Knowing the Roads you Travel

By : Amit Gilboa

Pictures of the King and Queen often adorn Thanon Ratchadamnoen or Walkway of the King Avenue

Although they don’t know it, the people partying along Sukhumvit are on a road whose name means "knowledge of humility". Likewise, the man who just made a new friend at a Ploenchit pickup spot might be amused to know that district’s name means "contentment".

‘Sting’ 10,001!

The streets we travel on and places we go, every day, have names ranging from the musical (Ram Indra) to the confusing (Withayu or Wireless?) to the nearly impossible to remember (Narathiwat Ratchanakharin). While we make fumbling attempts to get the pronunciation correct and try to keep track of where the roads will take us, we rarely give any thought to what the names actually mean.

Beneath the exotic words on our maps lies a whole world of meaning. Place names in Bangkok can be inspirational, majestic, romantic and even humorous. Charoen Krung, for example, means "Flourishing City" and Ratchadamnoen translates to "Walkway of the King". Lovers flock to Bangrak, "Love Village", while Klong Saen Saeb, "Canal of Ten Thousand Stings", is named after the hordes of mosquitoes that breed along the murky waterway.

Bang Lamphu, Olive Tree Village, now has but one of it’s name sake

Decoding place names in Thailand is not as difficult as you might think. An introduction to just a few Thai words will open up a whole layer of meaning as you cruise the streets of Bangkok. It may not make it easier to negotiate the tuk-tuk fare to Wang Suan Pakkad (Cabbage Patch Palace), or to figure out which bus goes to Pathumwan (Golden Lotus), but it will give you a greater appreciation for Bangkok every time you look at a map.

Learning the various Thai words for ‘road’ and ‘city’ is a good place to start. Thanon is the word for a big road or street while soi is a small lane or alley. Some of the sois have grown a bit over the years and physically resemble large roads but they remain sois nonetheless.

Truly a city of Angels

Krung, muang, buri, nakhon, and thani are all words that more or less mean ‘city’. The Thai name for Bangkok, for example is "Krung (City) Thep (of Angels) Maha (Great) Nakhon (City)". "City of Angels Great City" may sound klunky in English but it flows quite nicely in Thai.

Many names of cities, logically, make use of the different ‘city’ words such as:

Petchburi: City of Diamonds
Kanchanaburi: City of Gold
Chanthaburi: City of the Moon
Rajaburi: City of the King
Pathum Thani: Lotus City
Surat Thani: City of Good People

Incidentally, the same buri you see in Thailand makes appearances in places as far apart as Canterbury (England) and Singapura (Singapore).

A post with four elephant heads marks Saphan Hua Chang (elephant’s head bridge) over Klong Saen Saeb

A number of street names in Bangkok also involve the word ‘city’ in its various forms. These include: