Hotels in Silom are the Bangkok hotels in the heart of the old Bangrak, a commercial and entertainment area with a long tradition of royal connections and a quaint history.
These Bangkok hotels are located with banks, commercial buildings, moneychangers, shopping centers, restaurants, street vendors, night markets and other entertainment that Silom Road a hive of activity for both tourists and Thais alike.
Silom, or windmill in Thai, used to be an area covered by orchards and yes, windmills to draw water from the canals to water the vast orchards. The area is in a very old part of Bangkok, the Bangrak district, named after a huge Rak tree trunk found in one of the canals.
There’re other versions of the origins of this name. Owing to the many hospitals in the area, it’s believed the name came from “raksa”, as in healthcare. Whatever the reason, the roads in Silom have a long tradition of royal connections.
Silom Road was built by excavating a canal in the middle to allow for canal and land movement. Several of the roads in Silom similarly constructed and named after noblemen who were awarded royal titles for their contributions to road construction.
The Saladaeng area in Silom was originally royal land. Its name, red-roofed pavilion, was derived from the red roof of the train station built in the area by the Danish railway company. The site of a nobleman’s mansion in Saladaeng is now the Dusit Thani Hotel, one of the prominent hotels in Silom.
Further on, the Swiss Lodge is nestled in Convent Road, named after the walled convent established by the Carmelite Order of Nuns.
Chao Phraya Surawongse Wattanasak gave his name to Surawongse Road, a road parallel to Silom Road, where the Montien Surawongse and Tawana Ramada are located. Chao Phraya is also the highest title in ancient Thai nobility, similar to the Duke in British nobility. The title is no longer in use. The other titles in descending order, with their British equivalents in brackets, are Phraya, (Marquis) Phra, (Earl) Luang, (Viscount) and Khun (Baron). Patpong, the night entertainment area between Silom and Surawongse Roads, was originally the family estate of Luang Patpong Panich, a title awarded to a rich Chinese immigrant. The raunchy activities in the area have somewhat eclipsed its regal origins.
For those who wish to have hotels in Silom within a staggering distance from their watering holes, the Silom Serene and Wall Street Inn would be ideal.
Decho Road, further down Silom Road, got its name from another nobleman, Phraya Siharaj Decho. The Bangkok hotels around this area are Narai Hotel, Silom City Inn, Sofitel Silom, Tower and Triple Two Silom.
The other hotels in Silom closer to the Chao Phraya River are Centre Point Silom, Holiday Inn Silom and Manohra The Lebua at State Tower Hotel (former Meritus Suites State Tower) stands above them all, towering over the Chao Phraya.
What’s Silom like today?
Across the road from the Dusit Thani Hotel, a large tract of Saladaeng became Lumphini Park, a gift from King Rama VI to the people in 1925. Up-market high-rise apartments are sprouting up in Soi Saladaeng, the area behind the hotel.
The subway runs under Rama IV Road, which used to be a canal as well, stopping at the Silom Station below the busy Saladaeng junction, under the benign eye of the King Rama VI Monument.
The subway continues on passing under the Pan Pacific Bangkok and Mandarin Hotel Bangkok.
The red-roofed railway station that gave its name to Saladaeng is no longer there, its place taken by the Saladaeng skytrain station, less the red roof.
In the early 1960s, the canal along Silom Road was filled up for road expansion. So were the canals in the neighboring roads like Surawongse Road.
In Patpong, it’s business as usual. The windmills, of course, are gone.
But the hotels in Silom, the commercial areas and the pavements in Silom Road are still bustling with life.
Hotels in Silom provide a historical background to the areas in which Bangkok Hotels are located. It is hoped that visitors to Tour Bangkok Legacies will be acquainted with the rich history of some of the places they will be passing through.
The author Eric Lim lives in Bangkok, Thailand and writes for the historical travel website Tour Bangkok Legacies a do-it-yourself tour guide for independent travelers.
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Koh Samui And Koh Pangan ? Wonderful Destinations In Thailand
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| Submitted By: Siripong T |
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Koh Samui or Samui Island is a very famous island that people around the world dream to visit. It is located in Gulf of Thailand. It is away to the east from Suratthani province around 84 kilometers. There are roads and streets around the island such as Tawee Rat Pakdee road with 52 kilometers long. The one-third area of the island is smooth area surrounded with mountain. The perfect time to visit this island is between January and May.
The interesting places on Koh Samui
Beach ? Koh Samui has very beautiful beaches around. Some popular beaches that visitors love to go are Chaweng beach and Lamai beach. Some others are Nar Ton beach, Tong Yang beach, Mae Nam beach and Cherng Mon beach.
Waterfalls ? Hin Lad falls, Wa Norn falls and Nar Muang falls are also places that visitors and local people choose to visit.
Hin Ta and Hin Yai (Grandpa and Grandma Stones) are located at Lamai beach. It is a natural wonder of stones in different figures. There is an urban legend that an old couple named grandpa Kreng and grandma Riam sailed their boat to ask for the hand of Grandpa Mong Lai?s daughter in another province. When they passed this Lamai area, the storm sank their sailboat. Both of them were dead and became these two stones as people see nowadays.
Diving area ? There are many places for visitors to dive and see coral reefs and fish around Koh Samui. To rent a boat and diving equipment, please contact the resorts or travel agencies on Koh Samui.
Getting to Koh Samui
There are many ways to go to Koh Samui. You can go to Suratthani province by train or bus and then take a ferry boat to Koh Samui, or you can take a flight to Koh Samui directly.
Koh Pangan or Pangan Island is away to the north from Koh Samui around 20 kilometers. It takes about 30 minutes to get there from Koh Samui. Koh Pangan has very beautiful beaches and blue sea surrounded by woods.
The interesting places on Koh Pangan
Tong Sa La ? The biggest community on the island. It is the center of merchants and the place where people can get on the boat to near islands and Suratthani province. There are also restaurants, hotels and travel agencies there.
Tarn Sadej and Pangan National Park ? includes a lot of green woods and beautiful islands. There are many kinds of wild animals and birds around this park. A rental house and tents are provided for visitors there.
Rin beach ? it is a beautiful and popular beach of Pangan island with 2 kilometers long. You can go there by boat from Tong Sa La. There is also an activity for tourists called ?Full Moon Party? which is a party on full-moon days. Thousands of tourists come to join this party and make this party well-known to people around the world.
You can find more information about Koh Samui and Koh Pangan at my web blog; http://samui-pangan.blogspot.com
Article Tags: beach, koh, samui
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April 26th, 2009 by admin
Recently the big news with Thailand?s new Bangkok airport is continued allegations of corruption and that the new Bangkok airport has some serious flaws with the runways and some of the computer systems. There is some concern as they are talking about moving some of the regional flights back to the old Bangkok airport this would be a major headache for travelers, as you could figure that a lot of people would miss flights that needed to transfer between the two airports, which are on different sides of Bangkok which like LA is scientifically measured not in miles or kilometers, but time units based on day, time, weather, local events and witchcraft
Having been through the new airport several times now it seems to be working fine, on a project this size you would naturally anticipate that there would be teething pains. The first time that I went through the new Bangkok airport my main complaint, besides being so ugly that you need sunglasses to dull the aesthetic ache a bit, was how to find the taxi stands. When you come out of the arrivals it is all limos and charter taxis (which will cost you 5 times as much as a metered cab), with a bit of looking I found out that they are down one flight of stairs. On this trip with my uncles flights from LA due to arrive early I needed to find out how to get a bus to Pattaya quick. Scanning the signage was not very productive, even the signage to find the information booth is hard to find. They do however have excellent signage if you are looking for employee parking, or where they cook the food for the flights or the water treatment plant. Call me silly, but it seems to me that not many people are looking for those things when they get off a flight, but what do I know, maybe they are listed as attractions in the new Lonely Planet? Speaking of water treatment plants, they do not have enough bathrooms and the ones that they have are all ready flooded, Sorry I mean falling apart, you might want to consider going again on the plane before you get off or stop at a gas station I am sure either option is going to be better that the restrooms here.
Another surprise, this one pleasant, was on the arrivals level I picked up a free WIFI signal and got a few emails out and did a little surfing. Another pleasant surprise I was not expecting was being allowed to wait outside the arrival gate, and not be forced to wait in with the placard folks and fight for position with the pros. At the old airport they had an area ahead of you, and you had to get your loved ones quick before the taxi and limousine touts latched on to them, if you were too late you would be forced to pry your loved one from their very determined clutches. In closing all in all everything is just OK, but I do have to say that with time this is still going to be butt ugly airport.
Fred Tittle has lived and worked in holiday vacation resorts his entire life, from Lake Geneva?s Playboy Club, as a rock jock for KSPN FM in Aspen Colorado, he became a PADI Pro Scuba Diver in Hawaii, diving on Maui, Kauai, Kona on the big island, and Waikiki on Oahu. He now owns EcoSea Dive in Sihanoukville Cambodia where he teaches SSI and PADI scuba diving courses and runs liveaboards in the gulf of Thailand and Asia adventure tours, http://www.ecosea.com
Fred?s new project http://www.CheapCharliesHotels.com where he reviews cheap hotels , budget guesthouses, discount accommodations and cheap international flights, but is really an excuse to go scuba diving on vacation more, China is up next.
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Travel To Krabi And Phi Phi Islands - Amazing Thailand Attractions
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| Submitted By: Siripong T |
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Krabi is a province of Thailand located in the southern area and has fantastic beaches along the shore plus many wonderful islands that you just can?t imagine how beautiful they are. Phi Phi Islands is one of the very famous spots in Krabi that travelers can?t miss.
About the weather in Krabi province, there are only two seasons in this region, which is different from other parts of Thailand. The summer season lasts from January to April, and the rainy season lasts from May to December. The temperature is between 16.9 and 37.3 degree Celsius throughout the year.
You can get to Krabi by car or by plane. If you drive there from Bangkok, you go along the highway number 4 through many provinces. The overall distance is approximately 946 kilometers. If you go to Krabi from Phuket, you can use highway number 402 connected to highway number 4 through Pangnga province and Krabi province. The total distance is approximately 185 kilometers. Also, the public transportation companies provide air-conditioned buses for people everyday from Bangkok and Phuket. If you decide to go there by plane from Bangkok airport, it takes about 1 hour and a half to Krabi province.
Diving at Krabi Sea is a very exciting activity that you can?t miss. Scuba diving is very popular there. Many diving service companies provide the travelers boat services from Phuket and Phi Phi Don Island. Some famous diving spots are around Phi Phi Islands and King Cruiser shipwreck. Around Phi Phi Don and Phi Phi Le Islands, there are many diving spots such as Nui beach, Maya beach, and sea caves. You may rent a small boat called Rue Hang Yao from Phi Phi Don Island to these spots. Bidah Islands and Ha Islands (Ha means five) are also popular diving spots.
Phi Phi Islands is one of the famous islands in Thailand located in Krabi province. The word ?Phi Phi? comes from a tree named ?Pi-a-pee.? In 1983, the government of Thailand announced that Phi Phi Islands became a member of Nopparatthara - Phi Phi Islands national park. This park includes six islands which are Phi Phi Don, Phi Phi Le, Bidah Nok, Bidah Nai, Yung and Phai Islands. The distance between Krabi beach and Phi Phi Islands is approximately 42 kilometers.
Lanta Islands is one of the most amazing spots in Krabi. It is located in the far south of the province. In the past, villagers called this islands ?Poo-Lao-Sa-Tak? which means the islands with long beaches. Some famous islands are Lanta Yai Islands, Ngai Island, Rok Nai Island and Rok Nok Island. There are a lot of resorts and hotels on the islands. You can go to Lanta Islands from Krabi beach or Phi Phi Islands.
Ao Nang is a place that has wonderful scenario with beautiful beaches such as Rai Le Beach, Tam Pra Nang Beach and Nam Mao Beach. These three beaches cannot be reached by car because they are surrounded by mountains. You can go there by boat from Ao Nang.
You can read more about Krabi and Phi Phi Islands at my web blog @ http://travel-krabi.blogspot.com
Article Tags: islands, krabi, phi
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