CHEDI, PRANG AND KLONG
When the CARONIA Great World Cruise visits Bangkok this winter, her passengers may imagine they have landed in the midst of a crossword puzzle, but a sightseeing tour of the city will quickly provide the necessary orientation.
They will discover that a Chedi is a bell-shaped dome, sometimes terminating in a graceful spire like a seven-tiered umbrella. The great Golden Chedi in the Palace Enclosure is the most important one in Bangkok, for it is said to contain a bone of Gautama Buddha.
They will realise that a Prang is a tower - there are hundreds of them ornamenting the temples of Bangkok. The most imposing is the lofty Prang of the Temple of Dawn, a massive structure of brick and plaster, encrusted with millions of bits of coloured porcelain. It rises to a height of about 250 feet, dominating the city's skyline.
They will find that a Klong can be the most picturesque sight in Bangkok, for a Klong is a canal - and there are hundreds of them, filled with all kinds of small craft. Thousands of people in Bangkok live, move and have their being on tiny boats in the Klongs.
So put them all together - The Golden Chedi, the glistening Prangs and the teeming Klongs - and you have much of the essence of one of the most fascinating cities of the Orient - Bangkok.
[Produced for the Great World Cruise departing New York 25 January 1963]