คลอง

Khlong is the Thai word for a canal. Bangkok was founded on a network of natural and man-made waterways. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the khlongs were the city's streets. People traveled by boat. Markets floated on the water. Houses stood on stilts along the khlong banks. The word khlong was to Bangkok what 'street' is to London — the basic unit of urban geography.

King Rama I (r. 1782–1809) and his successors expanded the khlong network systematically. Khlong Saen Saep, dug in 1837, stretched 72 kilometers to connect Bangkok to the eastern frontier. Khlongs served as defensive moats, trade routes, and sewage systems simultaneously. The city's growth was measured in new khlongs. The 1855 Bowring Treaty with Britain opened Siam to international trade, and goods moved through the city by water.

The automobile changed everything. From the 1950s onward, Bangkok's khlongs were filled in to make roads. Khlong after khlong disappeared under asphalt. The city that floated became the city that gridlocked. Bangkok's legendary traffic jams are, in a sense, the consequence of destroying its khlong network. The waterways that handled traffic efficiently for two centuries were replaced by roads that handle it badly.

Some khlongs survive. Khlong Saen Saep still operates a public boat service — the cheapest and often fastest way to cross Bangkok. The floating markets at Damnoen Saduak and Amphawa are tourist attractions that preserve a version of the old khlong economy. The word khlong appears on maps, in street names (many Bangkok streets are named after the khlongs they replaced), and in the city's self-image as a water city that forgot its water.