Bangkok

Krung Thep Maha Nakhon *** (please read the description at the end of this article) is the Thai name for this crazy and lively city that never stops with surprises and diversity. Bangkok is the capital and largest city in Thailand, located on the delta of the Chao Phraya River, which is also an important transport route. This metropolis is home to more than 8 million people and the suburbs to more than 14 million people.

The history of Bangkok as a small shopping village started from the era of the kingdom of Ayutthaya in the 15th century and today it has grown into a mega-city that combines the "commercial western mentality" and the "simple, trading, poor and the warm eastern mentality" with the diversity of different nations of southwest Asia. Here are glamour, high class skyscrapers, banks and top fashion brands one hundred meters away from the dirty, scattered wooden huts, sewers and poverty.

The commercial center of Bangkok is the Siam center and around. The streets are full, the traffic is heavy, and as it is impossible to put all that traffic on one road they built “skytrains” and “skywalks” for pedestrians.

Luxury, luxury on one side (see picture above) and misery on the other a little further down the street (see pictures below).

Bangkok is intersected by canals of water. They serve as a transport and trading route as well as for sewage and rubbish. When you see what floats in these channels of the Chao Praya river you start to admire these people because of what they are capable to eat. In this certain case, a local Thai man is fishing with a harpoon near his home on one of the canals (see picture above).

And then it finds its way onto the street and on markets. Mostly they have no refrigeration, so these fish and similar which are standing all day long in the sun are for a stronger stomach (see picture above).

It is not difficult to fall in love with Bangkok's street food and markets. Almost every neighbourhood has several markets, some only on weekends and some everyday, some in boats and canals and some on the streets. Streets that connect them are full of stalls with a variety of food, magnificent and inexhaustible. Here is everything for every palate, this is a true multisensory blow to all the senses.

When we arrived to Thailand the Vegetarian festival took place for about ten days. The festival originates from China and is a sort of cleansing of meat during these days. On the street market yellow flags indicate the vegetarian cuisine (see pictures above). The yellow flags are very useful when you first arrive to Thailand because you need a certain amount of time to adapt to the food, and even to learn what is in the meal you eat. Thai recipes are delicious and include chicken, pork or beef, but sometimes some strange food is on the menu and often you will not know what it actually is (see picture below).

From my humble experience in countries with an extremely diverse range of so-called “street food" it’s important to pay attention to small things when strolling the markets, because every place hides something new. In this case, you can eat shish-eggs which are cooked in advance and sold lying on the sun for a certain time (see picture below).

However, we have enjoyed the maximum variation in taste and smell, and every day for less than a euro we feasted in "Fried Rice", "Phad Thai", curry dishes, and all sorts of combinations with rice or noodles, with meat or without, with chilli peppers, sweet, sour, salty, spicy dishes, flavoured with lime leaves and lemongrass.

A standard addition to every table (see picture below). Salt and pepper, there's always some dried chilli and fresh chilli in fish sauce and fish sauce itself (sauce made out of salty fermented fish).

Certainly, the greatest joy is the adventure of tasting the variety of fruits on the markets. We met dozens of new fruits and vegetables, and I will never know all the names. But when you consider that at every step you can get fresh watermelon, creamy bananas, the sweetest pineapple, mango, papaya, passion fruit, etc. and all for less than a euro per piece, you'll never run out of vitamins. I thought I'd do a special blog post about food and fruits and vegetables. However, I decided that I add and describe a few meals and fruits and vegetables in every blog post.

Here I present the first fruit that we ate upon arrival, and it represents the "king of all fruits" (see picture below). It’s called durian (thu-rian) and it’s originally from Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia. There is a rule that you should never sleep under the durian tree. It’s obvious. :) Some consider it the most awful fruit ever cause when you open it some say it smells like rotten onion, vomit and shit. But, many consider it a delicacy. For me it was simply delicious and I was pleasantly surprised. It had a fruity smell of rotten onion, but nothing of the shit and puke flavour. It has the best combination of a soft - spongy - creamy texture. As it happens to be I am a part of people who love that fruit and I must admit that it is one of the best things I ever ate.

When you open the hard spiky shell that specific durian smell appears from these yellow soft kidney like pieces which you eat (see picture below).

According to some beliefs, in order to achieve equilibrium and ying-yang in the human body after eating durian, you should eat the so-called "queen of all fruits" (see picture below). It is called the mangosteen (mangkhut) and you eat these white little kidney like pieces in the middle.

Guava or Farang (see picture above), as many fruits in Thailand it is served with a small bag of a mixture of sugar, salt and chilli for dipping. They told me that this mix is important for the metabolism regulation in this hot and humid climate.

Bangkok is crowded with temples (see pictures below). Buddhism is the majority religion here with about 95%, while the rest belongs to the Muslims, Hindus and others. We even managed to find a Christian community and a school. However, there are temples at every turn, and here are some of the most splendid ones below. The temples are a place of peace and tranquillity, and every day they are visited by locals which give gifts in the form of flowers, fruits, incense and gold leafs. The same applies to the Hindu temples, but it seemed that they have a little bit more lavish gifts. We visited some temples and enjoyed their mantra. I honestly think that the people here are sometimes very confused on the issue of religion as it is often the case that temples have characteristics of both Buddhism and Hinduism, and even there are places of worship with an extra touch of animalistic culture. The fact which is not going into their favour is that at the same time there are thousands of starving homeless but also thousands of rotting bananas and other fruits and vegetables under some relics. It's not different at home anyway. :)

Temple gifts (see picture below), mostly in the form of flowers, fruits and vegetables, incense sticks or gold leaves.

The monks (see picture below), living on prayer, sitting, sometimes begging for food, meditating and seeking peace within themselves. More on Buddhism will be in the following posts.

Floral decorations as temple gifts sold on the street (see picture below).

Sometimes gifts are before each home and on the streets and consist mostly of little flowers, some food and an open juice with a straw (see picture below).

The Lotus flower (see picture below), a symbol of Buddhism. The story goes like this.. Lotus roots are in the mud, stems grow through the water, and a very fragrant flower lies on the water, in the sun. This indicates the progress of the soul from the original, the mud of materialism, through the waters of experience, and in bright sunlight experiencing enlightenment.

For getting around the city there are skytrains, taxis, the "Chao Phraya Express" boat on the river, longtail boats and the tuk-tuk. Certainly the most expensive option is the skytrain, longtail boat and the tuk-tuk because they mostly try to screw you up and charge you more with the standard phrase: "Mister, where you go?". Moreover, they sometimes try to convince you to go to other temples or museums cause apparently those you want to visit are closed. They usually get commissions and try to operate additional miles in the tuk-tuk or taxi to make you pay more. The best and cheapest option is the "Chao Phraya Express" boat and the taxi with a taxi meter, but it is always advisable to make a little research about the prices.

The tuk-tuk (see picture above) and the longtail boat (see picture below).

A taxi with the taxi meter is very useful for the nightlife in Bangkok. All of Bangkok's streets come to life at night. They sell food and clothing, evening marketplaces are full and farangs (Thai word for foreigners, tourists) gather in the brutal tourist street, the Khao San road. There are bars and clubs, there is fried food, drinks, massages and parties. The people are inviting for "ping pong shows" (I will not describe it here as you can look it up in the web) and massages, but it's not as often as one hears from stories. Also, we did not see so much ladyboys how they normally tell. When you visit the north and northeast of Thailand you realize what nonsense this tourist street, full of instant pleasures for the passing-by farang, is.

"Pad Thai" on the Khao San road (see picture below).

Women from the minority group of refugees from Burma (see picture below). they are selling Burmese cigars at a price 20 times higher than the price for the same cigars that I paid in northern Thailand, which in turn are again 20 times more expensive than the same cigars 2 kilometers away in Burma.

Below you can see some more pictures from the Bangkok street.. :)

Power cables in Bangkok, same also in the rest of Thailand (see picture above).

Everybody comes to Thailand to buy a suit (see picture above). Immediately behind this tailor is another one with a sign "2 Suits, 2 Shirts, 2 Ties, 99 Euros." :)

Boats on the Chao Phraya river (see picture above).

Mmmmhhhh, noodle soup with tofu, fish balls and fresh sprouts.

The Lumphini Park in downtown Bangkok (see picture above) and the standard rasta bar in the Khao San district. In the following posts you will see that every place in Thailand has its rasta subculture.

*** When I was doing my research on Bangkok I figured out that this is not the original name of this city.  According to my research Bangkok supposedly means "village of wild plums". As a royal capital, it was situated on the west side of the Chao Phraya river. Today it spread all around and around. However, the commonly used name for Bangkok today is Krung Thep Maha Nakhon meaning "the great city of angels". However, the real name of this town should allegedly be included in the Guinness Book of Records as it contains 163 characters which is more than the New Zealand town with 92 characters. However, according to BBC the New Zealand town is the longest cause the Bangkok one is not used every day.

The original name for Bangkok is:

กรุงเทพมหานคร อมรรัตนโกสินทร์ มหินทรายุธยามหาดิลก ภพนพรัตน์ ราชธานีบุรีรมย์ อุดมราชนิเวศน์ มหาสถาน อมรพิมาน อวตารสถิต สักกะทัตติยะ วิษณุกรรมประสิทธิ์

or,

Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit

or translated,

The land of angels, the great city of, immortality, various of devine gems, the great angelic land unconquerable, land of nine noble gems, the royal city, the pleasant capital, place of the grand royal palace, forever land of angels and reincarnated spirits, predestined and created by the highest devas.

Just as an info, the place in New Zealand is called:

Tetaumatawhakatangihangakoauaotamateaurehaeaturipukapihimaungahoronukupokaiw
henuaakitanarahu