Once you've chosen a hotel or apartment in Bangkok, it's not always easy
to decipher it's address and actually be able to find it. A good example of
this is the DMA Pavilion Hotel, which gives it's address as:
DMA Pavilion Hotel,
Nakhorn Luang Plaza
1091/388 Soi Jaruraj
New Phetchburi Rd
Bangkok 10400
New Phetchburi Road is typical of many Bangkok streets in that it's romanisation
from Thai is incredibly inconsistent. A street map of Bangkok
may well spell the same road as New Petburi, New Phetchaburi, New Petchaburi
or a few other similar spellings. Another example is Ratchadamri road - or
should that be Rajadamri, Rajdamri or Rat'damri ? They are all one and the
same thing, which can make things a little tricky when trying to find it on
a map.
A second problem is the fact that some roads are not just romanised from
the Thai, but actually translated (such as New Phetchburi road). Again, it's
highly inconsistent when road names are translated or not - you're as likely
to see New Phetchburi road written in romanised Thai (Phetchburi Tat Mai)
on a map as it's English equivalent. Even more confusing examples are Withayu
(meaning 'Radio') road and Wireless road, which are two names for the same
road, as are Charoen Krung road and New Road (This is the worst of the lot
really, as Charoen Krung is one of the oldest roads in Bangkok, and it doesn't
even translate to 'New road' but rather as 'Prosperous city'). If you're talking
to a taxi driver or asking for directions, you obviously have to use the Thai
words as no-one will understand the English street names.
There's only one word used for road in Thai, commonly written in English
as 'Thanon' (pronounced like ta-non, with a rising tone on the second
syllable), but it's also sometimes translated as avenue, street or something
similar. Therefore, Ratchdamnoen Road and Ratchdamnoen Avenue are the both
the same road, known as Thanon Ratchadmnoen in Thai. A soi is a smaller
road running off a main road, a trok is the same but much smaller (sometimes
translated as an 'alley'). Both Soi and Trok are never translated and the
same word is used in the English address, as in Soi Jaruraj for the
DMA Pavilion (though again, romanisation is inconsistent - this could equally
well be written as Soy Chalulat).
A few sois, such as Soi Asok off Sukhumvit road, have since become very large
and are deserving of 'Thanon' in their own right. Sois run numerically in
odd and even numbers up opposite sides of a road, so don't be surprised, for
instance, to find that Sukhumvit soi 55
is not opposite, or indeed anywhere near, soi 54 or 56 but rather soi 38.
Some sois have a name as well as/instead of being numbered.
In the case of an address like 1091/388 Soi Jaruraj, the numbers are
not always of that much help in locating a property. The 1091 is the original
lot number of the property, which may or may not mean anything now. The 388
refers to the building's number in that lot, which also may or may not run
in order. Luckily hotels are big buildings and so are generally easy to find,
but trying to find someone's house on a long soi can be a frustrating experience.
