The river, and the working day it keeps
The Chao Phraya carries commuters, not tourists, and the city turned its back on it.
In this section
3 guides. Everything on the site is in the archive.
- The first paved road was cut for people who wanted to driveCharoen Krung was paved in 1864 because the foreign community asked for somewhere to take a carriage. It set the line the modern city grew along.
- A commuter service that still beats the trafficThe Chao Phraya express boats run to flag colours rather than a timetable, and for a stretch of the city they remain the fastest way north.
- The canals were filled in and the drainage went with themBangkok was a canal city. Most of the klongs became roads in the twentieth century, and the flooding that follows is the direct consequence.