Bangkok has two airports and one of them is called Don Mueang. I was wondering who Don Mueang is/was and why they got an airport named after them. Actually the name of the district comes from Thai words meaning “upland of hawks” because the area was not flooded and was teeming with birds of prey including hawks.
So now, it is time to come up with the completely made up story of Don Mueang, the sometimes sober pool huckster who grew up in the working class tenements of South Bangkok Heights (not sure if that neighborhood exists, but neither does South Detroit). Don Mueang used his pool skills and command of numchucks (taught to him by Napolean Dynamite, of course) to become first Drain Commisioner, then Councilperson and then mayor of Suparnakriskaporn. His greatest contribution to the city formerly know as Suparnakriskaporn was commissioning the waste water treatment plant. In honor of this accomplishment, Suparnakriskaporn was renamed to “Don Mueang City” with the slogan “A nice place to live” (borrowed from Romulus, Michigan) in 1994.
Here’s to you Don Mueang, the fictional mayor we all need.