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.

Bangkok

Bangkok is the capital city and center of political, commercial, industrial and cultural activities. It is also the seat of Thailand's revered Royal Family. Thailand is a constitutional monarchy with His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, or King Rama IX, the ninth king of the Chakri Dynasty, the present king. His Majesty is recognized as Head of State, Head of the Armed Forces, Upholder of the Buddhist religion and Upholder of all religions. Parliament is composed of two houses, the House of Representatives and the Senate, and both representatives and senators are elected by the people. A prime minister elected from among the representatives leads the government.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.