Sights—The Grand Palace; Wat Pho; Chatuchak market; the sunset over Wat Arun; the Chao Phraya River.

Museums—The National Museum; the Royal Barges National Museum; Jim Thompson's House; Vimanmek Teak Palace; Kamthieng House.

Memorable Meals—A dinner cruise on the Chao Phraya River and Canal aboard the Manhora; seafood and fabulous views at Supatra River House; fine Japanese food at Koi.

Late Night—Jazz at The Living Room; eat, drink and dance at the chic BarSu; dancing at the Bed Supperclub; Mekong whiskey and street eats at sidewalk restaurants day or night.

Walks—Traversing Sukhumvit Road; exploring the little shops of Chinatown; strolling through Lumpini Park in early morning.

Especially for Kids—Venom-milking demonstrations at Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute Snake Farm; crocodile wrestling at the Crocodile Farm & Zoo; Siam Ocean World.

Old Bangkok sits on the east bank of the Chao Phraya River. It encompasses many government buildings, as well as important landmarks such as the Grand Palace, the Temple of the Reclining Buddha (Wat Pho) and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha (Wat Phra Kaew).

Many businesses and hotels are located in the city center, east and southeast of Old Bangkok in the Silom and Sukhumvit areas. The Sukhumvit Road district is the tourist heart of the city, with many fine restaurants, department stores, world-class business hotels such as the Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit, and the city's hippest bars and clubs. Nightlife thrives in Sukhumvit and Silom (Silom is where you'll find Patpong, the infamous red-light district). Around the intersection of Rama I and Phayathai roads is Bangkok's major shopping hub with many blocks of shops.

Another area for posh hotels and fine shopping is along the river north of Thaksin Bridge. There you find the Oriental, Shangri-la, the Hilton Millennium and Peninsula hotels, as well as the River City Shopping Complex, a great place to source Asian antiques.

Be aware that some addresses include a soi number at the end. A soi is a small side street or alley. In such cases, the first numbers usually indicate a building, followed by a street name and then the soi number. Example: 21/3 Sukhumvit 11 would mean that the building 21/3 is off Sukhumvit Road and down Soi 11. You may also see this written as 21/3 Sukhumvit Soi 11. And don't look for consistency in spelling of street names or tourist spots—there are no hard and fast rules for transliterating Thai into English. For example, you'll soon find out that Rajadamri Road and Ratchadamri Road are one and the same, as are Chitlom and Chid Lom, and Triamit and Tri Mitr.

Until the late 1700s, the area now known as Bangkok was a small village across the river from the then-capital of Thonburi. In 1782, under the threat of a Burmese attack, the capital and its inhabitants moved to the village, which was named Krung Thep. (The Burmese attack never came.) It was not until the late 1800s that Bangkok took off as a trade center in the region. Bangkok's rise as a trading power owed much to the enterprising King Mongkut and his son King Chulalongkorn, who both developed relations with the West. By positioning itself as a Western ally, Thailand was the only country in the region never colonized, and to this day, the country has a mutually beneficial relationship with the West.

After a revolution in 1932, Thailand's monarchs lost their absolute power as the government adopted a constitutional monarchy. After protests brought down a military government in 1992, the military stayed out of politics, and a constitution promulgated in 1997 was seen as a major step toward democratic rule.

But the military stepped in again in September 2006, ousting Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's Thai Rak Thai government in a bloodless coup d'etat. In late 2006 and early 2007, the military-appointed government wrote a new constitution. In December 2007, in a move to return the country to democracy, a general election was held and was won by the People's Power Party (PPP), led by Samak Sundaravej and sympathetic to deposed Prime Minister Thaksin. Thaksin has vowed to return to Thailand, not to re-enter politics but to fight allegations of widespread corruption during his tenure; however, his presence is bound to cause unrest in the country. Samak won the election but not with an overall majority. A coalition government lead by the PPP is currently taking shape.

In the 1960s, soldiers on leave from the Vietnam War flooded into nearby Thailand, using the country as a place for rest and recuperation. In the decades that followed, a significant economic boom and the development of a strong tourist industry transformed Bangkok into a bustling, smoggy, skyscraper-filled metropolis.

Bangkok spent two decades trying to recover from major health and financial crises. The AIDS explosion in the 1980s hit Thailand especially hard because of the widespread prostitution throughout the country. Likewise, the Thai economy suffered a violent shock in 1997, when the national currency lost much of its value. Thailand's successful efforts to fight HIV/AIDs have been recognized internationally, and the worst economic woes appear to be over, though development has not returned to the booming growth rates of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Tourism has quickly become the country's chief source of foreign capital.

Bangkok has the longest official city name in the world: Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amorn Rattanakosin Mahintara Yudthaya Mahadilok Pohp Noparat Rajathanee Bureerom Udomrajniwes Mahasatarn Amorn Pimarn Avaltarnsatit Sakatattiya Visanukram Prasit. The translation means, "The city of angels, the great city, the eternal jewel city, the impregnable city of God Indra, the grand capital of the world endowed with nine precious gems, the happy city, abounding in an enormous Royal Palace that resembles the heavenly abode where reigns the reincarnated god, a city given by Indra and built by Vishnukam." Although known as Bangkok to foreigners, Thais simply refer to the capital city as Krung Thep.

Upon meeting, Thais commonly ask, Kin khao yang or "Have you eaten yet?" This isn't an invitation but simply a polite comment.

The Royal Dragon in Bangkok is recorded in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's largest restaurant. Spread over 8 acres/3 hectares, the restaurant employs more than 1,000 staff and can seat 5,000 guests. Serving from a menu of more than 1,000 dishes, servers deliver the food on roller skates. Some fly from one end of the restaurant to the other on a cable. The kitchen staff can turn out 3,000 dishes per hour and offers Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and European cuisine.

Wat Pho is arguably the most impressive temple in Bangkok and is situated just across the road from the Grand Palace. It is thought to be one of the city's oldest temples, dating back to the 16th century, and houses a massive reclining Buddha covered with gold leaf. The image is 151 ft/46 m long and 49 ft/15 m high, and the posture is that of Buddha passing on to nirvana. The soles of the feet are beautifully decorated with mother-of-pearl inlay. The temple is also equally famous for its massage school.

Until 1888, Thailand used a lunar calendar and the New Year, known as Songkran, fell between 13 and 15 April. In 1941 (2484 B.E. on the Buddhist era calendar), Prime Minister Phibunsongkhram declared that 1 January would become the official start of a New Year to accommodate international business. Today, both New Year's Day on 1 January and Songkran in April are public holidays. Because of the large Chinese population in Thailand, the Chinese New Year is also celebrated in January or February.

Suvarnabhumi International Airport was built on a marsh called Cobra Swamp, 15 mi/24 km east of Bangkok. The airport was going to be called Nong Ngu Hao Airport (Young Cobra Airport) but the name was changed as it was thought too diffiuclt for foreigners to pronounce. The King of Thailand chose the name Suvarnabhumi, which means "Golden Land." The airport boasts the world's biggest passenger terminal under a single roof and the tallest control tower.