Thailand: September 2005

Teaching in Khon Kaen

Next month I'll go to Khon Kaen for two months and I'll join a local school to teach children English.

So far I never been in Isan, the north-east of Thailand. I'm very curious how it looks like and how the people are - the Isan People in Bangkok are very nice, kind and humble. I'm sure in Khon Kaen, they'll be no different :)

The Name Bangkok (Krung Thep)

Unless talking to foreigners who don't know any different, Thais will never call their capital city Bangkok - indeed, some Thais in the more remote provinces may never have even heard of it being called that. Instead in Thai it is known as Krung Thep (กรุงเทพ), which roughly translates to 'City of Angels'.

Krung Thep is an abbreviated version of the ceremonial full name, which is shown below.

กรุงเทพมหานคร อมรรัตนโกสินทร์ มหินทรายุธยามหาดิลก ภพนพรัตน์ ราชธานีบุรีรมย์ อุดมราชนิเวศน์ มหาสถาน อมรพิมาน อวตารสถิต สักกะทัตติยะ วิษณุกรรมประสิทธิ์

In English:

Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit

The full version of this article can be found here: Krung Thep, the full name.

Thai Baht

The baht (บาท, symbol ฿, ISO 4217 code THB) is the official currency of Thailand. The issuance of currency is the responsibility of the Bank of Thailand... [Read more]

Below you can see all the available banknotes:

The exchange rates, can be seen here:

RatesFX

Although many things are very cheap in Thailand - for European, American and Japanese people - you can spend in Bangkok easy as much as in Zurich.

Vacation in Phuket

After a few weeks of a lot of work - you might have recognized, that there were no new entries in the blog - I finally had some time for a vacation in Phuket.

A good friend of mine from Switzerland is visiting Thailand and we spent the last week together in Phuket.