Dushanbe vs Bangkok

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Dushanbe (Tajik: Душанбе, IPA: [duʃæmˈbe]; significance Monday in Persian) is the capital and largest city of Tajikistan. As of January 2020, Dushanbe had a population of 863,400 and as of 2010 that population was largely Tajik. Until 1929, the town was known in Russian as Dyushambe (Russian: Дюшамбе, Dyushambe), and from 1929 to 1961 as Stalinabad (Tajik: Сталинобод, Stalinobod), after Joseph Stalin. Dushanbe is located in the Gissar valley, bounded by the Gissar Range in the north and east and the Babatag, Aktau, Rangontau and Karatau mountains in the south, and has an altitude of 750--900 m. The town is divided into four districts, all named after historical figures: Ismail Samani, Avicenna, Ferdowsi, and Shah Mansur. In ancient times, what is currently or is near modern Dushanbe was settled by different empires and individuals, including Mousterian tool-users, various neolithic cultures, the Achaemenid Empire, Greco-Bactria, the Kushan Empire, and the Hephalites. In the Middle Ages, more settlements started near modern-day Dushanbe such as Hulbuk and its famous palace. In the 17th century to the early 20th, Dushanbe started to grow into a market village controlled at times by the Beg of Hisor, Balkh, and eventually Bukhara. Soon after the Russian invasion in 1922, the city was made the capital of the Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1924, which initiated Dushanbe's development and rapid population growth that lasted until the Tajik Civil War. Following the war, the city became capital of an independent Tajikistan and continued its growth and development into a modern city which now is home to many international conventions. Dushanbe's modern culture had its beginnings in the 1920s, where Soviet music, cinema, theatre, sculpture, film, and sports all started.

Music, primarily shashmaqam before the Soviet invasion, took off in the city as a result of Russian influence and local opera houses and symphonies. Tajik figures like Sadriddin Ayni contributed greatly to the development of Dushanbe's literature, which went through many changes during and after the Soviet period. Theater and movie both saw their infancy in the 1930s and were heavily influenced by Soviet tendencies. The design of Dushanbe, once neoclassical, transitioned to a minimalist and eventually modern style. The town is a centre for newspapers, radio stations, and television of the nation, with almost 200 newspapers and over a dozen television studios working in 1999. A lot of Dushanbe's education system dates from Soviet times and has a legacy of state control; even now, the greatest university in Dushanbe, the Tajik National University, is funded by the government. Dushanbe International Airport is the principal airport serving the city. Other forms of transport include the trolleybus system dating from 1955, the small rail system, and the streets that traverse the city. Dushanbe's electricity is primarily hydroelectric, produced from the Nurek Dam, and the aging water system dates from 1932. Tajikistan's health care system is concentrated in Dushanbe, meaning that the major hospitals of the country are in the city. The city constitutes 20 percent of Tajikistan's GDP and has large industrial, financial, retail, and tourism businesses. Parks and main areas of the city include Victory Park, Rudaki Park, the Tajikistan National Museum, the Dushanbe Flagpole, and the Tajikistan National Museum of Antiquities.

Source: Wikipedia

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Bangkok is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep. The town occupies 1,568.7 square kilometres (605.7 sq mi) from the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated population of 10.539 million as of 2020, 15.3 percent of the country's population. Over fourteen million people (22.2 percent) lived within the surrounding Bangkok Metropolitan Region in the 2010 census, making Bangkok an extreme primate town, dwarfing Thailand's other metropolitan centres in both size and importance to the national economy. Bangkok traces its roots to a small trading post during the Ayutthaya Kingdom in the 15th century, which eventually grew and became the site of two capital cities: Thonburi in 1768 and Rattanakosin in 1782. Bangkok was at the heart of the modernization of Siam, later renamed Thailand, during the late-19th century, as the country faced pressures from the West. The city was in the centre of Thailand's political conflicts throughout the 20th century, as the country abolished absolute monarchy, embraced constitutional rule, and underwent numerous coups and lots of uprisings. The city, incorporated as a special administrative area under the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration in 1972, grew rapidly during the 1960s through the 1980s and now exerts a substantial impact on Thailand's politics, economy, education, media and modern society. The Asian investment boom in the 1980s and 1990s led many multinational corporations to locate their regional headquarters in Bangkok.

The town is now a regional force in finance and business. It is an international hub for transportation and health care, and has emerged as a center for the arts, fashion, and entertainment. The city is well known for its street life and cultural landmarks, as well as its red-light districts. The Grand Palace and Buddhist temples including Wat Arun and Wat Pho stand in contrast with other tourist attractions like the nightlife scenes of Khaosan Road and Patpong. Bangkok is among the world's top tourist destinations, and has been named the world's most visited city consistently in several international rankings. Bangkok's rapid growth coupled with small urban planning has resulted in a haphazard cityscape and inadequate infrastructure. Despite an extensive expressway network, an inadequate road network and substantial personal automobile usage have resulted in chronic and crippling traffic congestion, which caused severe air pollution in the 1990s. The town has since turned to public transportation in an attempt to address the problem, operating five rapid transit lines and construction other public transit, but congestion still remains a widespread issue. The town faces long-term environmental threats like land subsidence, which leads to frequent flooding, a problem expected to be exacerbated by the effects of climate change.

Source: Wikipedia