Bangkok

Bangkok has a giant palace with golden roofs.

It is called the Grand Palace. The city also has more than 300 temples called wats. Some have tall, pointed towers covered in patterns. One sits right beside the river.

The walled Grand Palace was built when Bangkok became the capital in 1782, and kings added to it for more than 100 years. Inside its walls is Wat Phra Kaeo, the royal temple of the Emerald Buddha, completed in time for the city's 100th birthday in 1882.

Bangkok has more than 300 Buddhist temples and monasteries, called wats. Many are surrounded by walls and are among the best examples of Thai architecture. Wat Pho, beside the palace, is one of the oldest and largest and was long a center of learning. Across the river stands Wat Arun, known for its tall spire.

Rama I modeled his capital on the former capital, Ayutthaya, and by the end of his reign the walled Grand Palace complex and Wat Pho were complete. Rama II and Rama III added more wats, which served as schools, libraries, hospitals and recreation areas as well as religious centers; Wat Arun, noted for its tall spire, was completed in this period. Under Rama V the triple-spired Chakkri Building in the Grand Palace was finished by 1880, and the royal temple Wat Phra Kaeo, which houses the Emerald Buddha, was completed for the city's centenary in 1882.

Britannica counts more than 300 wats, classic examples of Thai architecture, most enclosed by walls; many lease part of their grounds for homes or shops. Wat Pho, one of the oldest and largest, has often been considered the city's first university. The National Museum holds prehistoric and Bronze Age art and royal objects, and Jim Thompson's Thai House, several traditional mansions, has the country's largest collection of 17th-century Thai religious paintings.

Long ago, people in Bangkok went everywhere by boat.

Canals were the streets! Now there are cars, buses and three-wheeled taxis. A train runs high above the roads. Boats still float on the river.

Bangkok's first roads were water: its maze of canals earned it the name "Venice of the East." When cars arrived, many canals were filled in to make roads. But the canals had also drained the wet land, so flooding became more common, and traffic jams grew.

Today buses, cars and three-wheeled taxis crowd the streets, and since 1999 the Skytrain, an elevated railway, has run above them. Railways and roads lead north to Chiang Mai and Laos and south to Malaysia, and ships use the busy port at Khlong Toei.

Britannica describes a transport system originally based on water, which earned the name 'Venice of the East'. As cars, buses (color-coded by region) and three-wheeled taxis multiplied, most smaller canals and some large ones were filled in; since the waterways had drained the waterlogged delta, low-lying areas flooded more often, and traffic still became gridlocked. A bus authority was set up in the 1970s, and the Skytrain elevated railway opened in 1999.

Roads run north to Laos and Chiang Mai, east to Cambodia and south to Malaysia, and railways reach the borders of Laos, Malaysia and Cambodia. The port at Khlong Toei, linked to the sea by a 27 km channel dug through the sandbar at the river mouth, handles nearly all of Thailand's imports and exports, and Bangkok's international airport is one of Southeast Asia's busiest.

Bangkok is hot all year round.

From May to September, heavy rain pours down in the afternoons. From December to February it is drier and a little cooler. April is the hottest month.

Bangkok is hot all year. In April, the hottest month, highs average about 35 °C and even the nights stay around 26 °C. In December, the coolest month, highs are still about 31 °C, with lows near 21 °C.

About 1,500 millimeters of rain fall in a year, and four-fifths of it comes in the rainy season, from mid-May through September, in short, heavy downpours in the late afternoon. The dry season lasts from December to February. The air is humid, especially in the rainy season.

Britannica describes a climate hot throughout the year, ranging from a mean of 25 °C in the 'cold' season in December to 30 °C at the height of the hot season in April. About 1,500 mm of rain falls annually, four-fifths in brief torrential late-afternoon downpours during the rainy season (mid-May through September); the dry season runs from December to February, and mean monthly relative humidity varies from 60 percent to more than 80 percent.

World Meteorological Organization normals for 1961–1990 give mean daily maxima and minima of 34.9 °C and 26.1 °C in April and 31.3 °C and 20.8 °C in December, with September the wettest month at about 344 mm. Groundwater pumping has caused parts of the city to subside, adding to flood risk on the low delta.

Bangkok has floating markets.

People sell fruit and food from boats on the canals. In the parks, people fly kites in contests at fairs and festivals. Many people come from all over Thailand to live and work here.

In Bangkok's Floating Market, food and goods are sold every day from boats on the canals. Long ago, many such markets and boat sellers served the whole city. In the parks there are fairs, festivals and kite contests, and the National Theatre presents dance, drama and music.

Bangkok is a young city: about two-fifths of its people are under 20, and more than a quarter came from other parts of Thailand. Most people are Thai, and the Chinese community, centered on Sam Peng, is the largest minority. Bangkok has most of Thailand's hospitals and several universities, and many primary schools stand on monastery grounds.

Britannica describes a young population, about two-fifths under 20, with more than a quarter of residents migrants from across Thailand. Most are ethnic Thais; the Chinese, the largest minority, are concentrated in Sam Peng's shop-house commercial district, while Indian, Western and Japanese communities cluster in other areas. The financial district straddles Silom Road.

The wat remains the most important cultural feature: more than 300, most walled, serving as focal points of religious, cultural and even commercial life, and many government primary schools stand on monastery grounds. All of Thailand's daily newspapers are published in Bangkok, in Thai, English and Chinese. Parks host fairs, festivals and kite-flying contests; the 80-hectare King Rama IX Royal Park opened in 1987, and the Floating Market near Wat Sai still sells food and goods from boats.