Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in
Southeast Asia on the
Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of 66 million, it spans 513,115 square kilometres (198,115 sq mi). Thailand is
bordered to the northwest by
Myanmar, to the northeast and east by
Laos, to the southeast by
Cambodia, to the south by the
Gulf of Thailand and
Malaysia, and to the southwest by the
Andaman Sea; it also shares
maritime borders with
Vietnam to the southeast and
Indonesia and
India to the southwest.
Bangkok is the state capital and largest city.
Prostitution in Thailand is not itself illegal, but public
solicitation for
prostitution is prohibited if it is carried out "openly and shamelessly" or "causes nuisance to the public". Due to police corruption and an economic reliance on prostitution dating back to the
Vietnam War, it remains a significant presence in the country. It results from poverty, low levels of education and a lack of employment in rural areas. Prostitutes mostly come from the northeastern (
Isan) region of Thailand, from ethnic minorities or from neighbouring countries, especially
Cambodia,
Myanmar, and
Laos. In 2019, the
Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) estimated the total population of
sex workers in Thailand to be 43,000. (Full article...)
Image 2
Parinya Charoenphol at Fairtex Gym in Bangkok.
Parinya Charoenphol (born 9 June 1981) (
Thai: ปริญญา เจริญผล;
RTGS: parinya charoenphon), nicknamed Toom, also known by the stage name Parinya Kiatbusaba and the
colloquial nameNong Toom or Nong Tum, is a Thai boxer, former
muay Thai (Thai boxing) champion,
model and
actress. She is a kathoey, a Thai word referring to what is often considered a distinct gender in Thailand and elsewhere generally considered to be gender-nonconforming men or transgender women. At the age of 18, she underwent
sex reassignment surgery. (Full article...)
Nakhon Pathom province is home to the
Phra Pathommachedi, a
chedi commissioned by King
Mongkut (Rama IV) and completed by King
Chulalongkorn (Rama V) in 1870. The chedi is a reminder of the long vanished
Dvaravati civilization that once flourished here and by tradition Nakhon Pathom is where Buddhism first came to Thailand. The province itself is known for its many fruit orchards. (Full article...)
After his appointment as army chief in 2010, Prayut was characterised as a royalist and an opponent of former prime minister
Thaksin Shinawatra. Considered a hardliner within the military, he was one of the leading proponents of military crackdowns on the
Red Shirt demonstrations of
April 2009 and
April–May 2010. He later sought to moderate his profile, talking to relatives of protesters who were killed in the bloody conflict, and co-operating with the government of
Yingluck Shinawatra who won
parliamentary elections in July 2011. (Full article...)
Image 6
The Thonburi Kingdom (
Thai: ธนบุรี,
IAST: Dhanapura, pronounced[tʰōnbūrīː]) was a major
Siamese kingdom which existed in
Southeast Asia from 1767 to 1782, centered around the city of
Thonburi, in Siam or present-day
Thailand. The kingdom was founded by
Taksin the Great, who reunited Siam following the collapse of the
Ayutthaya Kingdom, which saw the country separate into five warring regional states. The Thonburi Kingdom oversaw the rapid reunification and reestablishment of Siam as a preeminient military power within mainland Southeast Asia, overseeing the country's expansion to its greatest territorial extent up to that point in its history, incorporating
Lan Na, the
Laotian kingdoms (
Luang Phrabang,
Vientiane,
Champasak), and
Cambodia under the Siamese
sphere of influence.
The Thonburi Kingdom saw the consolidation and continued growth of Chinese trade from
Qing China, a continuation from the late Ayutthaya period (1688-1767), and the increased influence of the Chinese community in Siam, with
Taksin and later monarchs sharing close connections and close family ties with the Sino-Siamese community. (Full article...)
The party was founded in March 2018 by
Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, former vice president of Thai Summit Group, and
Piyabutr Saengkanokkul, a legal scholar. It was founded on a progressive platform that sought to restrain the military's power in Thai politics, decentralize the bureaucracy, and improve social and economic equality. The party was dissolved by the Constitutional Court on 21 February 2020. (Full article...)
The Thai Canal, also known as Kra Canal or Kra Isthmus Canal, is any of several proposals for a
canal that would connect the
Gulf of Thailand with the
Andaman Sea across the
Kra Isthmus in southern
Thailand. Such a canal would significantly reduce travel times through heavily-navigated trade routes.
The canal would provide an alternative to transit through the
Straits of Malacca and shorten transit for shipments of oil to Japan and China by 1,200 km. China refers to it as part of its 21st century maritime
Silk Road. Proposals, as of 2015, measure 102 kilometres long, 400 meters wide and 25 meters deep. Plans for a canal have been discussed and explored at various times. Cost, environmental concerns, and geopolitical concerns have been weighed against the potential economic and strategic benefits. (Full article...)
Image 1015th-century Kalong ware glazed stoneware dish (from Culture of Thailand)
Image 11Map showing linguistic family tree overlaid on a geographic distribution map of Tai-Kadai family. This map only shows general pattern of the migration of Tai-speaking tribes, not specific routes, which would have snaked along the rivers and over the lower passes. (from History of Thailand)
Image 12Thaksin Shinawatra, Prime Minister of Thailand, 2001–2006. (from History of Thailand)
Image 15Wat Arun, the most prominent temple of the Thonburi period, derives its name from the Hindu god
Aruṇa. Its main prang was constructed later in the Rattanakosin period. (from History of Thailand)
Image 19Display of respect of the younger towards the elder is a cornerstone value in Thailand. A family during the
Buddhist ceremony for young men who are to be
ordained as
monks. (from Culture of Thailand)
Image 27Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall, the royal reception hall built in European architectural style. Construction was started by Rama V, but was completed in 1915. (from History of Thailand)
Image 28Gurkhas guide disarmed Japanese soldiers from Bangkok to prisoner of war camps outside the city, September 1945 (from History of Thailand)
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Squatting in Thailand was traditionally permissible under
customary law and
adverse possession can occur after ten years of continuous occupation. As of 2015, the capital
Bangkok had over 2 million
squatters, out of a population of around 10 million. A survey of
slums across the country noted in 2000 that most were rented not squatted;
Khlong Toei District in Bangkok contains both squatters and tenants. There are also squatters in rural areas. The 1975 Agricultural Land Reform Act aimed to redistribute land to poor people (including squatters) under the Sor Por Kor program and as of 2019, 36 million
rai (5.8 million ha; 14 million acres) of land had been assigned. (Full article...)
... that during Siam Niramit, a Bangkok cultural show, the forestage was transformed into a 50-metre-long (160 ft) river?
... that a restaurant in a Thai hotel serves "Chicken Volcano", a dish containing whiskey?
... that following the controversial success of Amarin Plaza,
Rangsan Torsuwan went on to design the Grand Hyatt Erawan hotel in the same vein, but with Thai-style columns replacing Ionic ones?
... that the first batch of Action Computer Enterprise's Discovery 1600, one of the first
multi-user microcomputers, was delivered to a tobacco-growing business in Thailand?
... that the electropop rock band Siamés created "
Argentina's first
anime music video"?
Credit: User:Markalexander100
A view inside a
songthaew (Thai สองแถว, literally "two rows"), a kind of passenger vehicle in Thailand. It takes its name from the two bench seats fixed along either side of the back of the truck.