• Officially: Kingdom of Thailand
  • Capital: Bangkok

Facts

  • Population: 69 million
  • Language: Thai – English is widely spoken
  • Religion: Buddhism
  • Life expectancy: 71 years (men), 79 years (women)
  • Currency baht

Geography

  • Area: 513,115 sq km (198,115 sq miles)

Notes

  • The 10th most popular destination in the world with a reported 32.6 million visitors in 2016.
  • Many full time travellers spend their winters in Thailand as it’s welcoming to foreigners.
  • While in Thailand, the posting images on social media of people drinking alcohol or wearing inappropriate clothing can result in fines and/or imprisonment both for the person who uploaded the images and the people in them.

Tourism

  • On the verge of overtourism: Bangkok (World Travel & Tourism Council, 2019)
  • Tourism Hotspots: Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, and Phuket
    • Instead consider:
      • island of Koh Chang
      • Sukhothai
      • Hua Hin – elephant sanctuaries for rehabilitation

Overlanding

  • Driving on the left
  • Officially, overlanders are required to have an escort. However, this is often not enforced.

Thailand’s World Ranking 2018 (WEF)

  • Life expectancy: 41st
  • Innovation capability: 51st
  • Roads quality: 55th
  • Judicial independence: 61st
  • Property rights: 74th
  • Quality of vocational training: 75th
  • Reliability of police services: 107th
  • Freedom of the press: 114th

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