So here we are. Metroblog:Bangkok is live! Manned by a motley crew (no, not the motley crue) of Thais, semi-Thais and absolutely not-Thais and posting stories of interest from the City of Angels (as some people call it, but what kind of angel would live here I wonder!). As always, we’ll be looking for new contributors and links – get in touch if you are interested, or click here for info, but, if not, just enjoy the site!
Bangkok Taxis
Bangkok Classifieds Always insist on the meter. If they refuse, get out. There will be another taxi along in about 2...
Wrong Sorry to read this but you obviously didn’t understand at all how it works. There’s nothing much to...
KV Sorry that you had this bad luck. It seems that somehow the taxis smell tourists. And smell also when you have...
Brief Updates from MBHQ
me, david Welcome back ! Looking out for some new posts (was getting tired of paknam web :p)
Come Blog With Us
aljones15 I commented!!!!!!!!!!!!!
‘some people’ would be the whole of Thailand. :) We don’t really call Bangkok ‘Bangkok’, but ‘KrungThep’.
krung = city
thep = god or angel
So, uh, as Bangkokians, does this make us angels? ;)
Yeah yeah ok :) So answer this then… Why is it called Bangkok? I never figured that one, if all the Thais call it Krung Thep?
This is what I remember from my Thai Civilization class: Apparently Bangkok was the name of a small fishing community, and later, when it expanded to both sides of the Chao Phraya they simply decided to name the city as such since it was located smack in the center of town.
The original name of the village/community was Bang, and they added “Kok” later, which comes from the Thai word “makok” (olive… apparently the village had an abundant supply of wild olives.)
There’s an interesting read about the name here:
http://www.into-asia.com/bangkok/introduction/fullname.php
I think it would make a nice post here, but it’s already written quite well there I don’t know what to add. :P
Yeah that’s a good read. Interesting though that noone has ever really tried to correct the world as to the name change. I mean, we all managed when Siam became Thailand!
And Krung Thep sounds so much better than Bangkok.