8.2 Hotels

   The Peninsula Bangkok recently won Travel and Leisure magazines top hotels list, whilst the Oriental claimed second. The Oriental has previously won world-wide recognition for its magnificent use of land on the Bangkok side of the Chao Phraya. The Oriental hotel offers a panoramic view from roughly all hotel rooms of the river scenery. Plaza Athenee ( a royal meridien hotel), located on Wireless Road, is a beautiful, luxurious hotel with great cuisine and style. The Shangri-La Bangkok, of the Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts chain, also claims to have rivalling picture-perfect sets in their rooms. Sukhumvit Road hosts a series of international chains such as JW Marriot, The Landmark, Intercontinental, Sheraton, The Davis and many more. Somewhat out of the center is the Grand Princess Hotel near the administrative area of the city. This 30-story building has its lobby on the 15th floor, presenting the city's massive skyline. The Banyan Tree on Sathon, part of the Westin Group, one of Bangkok's tallest hotels featured the tallest bar and restaurant in the city, Vertigo, up until the launch of Sirocco on top of State Tower, 247m up from the bustling street set of Bang Rak. Perhaps an underrated and less known hotel is the historical Sukhothai hotel, where at the heart of it all, a corner of peace and tranquility is found.

   There are large numbers of cheap hotels however offering comfortable stays scattered throughout the entire city. Notable is the backpackers paradise of Khao San Road where hotels go as cheap as $5 a night. Motels are uncommon unlike Western cities, however a fast and growing business is a bed and breakfast adapted to suit Asian lifestyle. A variety of these small houses can be found in Ploenchit, Watthana and Klong Toey.

8.3 Shopping

   Thailand has a variety of shopping experiences from street markets to malls. Tourists have historically always preferred markets and bazaars to the other forms of shopping. The Chatuchak weekend market is one of the largest shopping destinations in Bangkok. Water markets are gradually disappearing but remain strong tourist attractions as many tours are offered through the canals the market is located on.

   The huge new shopping complex known as Siam Paragon and CentralWorld on Rama I road in Bangkok's city center is one of the biggest and most luxurious malls in south east Asia; it truly is a Asian marvel. The Emporium, on Sukhumvit Road, is the center of fashion, style, and Siam Square is a very common hang-out place for teenagers, as there is a game floor, a food floor with different types of cuisine, and a cinema. Bangkok also includes over 15 world class malls situated around Bangkok mostly centered around Sukhumvit Road.

9. Transportation

9.1 River and canals network

   An elaborate network of canals, known as ' khlongs ', gave the city the nickname "Venice of the East" at a time when most transportation was done by boat. Today nearly all of the canals have been filled in and converted into traffic-filled streets. However, many khlongs do still exist with people living along them and markets often being operated along the banks as well. However most of the khlongs are severely polluted with sewage and nearly everything else. A notable khlong market is the floating market in Taling Chan district. Through downtown Bangkok runs the Khlong Saen Saeb, which has a canal-boat service, the most extensive of which is the Chao Phraya Express boat run by the Chao Phraya Express Boat Co.,Ltd. There are as many as 30 stops along the both banks of the Saen Saeb khlong. However there are limitations as the further north the boat gets the farther apart are the stations and this impedes the ability of this water taxi to work as a true mass transit system.

9.2 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 an open-air city bus. Bangkok could be known as one of the worst traffic cities in the world but it has built an expressway or second level road on almost every road in the city center, and there continues to be plans for new expressways monthly. The government has also tried many times to improve the state of the traffic in the city center, which can sometimes take 1 hour just to move 1 kilometer.

9.3 Rail systems

   In 1999 an elevated two-line 'Skytrain' (officially called BTS) metro system was opened. 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.

   After much reluctance and commotion of being unable to deal with possible floods and damp soil, the subway was finally opened for use in July 2004. The MRT subway system connected the northern train station of Bang Sue to the Hua Lamphong central 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. Many stations have various designs and concepts with many to install retail shops to draw more commuters, the Hua Lampong station under the Central Rail Station also houses the Rail Museum of Thailand.

   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.

   A new high-speed elevated railroad called the Suvarnabhumi Express, currently under construction, will link the city with the new Suvarnabhumi Airport. The announced opening date is late 2007, but it is expected this will be delayed. The Airport Express railway is to be operated by The State Railway of Thailand. It will provide a 28.5 km link between the new airport and the City Air Terminal (CAT) at Makkasan with connections to the BTS at Phaya Thai and MRT at Petchburi. There are plans to extend the line to Don Mueang and Rangsit.

   Due to completion within the early stages of 2007, the BTS Silom line extension to Wongwian Yai as well as the Sukhumvit line to Sumrong. Plans have already been approved for a further extension from Wong Wian Yai to Bangwah (4.5km), Sumrong to Samut Prakarn (8km), Mochit to Saphan Mai (11.9 km) and the National Stadium to Phran Nok (7.7km) extension of the Silom line which will include 5 underground stations in the Rattanakosin area. The State Railway of Thailand (SRT) have also been given the green light to complete the Dark Red and Light Green lines. Alongside, MRT have also begun construction on 2 new lines, the Purple line from Bang Yai to Bang Sue, the blue line from Hua Lampong to Bang Khae and Ta Pra. Much of this is in a government effort to reduce Bangkokians from relying on personal vehicles and the hope of linking the city within 10 years by a ring road of rail systems.

   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 Nong Khai and beyond to the northeast.

9.4 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 in the Thonburi area which is usually not deailed in tourist maps. 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.

9.5 Airports

   Bangkok is one of Asia's most important air transport hubs. In 2005, more than 90 airlines served Don Muang International Airport (IATA: DMK; ICAO: VTBD) and over 38,000,000 passengers, 160,000 flights and 700,000 tons of cargo were handled at this airport per year. It was the 18th busiest airport in the world and 2nd busiest in Asia by passenger volume and the 15th busiest in the world and 4th busiest Asia in international passenger volume. Don Muang consistently ranked 19th in the world in cargo traffic, and 7th in the Asia-Pacific region. Don Muang is considered to be one of the world's oldest international airports opening in March 1914, making it almost 20 years older than Heathrow. It has 3 terminals and is located about 30km north from the heart of Bangkok.

   On September 28, 2006, Suvarnabhumi Airport (IATA: BKK; ICAO: VTBS), became Bangkok's official international airport, replacing Don Muang. Pronounced Suwannaphum (RTGS), or loosely Su-wan-na-poom, the airport is located southeast of the city center in Bang Phli district, Samut Prakan Province. The progress of Suvarnabhumi Airport dates back to the early 1970s when a large plot of land (8,000 acres, 20,000 rai) was bought. A student uprising in October of the same year prevented further progress with the development when the military government of Thanom Kittikachom was subsequently overthrown. After several military coups and the Asian financial crisis of 1997, construction finally began in 2002, after 5 years of clearing the cobra swamp. The first flights landed in September 2006, shortly after another military coup.

   Much of the construction of Suvarnabhumi Airport took place during the premiership of Thaksin Shinawatra, who took personal responsibility for its timely completion. Despite a 'ceremonial' opening on the planned date, construction was over a year late. Continuing controversy surrounds the quality of planning and construction; accusations include cracks in the runway, overheated buildings, a severe shortage of toilet facilities and lengthy passenger walks to departure gates. The fact of the airport being overcrowded and near its maximum capacity is another concern. Its 2 parallel runways are connected by the 5 concourses of the main terminal building. The airport features a 134 meter-tall control tower, the tallest in the world and one meter taller than Kuala Lumpur International Airport control tower. Airports of Thailand Plc. (AoT) have announced another terminal to accommodate a further 15 million passengers. This will be part of phase 2 of the airport, which is expected to begin construction in 3-5 years. The main airline of Suvarnabhumi is Thai Airways International, which has the most prestigious lounges in the airport.

   Don Muang remains in use as a base of the Royal Thai Air Force and is used for chartered flights. However, there are plans by Thai Airways and its low-cost subsidiary, Nok Air, to use the old airport for domestic flights only, in an effort to ease congestion at Suvarnabhumi until the next terminal is opened.