar's Thainess manifests itself in everything from cocktails mixed with ya dong (a sort of local herbal whiskey) and other local ingredients to nightly live performances of traditional Thai music.

Most striking in this space are the swaths of gold-covered brick exposed amongst otherwise concrete walls -- a clever nod to ancient times when the Siamese buried golden Buddhas in cement to hide them from invaders.

Sing Sing Theater

If one could go on a glamorous club night in ancient China, it might resemble a place like Sing Sing Theater (or just Sing Sing).

Drawing inspiration from an ancient Chinese courtyard theater and a high-end brothel for nobility or bourgeoisie, Sing Sing is characterized by its full-on Chinoiserie designs -- oil-paper umbrellas, lanterns and metal birdcages.

Secret passages, hidden speakeasies and the symmetrical staircases help foster a mysterious atmosphere.

Opened in 2015, it has become one of the hottest partying venues in town.

Illuminated by red lights, the club screens a movie from the 20th century on a metal screen every night.

Live performances -- from wondrous burlesque dances to comedy shows -- are frequent.

Teens of Thailand

Just around the corner from Tep Bar, dedicated gin bar Teens of Thailand finds beauty in stripped-down simplicity, its pack of stakeholders opting to let the old bones of this renovated shophouse speak for itself.

Well, mostly -- lascivious photography adorning bare concrete walls certainly spices things up, almost as much as the killer cocktails from accomplished bar man Niks Anuman-Rajadhon.

"Our bar's concept and design are quite simple: keep what's original," says Gunn Lee, who manages ToT's music, design, arts, and marketing.

"When we first got into this place, we strongly felt that destroying it and building something else was definitely not our taste." 

Red Sky

Among the many things 2011 artistic flop The Hangover Part II got wrong in its hackneyed representations of Bangkok was filming at the wrong rooftop bar -- the better location was down the road, in Pathumwan, at Centara Grand at CentralWorld's Red Sky.

Cyclical, subjective debate on the city's best rooftop bar aside, this swanky 55th-floor terrace is a reliable crowd pleaser.

Noted for its swooping, color-changing arches and luminescent bar, Red Sky facilitates sweeping panoramic views with padded couches and glass balustrades circling its entire elevated deck.