Bangkok (Lonely Planet) - Andrew Burke [32]
Another form of Thai puppet theatre, hùn grà·bòrk (cylinder puppets), is based on popular Hainanese puppet shows. It uses 30cm hand puppets carved from wood and viewed only from the waist up. Hùn grà·bòrk marionettes are still crafted and used in performances today, most notably at the Aksra Theatre.
Lá·korn Pôot
Lá·korn pôot – ‘speaking theatre’, or live contemporary theatre as known in the West – is enjoyed by a small elite audience in Bangkok. Virtually the entire scene, such as it is, centres on one venue, Patravadi Theatre.
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ENVIRONMENT & PLANNING
THE LAND
Located halfway along Thailand’s 1860km north–south axis, Bangkok lies approximately 14° north of the equator, putting it on a latitudinal level with Madras, Manila, Guatemala and Khartoum. The rivers and tributaries of northern and central Thailand drain into Mae Nam Chao Phraya, which in turn disgorges into the Gulf of Thailand, a large cul-de-sac of the South China Sea. Bangkok is partly surrounded by a huge, wet, flat and extremely fertile area known as ‘the rice bowl of Asia’ – more rice is grown here than in any other area of comparable size in all of Asia. Thailand has, in fact, been the world’s top exporter of rice for at least the last 30 years.
Metropolitan Bangkok covers 1569 sq km, and may contain as many as 15 million people, making it one of the largest and most densely populated cities in the world. Built on swampland in the midst of one of Southeast Asia’s most significant river deltas, the city is only 2m above sea level and sinking 5cm to 10cm a year, which means with rising sea levels it won’t be long before the city lies below sea level. Hundreds of kilometres of natural and artificial canals crisscross the region, although many have been filled to create land for new roads and buildings. These canals, or klorng, were once Thailand’s hydraulic lifeline, but are now seriously degraded by pollution and neglect.
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URBAN PLANNING & DEVELOPMENT
When Bangkok became the new royal capital in 1782, the city was originally laid out in a traditional Buddhist mandala (monton in Thai) plan, inspired by earlier capitals at Ayuthaya, Sukhothai and Chiang Mai. The Lak Meuang (City Pillar), palaces and royal monasteries stood at the centre, while Khlong Rop Krung was dug around the immediate perimeters to create an island called Ko Ratanakosin. Those nobles and merchants of value to the royal court were encouraged to settle just outside Ko Ratanakosin, and other canals were dug to circumscribe this next layer out from the centre. This rough plan of inner and outer rings – land alternating with water – was a conscious attempt to pay homage to sacred Mt Meru (Phra Sumen in Thai) of Hindu-Buddhist mythology.
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GREEN BANGKOK
So extensive are the developments around Bangkok that you’d hardly realise the city is built on one of the world’s great river deltas. Even the vast network of canals that once earned Bangkok the nickname ‘Venice of the east’ are largely lost, and few people remember the vast natural resources and fisheries now submerged by a sea of buildings and pollution. With the world’s fastest-growing economy in the 1990s, Thailand in general, and Bangkok in particular, sacrificed environmental concerns in the face of massive profiteering. Bangkok boosts 1000 registered skyscrapers, with hundreds more planned in the ongoing construction boom, leaving little room for unprofitable concepts like city parks, green spaces or healthy ecosystems.