Thailand has a deserved reputation as one of the easiest places to travel in Asia. There’s an amazing amount to see, hassles are limited, English-language signs and menus are commonplace, and you can get around easily at almost any time of day or night.
17 things you need to know before visiting Thailand ! 5 Things To Know About Thai Art
Arts of Thailand : Buddhism has had a major influence on Thai art, architecture, sculpture, and painting. Some of the most beautiful older wat structures are to be found in Ayutthaya, the capital from the 14th to the 18th century, and in Chiang Mai. The framework of a wat is usually made of wood, while its walls consist of brick and plaster. The ornamental parts of the structure are often adorned with glass mosaic, gold leaf, porcelain, stucco, lacquer, and inlaid mother-of-pearl. Remnants of the original palaces and temples can still be seen in many of the old provincial centres. In Chiang Mai, numerous Buddhist temples are scattered inside and outside the ancient city walls, which are still standing. Even newer ritual and ceremonial halls typically incorporate traditional designs, including curved finials, high-pitched roofs, intricately carved doors and windows, and stairways flanked by naga, or giant snake. Read more at Britannica
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10 Best Nightclubs in Bangkok [2023 Update] + Full List
USA TODAY LIST of BEST THAI CLUBS
Thailand is the only country in South East Asia to have escaped colonial rule. Buddhist religion, the monarchy and the military have helped to shape its society and politics.
The military has ruled for most of the period since 1947, with a few interludes in which the country had a democratically elected government.
Since 2001, Thai politics have been dominated by the deep split between supporters and detractors of Thaksin Shinawatra, who served as prime minister until he was ousted by the military in 2006.
In 2023, Thailand’s opposition parties secured by far the largest number of votes in national elections, as voters delivered a significant rebuke to the military-backed government that had ruled since the 2014 coup.
- Read more country profiles – Profiles by BBC Monitoring
KINGDOM OF THAILAND: FACTS
- Capital: Bangkok
- Area: 513,120 sq km
- Population: 69.6 million
- Language: Thai
- Life expectancy: 75 years (men) 83 years (women)
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Thailand,[a][b] officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam,[c][d] is a country in Southeast Asia on the Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 70 million,[11] it spans 513,120 square kilometres (198,120 sq mi). Thailand is bordered to the northwest by Myanmar, to the northeast by Laos, to the southeast by Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the southwest by the Andaman Sea; it also shares maritime borders with Vietnam to the southeast, and Indonesia and India to the southwest. Bangkok is the nation’s capital and largest city.
Tai peoples migrated from southwestern China to mainland Southeast Asia from the 6th to 11th century. Indianised kingdoms such as the Mon, Khmer Empire and Malay states ruled the region, competing with Thai states such as the Kingdoms of Ngoenyang, Sukhothai, Lan Na and Ayutthaya, which also rivalled each other. European contact began in 1511 with a Portuguese diplomatic mission to Ayutthaya, which became a regional power by the end of the 15th century. Ayutthaya reached its peak during the 18th century, until it was destroyed in the Burmese–Siamese War. Taksin quickly reunified the fragmented territory and established the short-lived Thonburi Kingdom. He was succeeded in 1782 by Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke, the first monarch of the current Chakri dynasty. Throughout the era of Western imperialism in Asia, Siam remained the only nation in the region to avoid colonization by foreign powers, although it was often forced to make territorial, trade and legal concessions in unequal treaties.[12] The Siamese system of government was centralised and transformed into a modern unitary absolute monarchy in the reign of Chulalongkorn. In World War I, Siam sided with the Allies, a political decision made in order to amend the unequal treaties. Following a bloodless revolution in 1932, it became a constitutional monarchy and changed its official name to Thailand, becoming an ally of Japan in World War II. In the late 1950s, a military coup under Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat revived the monarchy’s historically influential role in politics. Thailand became a major ally of the United States, and played an anti-communist role in the region as a member of the failed SEATO, but from 1975 sought to improve relations with Communist China and Thailand’s neighbours.
Apart from a brief period of parliamentary democracy in the mid-1970s, Thailand has periodically alternated between democracy and military rule. Since the 2000s, the country has been caught in continual bitter political conflict between supporters and opponents of Thaksin Shinawatra, which resulted in two coups (in 2006 and 2014), along with the establishment of its current constitution, a nominally democratic government after the 2019 Thai general election, and large pro-democracy protests in 2020–2021 which included unprecedented demands to reform the monarchy. Since 2019, it has been nominally a parliamentary constitutional monarchy; in practice, however, structural advantages in the constitution have ensured the military’s continued influence in politics.[13]
Thailand is a middle power in global affairs and a founding member of ASEAN, and ranks very high in the Human Development Index. It has the second-largest economy in Southeast Asia and the 23rd-largest in the world by PPP and ranks 91st by nominal GDP per capita. Thailand is classified as a newly industrialised economy, with manufacturing, agriculture, and tourism as leading sectors.[14][15]
