city of angels
thailand | travelled in 2012 | posted on oct 09, 2012
so, is thailand a developing country, an emerging country or already an industrialized country? if you follow that discussion, you will very soon notice that there are different points of view. i guess this is due to the fact that in thailand the stage of developement is very different between rural areas and the cities. especially in bangkok, the average income is about ten times higher than in the country side. therfore bangkok has an increasing middle and upper class with a substantial wealth. this can be seen everywhere in the shopping malls or on the streets. but there you can also see that this does not apply to everyone.
the official name of bangkok is "krung thep mahanakhon", meaning "city of angels". unfortunately, here not all angels do live in paradise.
to be precise, the full name of bangkok is "krung thep maha nakhon amon rattanakosin mahinthara yutthaya mahadilok phop noppharat ratchathani burirom udom ratchaniwet maha sathan amon phiman awatan sathit sakkathattiya witsanukam prasit", or in thai script:
กรุงเทพมหานคร อมรรัตนโกสินทร์ มหินทรายุธยามหาดิลก ภพนพรัตน์ราชธานีบุรีรมย์ อุดมราชนิเวศน์ มหาสถานอมรพิมาน อวตารสถิต สักกะทัตติยะ วิษณุกรรมประสิทธิ์
this makes it the world's longest place name (yepp, it is in the guiness book of world records). and if you now ask yourself if this has a meaning, of course it has:
"city of angels, great city of immortals, magnificent city of the nine gems, seat of the king, city of royal palaces, home of gods incarnate, erected by vishvakarman at indra's behest."
i am quite sure that some of you will think that these pictures should be not shown or are considered "poverty porn". i have also struggled hard with myself if i should or shouldn't. but for me travelling to a place is more than just visiting nice places and if you check my blog, then you see that it is not my concern to show just sugar-coated, iconic postcard-views. i want to show life as i find it, which also includes these uncomfortable situations that i don't want to fade-out. and living and travelling together with a social scientist for many years now, analyzing and discussing the social situation of a place is always a major part of our travel.
