Bangkok (Lonely Planet) - Andrew Burke [214]
The Thai word tànǒn (usually spelt 'thanon') means road, street or avenue. Hence Ratchadamnoen Rd (sometimes referred to as Ratchadamnoen Ave) is always called Thanon (Th) Ratchadamnoen in Thai.
A soi is a small street or lane that runs off a larger street. In our example, the address referred to as 48/3-5 Soi 1, Th Sukhumvit will be located off Th Sukhumvit on Soi 1. Alternative ways of writing the same address include 48/3-5 Th Sukhumvit Soi 1, or even just 48/3-5 Sukhumvit 1. Some Bangkok soi have become so large that they can be referred to both as tànǒn and soi, eg Soi Sarasin/Th Sarasin and Soi Asoke/Th Asoke. Smaller than a soi is a tròrk (usually spelt 'trok') or alley. Well-known alleys in Bangkok include Chinatown's Trok Itsaranuphap and Banglamphu's Trok Rong Mai.
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Maps for sale in bookshops and some 7-Elevens are better. Shoppers should make sure they pick up a copy of Nancy Chandler’s Map of Bangkok (www.nancychandler.net), a colourful hand-drawn map with useful inset panels for Chinatown, Th Sukhumvit and Chatuchak Weekend Market; see the website for updates.
To master the city’s bus system, purchase Roadway’s Bangkok Bus Map. For visitors who consider eating to be sightseeing, check out Ideal Map’s Good Eats series, which has mapped mom-and-pop restaurants in three of Bangkok’s noshing neighbourhoods – Chinatown, Ko Ratanakosin and Sukhumvit. Groovy Map’s Groovy Bangkok combines up-to-date bus and transport routes and sights with a short selection of restaurant and bar reviews. Groovy Map also publishes Roadway Bangkok, a GPS-derived 1:40,000 driving map of the city that includes all tollways, expressways, roads and lanes labelled in Thai and English. If travelling to districts outside central Bangkok, Thinknet’s Bangkok City Atlas is a wise way to spend 250B.
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MEDICAL SERVICES
More than Thailand’s main health-care hub, Bangkok has become a major destination for medical tourism, with patients flying in for treatment from all over the world. In addition to three university research hospitals, the city is home to an ever-expanding number of public and private hospitals and hundreds of private medical clinics. But it’s the hotel-style international hospitals that treat most visitors. Bumrungrad International is the biggest, and though it can feel a bit like a factory it has US accreditation, wi-fi internet, the latest equipment and, in the ‘lobby’, Starbucks and, erm, McDonalds – would you like a thick shake with that bypass? Many expatriates prefer Samitivej Hospital, which we can personally vouch for.
Whether your stay is to recover from a nasty ‘Thai tattoo’ (burned inner right calf after a motorcycle mishap), for corrective surgery you couldn’t afford or wait for at home, or for something more cosmetic – new nose, lips, breasts, Adam’s apple removal – the following hospitals should be able to help. Of course, it’s worth checking the websites and searching around online for feedback before booking yourself in for anything. Be aware, too, that hospital doctors will generally lean towards over-prescribing drugs, which then must be bought from the hospital’s own dispensary. Doctors will often speak English, but if you need another language contact your embassy for advice Click here.
Bangkok’s better private hospitals include the following:
Bangkok Christian Hospital (Map; 0 2235 1000; www.bkkchristianhosp.th.com; 124 Th Silom; Sala Daeng exit 1)
Bangkok Hospital (Map; 0 2310 3000; www.bangkokhospital.com; 2 Soi 47, Th Phetburi Tat Mai, Bangkapi)
BNH Hospital (Map; 0 2686 2700; www.bnhhospital.com; 9 Th Convent; Si Lom exit 2; Sala Daeng exit 2)
Bumrungrad International Hospital (Map; 0 2667 1000; www.bumrungrad.com; 33 Soi 3, Th Sukhumvit; Phloen Chit exit 3)
Phyathai Hospital 1 (Map; 0 2617 2444, ext 1711-14; www.phyathai.com;