Thailand Facts

The Kingdom of Thailand was known as Siam until 1939.

The name Thailand means Land of the Free.

King Ramkhamhaeng ruled at the termination of the thirteenth century and originated the first Thai alphabet.

King Phra Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke(Rama I), the originator of the Chakri Dynasty that still rules today. He was also celebrated as the founder of Rattanakosin (now Bangkok) in 1782 as the new capital of the reunified kingdom.

White elephants were greatly valued by the kings of Thailand.

The largest reclining Buddha image (151 feet long) can be found in the temple, Wat Phra Chetuphon.

Wat Phra Chetuphon is oldest and largest temple in Bangkok.

Doi Inthanon (Chiang Mai Province) is the highest (8,415 ft, 2,565 m) mountain in Thailand.

The Tee Lor Su Waterfall (Tak Province) is the highest waterfall in Thailand.

The Mekong River is the longest river in Southeast Asia and the 7th-longest in Asia, forms a border between Thailand and Laos.

The Lang Rongrien rock shelter in the southwestern Thailand (Krabi Province) was inhabited around forty thousand years ago.

Phuket,formerly known as Tha-Laang or Talang, is Thailand’s largest island.

The Siamese cat was brought to Great Britain from Thailand as a gift from the consul of Siam.

During the World War II, Allied prisoners of War (POWs) held by the Japanese in Thailand, built the Burma-Siam railway.

The story of the Bridge over the River Kwai was made into a film in 1957. (The bridge on the river Kwai film by David Lean)

The Golden Triangle where is the meeting of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar on the Mekong River, was a center of opium poppies cultivation.

The Beach, is a novel by Alex Garland, is about backpackers in Thailand. The story was later made into a film in 2000.

On 26 December 2004, the Indian ocean earthquake occurred under the sea near the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia (8.9 Richter); this made tsunamis causing flooding and demolition in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Thailand.

In December 2008 Suvarnabhumi airports in Bangkok were blockaded for eight days by anti-government protesters.