Many people when arriving in Thailand, do not really know what to expect and know very little about the country and the people. However, once they have been to Thailand once or twice, they will surely return. It is a kingdom that offers many marvels of undiscovered enchantment. With surprises and delights around every corner your trip to Thailand will open your eyes to a new world.
Thailand covers an area of 513,115 sq.km. in the heart of South East Asia, and shares its borders with Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia, Malaysia, the Gulf of Thailand and the Indian Ocean.
Thailand is broken onto 4 regions North, Central, North East and South.
North: is mountainous and full of forests ridges and spectacular valleys, the main city of this region is Chiang Mai, a very popular tourist destination.
Central: Rich valley is the most fertile and extensive rice producing area of Thailand and has often been named the Rice Bowl of the World. This is the region where Bangkok, the capital of Thailand is situated.
South: is a gem unto itself not only for the beauty of its beaches and landscape, but also as this is where many ores and minerals are to be found. The landscape is hilly to mountainous with lush virgin forests. This is also where the main rubber producing take place and the cultivation of many other tropical crops.
But who are the Thai people and where did they come from? It was originally thought that Thai people may orginated from the north-eastern Szechuan Province of China about 4,500 years ago before they migrated to their present homeland. This idea though has recently be put into question by the amazing discovery of pre-historic artifacts such as bronze metallurgy dating back some 3,500 thousand years. These artifacts were found in the village of Ban Chiang in the Nong Han District of Udon Thani Province in the Northeast. These amazing finds, indicate that the Thais may well have originated in Thailand and themselves moved into other areas of Asia.
Thailand until 1939 was known as SIAM and again between 1945 and 1949, but May 11, 1949 put an end to the confusion and Thailand became offically know as Prathet Thai or Thailand. For anyone who has been to Thailand they will not be surprised to learn the word Thai means FREE so Thailand actually means The land of the Free.
The population of Thailand is around 60 million with an annual growth rate of around 13%. Although there is absoulte religious freedom 95% of the Thai people follow Buddhism.
Thailand is a hot and rather humid tropical country. In fact many people living in Thailand joke that it has 3 seasons, hot, hotter and hottest- this easily believed. The climate is monsoonal, marked by a rainy season lasting from about May to September and a relatively dry season for the remainder of the year. The rainy season will amaze many tourist as it can rain very heavily sometimes for up to just 10 minutes a go, but the sheer volume of water is incredible. Temperatures are highest in March and April and lowest in December and January. The average temperature is about 23 to 35 Celsius.
One of the most beautiful apsects of the Thai people is their respect and enormous love for their monarchy. It is very unwise and actually could lead to seious trouble to say anything bad about the monarchy. They are loved dearly and you will never hear a Thai utter a bad word.
The National Flag of Thailand is composed of 5 horizontal bands of red, white and blue. The outer red bangs of red represent the nation and the inner bands of white evoking religion. The blue band, which occupies one third of the flag is symbolizes the monarchy. This tri coloured flag was first designed by King Vajirauadh (Rame VI) in 1917 and it suceeded and earlier design which had a white elephant on a red background.
Thailand truely is an amazing place, with so much to offer to tourists. The regular and most popular destinations of Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket, samui, Chiang Mai etc. are only a small part of the country and there are so many mroe undiscovered charms to be found.
