What I've looked up thus far for Bangkok 8

I'm loving this original mystery set in Bangkok. And bonus, I don't really know that much about Thailand. And I have to love a hero who falls apart and mourns his fallen partner and childhood friend by ostensibly investigating who might have stuffed that Mercedes full of drugged cobras and a python (no, really) but really by smoking dope, taking yaa baa (it's Thai meth, it literally means mad drug) and dancing with prostitutes. Original in a hero.

Yaa baa is apparently sometimes cut with caffeine because...the problem with meth is it just won't keep you awake?

Bangkok is really not the correct name of the city of course. It's Krung Thep to the locals. Bangkok was the original site chosen as the Thai capital but the King decided that a site across the river was better. The official name is officially the longest place name in the world. Translated, it roughly means this:

The city of angels, the great city, the residence of the Emerald Buddha, the impregnable city (of Ayutthaya) 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 Vishnukarn.

Apparently, if you get far enough into rural Thailand, there are people who won't have any idea what Bangkok is. Clearly the musical Chess flopping is to blame here.

Here is a map of Thailand that notes both Krung Thep and Bangkok on it.

Sonchai also mentions visiting a teak house so I went to look up some examples. And there I learned the world's largest teak mansion is in Bangkok. Most of the world's teak, alas, currently comes from Myanmar.

At one point, Sonchai eats papaya pok pok which is a dish of chilis and papayas that even the Thais can find hot. Here is the recipe. I like spicy stuff as much as anyone but papaya in a melange of chili sounds like a recipe for the most miserable vomiting experience of your life.


Sonchai also visits an old farang (foreigner, usually white) boyfriend of his mother's at Bang Kwang Prison which is also known as the Bangkok Hilton. It's about 7 miles north of the city on the Chao Phraya River. There is a lot more about this prison on the BBC's site here and here. The locals have little to no choice but I wonder about the Westerners who end up here. Did they not catch Midnight Express?