Geography

Thailand occupies the western half of the Indochinese peninsula and the northern two-thirds of the Malay Peninsula in southeast Asia. Its neighbors are Burma (Myanmar) on the north and west, Laos on the north and northeast, Cambodia on the east, and Malaysia on the south. Thailand is about the size of France. Thailand covers and area of 510,000 sq. km and has a population of 60 million growing at a rate of 1.5% each year. Thailand shares its border with Myanmar in the west and north, Laos in the northeast, Cambodia in the east and Malaysia in the south.

Situated in Southeast Asia, Thailand is predominantly a Buddhist kingdom almost equidistant from India and China. Known by outsiders as Siam for centuries, Thailand (the land of smiles), has been something of a Southeast Asian migratory, cultural, and religious crossroads.

the country is divided into 7 regions: The North, Northeast, Central Plains, East, West, and the Bangkok Metropolitan Region. Each of which has its own distinctive geographical character.

Topography
The north is characterized by forested hills and deep river valleys: the South by tropical beaches and limestone formations producing cliffs and offshore islands; the Northeast by semi-arid plateaus; and the Central Plain by hugely fertileland watered by the Chao Phraya River.

Coastline
Totals over 2,500 kilometers. The western shores are touched by the Andaman Sea, the east by the Gulf of Thailand. Dotting the coastline are hundreds of offshore island, both populated and uninhabited.

The mountainous north is Thailand's largest region. Here, elephants work the forest and winter temperatures are sufficiently cool to permit cultivation of temperate fruits such as strawberries and peaches.

The second largest and poorest region is the sprawling northeast. Better known as "Isan" or the "Khorat Plateau", it is largely bordered by the Mekong River, where the world's oldest Bronze Age civilization flourished some 5,000 years ago.