Thailand Quick Overview

Introducing Thailand

The truth of travel lies in the individual experience, and for most travellers Thailand is an exotic land with good reason. A distinct culture with a rich and varied heritage remains both visible and accessible, while the natural landscape presents a remarkable range of scenic beauty, from tropical beaches to forested hills. Nowhere else manages quite the kaleidoscope of the sights and scenes.

The Land

In outline, Thailand is fancifully likened to an elephant's head. Boardered in the west by Myanmar (Burma), north by Laos, east by Cambodia and south by Malasya, Thailand lies roughly midway between India and China, within latitudes 6 and 21 degrees north. The country extends 1650km  (1025 miles) north to south, and 800km (500 miles) east to west, but because of irregular shape, distances between major points are generally comfortable. The land area is 514,000 sq km, roghly the same as that of France. A costline of more than 2500 km faces the Andaman Sea in the west and the Gulf of Thailand in the east. Several hundred offshore islands, large and small, dot the coastline. [Read More]

Bangkok

The national flag is in horizontal red, white, and blue stripes symbolising the nation, Buddhism, and the monarchy.

THE PEOPLE

The people of Thailand are 80% Thai, 10% Chinese, 3% Malay. The remainder are ethnic communities such as Mon, Khmer and several small hilltribes. Historically, the area has been a migratory crossroads, and this accounts for much of its ethnic diversity. Integration is such, however, that the country is firmly united culturally and socially. Buddhism is by far the most important religion with 95% of the population. Four per cent of Thais are Muslim with one percent Christian and other faiths. [Read More]

LANGUAGE

Thai is a tonal language, which makes it extremly hard for Westerners to learn. There are five tones - even, high, low, rising, and falling - so one word , depending  on hou it is sounded, may have five different meanings. English and some European languages are spoken in most hotels, shops and restaurants in major tourist destinations, and road and street signs are in both Thai and English throughout the country. [Read More]

CLIMATE

Thailand has a tropical climate with three seasons, although the climatic shifts are not necessarily appreciable to temperate-climate visitors, for whoom in may seem hot and humid all year round.  Governing the climate are the alrenating southwest and northest monsoons, steady winds which each blow for roughly six months of the year and so cause wet and try seasons. The rainy season runs from June to October; the (relatively) cool dry season lasts from November to February; the hot season is from March to May. [Read More]

THAI CURRENCY

The Thai unit of currency is the baht, divided into 100 satangs. Notes are in denominations of 1,000 (grey), 500 (purple), 100 (red), 50 (blue), 20 (green) and 10 (brown) baht. There are also coins of 25 satang, 50 satang, 1 baht, 5 baht and 10 baht. [Read More]

Religion

Throughout the history of the Kingdom, Buddhism has been Thailand's national religion and its impact is all embracing. It is professed and practiced by nite-tenths of the population, whicle gilded temple spires, ubiquistos Buddha statues and files of saffron-robed monks on morning alms rounds are all distinctive images of Thai life. [Read More]