Bangkok is the capital, largest urban area and primary city of Thailand. Known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon , meaning "city of angels" for short, it was originally a small trading post on the west bank of the lower Chao Phraya River during the  Ayutthaya Kingdom . It became the capital in 1768 after the destruction of Ayutthaya by Burmese invaders. However, the current Rattanakosin Kingdom did not begin until 1782, when the capital was moved to the east bank of the river by Rama I following the death of King Taksin. The city is more formally called "Phra Nakhon", referring to the original boundaries of the 18th century, while the name Krungthep Mahanakorn includes the urban areas which have since grown. Foreigners generally call the city by its original name of Bangkok.

The Bangkok special administrative area covers 1,568.7 km 2 (606 sq mi), making it the 68th largest province in Thailand. Much of the area is considered the city of Bangkok, therefore making it one of the largest cities in the world. The Chao Phraya River, which stretches 372 km (231 mi), is Bangkok's main geographical feature. The Chao Phraya River basin, the area surrounding Bangkok, and the nearby provinces comprise a series of plains and river deltas that lead into the Bay of Bangkok about 30 km (19 mi) south of the city center. This gave rise to Bangkok's appellation as the " Venice of the East" due to the number of canals and passages that divide the area into separate patches of land. The city once used these canals, which were plentiful within Bangkok itself, as divisions for city districts. However, as the city grew in the second half of the 20th century, the plan was abandoned and a different system of division was adopted.

The town of Bangkok began as a small trading center and port community on the west bank of the Chao Phraya River before the establishment of the Ayutthaya Kingdom , the precursor of modern Thailand, which existed from 1350 to 1767. The etymology of the town's name is unclear. Bang is the Central Thai name for a town situated on the bank of a river. It is believed that "Bangkok" derived from either Bangkok, kok being the Thai name for the Java plum ( ma-kok ), one of several trees bearing olive-like fruits); or Bang Koh , koh   meaning "island," a reference to the area's landscape which was carved by rivers and canals. After the fall of Ayutthaya to the Burmese Kingdom  in 1767, the newly declared King Taksin established a new capital in the area of the then Bangkok, which became known as Thonburi . When Taksin's reign ended in 1782, King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke   reconstructed the capital on the east bank of the river and gave the city a ceremonial name which became shortened to its current official name,   Krung Thep Maha Nakhon . The new city, however, also inherited the name Bangkok, which continued to be used by foreigners to refer to the entire city and became its official English name, while in Thai the name still refers only to the old district on the west bank of the river. The city has since vastly modernized and undergone numerous changes, including the introduction of transportation and utility infrastructure in the reigns of King Mongkut and King Chulalongkorn, and quickly developed into the economic center of Thailand.

Tourism

Bangkok is considered to be one of the world's tourist hotspots. Bangkok is Thailand's major tourist gateway , which means that the majority of foreign tourists arrive in Bangkok. The city boasts some of the country's most visited historical venues such as the Grand Palace, Wat Pho, and Wat Arun . There are numerous projects to maintain Bangkok's historic sites in the Rattanakosin area and river districts.

How to Get There

River and canals network An elaborate network of canals known as khlongs gave Bangkok the nickname " Venice of the East" at a time when most transportation was by boat. Today, nearly all of the canals have been filled in and converted into streets. While many khlongs still exist with people living along them and markets often being operated along the banks, most are severely polluted.   A notable khlong market is the floating market in Taling Chan district . Through downtown Bangkok runs the Khlong Saen Saeb , which has a canal boat service. The wide river Chao Phraya , flowing through the city, has several cross-river ferries and the Chao Phraya Express Boat with as many as thirty stops along the both banks extending as far as the northern suburb of Nonthaburi.

Roads Several elevated highways, newly rebuilt intersections, and many partially finished road and rail projects dot the landscape around greater Bangkok, but have done little to overcome the notorious traffic jams on Bangkok's surface roads as private vehicle usage continues to outstrip infrastructure development. Due to a large number of traffic jams in Bangkok, the elevated highway linking most road networks in Bangkok together is another choice for the rush. However, tax is to be paid for utilizing the highway depending on size of the vehicle. This highway also leads to some outskirts of Bangkok including Suvarnabhumi International Airport .

Inner-City Buses A regular bus service is provided by the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) and it operates throughout Bangkok as well as to adjoining provinces around the clock on certain routes. Public buses are plentiful and cheap, with a minimum fare of 7 baht to most destinations within metropolitan Bangkok. Air-conditioned buses have minimum and maximum fares of 11 and 24 baht, respectively. Air-conditioned micro-buses charge a flat fare of 25 baht all routes. A bus route map is available at bookshops.

Rail systems On the birthday of HM King Rama IX, 5 December 1999, an elevated two-line Skytrain (officially called BTS) metro system was opened. The remains of the failed BERTS (Hopewell) project can still be seen all the way from the main railroad station out towards Don Mueang Airport. Due to the Asian financial crisis of 1997 construction was halted and the concrete pillars were left unused.

The MRT subway system opened for use in July 2004. The MRT connects the northern train station of Bang Sue to the Hua Lamphong central railway station near the city centre, while also going through the eastern part of Bangkok. It connects to the BTS system at BTS stations Mo Chit, Asok, and Sala Daeng.

A new high speed elevated railroad called the Suvarnabhumi Airport Link, links the city with the new Suvarnabhumi Airport. The announced opening date after facing many delays was finally set on August 23, 2010. The Airport Express railway and City line (commuter service) is operated by the State Railway of Thailand . It provides a 28.5 km (17.7 mi) link between the new airport and the City Air Terminal (CAT) at Makkasan where it connects with MRT Phetchaburi station and has another connection to the BTS at Phaya Thai. There are plans to extend the line to Don Mueang and Rangsit ( SRT Dark Red Line ), but again, this is very dependent on the political situation.

Plans have been approved for a further extension of the BTS Silom line from Wongwian Yai to Bang Wa (4.5 km/2.8 mi), Samrong to Samut Prakan (8 km/5.0 mi), Mo Chit to Saphan Mai (11.9 km/7.4 mi) and the National Stadium to Phran Nok (7.7 km/4.8 mi). This includes five underground stations in the Rattanakosin area. The State Railway of Thailand has also been given approval to complete the Dark Red and Light Green lines. Alongside, MRT has also begun construction on two new lines, the Purple line from Bang Yai to Bang Sue, and the Blue line from Hua Lampong to Bang Khae and Bang Sue to Tha Pra.

For intercity travel by train, most passengers begin their trips at Hua Lamphong at the southern end of the MRT. Here, trains connect Bangkok to Malaysia in the south, Chiang Mai to the north, and Nong Khai to the northeast and beyond to Laos .

When viewing the map, not all MRT and BTS lines stop at every station. Currently, the blue MRT line goes from Hua Lampong to Asok. The two BTS lines extend from Mo Chit to On Nut, and from National Stadium to Wongwian Yai. This line's final stop used to be Saphan Taksin station but has subsequently been extended across the Chao Phraya River to Wongwian Yai. Stations with BTS/MRT interchange are Mo Chit, Sala Daeng, and Asok.

Bus services Virtually all cities and provinces are easily reached by bus from Bangkok. For destinations in the southwest and the west, buses leave from the Southern Bus Terminal, west of the city in the Thonburi area. For destinations in the southeast, such as Pattaya, Koh Samet and Koh Chang, buses leave from the Eastern Bus Terminal at Ekkamai. For all destinations north and northeast, the Northern Bus Terminal is at Mo Chit. Bangkok's less accessible southern terminal was recently moved even farther out. Though Bangkok is well connected to other cities, getting to the bus terminals often are a challenge in themselves.

There are numerous companies that provide bus services within Bangkok Metropolitan Region. The main operator, Bangkok Mass Transit Authority, has a service area covering Bangkok and its suburban areas in the adjacent provinces of Nonthaburi, Samut Prakan, Pathum Thani, Nakhon Pathom, and Samut Sakhon. It serves approximately 3 million passengers per day. The service hours are 05.00–23.00 hrs, except 24-hr night-owl service on some routes. In September 2005, BMTA owns a fleet of 3,579 buses—comprising 1,674 ordinary buses and 1,905 air-conditioned buses. In addition to BMTA-owned buses, there are 3,485 private-own contract buses, 1,113 contract minibuses, 2,161 side-street songthaews, and 5,519 vans. In total, there are 15,857 buses and vans over 427 routes across 8 zones.

Airports Bangkok is one of Asia's most important air transport hubs. In 2005, more than ninety airlines served  Don Mueang International Airport ( IATA : DMK ;   ICAO : VTBD ). It was the 18th busiest airport in the world, second busiest in Asia by passenger volume, 15th busiest in the world and fourth busiest in Asia in international passenger volume. Don Mueang consistently ranked 19th in the world in cargo traffic and seventh in the Asia-Pacific region. Don Mueang is considered to be one of the world's oldest international airports, its opening in March 1914 making it almost twenty years older than London Heathrow. It has three terminals and is located about 30 km (19 mi) north from the heart of Bangkok.

On 28 September 2006,   Suvarnabhumi Airport   ( IATA :   BKK ;   ICAO :   VTBS ), became Bangkok's official international airport, replacing Don Mueang. Pronounced Suwannaphum ( RTGS ), or loosely Su-wan-na-poom , the airport is located southeast of the city center in Bang Phli district, Samut Prakan Province . The progress of Suvarnabhumi Airport dates back to the early 1970s when a large plot of land 8,000 acres (3,237 ha) (32 km?) was bought. A student uprising in October of the same year prevented further progress with the development when the military government of Thanom Kittikachorn   was subsequently overthrown. After several military coups and the Asian financial crisis of 1997, construction finally began in 2002, after five years of clearing the site. The first flights landed in September 2006, shortly after another military coup. Its two parallel   runways are connected by the five   concourses   of the main   terminal   building. The airport features a 132.2-metre (434 ft)-tall control tower , the tallest in Asia and one meter (3.2 ft) taller than   Kuala Lumpur International Airport   control tower. It is the tallest stand alone purpose built control tower in the world. Airports of Thailand Plc. (AoT) have announced another terminal to accommodate a further fifteen million passengers. This will be part of Phase 2 of the airport, which is expected to begin construction in three to five years. The main airline of Suvarnabhumi is Thai Airways International .

Much of the construction of Suvarnabhumi Airport took place during the premiership of Thaksin Shinawatra, who took personal responsibility for its timely completion. Despite a "ceremonial" opening on the planned date, construction was over a year late. Continuing controversy surrounds the quality of planning and construction; accusations include cracks in the runway, overheated buildings, a severe shortage of toilet facilities and lengthy passenger walks to departure gates. The fact that the airport is already overcrowded and near its maximum capacity less than a year after opening is another concern.

Don Mueang remains in use as a base of the Royal Thai Air Force. Most of the low-cost airlines now use the airport for domestic flights, in an effort to ease congestion at Suvarnabhumi, until the next terminal is opened.

Taxis Bangkok has many taxis. Many roam the streets looking for customers, but there are also a number of taxi companies whose vehicles can be booked by telephone. Taxis are metered, with a fixed starting fare, and charge by distance and waiting time.Three-wheeled open-air motorized taxis called tuk-tuks ( auto rickshaws in other countries) are popular for shorter journeys. Price should be negotiated before the ride.Motorcycle taxis stands, called   win motoesai , are found all over the city. Motorcycle taxis usually accommodate one, or sometimes two, passengers, and typically only cover small local areas. The fare for tuk-tuks and motorcycle taxis is usually negotiable between passenger and driver, except for cases where an organized taxi rank is in operation, where prices to certain locations may be printed on a sign on display at the rank. When two passengers use a motorcycle taxi the fare is usually doubled, although no such increases apply to tuk-tuks.

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangkok#Tourism