Thailand is the total package: jaw-dropping natural beauty, eye-catching architecture, an intricately woven culture and downright fabulous cuisine. Southeast Asia’s most accessible and instantly appealing country gets under skin. Your taste buds start to crave their daily dose of phat thai noodles, your senses revel in the neon-lit delights of Bangkok. and artfully dodging traffic becomes second nature. Whether you’re barefooting it on a budget or going five-star ritzy, dive in!

Thailand is a year-round destination, but the rainy season falls between June and August

Visiting Thailand’s former capital, Ayuthaya, which lives up to its World Heritage Listed status Chilling out in delightful Chiang Mai before trekking in the Golden Triangle region Dancing under the full moon to thumping electronic beats on Ko Pha-Ngan Escaping to Thaleh Ban National Park, satisfying any naturalist Exploring all things in Thailand’s turquoise waters Shopping: anywhere, anytime

Read Chart Kobjitti’s Pan Ma Ba (Mad Dog- Co)- an account of Thailand’s farang (foreigner) scene. Stir-fry up a storm with David Thompson’s sumptuous Thai Food.

Listen to Carabao’s Made in Thailand, a pleng pue cheevit (song for life) classic

Watch the sweet essence of Thai culture in Fan Chan (My Girl)

Eat tom yam kung (spicy prawn and lemongrass soup) or taste sensational miang khan (an appetizer of coconut, ginger, lime peanuts and dried shrimp)

Drink sugar cane juice or rice whisky

Mai pen rai (it’s all right/nevermind)

Technicolor Thai silk; Bangkok pollution; nomadic hair-braders; exquisite beaches; noisy tuk tusk; Singha beer; heartwarming hospitality; pampering spar and silky pools

ln Thai, the word for ‘meal’, meu, is a close homonym with the word for ‘hand,’ and Thais extend a hand towards a bowl of noodles or a banana leaf-wrapped snack with amazing frequency; every Thai house, office building or rice field has to have a spirit house to go with it-a place for phra phum (earth spirits) native to this site to live in

Food lies very close to the heart of khwaam pen thai (Thai-ness)… To truly appreciate Thai culture you must understand and appreciate the food. lf you become comfortable with both, perhaps you will become kin jai (eat heart)… Finally you may come to understand what Thais mean when they say are im jai (full heart), an expression that fuses culinary satisfaction with general contentment.