"One of my favorite cities in Asia" a Bangkok Travel Page by trisanna

Bangkok is one of my favorite cities. It's very different than Singapore and other cities that i have lived in. Bangkok is a city that is very much alive. It has vibrancy, grit and sleaze-but cultural rewarding with it's amazing temples, food and arts. Bangkok is not a squeaky clean modern city, but is easy to get around in-with the sky train, subway and river taxis. There are many malls, shopping centers and markets-that you will be easily spoiled for choice in this city.

Bangkok is not a very old and historic city in Asia. North of Bangkok, the city of Ayuthaya, was once the capital of Siam. In the mid 1700's the capital was moved to Thonburi (across the Chao Phraya, river, from modern day Bangkok. In 1782, King Rama I moved the capital of Siam to Bangkok-the King felt this city would be easier to defend. Bangkok was known to foriegners or "farangs" as the Venice of the east due to many canals or "klongs" . Many of these klongs have been filled in, but you can still take a nice boat ride up the Chao Phraya and up the klongs, which are full of residential homes-some quite old.

Thailand and Bangkok flourished during the 1990s. The country was dubbed as one of the Asian tigers. In 1997, the Thai economy crumbled and their currency, the baht lost a lot of its value. There are many abandoned buildings around the city that were dreamed of when the baht was strong.The building stopped when the money ran out. Nowadays, the Thai economy is growing and getting back to where it once was. Buildings are going up, new hotels and restaurants are joining Bangkok's skyline.

Bangkok is a very interesting city and deserves atleast three days of your time. There is so much to see here.