Thailand is in southeast asia approx. between the 6th and 21st parallel (latitude) and 98th to 106th degree of longitude. The distance from the far north to the south is about 1'650 km and from west to east about 800 km covering a surface area of 514'000 km2 which is about the size of France. At the its most narrow part, at the Isthmus of Kra, Thailand measures only 15 km across. In the west and north Thailand borders on Myanmar (Burma), in the northeast on Laos, in the east Thailand borders on Cambodia and in the south it shares the border with Malaysia. About 2'500 km of coast line stretches along the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand,
with several hundreds of offshore islands - such as Ko Phuket and Ko Samui (not to be forgotten "James Bond Island"), as well as Ko Samet and Ko Chang at the eastern coast only to mention the most wellknown.The highest point of Thailand is Mount Doi Inthanon in the north with 2'565 m about 80 km sothwest of the charming northern city of Chiang Mai. (Larger Map here)
Thailand can be subdivided into four topographical regions: The furtile region of Central Thailand flown through by Mae Nam Chao Phraya and its side rivers with all the ricefileds, the mountainous Northern Thailand with the woodlands and the highest mountain Doi Inthanon, the barren and poor Northeastern Thailand (Isan) and Southern Thailand with tropical rainforests and sandy dreambeaches full of palmtrees.
As different as the landscape of the four regions are the people. The hilltribes in the north, with all their different languages, do not have much in common with the malay speaking, muslim Thai people living in the south near the border to Malaysia. In the northeast living farmers - the poorest part of Thailand - do not have much of an idea of the living of employees in Bangkok working at a computer in an airconditioned office in Silom Road.
Mister Flaggy / Switzerland
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