Urban Life

        In terms of present-day Thailand, to speak of urban life essentially means to speak Bangkok, for though many provincial capitals have grown rapidly in recent years the national capital is still the ultimate city to every Thai. One out of 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 kilometers on both sides of the Chao Phraya River.
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 when the Eastern Seabord Project gets underway) and 90 per cent of the motor vehicles in the nation are registered there. It is  focal point of Thailand's aviation, railroad, and communications network, as well as the chief destination for the majority of tourists who come annually to occupy its more than 20,000 hotel rooms.
Given such facts, it is not surprising that Bangkok acts as 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 metaphorically and literally, all Thai roads converge on the capital.
By contrast, provincial cities tend to reflect regional characteristics. For example, hat Yai, the south's major city, is growing rapidly but it is still very much a projection of the tin and rubber industries which dominate the region. Chiang Mai in the north is both a coordination point for the agriculture of the area and also famous as a center of northern culture and traditions. Similar, such northeastern cities as Nakhon Ratchasima and Khon Kaen, while prospering on local development, are essentially provincial in all senses of the word.
Only Bangkok, with its huge, diverse population, its shopping centers and highrise office buildings, and its cosmopolitan sophistication presents itself as a city in the international serise of the term. Thus to understand modern urban culture in Thailand, it is necessary to examine the captial in some detail.