Bangkok Nightlife

Bangkok is an excellent city for a "night on the tiles", a dazzling mesh of neon lights and inviting bars make it one of the most exciting cities in Asia for a wild night out. From elaborately designed bars like the Bed Supper Club and Mystique to the Go Go bars full of friendly Thai girls, Bangkok offers an exceptional range of night time entertainment.
2004's Social Order Crusade has introduced entertainment zoning laws into Bangkok, with just three areas in the entertainment zone being granted the late night 2:00 am licence as oppose to 1:00 am elsewhere in the city. It's not all bad news for party goers though as the entertainment zone areas are having money pumped into them and a lot of new nightclubs and bars should result, and if 2:00 am is still too early for you, then don't worry, you will soon find some late night areas that party on until the morning.
The legal age for drinking in bars is 20 years old, and though Thai people will know to take their ID with them to a bar, it's worth mentioning that foreign visitors or residents should always take some form of ID as well (usually just a photocopy of your passport will do) just in case the bar you are visiting is checking IDs on the door.

Bangkok Traffic

qqqBangkok traffic has become a priority issue for the government. Several traffic commissions have been formed but to no avail. Not until His Majesty the King came out to lend a royal hand in mid 1993. The King did not offer a plan. His Majesty took action by putting up his personal fund to buy over 200 motor cycles for the embattled Bangkok traffic policemen to troubleshoot traffic bottle necks, right when and where. The king also studied the causes of various bottle neck spots and designated the plans of remedial action for the authority concerned and in several cases provided the financing himself. The royal intercession spurred various agencies concerned to a flurry of "Dedicated Efforts for The King". Thus, combined with the recent completion of several elevated expressways to drain the overflowed traffic from ground level, Bangkok traffic has come down to a relatively man agreeable level.The Thai economic growth rates having been hovering near the 10% region for more than half a decade, Bangkok is fast becoming Indochina's regional business and financial center. The city is sprouting glass-walled highrises every which way. Thailand's telecommunication system is now approaching state-of-the art, having recently ushered in the era of telecom fibre-optic cable system and satellite. Smartly dressed executives and office workers in western designer's suits throng Bangkok's bustling business districts. The local business talks now are about Merger & Acquisition prospects in Europe and the Pacific Rim countries, mega-projects in China or investment in the emerging Indochinese nations.Now, a plethora of upmarket products from prestigious international makers are flooding Bangkok stores and show-rooms. Regularly appearing in the newspapers are ads from such hallowed names as Patek Philippe, Piaget, Rolls Royce, Bentley, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Porsche, etc. Rolex, Mercedes and BMW's, meanwhile, have become redundant species in Bangkok.

Situnated at the geographic center of the eastern hemisphere, Bangkok's modern Don Muang airport is the hub of the regional air traffic for planes en route east to Japan and Hong Kong, west to Europe and the Middle East, north to China and south to Australia.Lying exactly on the opposite side of the globe from New York, Bangkok time is 7 hours + GMT. When it's noon in Bangkok, it's midnight in New York. Planes leave for the United States take almost equal flight time whether east or west bound. Now, Bangkok is also the gateway city to the emerging Indochinese countries: Laos, Kampuchea, Vietnam, Myanmar, even to China.A Metropolis of over of over 9 million daytime population and two million vehicles, spreading out over 600 growing square kms, Bangkok traffic is simply notorious. The city has only street bus for mass transportation. However, Bangkok is perpetually overrun with taxis, which come in two forms. The ordinary passenger cabs are mostly new, over 1600 c.c. air-conditioned sedans, with and without meters. Bangkok's own is the motorized tricycle version with canopied passenger seat in tandem. Its two-cycle engine spits out staccato noise, hence its name: Tuk-Tuk is a cheap and frisky vehicle, which can find its path through the thickest traffic.

Bangkok Metropolis

Bangkok Metropolis lies on both banks of the Chao Phya, the main river of Thailand, 20 kms upstream from the Gulf of Thailand. King Rama I, the founder of the present Chakri Dynasty built the present capital in Bangkok in 1782. The Royal Founder took great care to build palaces and temples of the new capital in the same style of Ayuthaya, the previous capital, which in turn had its origin from Sukhothai, the first Thai capital built in the 13th century. Both former capitals, now national historical parks, have been placed in the UN's list of world cultural heritages.
The name Bangkok appeared on international navigation charts as far back as the 15th century as an outpost port of Ayuthaya, the former capital where western merchant ships made frequent calls. However, Bangkok has got an official name, so auspicious and long that it goes into the Guinness Book as the longest in the world for a city. In short, the official name "Krung Thep" meaning "The City of Angels", the same name as Los Angeles, which incidentally has a sizable Thai community numbering over 300,000 ethnic Thais, the largest outside Thailand.