Thailand
Our Top Picks For Thailand
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1 HM the Queen's Birthday, 12 August, Bangkok
See festive lights lining the royal avenue of Th Ratchadamnoen Klang, and cultural displays at Sanam Luang, as Thailand celebrates the Queen's Birthday and national mother's day.
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2 Vegetarian Festival, 18 - 26 Oct
Bangkok, Trang and Krabi are festooned with yellow banners heralding vegetarian vendors. In Phuket Town the festival gets extreme, with entranced marchers turning themselves into human shish kebabs.
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3 Ko Tao
Be a small fish in a big tank while diving with mighty whale sharks from this coral-fringed island, stay a while, or choose another beach paradise
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4 Sangkhlaburi
Border outpost amid a misty lake and rugged karst mountains far from the tourist trail; the bus ride here from Kanchanaburi is one of Thailand's best scenic journeys
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5 Cooking classes in Chiang Mai
Learn about Thai culinary herbs and spices, tour a local market and prepare a feast - choose from loads of classes in Chiang Mai, which is also a top ecotourism spot
Fast Facts about Thailand
- Pick-up joint: the world’s second-largest pick-up truck market after the US
- Border countries: Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar (Burma)
- Population: 65,493,296
- Guinness World Records: longest condom chain, most couples married underwater and most Mini Coopers in a convoy (444 cars parked to spell out ‘Long Live the King’)
- Karaoke culture: every major band or singer releases video CDs (VCD) specially formatted for karaoke-style singalongs
- Religion: 95% Buddhist
- Literacy: 92.6%, though reading anything other than the newspaper or comic books is regarded as an eccentric hobby
- Currency: what's the Thai baht worth today?
- Prime Minister: Abhisit Vejjajiva
- Number of 7-Elevens currently: 3912
- Highest point: Doi Inthanon 2565m
- Head of state: King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX)
Related Groups
Our favourite Thailand Blogs (beta)
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Overland From Bangkok To Krabi
Blog: Curves and Levels - 6 July 2009
Where began an extended trip to Southeast Asia in early 2003. Our rough adventure began in Thailand and from there we hopped through Malaysia, Sumatra, Java and Bali.
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Thailand B’s - Backpacking Bangkok & Beaches
Blog: The 4 Season Travel Blog - 2 July 2009
Thailand is probably the ultimate backpacking destination for the first-time traveler who seeks an affordable adventure. It is safe, cheap and extremely easy to get around.
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Ko Phi Phi
Blog: Nomadic Matt's Travel Site - 2 June 2009
This is my third time on the island and as I was there I was reminded how much I dislike it. I hate Ko Phi Phi. It’s one of the most overrated islands in all of Thailand. I spent the last four days there with some friends of mine from Bangkok. Originally, we were going [...]
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Introducing Thailand
Thailand is often referred to as a golden land, not because there is precious metal buried underground but because the country gives off a certain lustre, be it the fertile rice fields of the central plains, white sandy beaches or the warm hospitality of its citizenry.
Although the rainy season (roughly July to October) gets a bad reputation, there are some bonuses: temperatures tend to be cooler, tourists are fewer and the landscape is lush and green.
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Tips & articles
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Bangkok airport, the ferret & the coconut
8 July 2009
Returning recently from a jaunt in Europe I was faced with a 12-hour stopover in Bangkok. Yes, it sounds...
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Thailand’s best ecotourism spots
7 July 2009
Chiang Rai The centre for hill-tribe trekking with a social justice hook; some trekking companies employ...
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Thailand: which beach paradise?
7 July 2009
It isn’t fair really – there are over 200 countries around the globe and Thailand has managed to snag...
Latest headlines for Thailand
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Thailand's misguided rice policy
10 July 2009 4:01PM
The BBC's South East Asia Correspondent, Jonathan Head investigates why misguided government policy has left most of its farmers mired in poverty, and cost the taxpayers huge sums of money.
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Tesco labour relations under fire
30 June 2009 5:25PM
Tesco's treatment of workers in the US, Thailand and South Korea has come under attack from the international union, UNI.
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Three die in Thai rebel standoff
27 June 2009 7:43AM
Three people have died in a gun battle in southern Thailand as security forces clashed with insurgents, police say.
