Thailand

Phu Kradueng National Park (อุทยานแห่งชาติภูกระดึง) is one of the most popular national parks in Thailand, and spending the night atop its eponymous peak is something of a rite of passage for many students in the region. The park covers a high-altitude plateau cut through with trails and peppered with cliffs and waterfalls. Rising to 1316m, Thailand's second national park is always cool at its highest reaches (average year-round temperature is 20°C), where its flora is a mix of pine forest and savannah. Various forest animals, including elephants, Asian jackals, Asiatic black bears, sambar deer, serows, macaques and white-handed gibbons, inhabit the 348-sq-km park.

Welcome to the urban hub of southern Thailand where shopping malls mingle with wafts of Cantonese street eats and curry from the eclectic range of busy street-food stalls, as old Chinese men sit and watch the world go by on rickety chairs outside junk shops. It's a mix of busy city and laid-back tropics and the town's tourism scene is still predominantly Malaysian mixed with a few Western expats. Come evenings, Hat Yai's cosy pubs and bouncing clubs come into their own.

Lao and Vietnamese influences are strong in Nakhon Phanom, a province bordered by the Mekong and full of highly revered temples. For the most part it's a region of subtleties rather than can't-miss attractions, but there are plenty of fine river views and interesting historic sites, and the colossal Wat Phra That Phanom is one of the icons of Isan culture.

The northeast is Thailand’s forgotten backyard. Isan (ee·săhn), as it’s usually called, offers a glimpse of the Thailand of old: rice fields run to the horizon, water buffalo wade in muddy ponds, silk weavers work looms under their homes, and pedal-rickshaw riders pull passengers down city streets.

Once the heart of a large Muslim principality that included the neighboring provinces of Yala and Narathiwat, Pattani Province has never adjusted to Thai rule. Although today’s political situation has stunted the area’s development, Pattani Town has a 500-year history of trading with the world’s most notorious colonial powerhouses. The Portuguese colonizers established a trading post here in 1516, the Japanese passed through in 1605, the Dutch in 1609 and the British flexed their colonial force in 1612.

Most people are drawn to Sukhothai Province (จังหวัดสุโขทัย) by the ruins of the eponymous former kingdom, one of Thailand's most historically significant and impressive destinations.

With one of the most significant temples in the kingdom, the historic city of Nakhon Si Thammarat (usually shortened to ‘Nakhon’) is a natural and rewarding stop between Hat Yai and Surat Thani.

Glöm shoppingcenter och traditionella butiker. I Bangkok är det neonglittrande basarer under öppen himmel som gäller. Några flytande, en med ett tåg och en favorit bland lokalbefolkningen – här är några av Bangkoks bästa marknader.

Two islands – Ko Samet and Ko Chang – are the magnets that draw travelers to the eastern seaboard, though the mainland has plenty of its own attractions, particularly the charismatic, old-world charm of Trat and Chanthaburi and the expat enclave of Pattaya.

Long before flip-flops, glossy resorts and selfie sticks, Phuket was an island of rubber trees, tin mines and cash-hungry merchants. Luring entrepreneurs from the Arabian Peninsula, China, India and Portugal, Phuket Town (เมืองภูเก็ด) became a colorful blend of cultural influences.