Bangkok Bangkok is the capital of Thailand, which Thai people always call Krung Thep Maha Nakhon, means the City of Angels, was constructed in 1782 or 228 years ago. Foreigners generally call the city by its original name of Bangkok; however, Bangkok or Krung Thep has the real full name as the longest city name in the world. The full ceremonial name of the city is: “Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Phiman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit”
This ceremonial name uses two ancient Indian languages, initiated with the only original Thai word Krung which means capital. It translates to “The city of angels, the great city, the eternal jewel city, the impregnable city of God Indra, the grand capital of the world endowed with nine precious gems, the happy city, abounding in an enormous Royal Palace that resembles the heavenly abode where reigns the reincarnated god, a city given by Indra and built by Vishnukrama”. Thailand northern border is connected to main land with several countries and southern part with the ocean. Because of its strategic location in Southeast Asia, Thailand acted as a buffer-zone between the French and British colonial empires in the past. Bangkok itself has gained a reputation as an independent, dynamic and influential city. Bangkok is the political, social and economic centre of Thailand, and one of the leading cities in Southeast Asia. Bangkok is located at the center of Thailand. Thailand comprises of 77 provinces. The capital Bangkok is a province which has an important administrative division. The Bangkok Metropolitan Region includes 5 adjacent provinces. Presently, Bangkok has approximately 11 million populations in 2011 and it is considered as Megacity, in which usually defined as a metropolitan area with a total population in excess of 10 million people. Therefore, Bangkok is one of the biggest cities in the world. It is the largest urban area and primary city of Thailand. The Bangkok Metropolitan Region covers an area of 7,761.50 km² and has an estimated population of 11,971,000 in 2008 and increasing with a population density of 1,301.42 per km². One of the biggest reasons for the overpopulation in Bangkok is from uncontrolled migration from rural areas. Most of these migrants are educated males or young adult males who work in production, sales, and service. People come to the city for its work opportunities and great facilities. Bangkok is a commercial center full of economic opportunities that are attractive to many poor people. Migration has fluctuated in the recent past due to economic trends. When the economy collapsed in 1997, many people moved back to the rural areas. When the economy bounced back in 1999, people came back to Bangkok, increasing the city's migrant population. Due to the success of the service and tourism industry in Bangkok, the city has gained in popularity for work not only among provincial Thais from the rural areas but with people from many countries in the Indochina region as well as many South Asian countries. In the past 20–30 years, there has been a large influx of Indians, Pakistanis, Persians, Burmese, Cambodians, Laotians and others immigrating to Bangkok. The city is now home to nearly 3-4 million illegal foreigners. There are large numbers of workers who reside outside the metropolitan area and travel into the city for day jobs. The population swells to 15-20 million in the city during the day. As a result, the religions of residents in Bangkok are various. There is Buddhism: 93.4%, Muslim: 4%, Animist: 2.7%, Evangelical Christian: 0.3% and other: 1%. Buddhism is the majority religion in Bangkok and in Thailand. Buddhism influences daily life; monks are highly held in the community, and the center of social and religious life in towns is the Wat or Thai temple. Although Bangkok and Thailand may seem to be full of only Buddhist people, Bangkok has developed as a city with many different ethnic and minority groups that are scattered around the metro area. Chinese people make up the largest concentration of immigrants in the area of Chinatown. In some of the back alleys in Chinatown the Southern Chinese dialect of Teochew is heard more than the Thai language. Muslims have come to Thailand's capital city and settled in clusters around mosques. There are some Muslim restaurants that serve Halal food.
Burmese traders, Khmers, and Laotians have all been assimilated into Thai culture in Bangkok. Vietnamese Catholics created a community called Baan Yuan on Main Street after they fled religious persecution in the 1800s. Indians are found in Bangkok around their clothing shops, the greatest Indian business in Bangkok, in the center of the city. The Indian population has also contributed to the variety of cuisine in Bangkok. Although the statistics have shown very clearly how Bangkok has grown in size and importance in the past several decades, the growth in the past few years has been even more striking. In the early 1990s, the areas within a 40 km radius of Bangkok Metropolis filled up quickly with housing estates, commercial establishments, and such recreational places as amusement parks and golf courses, due to the economic boom of the late 1980s. The benefits from the growth of big cities are already well known: greater employment opportunities, higher wages and salaries, a lower cost of living owing to scale economies, higher productive capacities owing to spatial agglomeration, more and better social services, more varied cultural and spiritual opportunities, and so on. As regards economic benefits, probably the most important benefits deriving from the growth of Bangkok are the income and employment opportunities associated with it. The most critical urban problems of Bangkok today probably involve transportation. Bangkok has a main large river called “Chao Praya” passes the middle of the city from north to south. Bangkok was originally a small trading post on the west bank of the lower Chao Praya River. The capital was later moved to the east bank of the river in 1782. This river and the areas surround it are the main residential area and public services. There are several numbers of the important constructions along Cho Praya River, such as, temples, palace, museums and government offices. The main public transportations in Bangkok are sky trains, buses and boats. Being the fastest-growing area in Thailand in terms of human population as well as automobile population, Bangkok just has not been able to cope with the enormous demand that has been put on its existing road systems. In 1972, police records showed that there were about 243,000 cars in Bangkok, in 1990; the number of cars had increased to 1 million. The solution to traffic problem as a four-pronged approach has been proposed by the Bangkok Metropolitan Region Development Committee (BMRDC). 1. The strategy would call for the construction of many new roads and highways in Bangkok. 2. Develop or improve public mass transit systems. 3. Improve the traffic control systems. 4. Control the value of traffic. These strategies look and sound reasonable, and many of the recommended work plans have already been adopted and are being implemented. The government capital should be invested in these traffic-related infrastructure projects in Bangkok. Most notable of all would be the Sky Train mass transit project, the Airport Toll way project, to improve public transportation systems. It is hoped that if all of the above projects proceed as scheduled, they should help provide substantial relief to Bangkok traffic problems.

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