Most visitors to Thailand are greeted first by the hustle and bustle of Bangkok, the capital and largest city. Bangkok is the cultural, political, and economic center of Thailand.

Bangkok has a population of over 11 million people, and this number continues to increase as more people from rural areas come to Bangkok in search of work opportunities. The growth in population has resulted in congestion and overcrowded slum areas. Some sources estimate that roughly 1 million people live in slum conditions.

Bangkok used to be called “the Venice of the East” because its original buildings stood on stilts above the Chao Phraya River. A system of canals, on which people were ferried by boat taxis, crisscrossed the city. The canals also served as marketplaces, where merchants used small boats to peddle their goods throughout the city. As Bangkok grew larger, cars became more popular, and all but a few canals were filled and paved to make roads. However, one flourishing market still remains in Bangkok and is a popular tourist site. River taxis still carry passengers up and down the Chao Phraya River, which now runs through the heart of the city.

The increase in roads made by filling in the canals is still not enough to handle the increase in traffic that is accompanying the city’s population growth. Some sources doubt that the metro train system, which commenced in 1999, will improve the congestion. Bangkok has some of the worst traffic jams in 1995 during the Songkran public holiday, when, at its worst, it took drivers fourteen hours just to leave the city.

THAI FUNERAL - Chinese & Thai

In Tradition, Thai funeral lasts for a week. Crying is not encouraged at wake, so as not to worry the deceased. Monks are invited to chant prayers that are intended to provide merit for the deceased, as well as to provide protection against the possibility of the dead relative returning as a malicious spirit. A photo of the deceased from his/her best days will often be displayed next to the coffin. Often, a thread is connected to the corpse or coffin which is held by the chanting monks during their recitation; this thread is intended to transfer the merit of the monks' recitation to the deceased.The urn with the ash is often kept in the Chedi(temple) in the local temple. Unlike, the Chinese in Thailand buries the deceased.

THAI FOOD - TOM YUM