Bangkok

This name is actually not correct as far as the Thai's are concerned. It translates to "Village of the Wild Plum" which it was before it became the capital of the Kingdom. Once that happened a far more illustrious name was given to it, which in short is Krung Thep or "City of Angels". The FULL name is however:

Krungthep Mahanakhon Bovorn Ratanakosin Mahingharayutthaya

Mahadilokpop Noparatratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniveymahasathan

Amornpiman Avatarnsathit Sakkathattiya-avisnukarmprasit.

This translates as a bit of an identity problem to me, but literally it means:

Great City of Angels, the Supreme Repository of Divine Jewels,

the Great Land Unconquerable, the Grand and Prominent Realm,

the Royal and Delightful Capital City Full of Nine Noble Gems,

the Highest Royal Dwelling and Grand Palace, the Divine Shelter

and Living Place of the Reincarnated Spirits.

This is a well trimmed version of the map of Bangkok. however it shows most of the important aspects of the city. In the top left hand corner is where the Royal palace is...and where I work. As you can see there are three enterances to the kings residence. The one on Rama V is used only by the king. The top one is the main gate. This is the one that I use when the third one on the bottom is closed (after 6pm). The bottom one of goes to the school where I teach and the big black dot is where the school is.

Then on the top right corner is where I used to work on the weekends. This area is called Victory Monument. There is a big monument that is supposed to represent some victory against Burma that no one really knows about! This is also the main roundabout for the buses in the city, from here you can go to anywhere in the city for about 10cents/US. (3.5baht).

Finally the place on the far left is where I live. At the intersection with the highway (red) the road that leads SE is the longest street in the world. We live at Soi 1 which the first street off Sukumvit. The rest of the street extends all the way to the border of Cambodia.

This is where I worked on the weekends. The school was called Nava and is internationally well known. If you would like more information about this place, e-mail me...they need teachers and the pay is decent. The work there I would say is more fun, than it is hard.

How's this for getting your meat fresh?! This was taken around Soi 65 on Sukumvit where there is a huge meat market under the overpass. The smell there was somthing else, and the sights were equally as enticing! I would think that most of the fish were caught from the local klongs (canals) as most of them were catfish or some similar variety. They also had many other kinds of animals there for sale in various shapes and sizes (dead or alive). Why the tour busses fly past this place has me puzzled a bit, I think this place should be recomended to the TAT office!

This was taken on the other side of the meat market. Not a great picture, but it shows a little of what a typical lower income Thai would have for a house. The city is full of these slap-together wood houses, many ironically beside apartment complexes and other modern buildings.

The last supper

More to come...