Bangkok tourist information

An elaborate network of canals (khlong) gave the city the nickname "Venice of the East" at a time when all transportation was done by boat. Today almost all canals have been filled in and converted into traffic-filled streets. However, many do still exist with people living along them and markets being conducted there as well, however they are severely polluted with sewage and nearly everything else. Apichet Kittikorncharoen, a 21-year-old singer of the band D2B, was a famous thai actor who drove into a canal and was fished out alive, but nevertheless got fatal brain infection. A notable one is the floating market in Taling Chan district. There is also Khlong Saen Saeb, which has a canal-boat service, as well as ferries and water taxis on the Chao Phraya River.

Roads
Several elevated highways, newly rebuilt intersections, and many partially-finished road and rail projects dot the landscape around Greater Bangkok, but have done little to overcome the notorious traffic jams on Bangkok's surface roads as private vehicle usage continues to outstrip infrastructure development. Many city residents complain they spend more than half their waking day on the dusty streets on a open-air city bus.

Rail systems
In 1999 an elevated two-line 'Skytrain' (officially called BTS) metro system was opened. The first line of the underground Bangkok Metro opened to the public in July 2004. The remains of a failed elevated railroad project (the Hopewell project) can still be seen all the way from the main railroad station out towards the Don Mueang airport. Due to the Asian financial crisis the construction was halted and the concrete pillars were left unused. Locals call them "Hopehenge," Hopeless, or Stonehenge.

In July 2004, a new MRT subway system was launched connecting the northern train station of Bang Sue to the Hua Lamphong railway station near the city center, while also going through the eastern part of the city. It connects to the BTS system at BTS Stations Mo Chit, Asok, and Sala Daeng.

Political bickering and profiteering also has stalled many promised and planned urban rail projects including Skytrain and subway extensions, and projects that are completed often are very much delayed.

Projected for 2007, a new elevated railroad called "Suvarnnabhumi Airport Rail Link" will be open and operates by SRT, but it may be delayed. It may be link a new Airport to the CAT at Makkasan and the BTS at Phaya Thai, by 28.5 km of distances. There are plans to extend it to Donmuang and Rangsit.

For intercity travel by train, most passengers begin their trips at Hua Lamphong at the southern end of the Metro. Here, trains connect Bangkok to Malaysia to the south, Chiang Mai and beyond to the north, and Khon Kaen and beyond to the northeast.

Bus Service
Virtually all cities and provinces are easily reached by bus from Bangkok. For destinations in the southwest and the west, buses leave from the Southern Bus Terminal, west of the city. For destinations in the southeast, such as Pattaya, Ko Samet and Ko Chang, buses leave from the Eastern Bus Terminal, at Ekkamai, the third-eastern-most stop on the Skytrain. For all destinations north and northeast, the Northern Bus Terminal at Mo Chit, which can be reached by both the Skytrain and Metro, is the place to start. Long distance bus service has become safer as drivers are changed and most no longer take methamphetamines including Ya Baa to stay awake, which often caused excessive speeding and passing on dangerous undivided roads.

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Airports
Bangkok International Airport, commonly called "Don Mueang", the busiest in South-East Asia, is located north of the city, now already enclosed by semi-urban areas. Construction for the new Suvarnabhumi Airport (pronounced Suwannaphum), in the Bang Phli district of Samut Prakan Province to the south-east of the city started in 2002, construction was supposed to start in 1994, but political bickering and Asian financial crisis pushed it back. It is scheduled to be opened on September 28, 2006, and all commercial airline flights will operate from there.

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