Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Welcome to
Thailand
Friendly and fun-loving, exotic and tropical, cultured and
historic, Thailand radiates a golden hue from its glittering
temples and tropical beaches to the ever-comforting Thai smile.
Sand Between Your Toes
With a long coastline (actually, two coastlines) and jungle-topped islands anchored in azure
waters, Thailand is a tropical getaway for the hedonist and the hermit, the prince and the
pauper. This paradise offers a varied menu: playing in the gentle surf of Ko Lipe, diving
with whale sharks in Ko Tao, scaling the sea cliffs of Krabi, kiteboarding in Hua Hin,
partying on Ko Phi- Phi, recuperating at a health resort in Ko Samui and feasting on the
beach wherever sand meets sea.
Sacred Spaces
The celestial world is a close confidant in this Buddhist nation and religious devotion is
colourful and ubiquitous. Gleaming temples and golden Buddhas frame both the rural and
modern landscape. Ancient banyan trees are ceremoniously wrapped in sacred cloth to hon-
our the resident spirits, and fortune-bringing shrines decorate humble homes as well as mo-
numental malls, while garland-festooned dashboards ward off traffic accidents. Visitors can
join in on the conversation through meditation retreats in Chiang Mai, religious festivals in
northeastern Thailand, underground cave shrines in Kanchanaburi and Phetchaburi, and
hilltop temples in northern Thailand.
Fields & Forests
In between the cluttered cities and towns is the rural heartland, a mix of rice paddies, trop-
ical forests and squat villages tied to the agricultural clock. In the north, the forests and
fields bump up against toothy blue mountains decorated with silvery waterfalls. In the
south, scraggly limestone cliffs poke out of the cultivated landscape like prehistoric sky-
