Saturday, November 02, 2013

What is the capital city of Thailand?

Krung Thep (pronounced Grung Tape). What happened to Bangkok then ! Well Thai's haven't used
the word Bangkok for nearly 200 years now. Only ignorant foreigners and their encyclopedias use it. Bangkok was a small fishing village until King Rama I moved there in 1782 and renamed it 'Krung Thep'. Although Krung Thep is used for all daily purposes its official full name is ' Krungthep Mahanakhon Amorn Rattanakosin Mahintara Yudthaya Mahadilok Pohp Noparat Rajathanee Bureerom Udomrajniwes Mahasatarn Amorn Pimarn Avaltarnsatit Sakatattiya Visanukram Prasit (quite a mouthful this one).
In Thai it's written as a single word with 152 letters. Krung Thep means 'City of Angels' (yes, the same as Los Angeles). Well if you still insist on using the word Bangkok, in Thai it means Village of Plums.(Well for
those curious, the official Thai name roughly translates as; Great city of Angels, the supreme repository of divine jewels, the great land unconquerable, the grand and prominent realm, the royal and delightful capital city full of nine noble gems, the highest royal dwelling and grand palace, the divine shelter and living place of the reincarnated spirits')

8 comments:

  1. Interesting information!

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  2. Nice facts, your blog is really unique - whenever I come back here, I feel that. Keep writing.

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  3. Thank you so much for bringing awareness :) I will use Krung Thep hereafter! I hope people would understand :D

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    1. The pleasure is all mine Sindhu. Do share your adventures of using Krung Thep.

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  4. Good info. most of the words are Sanskrit derived e.g. Rajthanee: Capital, Udomrajniwas: The grand Royal palace et.c...

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