Since World War II, and especially from the mid-1960s onwards, Bangkok has seen an explosion of modernization, leaving the city without an obvious centre. Most of the canals have been filled in, to be replaced by endless rows of concrete shophouses, sprawling over a built-up area of 330 square kilometres. The benefits of the economic boom of the 1980s and early 1990s were concentrated in Bangkok, which attracted mass migration from all over Thailand and made the capital ever more dominant: Bangkokians now own four-fifths of the nation's cars and the population is forty times that of the second city, Chiang Mai
Bangkok is sprawling, chaotic and exhausting: to do it justice and to keep your sanity, you need time, boundless patience and a bus map. The place to start is Ratanakosin , the royal island on the east bank of the Chao Phraya and location of the Grand Palace, Wat Po and the National Museum . The other main areas of interest are Chinatown for its markets, Thonburi for its traditional canalside life and boat rides; and several impressive historical residences in downtown Bangkok, including Jim Thompson's House and Suan Pakkad . If you're here at a weekend, you shouldn't miss the enormous Chatuchak Weekend Market .
