Well if you couldn’t guess from the title I am again in Bangkok, or กรุงเทพ ๆ, as it’s called in Thai. I don’t know if I mentioned this, but that doesn’t actually say “Bangkok.” It in fact says “Krungthep,” which is what the capital is called in Thai. It means “City of Angels,” and the little symbol after it indicates that the name is actually longer. And long it is…probably one of the longest in the world! The official name of Bangkok takes up a full paragraph! So, why do we call it Bangkok in English? Well according to Lonely Planet, the city was founded at the site of a pre-existant fishing village called “Bang Makok,” and Westerners never bothered to adapt to the new name! Nearly all Thais understand “Bangkok” and I even saw it spelled out in Thai letters one time (บงกอก).
On the way up here I was trying to find out how many trips I’ve taken up to Bangkok thus far (including trips to get elsewhere) and I believe it’s my 8th trip up here. I also counted and I have spent 17 cumulative days here!
The purpose of this trip is to pick up my friend Chris who is coming to visit for the weekend; he’s teaching English in Japan. Right now I’m killing time before heading to the airport, as his flight doesn’t get in for 1 hour and 20 minutes (it’s 10:30pm now). I think the plan as of now is to spend 2 days in Bangkok sightseeing and 2 days somewhere else, which has yet to be determined. Maybe we’ll go to an island, or perhaps to see some ruins, maybe back at Ayutthaya (I wanted to return anyways as we didn’t see much when I went with my class). One thing is for sure, it will definitely be an interesting weekend and I get to play tour guide!
Right, well that’s all for now. I should probably see about catching the bus to the airport. I might as well kill some time there waiting for him! I hope he gets out of Customs before 1am!!!
Till later!
เอ๋
(“eh”, said with rising tone. It’s my Thai nickname from Thai class–ปาษษา ไทย)
