Phaya Thai District


Phaya Thai is a district in central Bangkok, Thailand. Despite sharing a name, due to boundary changes, Phaya Thai Road and Phaya Thai BTS Station are in the adjoining Ratchathewi District.
Neighboring districts are Chatuchak, Din Daeng, Ratchathewi, and Dusit.

History

Phaya Thai District was set up in 1966 by taking areas that were part of Dusit and Bang Kapi Districts. It was named after Phaya Thai Road, its major thoroughfare. Since then, many changes to the district have been made. In 1973, the Huai Khwang District was separated from Phaya Thai. Later in 1978, as an effort to balance the population among districts, the boundaries between Phaya Thai, Huai Khwang, and Bang Kapi Districts were modified. A new Ratchathewi District was created by carving off the southern part of Phaya Thai in 1989. In 1993, some eastern parts were moved out of the district to the newly-formed Din Daeng, leaving Phaya Thai with only one remaining sub-district, Sam Sen Nai.
Due to the split off of Ratchathewi, Phaya Thai Road is no longer in Phaya Thai District. It runs through Ratchathewi and Pathum Wan. Similarly, Phaya Thai BTS Station is in Ratchathewi, on Phaya Thai Road.

Administration

The district is divided into two sub-districts.

Places

A large portion of the district on its east side is occupied by Royal Thai Army, including the Army Stadium, and the military-owned television Channel 5. Several other government offices are also present, such as the Government Savings Bank, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.
The population is more concentrated in the area called Saphan Khwai with many shops, apartments, and a BigC shopping center.
The Thai Philatelic Museum was renovated and moved to a building behind the Samsen Nai post office at Saphan Khwai in December 2004. Among the exhibits are awards Thai philatelists received from various international competitions together with photocopies of the winning entries, posters depicting rare Thai stamps, and winning postage stamp designs.
Wat Phai Tan is the only Buddhist temple in the district.

Transportation

There are three BTS skytrain stations in Phaya Thai: Sanam Pao, Ari, and Saphan Khwai. The Bangkok MRT station Bang Sue is in the northwest corner of the district.

People

Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was a police officer who began his career at Phaya Thai Police Station. Shinawatra and his political party, Thai Rak Thai were ousted in a bloodless coup in September 2006.