Salt * Wet * Fish

Was flipping through the Thailand rough guide recently and decided to finally find out what the fish Krung Thep (Bangkok) means, since other places like Chiang Mai (new City) or Ayuthaya (named after a city in the Ramayana) all have meaning and this is what I found…

Quoted from Rough Guide to Thailand:

When Rama I was crowned in 1782, he gave his new capital a grand 43-syllable name to match his ambitious plans for the building of the city. Since then, 21 more syllables have been added. Krungthepmahanakhornbowornratta-
nakosinmahintarayutthayamahadilokpopnopparatratchathaniburi-
romudomratchaniwetmahasathanamornpimanavatarnsathitsakka-
thattiyavisnukarprasit is certified by the Guinness Book of Records as the longest place name in the world, roughly translating as “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 lull of nine noble gems, the highest royal dwelling and grand palace, the divine shelter and living place of the reincarnated spirits”. Fortunately, all Thais refer to the city simply as Krung Thep, though plenty can recite the full name at the drop of a hat. Bangkok - “Village of the Plum Olive” - was the name of the original village on the Thonburi side; with remarkable persistence, it has remained in use by foreigners since the time of the French garrison.

Wonder if MacDonalds in BKK will ever have a free burger if you can recite that in one breathe.

Well, went for my first trip to Chiang Mai, I must say that things are apparent more expensive in CM than BKK! I guess that’s because there are less competition. But I must say that if you wanna buy art works, its much more and better in Chiang Mai, BKK standard is repetitive and not as good, plus I don’t know why everyone loves to paint the Afghan girl’s portray.

Found a very interesting and cute original artist’s handiworks from $2,000 baht onwards, guess will be there to pick one or two of her artwork when I get my new cheapo flat at BV renovated next year.

Was a rainy season in CM and the streets at the night bazaar is quite empty, well in rained both nights at the bazaar, but good think is that there is an indoor bazaar to avoid the rain. Good if you want to avoid the squeeze, bad if you don’t want dozens of tuk-tuk and song teaw drivers honking at you at every corner of the streets. Surprise to know that CM also floods, apparant the River Ping (Mae Ping) over flowed 2 weeks ago and flooded the streets. Khao Soi is so so…

But I must say that I liked the temples in CM more than the over-decorated ones in BKK. 1st class trains is quite comfy albeit not cheap, but you get your own little quiet bunk to dump your stuff, although you can hear your noisy neighbours.

(For those who don’t like to hear gross stuff, you can stop reading now!!!!)
Incidentally… its only so recently that I realised that the santition system in Thailand (thanks to Akasha) does not take well to toilet paper. Imagine I have been flushing them down the Thai horng nams for a few years! Basically, if you see a bin in the cubicles in the toilet, you should dump your papers (with crap) into the bins, NOT into the toilet bowls.