Bangkok, the Venice of the East.

Well, that it what they used to call it before modern urban planners ( if you want to call them planners), decided that the khlongs (canals) of Bangkok needed to be filled in for vehicular traffic. The Chao Phraya River forms the backbone of the water transport in Bangkok and provides a much more pleasant and scenic way of getting around the city. In addition to tourist and passenger traffic, you will cargo boats ferrying rice, cement, crude oil, fuel oils, soft drinks, rocks, sand and gravel. On the lower reaches of the river containerized cargo is carried to and from Klong Toei port. Around 400 years ago a network of man made waterways, known as klongs, started to be built and this continued right up to the 1920s. Around 100 years ago Bangkok was known as the Venice of the East due to the thousands and thousands of miles of klongs around Bangkok. In fact most transport was by these waterways. However, in the last 60 years a lot of these klongs have been filled in or covered over to make way for roads and buildings. It's a surprise to many that Silom, Rama 4 and Sukhumvit roads had klongs running next to them.The Mass transport boat service on the Chao Phraya River operates from Ratburana (to Pak Kret in the north via Sathorn and Nonthaburi. The boats operate every few minutes along the river between Sathorn and Nonthaburi lower frequency to Ratburana and Pak Kret.Major tourist destinations served by the Chao Phraya boat service include Pak Kret, Wat Arun (Temple of the Dawn), the Grand Palace, Wat Po, China Town (Sam Peng), River City and the Oriental. At Satorn pier you can change to the Sky Train (BTS). Most of these Boat services start around 5.50am and run until 7.30pm every day. The Chao Phraya River has no night boat service due to a lack of lighting on the piers and boats. The fares range from 15 baht to 30 baht depending on distance and class of boat. And are normally paid to a ticket lady on board the boat. The exception is Sathorn peir where you must buy a ticket from a counter before boarding. This is due to the large numbers of transfer passengers from the BTS rail based mass transport system. Also at Satorn pier you have the choice of boarding a special tourist service where the announcer gives information in Thai and English about the sites along the river and their history.