The Kingdom of Thailand (commonly referred to as the "Land of Smiles") lies in Southeast Asia, with Laos and Cambodia to its east, the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia to its south, and the Andaman Sea and Myanmar (Burma) to its west..

Formerly known under the name of the Kingdom of Siam, the country includes 76 provinces. The head office of East Asian Road Co., Ltd and Ban Naa Cottages, its accommodation structure, are located in the I-San region, in the North-East and near the border with Cambodia.

 Capital and largest city: Bangkok
 Official languages: Thai
 Area: 514,000 km² = 198,000 sq mi
 Population: 65,444,371 (July 2005 estimate)
 Currency: Baht - Symbol: ฿ (THB)
 Time zone: UTC+7 - Summer (DST): UTC+7
 Calling code: +66

Note: The official calendar in Thailand is based on Eastern version of the Buddhist Era, which is 543 years ahead of the Gregorian (western) calendar. For example, the year 2007 AD is called 2550 BE in Thailand.

The first Siamese state is traditionally considered to be the Buddhist kingdom of Sukhothai founded in 1238, following the decline and fall of the Khmer Empire in the 13th - 15th century.

A century later, Sukhothai's power was overshadowed by the larger Siamese kingdom of Ayutthaya, established in the mid-14th century. After Ayutthaya sacked Angkor in 1431, much of the Khmer court and its Hindu customs were brought to Ayuthaya, and Khmer customs and rituals were adopted into the culture of the Siam Court.

After Ayuthaya fell in 1767, Thonburi became the capital of Thailand for a brief period under King Taksin the Great. The current (Ratthanakosin) era of Thai history began in 1782 following the establishment of Bangkok as capital of the Chakri dynasty under King Rama I the Great.

European powers began traveling to Thailand in the 16th century. Despite European pressure, Thailand is the only Southeast Asian country never to have been colonised by a European power. The two main reasons for this is that Thailand had a long succession of very able rulers in the 1800s and that it was able to utilise the rivalry and tension between the French and the British. As a result, the country remained as a buffer state between parts of Southeast Asia that were colonised by the two colonial powers. Despite this, Western influence led to many reforms in the 19th century and major concessions to British trading interests. This included the loss of the three southern provinces, which later became Malaysia's three northern states.

In 1932, a bloodless revolution resulted in a new constitutional monarchy. During the war, Thailand was allied with Japan. Yet after the war, it became an ally of the United States. Thailand then went through a series of coups d'Etat, but eventually progressed towards democracy in the 1980s.

In 1997, Thailand was hit with the Asian financial crisis. A new constitution was established giving more power to the people via its elected representatives. The country and its currency were strengthened.

General elections took place in January 2001. The subsequent government was the first in Thai recent history to complete a 4 year term. New elections occured in 2005 which resulted in the victory of the outgoing Prime Minister's party (Thaksin Shinawatra). On 19 September 2006, a military junta overthrew his government in a bloodless coup while he was abroad.

Surayud Chulanont, former commander-in-chief of the Army, was appointed as Prime Minister on October 1st 2006. Elections should be organised soon, in order to put an end to the martial law into force currently.