Why Thailand Is So Popular?

When you hear the word Thailand what animals do you imagine? Elephants, monkeys and snakes, we suppose. The most common specimens of Thai fauna.

These are baby elephants. In spite of their young age they are already well trained. Their best number is called "going shopping". A baby elephant takes 20 bahts from you (less than $1) and goes to the "shop". There it takes some milk and a bag full of mango pieces and brings it to you. You feed it and give it a drink. After that a baby elephant takes the garbage away and when returnsit gives bows to you.

This is how the shop looks.

The most courageous can try an elephant massage.

A relaxation area where animals can have a snack and catch their breath after tourists' riding.

Riding the elephants is a great pleasure.

Elephants know the route perfectly thus the rider can easily do his own business while riding. For example, speaking on the phone.

The little one looks very sad.



A close up of its muzzle.

And its huge feet.

Monkeys live a happy life in Thailand. Every day, from morning till night, hundreds of tourists feed them bananas. There only leaves for them to eat, sleep and breed. And they do it very well.

There is a strict hierarchy among the local monkeys. It means that the biggest and fattest cheapskate can drive all his congeners away and eat all the food by himself. 

And this is the snake show.

A poisonous tooth in the chaps of the cobra proves it's not fake.

How many emotions on the face of an artist! They convey all the strain and drama of the situation. Though the snake is only half-poisonous, one bite may turn out to be quite enough for you.

This trick is called the cobra's kiss.

And the last animal for today is very cute and funny. And what is more important, it will never bite you.

Let's move to the Thai nature. This is the Kwai river located in the North-West of the country.

At the time of the Second World War a bridge was built here. The history of its building provided the basis for the novel "The Bridge on the River Kwai" by Pierre Boulle. The film based on this book was shot later and it made the bridge popular all over the world.

Views from the bridge.




Schoolgirls returning home.

Awesome design.

Some people saving themselves from the sun.

A train of memory.

Many make pictures beside these red letters.

In general, there is a lot of strange there. For example, a great deal of serious bikes.


Boating along the river.


Look to the left.

Look to the right.

An exclusive luxurious 5-star hotel on its bank.

Joking. It's just a floating house.

One can lie in a chaise longue, swing and listen to the songs of the river.

Before the dawn.













The roots of the trees on the bank.


Nice Thais.

Not far away fron the Kwai there is a small village.

The houses are traditional there, standing on the wooden stilts.

Numerous children can eat literally everything here. To chew something is a natural condition of any Thai. There is a joke: a real Thai eats twice a day - from morning to evening.

Some children's toys are quite weird.

Even when children grow up, one still has some difficulties in his/her gender identification. For example, are you sure this is a girl?

Local schools don't have a single door. Thanks to the climate and lack of financing.

A so-called elephant pitstop. Here the passengers get on and off and new sittings are fastened to the elephants.

Such houses of the spirits stand near every house in Thailand.

If you pass by the village and walk through the jungles, soon you will find an abandoned cave of a monk-hermit. Buddhist monks live either in communities or alone. As they prefer. And the monk that lived here was not alone at all as he was often visited by annoying tourists. That's why one day he collected all his things and went away to find a more suitable place to live.

On the territory of a glamorous hotel. The desire to tear off a fruit can be strong but to do it one should be in a great physical shape.

Just look at the size of this fruit.

Do you remember the film called "Waterworld"? In the future the Polar ice has melted and the whole Earth turned out to be under the water. So, in Thailand there are such places where you can easily feel like the main characters of this film.

Here the quarters are located on the water and life is in full swing here. People sale, eat, communicate, work. One can even see some traffic jams on the water.

The central avenue.


Water transport is very popular in Bangkok.


It'is a city of contrasts. Here you can find both wooden huts and expensive cottages.







Some words about its local residents. They are all so different!
















Right on the boats they cook something and then sell it at once.

And this is Pattaya city located on the East coast of the Gulf of Thailand. There are no any particular sightseeings except several really nice to see temples.

A big tree.

A pond with hungry sheatfish.

This temple contains one more foot of the Buddha.

Even trees are holy here.

These chairs and tables are not ordinary. It's the monks who seat on them.

Holy hole-ridden towels. For the monks, of course.



The Thai temples are beautiful but the Chinese ones are more various.

To see another "track of the Buddha" one should walk up 300 stairs leaving on each of them one of your negative traits of the character. When a man climbs the very top of it, he's already pure.

From the top of the stairs.


Pattaya doesn't look like a junk yard from here though.




A lonely broom of a hardworking Thai.

That will never clean this place from leaves.

It's very nice to be a king. Everybody loves you, your portraits are everywhere, the subjects give you presents. And if you happen to have an anniversary, be ready for the presents like the following. On the 50th anniversary of Rama IX an image of the Buddha was made right on the rock (160 m in height). Its silhouette was made up of golden plates.

Not far away from this place there is a very ununsual attraction called "A human zoo". It is a small fake village where Karen people live. They were brought here from the North-West of Thailand and now they are to smile and pose themselves in front of the tourists' cameras.

These are the "exhibits".







The village itself.

Some souvenirs.

This building is commonly known as a house of friendship between the Thai and Chinese or the museum of the Chinese art but its official name is the Viharna Sien Museum. Let's enter this beautiful building and have a look at its exhibits.

There are many sculptures of different size in large rooms of the museum. Emotions and feelings are well conveyed.

Some of them are a little terrifying.

A model of the terra-cotta army saved in the same condition as it had been sometime found. The real soldiers and horses are full-sized. One has only to wonder how much time and efforts were spent on creating such a composition. 

Besides the exhibits of the Chinese art there are also those devoted to the history and art of Thailand.


King Rama IX.

These wooden sculptures are made of a single piece of tree.

There are several statues of the Buddha corresponding to different days of the weeks.

The museum is not only inside but outside as well.

Many statues are located in the inner yard. For example, the monks of Shaolin in various fighting positions looking alive. They are black because are covered with a special substance which soils everybody who touches them.

The beaches of Pattaya.

Some say Pattaya has no beaches, there is nowhere to bathe and much garbage everywhere. Partly it is true (if we speak about the city limits). But near the city there are several islands where you can have a great time. 30 bahts ($1) and a 1 hour trip and you are on Ko Larn island.

Several pictures taken from this place.





via dnevnik-satany