Theme Week Thailand – Surat Thani

28 February 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Marinapark © panoramio.com - Ralf Schmidt/cc-by-sa-3.0

Marinapark © panoramio.com – Ralf Schmidt/cc-by-sa-3.0

Surat Thani is a city in Amphoe Mueang Surat Thani, Surat Thani Province, southern Thailand. It lies 651 km south of Bangkok. It is the capital of Surat Thani Province. The city has a population of 130,000, and an area of 68.97 square kilometers. The city’s population density is 1,858.47 inhabitants per km².   read more…

Theme Week Thailand – Nonthaburi

27 February 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Wat Chotikaram © Archy36/cc-by-sa-3.0

Wat Chotikaram © Archy36/cc-by-sa-3.0

Nonthaburi is the principal city of the district and province of the same name in Thailand. It has city municipality (thesaban nakhon) status and covers five subdistricts (tambon) of Mueang Nonthaburi District: Suan Yai, Talat Khwan, Bang Khen, Bang Kraso and Tha Sai. As of January 2012, it has a registered population of 259,000, making it the most populous city municipality in Thailand (excluding Bangkok). Due to its location close to Bangkok the city is considered a suburb of Bangkok, part of the Bangkok Metropolitan Area, or Greater Bangkok. Nonthaburi is served by public transport systems including the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority bus system, the Chao Phraya Express Boat, and the newly opened MRT Purple Line.   read more…

Theme Week Thailand – Hat Yai

26 February 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  10 minutes

Klong Hae floating market © Fisher - viewology.net/cc-by-sa-3.0

Klong Hae floating market © Fisher – viewology.net/cc-by-sa-3.0

Hat Yai is a city in southern Thailand near the Malaysian border. It is 946 km (588 mi) south of Bangkok, and has a population of 159,000 in the city itself and about 800,000 in the greater Hat Yai area. Hat Yai is the largest city of Songkhla Province, the largest metropolitan area in the south, and the third largest metropolitan area of the country. It is often mistaken for being the provincial capital. In fact, Songkhla is the capital and the center of administration and culture while Hat Yai is the business center. The name “Hat Yai” is a short version of “mahat yai”, meaning big mahat tree, a relative of jackfruits in genus Artocarpus.   read more…

Theme Week Thailand – Udon Thani

25 February 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Chinese Shrine © Stefan Fussan/cc-by-sa-3.0

Chinese Shrine © Stefan Fussan/cc-by-sa-3.0

Udon Thani is one of the four major cities (Khorat, Ubon Ratchathani, Udon Thani, and Khon Kaen) of the Isan region, Thailand, (known as the “big four of Isan”). It is the capital of Udon Thani Province. Udon is approximately 560 km from Bangkok. Udon is a major official and commercial center in northern Isan, Thailand, and the gateway to Laos, northern Vietnam, and southern China. Some of the revenue from tourism is related to tourists going to and/or coming from the archaeological site Ban Chiang (forty-seven kilometres from the city).   read more…

Theme Week Thailand

24 February 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon voyage, Theme Weeks Reading Time:  12 minutes

Yaowarat Road, the centre of Bangkok's Chinatown © flickr.com - Ninara/cc-by-2.0

Yaowarat Road, the centre of Bangkok’s Chinatown © flickr.com – Ninara/cc-by-2.0

Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and formerly known as Siam, is a country at the centre of the Southeast Asian Indochinese Peninsula composed of 76 provinces. At 513,120 km² (198,120 sq mi) and over 68 million people, Thailand is the world’s 50th-largest country by total area and the 22nd-most-populous country. The capital and largest city is Bangkok, a special administrative area. Thailand is bordered to the north by Myanmar and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the west by the Andaman Sea and the southern extremity of Myanmar. Its maritime boundaries include Vietnam in the Gulf of Thailand to the southeast, and Indonesia and India on the Andaman Sea to the southwest. It is a unitary state. Although nominally the country is a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy, the most recent coup, in 2014, established a de facto military dictatorship under a junta. Thailand is an emerging economy and is considered a newly industrialised country. Thailand functions as an anchor economy for the neighbouring developing economies of Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia.   read more…

Theme Week Philippines – Manila

25 January 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  16 minutes

University of Santo Tomas, the oldest existing university in Asia, established in 1611 © Ramon FVelasquez/cc-by-sa-3.0

University of Santo Tomas, the oldest existing university in Asia, established in 1611 © Ramon FVelasquez/cc-by-sa-3.0

Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the capital of the Philippines and a highly urbanized city. It is the most densely populated city proper in the world as of 2018. It was the first chartered city by virtue of the Philippine Commission Act 183 on July 31, 1901 and gained autonomy with the passage of Republic Act No. 409 or the “Revised Charter of the City of Manila” on June 18, 1949. Manila, alongside Mexico City and Madrid are considered the world’s original set of Global Cities due to Manila’s commercial networks being the first to traverse the Pacific Ocean, thus connecting Asia with the Spanish Americas, marking the first time in world history when an uninterrupted chain of trade routes circled the planet. Manila is also the second most natural disaster-afflicted capital city in the world next to Tokyo, yet it is simultaneously among the most populous and wealthiest cities in Southeast Asia.   read more…

Theme Week Philippines – Cebu City

24 January 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  9 minutes

Cebu Provincial Capitol Building © Andrewhaimerl/cc-by-sa-4.0

Cebu Provincial Capitol Building © Andrewhaimerl/cc-by-sa-4.0

Cebu City, officially the City of Cebu, also known as the Queen City of the South, is a 1st class and highly urbanized city of the island of Cebu in the Central Visayas Region, Philippines. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 922,611 people, making it the fifth-most populated city in the nation and the most populous in the Visayas.   read more…

Theme Week Philippines – Bacolod City

23 January 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

MassKara Festival 2017 © Ceslou/cc-by-sa-4.0

MassKara Festival 2017 © Ceslou/cc-by-sa-4.0

Bacolod, officially the City of Bacolod and often referred to as Bacolod City, is a highly urbanized city in the Philippines. It is the capital of the province of Negros Occidental where it is geographically situated but governed administratively independent from it.   read more…

Theme Week Philippines – Davao City

22 January 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  10 minutes

Sari Sari store © flickr.com - Burgermac/cc-by-2.0

Sari Sari store © flickr.com – Burgermac/cc-by-2.0

Davao City, officially the City of Davao, is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the island of Mindanao, Philippines. The city has a total land area of 2,443.61 km² (943.48 sq mi), making it the largest city in the Philippines in terms of land area. It is the third-most populous city in the Philippines after Quezon City and Manila, the most populous city in the country outside Metro Manila, and the most populous in Mindanao. As of the 2015 census the city had a population of 1,632,991. It is geographically situated in the province of Davao del Sur and grouped under the province by the Philippine Statistics Authority, but the city is governed and administered independently from it. The city is divided into three congressional districts, which are subdivided into 11 administrative districts with a total of 182 barangays.   read more…

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