Bangkok is everything you'd expect from the capital of Thailand: it's noisy, crowded, colorful, exciting, infuriating, and smile-inducing. Bangkok as the ‘Venice of the East’ this is due to the Chai Phraya River flowing through Bangkok and all of the little canals that feed off of it. The river is the lifeblood of Bangkok, even today 50,000 people still go to work on one of the many ferries that go up and down.