Discovering Bangkok

Hi there!

Here we are again! This time live from in Bangkok, the city where we heard so much about.
After our powernap, we were ready to start exploring the capital of Thailand.

As we see while we are wandering around the rich areas of this town, Bangkok is definitely the economic center of Thailand. We noticed a lot of banks and were told by a citizen that all of Thailand’s major commercial banks and final institutions are headquartered in this town.

The next day, we decided to visit the Chatuchack weekend Market! Yesterday, we met a group of tourists from France who visited this market and recommended it. They told us to go on an early hour so arrived at 9 o’clock. It was really impossible to see everything because the market had more than 8000 stands. It was  good thing we went early because at noon it became very hot under the roofs of the stand passageways.

That night, we were invited by the people of France to have a drink. They already have been staying here for 2 weeks and know all the good places to go. Until the end of the 20^th century, Bangkok was seen as the city to party. The citizens  thought that everything in life had to be sanuk (fun). Unfortunately, minister Purichai Piumsombum made an end to this freedom. Lots of people who owned a bad or disco are now in prostitution that’s definitely very much alive in Bangkok.

Massive traffic jams, air pollution and water pollution are the main environmental issues. These are things the population of Bangkok get s faced with every single day. Even with  the recent  construction of an expressway with four levels, many tunnels and flyovers, the traffic jams are still a serious problem. They say the continued popularity of private automobiles and consumer credit for automobile purchases are the major reasons for this.

Because we were a bit tired of all the fuzz in the centre of Bangkok, we visited the Lumphnii Park. This park offers an artificial lake where visitors rent a boat. Hundreds of joggers come here every day, mostly in the evening when it is not that hot.

The Grand Palace is the official residence of the Kings of Thailand from the 18^th century until today. However, the present King of Thailand King Bhumibol Adulyadej does not live here.

After this, we moved on to the “Wat Phra Kaew Sri Rattana Satsadaram” which means Tempel van de Smaragdgroene Boeddha in Dutch. It is the most important temple of Thailand situated within the site of the Grand Palace. Many legends tell the story about the Buddha statue but it’s hard to find out if they are really true. 

Too bad our three days in Bangkok are already over. Tomorrow we are taking the train to Northern-Thailand where our adventure continues.

Lies Descheemaeker

Sources:

http://203.155.220.217/office/ppdd/publicpark/english/index.asp http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangkok http://www.bangkok.com/