SUKHOTHAI HISTORICAL PARK WAT MAHATHAT Early in the morning a couple of visitors bike toward Sukhothai Historical Park in northwestern Thailand Hundreds of years ago Thailand was called the Kingdom of Siam Sukhothai was its busy capital city Today only ruins remain of ancient Sukhothai 4
OTHER TOP SITES DAMNOEN SADUAK FLOATING MARKET GRAND PALACE KHAO YAI NATIONAL PARK WAT PHO The visitors pass peaceful ponds dotted with floating lotus flowers Soon magnificent Buddhist temples or wats come into view They are all decorated with elegant carvings But Wat Si Chum stands out from the rest The visitors park their bikes and step through its entrance Inside they find a 49-foot 15-meter statue of the seated Buddha This is Thailand 5
LOCATION MYANMAR BURMA Thailand is a country in southeastern Asia It spreads across 198,117 square miles 513,120 square kilometers Bangkok Thailand’s capital rests near the Gulf of Thailand on the southern coast The Mekong River separates eastern Thailand from Laos Cambodia lies to Thailand’s southeast while Myanmar forms the country’s western border A narrow arm of land reaches south from western Thailand This peninsula stands between the Gulf of Thailand in the east and the Andaman Sea to the west Several hundred islands dot this long coastline Malaysia meets Thailand at the far southern tip 6 ANDAMAN SEA
LAOS CHIANG MAI THAILAND NONTHABURI BANGKOK SAMUT PRAKAN UDON THANI MEKONG RIVER CAMBODIA GULF OF THAILAND HAT YI A SLIM STRETCH Thailand is just 8 miles 13 kilometers across at its narrowest point MALAYSIA 7
