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Geography
Thailand sits at the very heart of South East Asia and is
considered a natural gateway to Indochina. Shaped somewhat
like an elephant's head, the country is bordered at its most
northern extremes by Laos and Myanmar. The border with Laos
runs down the elephant's ear, along the north east of the
country, until it meets with the Cambodian border, which runs
down the east of the country, before reaching the Gulf of
Thailand which caresses the elephant's jowls. To the west,
Myanmar dominates the elephants forehead and trunk before
giving way to the Andaman Sea, along Thailand's south western
seaboard. The Gulf of Thailand borders the back of the trunk,
and at the trunk's very tip, Thailand shares a border with
Malaysia.
Roughly the same size as France, Thailand covers a land area
of 514,000 square km. From the tip of the trunk to the top
of the ear, Thailand measures 1,620 km. The coastline measures
3,219 km.
Thailand is divided into four natural regions. The forested
and mountainous north, with its deep, narrow, alluvial valleys;
the plateau of undulating hills to the northeast, subject
to floods and droughts, and the hilly to mountainous. South,
with thick virgin forests and rich deposits of minerals and
ores. The fertile Central Plains of the Chao Phraya River
in the central region gives the country much of its food supply.
Climate
Thailand generally has a tropical climate with 3 distinct
seasons-a hot dry season from March to May, a rainy season
from June to September, and a cool season from October to
February. In the far south, the climate is humid, warm and
variable year round. In the north, changes are much more significant
with daytime temperatures in the hot season often approaching
40C, and occasionally dropping below 20C in the cool season.
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