Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The inner bar channel runs from Km 0 up to the Memorial Bridge, a distance of 48
kilometres (30 miles), and requires considerably less attention, for the flow of the Chao
Phraya is strong and the scouring of the water has made the river an exceptionally deep
one. Crawfurd sounded the depth of the water and observed that it became deeper the
further upstream he progressed from the rivermouth. He measured the depth at the front
of the Grand Palace at nine fathoms, which is just over 16 metres (52 ft). Modern charts
for the inner bar show a steep-sided U-shape that would be difficult to scramble up if
it were on dry land, and with bottom depths that run from 15 metres (49 ft) to more
than 20 metres (65 ft). A recent sounding at high tide at the mouth of Klong Bangkok
Yai put the depth at 14.5 fathoms, or 26.5 metres (87 ft). In other words, you could drop
a seven-storey building into it. Steamship captains of the nineteenth century were, of
course, aware of this great river depth between the Bangkok Yai and Noi canals, and they
used the stretch of water in front of the Grand Palace to turn their ships round, which
must have been irksome for the royal inhabitants.
The Sea of Mud that formed such an effective barrier to the east was typical delta
country, and so low-lying that in places the land was below sea level. Ayutthaya had also
been built on a low-lying flood plain, and had developed a system of canals for transport-
ation and living, with floating markets at strategic junctions. Bangkok's rulers and inhab-
itants were therefore perfectly at ease with adopting a similar pattern for the new capital,
which is why no roads were built until the coming of the Europeans, who began to settle in
the city in large numbers after the Bowring Treaty was signed in 1855. Within a few years
they requested Rama
IV
to build a road along the bank of the river that they could use
for walking and riding, and thus was the first road built in the city. The earliest European
travellers in the sixteenth century had used the phrase, “Venice of the East” in reference to
Ayutthaya, and this was applied with justification to Bangkok until the roads finally began
to eclipse the canals. The phrase can still sometimes be found in tourist brochures and
guidebooks, presumably written by people who haven't been here since before World War
II
.
Thailand was of course never colonised, so the phrase “colonial Bangkok” may be a
slightly misleading one, but the evocative images it conjures up of colonnaded buildings,
rickshaws, and linen-suited Europeans drinking stenghas at the club was real enough.
Such a Bangkok did exist, and it revolved around the stretch of Charoen Krung Road
that begins at the outer moat, the Padung Krung Kasem canal, where the Royal Orchid
Sheraton Hotel stands today, and continued down to the end of the road, at Thanon Tok.
On the way, it also occupied parts of the Bangrak, Sathorn and Bang Kolaem districts,
