Hello everyone. Welcome to the GEOfocus channel, my name is Paul.
Today, I'm going to be talking about another country that I really like a lot,
a country that I've been to at least five times.
It's Thailand.
Thailand is known as the Land of Smiles
because of the friendly and cheerful demeanor of the Thai people.
I really enjoy traveling in Thailand because of the great people,
because of the wonderful scenery, because of the tropical weather year-round,
because of all the activities that you can do there,
and because of its highly developed tourist infrastructure,
while still being one of the cheapest travel destinations in Asia.
Located in Southeast Asia, it borders Myanmar to the west,
Laos to the Northeast,
Cambodia to the southeast and Malaysia to the south.
Its total land area is 513,000 sq kilometres.
It's slightly bigger than Spain and slightly smaller than Yemen.
And interestingly, if you take the total land area of Singapore,
which is 716 sq kilometres and multiply it by itself,
you get almost exactly the total land area of Thailand.
Thailand equals Singapore squared.
Thailand has a population of just about 67 million,
making it the 20th most populous country in the world.
The capital city is Bangkok which has about 8 million people,
and that makes it the largest city in Thailand by a huge measure.
In the Thai language the name of the capital city Bangkok is Krung Thep,
but the long official name of the city is the longest city name in the world.
I can't say it myself, so let's get a little help from my friend right here.
Thanks, buddy.
I couldn't have said that without you, you saved my butt with that one.
Thailand is best known for its islands and its peninsula with their beaches,
but much of Thailand rests far away from the beach.
There's a large central plain where Bangkok is located.
Much of the northern part of the country is mountainous,
and much of the eastern portion of the country consists of a low hilly Plateau.
Another major feature of Thailand is its rivers, namely the Chao Phraya River
and the Mekong River and it's tributaries,
and they have a huge impact on life in Thailand.
These major rivers allow for wet rice cultivation,
and have also served as major transportation routes
throughout the centuries, and still do today to some extent.
The Chao Phraya River runs through the central plains
and through the city of Bangkok, which lies on the river delta,
and drains into the bay of Bangkok.
Until the modern era when modern roads became widespread,
most of the Thai population lived alongside one of the major rivers,
and used them as their main routes for transportation and for trade.
Even today, these rivers are still used on quite a large scale
for both passengers and for freight, even inside Bangkok city
The climate of Thailand is largely tropical
with the southern peninsula area having a tropical monsoon climate.
The other areas in Thailand have a tropical savanna climate
which shows a little more variation in temperature throughout the year,
and is a little bit drier, as well.
And, in the mountainous areas in the north,
temperatures can be fairly cool at night, especially in the dry season.
But, basically Thailand is a pretty warm place.
Back in the winter of 2013 and 2014,
the city of Bangkok experienced its coldest temperatures in over 30 years.
Guess what that temperature was. 15.6 Degree Celsius.
That's just like a nice summer evening in Vancouver where I'm from.
The rainy season in Thailand begins in about May,
and it stretches on until about October.
It's often referred to as the Green Season because it's still beautiful,
despite the fact that you do get some rain.
You usually get a mix of sun and clouds and rain,
and it's not raining all the time.
My visits to Thailand have always been in the summer months of July and August,
and it's always been very pleasant.
In terms of wildlife, elephants are the national animals of Thailand,
and they have been revered in Thailand for centuries.
But, that hasn't stopped them from being hunted and poached,
and as of today, there are probably only around a thousand elephants left
in the wild of Thailand.
Thailand is a constitutional monarchy
with the king who serves largely as a figurehead,
but he is pretty much universally revered by the entire population.
Thailand normally has an elected government with the Prime Minister,
but in 2013, the country was taken over in a military coup,
and is now currently run by a military council.
There's an ongoing political dispute in Thailand
between the Red Shirt, who are largely rural poor people,
and the Yellow Shirt, who are largely urban middle class people.
A democratically elected government, backed largely by the Red Shirt,
was ousted in 2013 when the military took over.
95.9% of Thailand's population identified themselves as ethnically Thai,
but there are actually a lot of people who are of Chinese ancestry
or partial Chinese ancestry.
According to some estimates 14% of Thais are ethnically Chinese,
but because of intermixing, intermarriage,
it's kind of hard to know that for sure.
In the eastern region of Isan which forms one-third of the population of Thailand,
most of the people are actually ethnically Lao,
and in the southern part of Peninsular Thailand,
there are some ethnic Malays who form about 2.3% of the population.
There are also a number of small ethnic minorities such as the hill tribes,
and there are also hundreds of thousands of expats living in Thailand
of both the legal and illegal variety.
The language of Thailand is the Thai language,
and the dialect of the central plains area is basically the standard form of Thai,
but there are some other dialects as well such as Northern Thai and Southern Thai
and also the Isan language.
The Isan language is technically speaking actually a dialect of the Lao language,
but because Lao and Thai are mutually intelligible,
of course, Isan language and standard Thai are also mutually intelligible.
Thailand consists of six major regions,
They are North Thailand, Northeastern Thailand,
which is also known as Isan,
Eastern Thailand, Central Thailand,
Western Thailand and Southern Thailand.
These regions were created based on natural divisions
in geography, culture and language.
The northern region of Thailand,
where the second-largest city of Chiang Mai is located,
contains most of the mountainous area of Thailand.
Isan the northeastern region is the largest of all of Thailand's regions,
which forms about one third of the country,
and is historically connected with Laos.
It is situated on a hilly plateau that rises up
from the plains of Thailand's central regions.
Central Thailand includes most of the alluvial plain
surrounding the Chao Phraya River.
It is where the humongous capital city of Bangkok is located,
as well as, the ancient capital of Ayodhya,
this central region is considered the core of modern Thailand.
The eastern region is characterized by short mountain ranges and river basins.
It is the location of Ko Chang,
an island that is currently growing in popularity with tourists.
The western region borders Myanmar and is very mountainous
with some forests and some steep river valleys, as well.
The southern region is probably what you think of when you think of Thailand,
it is the location of most of the famous tourist getaways like
Ko Samui, Phuket, Ko Phi Phi and Krabi.
Beautiful beaches and islands are, of course, the main attraction,
but there are also steep mountain ranges down the middle of the peninsula
that are great for rock climbing.
Other activities you can enjoy in Thailand are
scuba diving, rafting, hiking, trekking, riding elephants and more.
And, renting a scooter is a popular and fun way to get around,
just make sure you know what you're doing and,
optionally, have a driver's license, as well.
Thailand is a wonderful place that makes for a great vacation,
and some people love it so much
that they make it their long-term home and retire there.
Thank you for watching the GEOfocus channel,
I hope you liked watching this video I made.
If you have something to add, if you have some other comments about Thailand
and some things you'd like to recommend,
then please write them in the comments down below.
Thank you for watching. Have a nice day!