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Thailand in a nutshell: eight easy questions about the essentials. Everyone can join in and discover something new along the way.
Wide-eyed newcomer 0–3 · Street food explorer 4–6 · Land of Smiles expert 7–8
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Thai people usually call their capital Krung Thep, often translated as 'City of Angels'. That is short for the city's full ceremonial name, which Guinness World Records lists as the longest place name in the world, at 168 letters.
Photo: Ninara from Helsinki, Finland, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
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Elephants have been part of Thai life for centuries and once hauled heavy logs through the forests, until logging was banned in the late 1980s. In the early 1900s there were about 100,000 tame elephants in Thailand, and every 13 March the country celebrates National Elephant Day.
Photo: Vyacheslav Argenberg, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.
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Thai New Year, called Songkran, is celebrated around 13 April. Traditionally, people gently pour fragrant water over the hands of older relatives to show respect and wash away bad luck, but in the streets it has grown into a huge water fight with buckets and water pistols.
Photo: Khunmoohan, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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Their name copies the 'tuk tuk' sound of their small engines. In the 1960s people in Bangkok called them samlo, meaning 'three wheels', and they are especially popular in cities with heavy traffic.
Photo: calflier001 , cropped by uploader Mr.choppers, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.
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Thailand's flag has five stripes: red, white, a double-wide blue one in the middle, then white and red again. Because the pattern is the same from top to bottom, it looks right even upside down. It was adopted in 1917; before that, the flag showed a white elephant on red.
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This greeting is called the wai, and the higher you hold your hands and the lower you bow, the more respect you show. The wai is also used to say thank you or sorry, and it often comes with the word 'sawatdi', which was only invented in the 1930s.
Photo: Government of Thailand, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
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The sticky rice is cooked with coconut milk, a little sugar and a pinch of salt, then served with slices of ripe mango, sometimes topped with crunchy mung beans. In Thailand it is eaten most in April and May, the peak season for mangoes.
Photo: Dennis Wong from Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
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Siam is the old name of Thailand. Siamese kittens are born creamy white, and their dark 'points' only appear in their first months, on the coolest parts of the body such as the ears, paws and tail. Cats like them were already described in old Thai manuscripts called the Cat-Book Poems.
Photo: Meekahoo, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
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