From the archive record
Slow traffic in Bangkok street during rush hour. Bangkok's traffic is notorious with good reason. It's very easy to get caught up in gridlock traffic any time of the day or night, and waste a lot of valuable time Bangkok is the capital and the most populous city of Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon. The city occupies 1,568.7 square kilometres (605.7 sq mi) in the Chao Phraya River delta in Central Thailand, and has a population of over eight million, or 12.6 percent of the country's population. Over fourteen million people (22.2 percent) live within the surrounding Bangkok Metropolitan Region, making Bangkok an extreme primate city, dwarfing Thailand's other urban centres in terms of importance. Bangkok traces its roots to a small trading post during the Ayutthaya Ki