Exploring Amazing Thailand

Thailand is one of the many countries in Asia that is considered a great tourist destination. This is because of its amazing history that has left behind a huge number of ancient buildings and archeological sites that people from across the world love to explore and visit. Some of the more famous places that people come to Thailand to visit include Ban Chiang, Phimai, Sukhothai, Ayutthaya, and the country’s capital city of Bangkok.

Aside from being a prime tourist destination, Thailand is also considered a newly industrialized country that is ripe for investing in. This country, which was formerly known as Siam, is probably the only country in Southeast Asia that never experienced being colonized by Europeans. It has however experienced numerous revolutions that soon gave the country the constitutional monarchy its people wanted and ended the absolute monarchy that the country was in for numerous centuries.

 

Thailand and Its Geographical Statistics

 

 

Political Geography

Thailand is found in the middle of the Indochina peninsula. It shares land borders with Burma, Cambodia, Laos, and Malaysia and touches both the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand. Maritime borders are shared with Vietnam, Indonesia, and India. The country also controls the only known land route from Asia down to both Singapore and Malaysia.

This particular country is considered the fifty-first largest in the world in terms of land area with 198,000 square miles or 513,000 square kilometers of land to its name. When measured, the entire country of Thailand can easily fit two Wyomings within its borders.

 

Landscape and Climate

Thailand enjoys a tropical climate that is marked occasionally by monsoons. Warm, rainy, and cloudy southwest monsoons occur in the country from May to September; and cool, dry northeast monsoons occur sometime in November and lasts till the middle of March.

The country has a rather diverse landscape with the mountainous northern regions housing the Thai Highlands and the coastal southern regions hosting some of the most famous resort areas in the world like Phuket, Ranong, Krabi, and Trang. These resorts all share the Andaman Sea along with a few other small islands that contain exclusive, world-class resorts that have become the haven of some of the elite of the world.

 

Political and Governmental Facts on Thailand

 

 

Thailand is a country that is ruled by a king who carries numerous titles such as the Head of State, Defender of All Faiths, Head of the Armed Forces, and Upholder of the Buddhist Religion. He is a hereditary monarch, which means he inherited the throne and is the ninth king belonging to the House of Chakri. King Rama IX is considered the longest-reigning monarch in all of Thailand’s history and the longest serving head of state in the whole world, having been in power since 1946.

Thailand is divided into 77 provinces and 2 special governed districts. Each province has districts that are then divided into sub-districts. The name of each province’s capital is actually the same as the name of the province itself. So if you are asked for the name of the capital of Chiang Mai province, or Phayao Province, for example, you simply have to say the name of the province again.

 

Thailand’s Economy

 

Thailand is considered one of the few Asian countries that continue to grow economically despite the current downturn in global economies. It has been enjoying continued economic growth since it started recovering from the financial crisis in Asia in the late 90s.  From the year 2000 till 2007, it has seen steady growth due to exports such as electronic components, jewelry, agricultural commodities, and machinery. While most of the world reeled due to the losses incurred during the 2008 financial crisis, Thailand did not stay in a slump for too long and rebounded quickly in 2010.

It saw a sudden halt however to this growth in 2011 due to the devastating flooding it experienced in October and November, putting a stop to the booming manufacturing sector’s operations. The country expects to make a solid comeback in 2012 and onwards since the industrial sector is back on track.

 

People and Culture

Thailand is home to mostly locals that make up approximately 75% of the population, making them a rather homogenous population. This is slowly changing however due to the rise in immigrants to the country. The next biggest ethnicity in the country is Thai Chinese, which comprises 14% of the population. Around 11% of the remaining 70 million strong population is a mixture of other ethnicities and combinations of Thai and other races.

Thai culture is a mixture of numerous influences and these include Chinese, Burmese, Indian, Cambodian, and Lao influences. The same goes for their cuisine. The mixture of these many influences in Thai cooking has brought about a flavor profile that blends five essential tastes, which include spicy, sweet, sour, bitter, and salty. As with other Asian countries, Thai cuisine uses rice as its staple, particularly Jasmine rice. You can easily distinguish Thai cuisine due to the use of specific ingredients like chili, garlic, fish sauce, lemon grass, and lime juice.

Another thing you can call typically Thai is the sport of Muay Thai or kick boxing. This martial art is now being practiced everywhere in Asia and in some other parts of the world, but it is generally associated with Thailand. This is the country’s national sport and has been taught to numerous soldiers and fighters way back.

Thailand has a national religion called the Theravada Buddhism, and around 95% of the population follows this religion. A small percentage of Thais are Muslim, while less than 1% are Christians. The Thai Buddhist population is the highest in the world since majority of the 70 million people in the country do follow the national religion.