Portal:Thailand

The Legend of Suriyothai (Thai: สุริโยไท) is a 2001 Thai film directed by Chatrichalerm Yukol, which portrays the life of Queen Suriyothai, who is regarded by Thai people as the "great feminist". It records the climax when she takes her battle elephant in front of the Burmese army and sacrifices herself to save the life of her King Maha Chakkraphat and his kingdom. It was Thailand's most expensive film and the highest-grossing, until it was surpassed by Pee Mak. (Full article...)

Crime in Thailand has been a defining issue in the country for decades, inspiring years of policy and international criticism. Drug use and corruption make up the majority of the crime in Thailand and due to this, many Thai administrations attempted to curtail the drug trade, most notably Thaksin Shinawatra with the 2003 War on Drugs. Since 2003 crime has been decreasing with the crime rate decreasing from 9.97 to 2.58. Despite this, juvenile delinquency has been increasing in recent years.
In November 2015, The New York Times reported that in the fiscal year ending September 2015, the national police have seen a surge in thefts, burglaries, and robberies, more than 75,557 thefts and other property crimes in the fiscal year, 10.5 percent higher than the previous year. Violent crime was up 8.6 percent during the same period. These figures have been contested by the police and by Amorn Wanichwiwatana, a criminologist at Chulalongkorn University, who said he was not aware of any significant uptick in crime since the military came to power. "I don’t think that’s the case. It's not possible," he said of the 60 percent increase reported by the Times. Crime statistics from the Royal Thai Police (RTP) show a statistically negligible increase of 1.9 percent over the same period, with 920 additional crimes reported after an overall decline since 2009. (Full article...)

After the 1978 Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia and subsequent collapse of Democratic Kampuchea in 1979, the Khmer Rouge fled to the border regions of Thailand, and, with assistance from China, Pol Pot's troops managed to regroup and reorganize in forested and mountainous zones on the Thai-Cambodian border. During the 1980s and early 1990s Khmer Rouge forces operated from inside refugee camps in Thailand, in an attempt to de-stabilize the pro-Hanoi People's Republic of Kampuchea's government, which Thailand refused to recognise. Thailand and Vietnam faced off across the Thai-Cambodian border with frequent Vietnamese incursions and shellings into Thai territory throughout the 1980s in pursuit of Cambodian guerrillas who kept attacking Vietnamese occupation forces. (Full article...)

In Thailand, cannabis, known by the name Ganja (Thai: กัญชา; RTGS: kancha) was decriminalized on June 9, 2022. Medical use, with patients requiring a prescription, has been made legal since 2018. Since 2022, the Thai Food and Drug Administration officially removed cannabis plant from the Category 5 narcotics list. Possession, cultivation, distribution, consumption, and sales of all cannabis plant parts are legal. Cannabis extracts and cannabis products (including edibles, food supplements, cosmetics, etc.) containing THC more than 0.2% by weight are still categorized as narcotics. Import and export of cannabis are still highly regulated. Recreational use of cannabis products is discouraged but legal. There is no restriction on THC content for cannabis plant parts. Sales of cannabis plant parts, products, and edibles are prohibited to minors (< 20 years old), pregnant women, and breastfeeding women. Cannabis smoke is considered a public nuisance and thus prohibited in public areas.

Cannabis appears to have been introduced to Thailand from India, with the similarity of the Thai name to the Indian term ganja cited as evidence. Cannabis has historically been used in Southeast Asia as an ingredient, a kitchen condiment, a medicine, and a source of fiber. Laborers were known to use it as a muscle relaxer. It was reportedly used to ease women's labor pains. (Full article...)

Statue of Taksin the Great at Hat-Sung Palace (Wat Khung Taphao), Uttaradit Province, Thailand)

King Taksin the Great (Thai: สมเด็จพระเจ้าตากสินมหาราช, RTGS: Somdet Phra Chao Taksin Maharat, listen) or the King of Thonburi (Thai: สมเด็จพระเจ้ากรุงธนบุรี, RTGS: Somdet Phra Chao Krung Thon Buri; simplified Chinese: 郑昭; traditional Chinese: 鄭昭; pinyin: Zhèng Zhāo; Teochew: Dên Chao; April 17, 1734 – April 7, 1782) was the only king of the Thonburi Kingdom that ruled Thailand from 1767 to 1782. He had been an aristocrat in the Ayutthaya Kingdom and then was a major leader during the liberation of Siam from Burmese occupation after the Second Fall of Ayutthaya in 1767, and the subsequent unification of Siam after it fell under various warlords. He established the city of Thonburi as the new capital, as the city of Ayutthaya had been almost completely destroyed by the invaders. His reign was characterized by numerous wars; he fought to repel new Burmese invasions and to subjugate the northern Thai kingdom of Lanna, the Laotian principalities, and a threatening Cambodia.

Although warfare occupied most of Taksin's reign, he paid a great deal of attention to politics, administration, economy, and the welfare of the country. He promoted trade and fostered relations with foreign countries. He had roads built and canals dug. Apart from restoring and renovating temples, the king attempted to revive literature, and various branches of the arts such as drama, painting, architecture and handicrafts. He also issued regulations for the collection and arrangement of various texts to promote education and religious studies. (Full article...)

Thai Airways International Public Company Limited, trading as THAI (SET: THAI, Thai: บริษัท การบินไทย จำกัด (มหาชน)) is the flag carrier airline of the Kingdom of Thailand. Formed in 1961, the airline has its corporate headquarters in Vibhavadi Rangsit Road, Chatuchak district, Bangkok, and primarily operates from Suvarnabhumi Airport. THAI is a founding member of the Star Alliance. The airline is the second-largest shareholder of the low-cost carrier Nok Air with a 15.94 per cent stake (2020), and it launched a regional carrier under the name Thai Smile in the middle of 2012 using the new Airbus A320 aircraft.

Thai operate from its primary hub at Suvarnabhumi Airport, the airline serves 40 international destinations using a fleet of 46 aircraft, that consist of wide-body aircraft from both Boeing and Airbus, while the subsidiary Thai Smile operates narrow-body aircraft. As of 2013, services between Bangkok and Los Angeles were served via Incheon International Airport near Seoul. However, it ended its service to the US on 25 October 2015. Thai's route network is dominated by flights to Europe and Asia, though the airline serves two cities in Oceania. Thai was the first Asia-Pacific airline to serve Heathrow Airport. Among Asia-Pacific carriers, the company has one of the largest passenger operations in Europe. As of 2021, the longest route Thai operates is the Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK) to Heathrow Airport (LHR) (5,950 mi). As of the end of 2019, 1,438 of its 22,054 employees were pilots. (Full article...)

Chulalongkorn (Thai: จุฬาลงกรณ์, 20 September 1853 – 23 October 1910) or King Piya the Great was the fifth monarch of Siam under the House of Chakri, titled Rama V.

Chulalongkorn's reign was characterised by the modernisation of Siam, governmental and social reforms, and territorial concessions to the British and French. As Siam was surrounded by European colonies, Chulalongkorn, through his policies and acts, ensured the independence of Siam. All his reforms were dedicated to ensuring Siam's independence given the increasing encroachment of Western powers, so that Chulalongkorn earned the epithet Phra Piya Maharat (พระปิยมหาราช, the Great Beloved King). (Full article...)

The fortifications of Bangkok consist of several series of defensive structures built to protect the city during the late Ayutthaya to early Rattanakosin periods. The earliest structures were built when Bangkok was an outpost of Ayutthaya guarding entry to the Chao Phraya River during the 15th–16th centuries. These were reinforced when the city became the site of the short-lived capital of Thonburi after the fall of Ayutthaya in 1767. New walls and forts were built when the city of Rattanakosin replaced Thonburi in 1782, which were mostly removed and replaced in the second half of the 19th century in order to accommodate the expanding city. Today, four of the city's defensive forts remain, along with two short sections of the Rattanakosin city wall and one of the city gates. (Full article...)

The Thai Rak Thai Party (TRT; Thai: พรรคไทยรักไทย, RTGS: Phak Thai Rak Thai, IPA: [pʰák tʰaj rák tʰaj]; "Thais Love Thais Party") was a Thai political party founded in 1998. From 2001 to 2006, it was the ruling party under its founder, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. During its brief existence, Thai Rak Thai won the three general elections it contested. Eight months after a military coup forced Thaksin to remain in exile, the party was dissolved on 30 May 2007 by the Constitutional Tribunal for violation of electoral laws, with 111 former party members banned from participating in politics for five years. (Full article...)

Illustration of the holotype tooth, with British penny for scale

Siamosaurus (meaning "Siam lizard") is a genus of spinosaurid dinosaur that lived in what is now known as China and Thailand during the Early Cretaceous period (Barremian to Aptian) and is the first reported spinosaurid from Asia. It is confidently known only from tooth fossils; the first were found in the Sao Khua Formation, with more teeth later recovered from the younger Khok Kruat Formation. The only species Siamosaurus suteethorni, whose name honours Thai palaeontologist Varavudh Suteethorn, was formally described in 1986. In 2009, four teeth from China previously attributed to a pliosaur—under the species "Sinopliosaurus" fusuiensis—were identified as those of a spinosaurid, possibly Siamosaurus. It is yet to be determined if two partial spinosaurid skeletons from Thailand and an isolated tooth from Japan also belong to Siamosaurus.

Since it is based only on teeth, Siamosaurus's body size is uncertain, though it has been estimated at between 5.1 to 9.1 metres (17 to 30 feet) in length. The holotype tooth is 62.5 millimetres (2.46 inches) long. Siamosaurus's teeth were straight, oval to circular in cross-section, and lined with distinct lengthwise grooves. Its teeth had wrinkled enamel, similar to teeth from the related genus Baryonyx. As a spinosaur it would have had a long, low snout and robust forelimbs, and one possible skeleton indicates the presence of a tall sail running down its back, another typical trait of this theropod family. Siamosaurus is considered by some palaeontologists to be a dubious name, with some arguing that its teeth are hard to differentiate from those of other Early Cretaceous spinosaurids, and others that it may not be a dinosaur at all. Based on dental traits, Siamosaurus and "S." fusuiensis have been placed in the subfamily Spinosaurinae. (Full article...)