Bangkokian you meet has a story. Although no doubt a majority find themselves here owing to the simple fact that they were born in the city, a healthy percentage of the population hail from other parts of Thailand and from around the world. Some migrate for the promise of work, others for the promise of a life in new and exciting circumstances.
Illuminated temple buildings combine with light-festooned trees, a fading sunset and the blur of vehicle lights to produce one of Bangkok's classic dusk scenes.
The Victory Monument, commemorating the end of World War II, is one of the city's most immediately recognizable landmarks.
A stairway leading from the Skytrain platform at Siam Square leads to MBK Center, one of the most popular budget shopping centers in the city.
Buses and cars edge along a city street during rush hour. Bangkok is notorious for its traffic jams and the opening of a new subway system in 2004 has helped alleviate the problem.
Official estimates place Bangkok's population at eight million, though some sources claim this figure may be a million or two short. An astonishing 3,600 residents compete for every square kilometer, propelling a creative turbine that never ceases as the city's past and future co-evolve, from farms to freeways, spirit shrines to art galleries. Visitors may not be surprised to hear that one out of 10 Thai citizens lives in Bangkok, or that roughly 60% of the country's wealth is concentrated here.
Only a little over half of the city's inhabitants are in fact true Bangkok Thais, that is people born of Thai parentage who speak Bangkok Thai as their first language. Thais are found in all walks of life, although they make up the backbone of the city's blue-collar work force, prominently construction, automotive repair and river transport. Although Thais can naturally be found in all corners of the city, the old rich tend to live in walled manors in Suan Phlu and Pathumwan, the middle class in tall condo projects off Sukhumvit Road, the working class along the river and the poor in the slums of Khlong Toey or Makkasan.
Over a quarter of the city's population come from Chinese or mixed Thai and Chinese descent. Chinese influence can be felt throughout Central Thailand's Chao Phraya Delta but in Bangkok it is so strong that in certain areas of the city— such as Yaowarat, Bangkok's Chinatown, or Pathumwan, the city's wealthiest precinct—you can almost imagine you're in Hong Kong or Singapore rather than Thailand. The influence extends to the Bangkok dialect, which brims with Chinese vocabulary, even among non-Chinese. Many Chinese Thais in the capital can converse in at least one dialect from the old country, such as Cantonese, Hainanese, Hokkien or Chiu Chau, in addition to Thai.
At the Lak Muang or City Pillar shrine, Bangkokians kneel and pay their respects to the capital's invisible guardian deities, while a hired Thai dance troupe offers a ceremonial performance.
Whether immigrant or Thailand-born, Chinese residents probably enjoy better relations with the majority population here than in any other country in Southeast Asia. Thai rulers in the 18th and 19th centuries made liberal use of Chinese businesspeople to infiltrate European trading houses, a move that helped defeat the colonial designs of the Europeans. The Thai monarchy also accepted the daughters of rich Chinese families into the royal court as consorts, thus deepening political connections and adding a Chinese bloodline that extends to the current Thai king.
Although Chinese Thais live in virtually every quarter of the sprawling city, their presence is most evident in a densely populated core of multi-story shophouses along Charoen Krung and Yaowarat roads near the Chao Phraya River, a precinct known as Yaowarat or Sampeng. The Chinese in these areas tend to engage themselves in all manner of commerce, from wholesale trade in auto parts to the manufacture of high-end kitchen utensils. In other parts of the city they dominate higher education, international trade, banking and white-collar employment in general.
A khon (Thai classical dance-drama) troupe performs a chapter of the Indian epic Ramayana outdoors.
With the Skytrain whizzing by above, city residents offer flowers, candles and incense to the most famous Brahma shrine in the capital.
Also prominent are people of South Asian descent, who make up Bangkok's second largest Asian minority. Most trace their heritage to northern India, including many Sikhs who immigrated after the 1947 Partition of India. Other South Asian nationalities found in Bangkok include Sinhalese, Bangladeshis, Nepalese and Pakistanis. Most of the city's South Asians can be found in two areas. The heaviest concentration find themselves wedged in at the north end of Yaowarat between Chakraphet and Phahurat roads, in an area known as Phahurat or Little India. South Asian residents are also more thinly spread along and nearby Charoen Krung Road, near the junctions with Silom and Surawong roads, an area collectively known as Bang Rak. In both areas they operate a multitude of successful retail businesses, particularly textile dealers and tailor shops.
Malays and Thais who are part-Malay and who adhere to Islam make up the third largest minority in Bangkok. Like residents of South Asian descent, many can be found living in Bang Rak, and like the majority Thais they tend to be found in blue-collar jobs.
Centuries before Thais migrated into the area, the Chao Phraya River delta in and around Bangkok was home to the Mon. Bangkokians of Mon descent can still be found in some districts, particularly on Ko Kret, an island in the middle of the river in northern Bangkok and in neighboring Pathum Thani Province. The Mon have their own language and culture, both of which have exercised a significant influence on modern Thai culture. The practice of Buddhism in Thailand in particular owes much to early Mon forms of Theravada Buddhism existent before and during the reign of King Rama IV, who incorporated certain religious reforms keyed to Mon Buddhism. Thai cuisine has also been influenced by Mon cooking, producing such dishes as khao chae (moist chilled rice served with sweetmeats, a hot season specialty).
Bangkok residents of European descent may number around 25,000. The vast majority, unlike their Asian counterparts, find themselves in Thailand for only a few months or years to work or study. Perhaps reflecting their significant roles in the early development of Bangkok, residents of German and British descent appear to be most prominent.
Yet the city continues to lure rural Thais, international investors, and curious visitors from around the world with its capacity to pull together the carnal, the spiritual and the entrepreneurial under one roof. Bangkok’s legendary tolerance lends equal support to the monk and the playboy, to the beggar and the Benz dealer. You can slurp down a chili-laden plate of phat khee mao (fried rice noodles) from a street vendor while standing outside a US$250-a-night hotel. Bid your life savings on local shares at the Stock Exchange of Thailand or have your muscles gently kneaded for an hour and a half at a Thai massage hall for less than the price of a cinema ticket in most world capitals. For absolutely free, take a meditation cell at Wat Mahathat and contemplate your life’s choices for days, weeks or the rest of your life.
