Where is Thailand located?
Where is Thailand located? You may not believe it, but this is one of the most common search terms about Thailand in the Google search engine. Apparently a large part of the Dutch population does not know where Thailand lies.
I immediately had to think back to the Vakantieman. De Vakantieman was a legendary Dutch television program devoted to the theme of holidays that was broadcast between 1991 and 1997 by RTL 4. The program was presented by Frits Bom, who had proclaimed himself a Vakantieman. Reporters Peter van Zundert and Michiel Praal, but also Frits Bom himself, had holidaymakers placed on a blank map of Europe and indicated countries, and that was hilarious. People who were on holiday in Benidorm and had to point out the place ended up in southern Germany or Luxembourg, for example. The precious video about this is at the bottom of this page, you should definitely watch it, you will be blown away.
Where is Thailand located?
But good to answer this question anyway: Thailand is located in South East Asia and borders four countries: Myanmar (or Burma) to the northwest, Laos to the north and east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Malaysia to the south. Thailand also has coastlines along the Gulf of Thailand in the southeast and the Andaman Sea in the southwest.
Where is Southeast Asia located?
So far clear, but what if you don't know where Southeast Asia is? Here we go again: Southeast Asia is a subregion of Asia, located east of the Indian subcontinent, south of China and northwest of Australia. The area includes both mainland and islands and extends from the eastern ends of India and Bangladesh to the western edge of the Pacific Ocean. The countries that make up Southeast Asia are: Myanmar (or Burma), Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam , Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, the Philippines and East Timor.
Where is Bangkok located?
And while we're at it, the next question is also answered: where is it Bangkok? Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, is located in the central part of the country. The city is located in the Chao Phraya River Delta in Bangkok Province. Bangkok is an important political, economic and cultural center in Southeast Asia. Bangkok is not directly on the sea, but it is near the Gulf of Thailand, part of the South China Sea. The city is located about 25 kilometers north of the Gulf of Thailand, on the banks of the Chao Phraya-river.
Where is Bangkok Airport located?
Bangkok has two major international airports:
- Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK): This is Bangkok's main and largest international airport and one of the busiest airports in Southeast Asia. Suvarnabhumi Airport is located about 30 kilometers east of Bangkok city center in Samut Prakan province.
- Don Mueang International Airport (DMK): This is Bangkok's oldest and original international airport, now mainly used for domestic flights and some international flights, mainly by budget airlines. Don Mueang International Airport is located about 24 kilometers north of Bangkok's city center, in the Don Mueang district.
Both airports are well connected to the city center and surrounding areas via highways, public transport and taxis.
Where is the center of Bangkok located?
The center of Bangkok is not easy to define, because the city consists of different districts and neighborhoods, each of which has its own character and function. However, an area that is often considered to be the center or heart of the city is Pathum Wan district. This area includes commercial, shopping, and entertainment areas such as Siam square, MBK Center, CentralWorld and many other shopping malls.
Another important central area is the district Silom, which is known for its business centers, hotels, and entertainment venues. The historic center of the city is located in the Rattanakosin District, where the Royal Palace and Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha) are located, as well as other important temples and landmarks.
In reality, Bangkok has several central areas, depending on the context in which one looks at it: historical, commercial, touristic or business.
Holidayman, where is….. (video)
The popular “map game” was undoubtedly a highlight of the television program De Vakantieman. Dutch holidaymakers were challenged to locate various destinations on a map. In this case, the goal was to find Benidorm, a favorite vacation spot.
The challenge lay in the fact that the participants often did not know exactly where Benidorm was, even if they had already been there. These situations caused much hilarity, as participants sometimes ended up far from the actual location or even in other countries.
De Vakantieman's entertaining map game emphasized not only the importance of geographic knowledge, but also awareness of the world around us. Presenting this in a playful way kept the program both engaging and educational for viewers of all ages.
That's how it was when I was very young (before 1980)…..
When I was 17, I had a chance to correspond with people from South Korea through the newspaper. I got a nice pen pal and wanted to visit her a few years later. At that time I was hopelessly in love with an Indonesian girl at school, but I was too shy to approach her. To learn more about Indonesia, I started reading books that took place there.
In 1980 I had finally saved enough money to travel to Indonesia and South Korea. I booked a flight with Singapore Airlines via Rome and Bangkok to Singapore. But a few days before departure, I found out that Singapore was not a city in Indonesia, but a city-state of its own. Oops, my topographical knowledge was not really up to date!
On the way we had to get off in Bangkok for an hour because the plane had to be cleaned. There I got talking to another passenger who told me he was flying to Kuala Lumpur. I pretended to know where it was, but I had never heard of that city.
My plan was to travel from North Sumatra to the easternmost point of Indonesia in four weeks. But because I had saved so much money, I decided to extend my trip to six months. Not only did I visit Indonesia, but also Taiwan, South Korea (where I met my pen pal and her family), Malaysia and Thailand. After six months in Southeast Asia, I was so attached to the countries there that I no longer felt at home in the Netherlands. I mean, who ever heard of cheese or clogs?
Ever since I started working as a flight attendant at 25 and could see the world, I realized how little I knew about the geography of the world before getting these travel experiences. But hey, it has given me a lot of great memories and I can now find a globe on the map!
A lady who worked at the ANWB emergency center wrote a booklet about this subject around 1990. For the radio she related two events, one was this:
Husband calls because his wife is sick while on vacation.
ANWB lady asks: “Where are you?”
Man: “Somewhere in Spain”.
ANWB: “Where in Spain?”
Man: “I don't know… just ask my wife”.
"Honey, where exactly are we?" Woman replies from a distance: “Isla Margarita”.
ANWB: “But that is not with Spain, but with Venezuela, South America”!
Man: “Oooh, I thought, how long that flight is taking!”
Even worse, in NL many people do not know that Cyprus is an EU Member State and a Republic. So not an island of Greece. When I -temporarily- moved from SE Asia to the island, even the CAK didn't know that
Cyprus is in the EU, uses the euro, etc. In other words, do the NLers know their own EU countries?
Admittedly Thailand and Bangkok have a much greater reputation as a holiday destination. Transavia
flies to Larnaca and Paphos on Cyprus. Thus …………
I am of an age when I was taught geography in primary school. Topography was one of them. Part of and that meant knowing all the places and countries and pointing them out on the map.
Now that was a subject that appealed to me in contrast to many other subjects. Soon I knew every country and city of any importance by heart. Later traveled all over Europe by car and B good maps. Give me a name and I'll point out any city of interest on the map. It is a bit incomprehensible that even today people do not have any insight into Topography. But yes, they may be better at math.
French