Thailand
Country Profile
Population: 65.4 millionCurrency: Baht (THB)
Time Zone: GMT + 7 hours
Language: Thai
Capital: Bangkok
It doesn?t take much to shatter an illusion. Take a ride in from Bangkok?s airport along the Viphavadi Rangsit Highway and you?ll understand why. The promise of soothing seas, ancient temples and wafting incense is replaced with an ocean of concrete, ultramodern skyscrapers and thick exhaust fumes.
For many visitors, Bangkok, and its 12 million inhabitants, are too much ? ?We wanted monks and white sand and elephants,? they probably wail. What they get is one of the most invigorating and modern cities on earth, an intense, overwhelming human hive that revels in its dynamism. Yet, if you take the time, you can find calm moments: the waft of jasmine as you walk through a back road; an evening spent watching the city lights reflected in the Chao Praya River; a visit to the sanctity of one of Bangkok?s stunning temples.
Always remember that, whatever your expectations, you are going to be dumbfounded. The ancient Kingdom of Thailand is a proud and independent place that burns fiercely with the white heat of modernity while revering the links to its exotic past. Ancient Siam, authentic streetfood and gorgeous silks sit side by side with massive industry, a thick fug of traffic jams, fast food and seminal hi tech. Get used to the idea that Thailand is rapidly becoming a highly advanced 21st-century society and you can then enjoy its other countless attractions with a hint of realism. Why not start with the weird and wonderful? Grab a mouthful of cooked bugs off a street or watch katoey (transexual) kick boxing. If you prefer misty vistas shrouding antique temples then make for Sukhothai and Isaan. Or head for the 2,600km of coastline ? the tourist fleshpots at Pattaya and Phuket or the isolated, verdant islands such as Koh Tarutao and the dive mecca of Koh Similan. There are national parks, too, hosting wild animals, deep jungles and fierce rivers, while the gentle mountainous north is home to an absorbing multiethnic society.
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