Bangkok Land of Smile
A lot of first time visitors aren't quite sure what to expect when first arriving in the capital of exotic Thailand, and some may be disappointed by their first impressions on the way into town - endless high rise buildings, busy expressway flyovers and billboards of western companies advertising in English. Yet while Bangkok has undoubtedly embraced westernization and modernization, you only need to look a little under the surface to see that it remains undeniably a Thai place at heart. In between the skyscrapers and
sophisticated shopping centers there's still the remarkable Wat Phra Kaew and the Grand Palace (pictured), the Temple of the Dawnand many more. Traditions live on too: don't be surprised, for example, to find a large dedicated spirit house built for good luck alongside almost every major building, or to see files of Buddhist monks making their early morning alms round - and it's surely one of the only major cities in the world where seeing an elephant paraded round the streets hardly even ranks as being unusual.Amidst all of this is what many find one of Asia's most interesting and exciting cities, but it does have it's fair share of problems also - not least of which is the heat. Due to it's location in the tropics, Bangkok's average day time temperature is rarely much below 30 degrees centigrade at any time of year and the night time temperature is not much cooler. The maximum temperature can occasionally top 40 degrees during the hot season in April / May, when it is, not surprisingly, the low season for tourism. Despite the temperature, it is not all that sunny in Bangkok and most days are grey and overcast - meaning many visitors are surprised when they first walk outside Bangkok airport and discover that what appeared to be a cold, cloudy day is actually uncomfortably hot.
The heat, combined with the humidity and pollution, makes walking a sizable distance in Bangkok almost impossible, and breaking into a sweat after only a couple of hundred meters almost inevitable. The Thai people themselves will rarely walk any significant distance and there's a very large number of cars, buses,taxisand tuk-tuks to help them get about.
Sadly, these combine to make the traffic jams and pollution that Bangkok is justifiably world famous for. The seemingly permanent rot dtit (traffic jam) is a fact of life in Bangkok, and makes simple journeys that should take 20 minutes end up over an hour, even out of rush hour. The relatively small number of roads, the annual floods in September and October, and the hundreds of new cars flooding on to the roads every day don't help matters much either. However, Bangkok's impressive skytrain and new subway facilities combined now cover much of areas of the city a visitor is likely to go to and provide a convenient way to bypass them.
The combined effect of the traffic, heat, humidity, noise, dirt, pollution and the unappealing look of the city makes some want to leave Bangkok almost as soon as they've arrived. Though this is understandable to an extent, Bangkok has a lot to offer those who persevere.
ไม่มีความคิดเห็น:
แสดงความคิดเห็น