Bangkok

Bangkok began as a river settlement, chosen in the late eighteenth century as the new capital after Ayutthaya fell to Burmese forces. The Chao Phraya still shapes the city's logic: canals once carried more traffic than roads, and the old royal district on the river's east bank remains the ceremonial heart of Thailand, home to palace walls and temple roofs that catch the light in gold and green.

Beyond that historic core, Bangkok sprawls with little apparent plan. Modern towers rise beside teak shophouses, expressways loop over canals, and neighbourhoods run together without clear edges. This is a city that grew fast and kept growing, absorbing migrants from across Thailand and abroad, and the result is a place defined less by uniform character than by sheer variety pressed close together.

Buddhism remains a visible thread through daily life, from monks collecting alms at dawn to the elaborate temple complexes that punctuate the skyline. Yet Bangkok is equally a commercial capital, one of Southeast Asia's great trading cities, its markets and malls doing as much to define the place as its shrines.

Food, in particular, ties the whole city together. Street stalls, family-run shophouses and formal restaurants all draw on the same deep well of Thai culinary tradition, and eating well here rarely requires much effort or expense.