My plan for this trip is to spend a few days in Bangkok before returning to Chiang Mai. Bangkok is a large city, approximately the size of Los Angeles with twice as many people. Bangkok is hot and humid, the traffic is almost chaotic and seemingly always in a frenzy, so it is noisy on the streets, and it is crowded. The negatives are in your face, and it takes some of your energy just to be in the city. But if you are willing to look past the negatives, Bangkok is a wonderful city. I have met ex-pats who are well-traveled, and would live nowhere but Bangkok.

I recently learned that Bangkok is not called Bangkok by the Thai people. Instead it is Krung Thep or Krung Thep Maha Nakhon. The Thai people I have encountered call it simply Krung Thep. The “Maha Nakhon” essentially means “large city” or “metropolitan area”.

I pieced the following from a couple of articles about the name of the Thai capital city:

Today, Bangkok is known in Thai as

Krung Thep Maha Nakhon. Its full ceremonial name, which came into use during the reign of King Mongkut, (King Rama IV) reads as follows:

Krungthepmahanakhon Amonrattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilokphop Noppharatratchathaniburirom Udomratchaniwetmahasathan Amonphimanawatansathit Sakkathattiyawitsanukamprasit

กรุงเทพมหานคร อมรรัตนโกสินทร์ มหินทรายุธยา มหาดิลกภพ นพรัตนราชธานีบูรีรมย์ อุดมราชนิเวศน์มหาสถาน อมรพิมานอวตารสถิต สักกะทัตติยวิษณุกรรมประสิทธิ์

The name, composed of Pali and Sanskrit root words, translates as:

City of angels, great city of immortals, magnificent city of the nine gems, seat of the king, city of royal palaces, home of gods incarnate, erected by Visvakarman at Indra’s behest.

The etymology of the name Bangkok (บางกอก , pronounced in Thai as [bāːŋ kɔ̀ːk]) is unclear. Bang is a Thai word meaning “a village situated on a stream”, and the name may have been derived from Bang Ko (บางเกาะ), ko meaning “island”, a reference to the area’s landscape which was carved by rivers and canals.  Another theory suggests that it is shortened from Bang Makok (บางมะกอก), makok being the name of Elaeocarpus hygrophilus, a plant bearing olive-like fruit. This is supported by the fact that Wat Arun, a historic temple in the area, used to be named Wat Makok, Officially, however, the town was known as Thonburi Si Mahasamut (ธนบุรีศรีมหาสมุทร , from Pali and Sanskrit, lit. “city of treasures gracing the ocean”) or Thonburi, according to Ayutthaya chronicles. Bangkok was likely a colloquial name, albeit one widely adopted by foreign visitors, whose continued use of the name finally resulted in it being officially adopted with the creation of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration.

Next, more details of the trip emerge.