Phloen Chit Road

{{Short description|Street in Bangkok, Thailand}} {{redirect|Phloen Chit}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}} [[File:Thanon Phloen Chit.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Phloen Chit Road, looking west from Chit Lom BTS Station]] '''Phloen Chit Road''' ({{langx|th|ถนนเพลินจิต}}, also spelled '''Ploenchit''', {{IPA|th|pʰlɤ̄ːn.tɕìt|pron}}) is a major road in central [[Bangkok]]. Located entirely within [[Lumphini Subdistrict]] of [[Pathum Wan District]], it runs a short distance of {{convert|1.2|km}} between [[Ratchaprasong Intersection]] and the [[Maenam Branch Line|Maenam railway branch line]], forming a continuation of the westward [[Rama I Road]] and then itself continuing on to the east as [[Sukhumvit Road]]. It serves the neighbourhoods of Ratchaprasong, '''Chit Lom Intersection''' (where it intersects Chit Lom and Lang Suan Roads) and '''Phloen Chit Intersection''' (where it intersects [[Witthayu Road]]), which are home to major shopping malls, hotels and office towers. The areas are served by the [[Chit Lom BTS Station|Chit Lom]] and [[Phloen Chit BTS Station|Phloen Chit Station]]s of the [[BTS skytrain]], whose [[Sukhumvit Line]] runs above Phloen Chit Road.

==History== Phloen Chit Road was built in 1920, in the reign of King [[Vajiravudh]] (Rama VI).<ref name=Vi/> Much of the area was then developed by the enterprising Chinese businessman [[Nai Lert]], who bought large amounts of land, building for himself an estate (now [[Nai Lert Park]]) and subdivided the rest into plots to sell.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Warren|first1=William|title=Bangkok|date=2002|publisher=Reaktion|location=London|isbn=9781861891297|page=[https://archive.org/details/bangkok00warr/page/79 79]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/bangkok00warr/page/79}}</ref> The [[British Embassy, Bangkok|British Embassy]], established on the corner of Phloen Chit Intersection in 1922, used to occupy one of the largest compounds in the area.

Its name, ''"Phloen Chit"'', means "enjoy the mind" and was proposed by Prince [[Narathip Praphanphong]]. At that time, the area was considered a suburb, far from downtown, and traveling there was inconvenient. Ironically, people sometimes referred to it as "don't worry" because of the effort required to reach it.<ref name=Vi>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEqzBDc7Ipk|language=thai|date=2019-04-23|accessdate=2010-12-28|title=CHN_184_Phloen Chit Road|work=via YouTube|author=pongsakornlovic}}</ref>

==References== {{commons cat|Ploenchit Road, Bangkok}} {{reflist}}

[[Category:Streets in Bangkok]] [[Category:Pathum Wan district]]