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Thailand

Culture Overview

Religion and monarchy are the cornerstones of Thai culture, and they permeate everyday life. It's the custom to stand for the royal anthem before films are shown, and the national anthem is played across towns, villages and even Bangkok Skytrain stations twice daily.

For the beach-holidaymaker and Bangkok fly-by-nighter, it is often easy to overlook these cultural subtleties - the Thais are a gregarious and accepting lot - but a little bit of respect goes a long way in finding out more about Thailand's people and culture.

Regions

All regions

General information

Official name
Kingdom of Thailand

Capital
Bangkok (Krung Thep – city of angels)

Area
514 000 sq km

Population:
64 265 276

Time Zone
GMT/UTC +7 ()

Currency
bath (THB) =100 stangs

Official language
thai

Neighbouring countries
Barma / Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia

Highest mountain
Doi Inthanton - 2595 m n. m

Ebb tide
Gulf of Thailand - 0 m. n. m.

Longest river
Mekong (in the country 900 km)

Biggest city
Bangkok (6.250.000 people)

Landing place
Bangkok, Laem Chabang, Pattani, Phuket, Sattahip, Si Racha, Songkhla

People
75% Thai, 11% Chinese, 3.5% Malay; also Mon, Khmer, Phuan and Karen minorities

Religion
95% Buddhist, 4% Muslim