Thailand's Physical Geography

Northern Thailand is very mountainous and contains several rivers and forests. Many of the features of Northern Thailand makes many different types of agriculture possible. Northeastern Thailand this region mainly contains the dry Khorat Plateau but also a few rocky hills. The soil of that regions isn't good for farming. Central Thailand on the other hand is one of the world's most fertile rice and fruit growing areas and mainly flat. Eastern Thailand has short mountain ranges and small rivers which go into the Gulf of Thailand. A lot of fruit grows here. Western Thailand has high mountains, forests and steep river valleys a lot like the North. Mining is important in this region.  Southern Thailand  has mountains and forests but no large rivers. The climate in Thailand is divided into three different seasons. The cool season from November to February, the hot season from March to June and the rainy season from July to October. The cool season is the most popular time to visit Thailand while the hot season is the least.

Thai Clothing

Thai clothing is mainly made of silk Women usually wear a knee length skirt  with a matching top or a dress and men wear pants or sarongs with a top and sometimes a vest. All Thai clothing is very colourful and beautifully decorated. Thai clothing varies a lot and some styles are more formal than others but usually Thai clothing is something like that. These days traditional clothing isn't worn very often and most people only wear Western clothes.
Pictures:
http://www.siamese-style.com/Rose1.html
http://www.china-cart.com/c.asp?page=3&i=1682

Thai clothing for women

Thai clothing for men

 

Khao Yai National Park

Today I decided to go to Khao Yai National Park outside of Bangkok. It is the oldest and most visited park in Thailand and one of the best in the world. It is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.Khao Yai National Park is home to 112 species of mammals, 209 species of reptiles and amphibians and 392 species of birds there are also many different types of bugs and about 2,000 species of plants. There are some beautiful waterfalls too. Besides nature there is also a shrine called the Khai Yai shrine where Buddhists pay their respects and recieve blessings.
I spotted some really beautiful birds around the park  and saw some scenery you probably can't find anywhere else.

Khao Yai National Park

Thai Food

Pad Thai

In this post I will show and explain my three favourite Thai dishes that I've tasted. We'll start out with Pad Thai. It's a dish of stir fried noodles with eggs, fish sauce, tamarind juice, red chili pepper and meat or seafood. There are also vegetarian Pad Thais without the meat. Since I really like noodles I loved this dish.
Another dish I've enjoyed a lot is Tom Kha Kai which is a soup with chicken, galangal, chili, lemongrass and coconut milk. It's really tasty and I love coconut.

Tom Kha Kai

 Finally, there's  Kai Med Ma Muang (Chicken with Cashew Nuts) which I like a lot because of the mix of flavours. Besides chicken and cashews this dish includes onions, water chestnuts and peppers. It is a very popular dish in Thai restaurants.

Kai Med Ma Muang

That's it! I hope you love these dishes as much as i did if you ever have the chance to taste them.
Pictures:
http://24h.ae/lemongrass_ibm
http://shesimmers.com/2010/11/tom-kha-gai-recipe-tutorial-for.html
http://www.heruni.com/the-pad-thai-that-wont-kill-your-student-budget/

Floating Markets and Muay Thai

I did quite a bit today including visiting a floating market which was pretty awesome. All the fruits and vegetables made the river really colorful. I was able to try out new fruits that we don't have in the U.S. like tamarind, jujube and rambutan. All of them tasted good but were a bit unusual to me. Of course there are also many fruits you've probably already heard of like lychee and bananas.
Walking around Bangkok, been seeing quite a bit about Muay Thai which I learned people love here so in the evening I decided to go to a Muay Thai match at the Lumpini Stadium. The match was against two Thais and I guessed right on who would win. Muay Thai is one of the more violent Martial Arts but still very entertaining.

Pictures:
http://www.bangkok.com/beyond-the-city/damnoensaduak.htm
http://www.mymuaythai.com/archives/goodbye-lumpini/

Wat Phra Kaew

Wat Phra Kaew 

Today I mainly walked around Bangkok but also visited Wat Phra Kaew, the most important Buddhist temple in Thailand. It contains a statue of Buddha, carved from a single block of jade dating from the 15th century A.D. This stautue is the most holy image of Buddha in the country. The temple itself was amazingly beautiful and very colourful. Although it was very crowded I enjoyed it ver much. It was a great experince visiting it and I'm really hoping to see more temples like this outside of Bangkok. I will spend two more days in Bangkok and then I'll leave so I will try and squeeze in as much as possible in the time I have here the next few days.

Picture:

http://www.myplacesinthailand.com/places-in-bangkok/place/interesting-place-wat-phra-kaew-temple/

Off to Bangkok!

I am posting this in Bangkok airport where my stay in Bangkok and its surroundings will start. The flight from New York to Bangkok took more than 20 hours so I'm definitely going to be needing some rest first! But so far everybody seems really friendly here and I've already learned a word in Thai: สวัสดี or S̄wạs̄dī which means Hello! I'm really excited to start learning more Thai and exploring Thailand tomorrow.
For now here are facts about Thailand:
Capital: Bangkok
Currency: Thai baht
Language: Thai
Population: 69.52 million (2011)

Picture:
https://www.suvarabhumi.eu

Bangkok Airport