Bangkok - Angels and Canals

Bangkok is certainly a modern city with many skyscrapers and extensive shopping malls, but some descriptions of it as a concrete jungle are a trifle harsh. It is definitely the country's most built-up city but there are a few oases of green within the city boundaries, and just a short ride outside the Thai capital is a whole world of eastern promise just waiting to be discovered.

The Thais call Bangkok 'Krung Thep', which translates as the City of Angels. It is the economic heart of Thailand, has a population of over seven million, and draws millions of tourists each year from all over the world. The city has a massive park in its midst called Lumphini Park - Bangkok's own equivalent of New York's Central Park - and is a popular destination for many locals and tourists.

Canals criss-crossed the city known as the 'Venice of the East' in the mid-19th century well before the invention of the internal combustion engine and concrete allowed the building of roads and highways. Just a short ride in a boat down the waterways and you'll be transported away from the hustle and bustle of modern life into a sample of often unseen Thailand.

The River Chao Phraya waterway is almost 250 miles in length and snakes it way between the commercial heart of Bangkok and the rural suburbs. Here the visitor gets a glimpse of the non-westernised heart of the City of Angels; crowded in amongst crude wooden jetties and piers are houses whose residents get the 'shops' to come to them. Small boats laden with fresh fruits and vegetables sail door to door to selling their produce to residents along the busy waterways.

Monks are revered in Thailand and at the King of Thailand's temple at Wat Rajbopit they offer a warm and friendly welcome to visitors. It is prohibited for Monks to touch women but they can converse quite freely with the opposite sex and they will happily tell you about their religion and the temple's history.

Eating 'street food' in Bangkok is definitely worth a try. It tends to be cheap, delicious and will be nothing like the international cuisine featured at top hotels in Bangkok! Available at any time of day or night, street food is for the adventurous; menus are in Thai so unless you can read them everything you order, usually by pointing directly at the food, will be a mystery dish!

Andrew Regan is an online, freelance author from Scotland. He is a keen rugby player and enjoys traveling.

Related : Travel in Bangkok Thailand