Thailand highlights
Bangkok
The distances and the heat make this one of the world's least walkable cities. It's well worth taking a tour in an air-conditioned coach or car, or the Skytrain, an overhead railway that glides above the traffic jams. A new subway opened in July 2004, running from the main railway station under Rama 4 Road and Ratchadaphisek Road, linking several hotels, shopping centres and business districts and reducing some of the road traffic.
A good place to start your tour is Royal Bangkok, the oldest part of the city on the Chao Phraya river. The Grand Palace is a fabulous complex where royal, religious and government buildings huddle together inside a crenellated wall. Among the pinnacles and spires, gateways guarded by oriental monsters, banquet halls and cloisters, Wat Phra Kaeo stands out. It is the royal chapel and Temple of the Emerald Buddha, protected by a nine-tiered umbrella and surrounded by gold murals. The Emerald Buddha is made of jade and considered so sacred that the king himself brings it ritual offerings and changes its seasonal dress. The centrepiece of the complex is Chakri Maha Prasad, topped by a chedi (shrine). A golden urn beneath the central spire contains the ashes of the Chakri kings.
Across the road from all the royal grandeur is a small structure housing the Lakmuang or foundation stone of Bangkok. Local people surround it with flowers, candles and incense. On the fringes, people sell food, amulets and lottery tickets. Outside, passersby are asked to buy birds, not to keep but to release as an act of piety.
The country's treasures, displayed in the National Museum, are so extensive and exotic that you may be overwhelmed. The most interesting items include pots and jars with haunting designs, probably 5,000 years old.
Metropolitan Bangkok counts dozens of wats-Buddhist monasteries or temple complexes. The 16th-century Wat Pho near the Grand Palace, with a stupendous gilt reclining Buddha and much other art, is the city's oldest and biggest monastery.
Wat Arun (Temple of the Dawn) stands on the opposite bank of the river, only a minute or so away by ferry. The central tower, taller than a 20-storey building looms like an elongated Aztec pyramid.
The most popular excursion in Bangkok, the Floating Market Tour, explores the Chao Phraya River and some of the klongs (canals) to the west of the city. Early in the morning is the best time to catch the vendors on their rounds, paddling past the canal-front houses. Included in the tour is a visit to the Royal Barge Museum, home of otherworldly dreamboats with elaborate red and gold decorations.
Bangkok has no real city centre, but several neighbourhoods, widely dispersed, call for attention. Northeast of the Grand Palace, a wide, leafy boulevard, Ratchadamnoen Nok, is lined with government office buildings, often with steep traditional roofs. It leads to the Marble Temple, Wat Benchamabophit, a haven of calm. Chinese tiles cover the interlaced roofs, and a pair of huge marble lions guard the entrance to the bot (shrine).
In Chinatown, every shop window brings a new discovery, from snake wine to paper dragons. Wat Traimit houses a Golden Buddha seven or eight centuries old, weighing 5 tonnes.
Further east, the area around Siam Square has cinemas, restaurants and shopping centres. Jim Thompson's House, the cluttered home of a devoted collector, is full of oriental art. Thompson put the Thai silk industry on the map, then vanished on holiday in Malaysia in 1967.
Across the railway line, in the eastern part of the city, Sukhumvit Road marks the beginning of a shopping, entertainment and residential district.
Near the river, to the south, Charoen Krung Road (or New Road), was the first official road in Thailand. Around the General Post Office is one of the original shopping areas, still well supplied with souvenir shops and "instant" tailors.
A final "town centre" runs northeast of the New Road district along Silom and Surawong, two parallel thoroughfares. The financial and commercial tone of the zone is overshadowed by the notoriety of two small streets, Patpong I and II. From Munich to Melbourne, the name Patpong evokes the image of go-go bars and massage parlours. The seamy reality certainly matches the reputation, even if moral campaigns and a growing incidence of crime have put a damper on its former ebullience.
The Rose Garden, a private resort west of Bangkok, stages a Thai Village Cultural Show, offering a comprehensive introduction to Thai music, dance and traditional sports. Nearby Nakhon Pathom boasts the tallest Buddhist monument in Thailand-the Phra Pathom chedi, 120 m (395 ft) high. Tours in the area can take in the floating market of Damnoen Saduak, a more relaxed and less commercial affair than that of Bangkok.
Pattaya
One of Asia's best-known beach resorts is a fun-and-sun whirl on the lovely shores of the Gulf of Thailand. You could spend the day sleeping under a thatch umbrella on the vast beach, but it's hard to stay aloof from all the activity: children riding horses or little elephants; hawkers selling sarongs, beads, food and drink; itinerant masseuses; and, of course, every sort of water sport. The shallows get jam-packed with swimmers, pedalos and jet-skis, but dozens of boats offer excursions to nearby islands for swimming and snorkelling in superb clear water.
Landward tours visit a rubber plantation, a gemstone mine and the Elephant Kraal where the gentle giants show off their skills. Shopping centres on the main street of south Pattaya and in the hotel boutiques. Off-the-peg fashion, shells, jewellery and trinkets catch the eye. Nightlife, also concentrated round south Pattaya, includes discos and open-air bars with some of the same dubious attractions as Bangkok's Patpong. Hotel nightclubs put on a variety of musical shows.
Cha-Am
Slightly closer to Bangkok (173 km or 107 miles away) than its near neighbour Hua Hin, Cha-Am is just as serene and also charmingly low-key. Luxurious resort hotels provide a huge range of sports, activities and entertainment. For diversion, Hua Hin's bars and restaurants are not far away.
Krabi
On the mainland not far from Phuket, still more gorgeous beaches have become one of Thailand's newest vacation destinations. The scenery is spectacular, with limestone cliffs framing the palm-fringed sands. Krabi itself is a lively little port but the resorts are tranquil retreats-one of them can only be reached by boat. The sea has eroded the limestone into odd-shaped rocks and islets, and rainwater has carved many caves in the area. At Tiger Cave Monastery, these have been enlarged into a temple with meditation cells carved out of the mountainside.
Northern Thailand
Up near the intriguing borders of Laos and Burma, Northern Thailand maintains a charming inscrutability. The people speak different dialects from the rest of Thailand, or their own tribal languages. Smiles go some way to aiding communication.
The North looks different too, with fertile plains and mountain country-even refreshing waterfalls. Because of the northeast monsoon, the region cools off between November and February. Wearing a sweater is a delight for travellers from muggy Bangkok. The lush countryside produces everything from rice to exotic fruits, and flowers from orchids to poppies.
The cities of northern Thailand are the springboards for expeditions into the country of the hill tribes, and with good roads and a sophisticated tourist infrastructure, the North is thriving. Aside from all the sights to see, a big "plus" is the proud people. Not only are they handsome and friendly, they have a talent for art and handicrafts; shoppers go wild in the workshops and the teeming markets.
Chiang Rai
The grid of wide, straight streets of Chiang Rai looks like something out of the American midwest. In fact, a well-meaning American missionary laid out the modern town plan. But it was the great King Mengrai who founded Chiang Rai in the 13th century.
Thailand's northernmost provincial capital has its quota of temples, though none of overwhelming importance. Wat Phra Kaeo is where the Emerald Buddha, now in the temple of the same name in Bangkok, was discovered; a replica now stands in its place. Otherwise, the thing to see is the big municipal market in the centre of town, featuring fish, foodstuffs and local colour. Chiang Rai is mainly interesting as a base for excursions to the Golden Triangle and hill-tribe villages. After a hard day's trekking, it's a relief to know the town offers a choice of comfortable, even luxurious, hotels and dependable restaurants.
Mae Hong Sorn
A tortuous but breathtakingly beautiful 8-hour drive, or a 30-minute flight from Chiang Mai, the little town of Mae Hong Sorn (or Son) is squeezed between the mountains and the border with Myanmar. Picturesque Burmese-style pagodas and stupas are reflected in Jongkhum Lake, and people from the hill tribes come to buy and sell in the morning markets. Strangest are the Padang, "long-necked" women who stretch their necks with increasing numbers of rings in imitation, it's said, of the female dragon from which they're descended.
