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The Land and Its People
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Urban Life
In terms of present-day Thailand,
to speak of urban life essentially means
to speak of Bangkok, for though many
provincial capitals have grown rapidly
in recent years the national capital is the
ullimate city to every Thai. One out of
every ten Thais lives in Bangkok, which
is 45 times bigger than Chiang Mai,
the second most populous city. The
metropolitan area now covers some
1,537 square kilometres on both sides
of the Chao Phraya River and new
suburban areas are continually being added.
Almost all major domestic and
foreign companies are located in the
capital, as are all government ministries
and most of the country's leading
educational, sporting, and cultural
facilities. The greater part of Thailand's
imports and exports pass through
Bangkok (though this may change as
Laem Chabang deep sea port expands to
feed the Eastern Seaboard and 90 percent of the motor vehicles in the nation
are registered there. It is the focal point
for Thailand's aviation, railroad, and
communications nelwork. as well us
the chief destination for the majority of
tourists who come annually to occupy
its more than 200,000 hotel rooms.
Given such fact, it is not surprising
that Bangkok acts us a magnet for people
from all parts of the country. They come
to be educated at its schools, colleges,
and universities, to find employment in
its numerous factories and commercial
firms, or simply to see its famous
buildings and monuments and enjoy its
highly varied pleasures. Both literally and
meiaphorically, all Thai roads converge on the capital.
By contrast, provincial cities tend
to reflect regional characteristics. Hat Yai, tor example, the south's major city,
is growing rapidly but is still very much a
projection of the tin and rubber industries
that dominate the region. Chiang Mai in
the north is both a coordination point
for the agriculture of the area and also
famous as a centre of northern culture
and traditions. Similarly, such northeastern
cities as Nakhon Ratchasima and
Khon Kaen, while prospering from local
development, are essentially provincial in all senses of the word.
Only Bangkok, with its huge.
diverse population, its shopping centres
and highrise office buildings, and iis
cosmopolitan sophistication, presents
itself as a city in the international sense
of the term. Thus to understand modern
urban culture in Thailand, it is necessary
to examine the capital in some detail.
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