Thursday, March 13, 2008

HISTORICAL BANGKOK: HOW THE KLONGS FORMED

Some of these klongs are natural while others are man-made. When Rama 1 founded Ayuthaya and Rattanakosin, Thai engineers dug canals around the perimeter to protect the royal grounds. Other canals were dug across province to cut travelling time. The ease of river travel made boats the prevalent transportation until the mid 20th century when Bangkok abandoned the river travel for land travel. Since then a lot of major klongs had “disappeared” (see sketch).

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