Thailand

Travelling gives you insights. Our recent trip to Thailand brought up following:

Location is in Southeast Asia, which is different from the general “Asia”.
Country: historically known as Siam (until 1939) was, unlike any other Asian country (apart from Japan), never colonized. At times, they did ‘collaborate’ with the French and the Brits to survive.
Capital is Bangkok (since 1782), or Krung Thep Maha Nakhon, with over 10 mln people. Second largest city is Chiang Mai with just over 1 mln.
King Phrabat Somdet Phra Poramenthra Ramathibodi Sisinthara Maha Vajiralongkorn Phra Wachiraklao Chao Yu Hua, or for short: Rama X (the tenth monarch from the Chakri dynasty), succeeded his father Bhumibol, Rama IX in 2016. Dad reigned for more than 70 years! Rama X was 64 when he became king. He is the wealthiest monarch in the world, with $30-$70 billion. The king is protected by lèse-majesté laws which allow critics to be jailed for three to fifteen years.
Polygamy is not allowed, except for the king, who has 2 wives (numbers 4 and 5). But he is above the law.
Crown Prince is Dipangkorn Rasmijoti Maha Vajirottamangkun Sirivibulyarajakumar (19), fifth son and seventh and youngest child of the king.
Dogs: Rama X has dog obsession: he even made his favourite dog Foo Foo an Air Chief Marshal in the Royal Air Force.
Seasons are summer, rainy and winter. Even in winter it’s balmy, with high humidity. We had no days under 25C and only one slight rain shower.
Population of 72 million, 95.9% is Thai.
Religion is Theravada Buddhism for 94% of the population. Active participation in Buddhism is among the highest in the world. Thailand has the second-largest number of Buddhists in the world after China.
People are outgoingly friendly, also because of their religion. We only came across one malevolent person who wanted to make money of us.
Nature is abundant and the country has 156 (!) national parks. There are still 150 wild tigers (2,500 in captivity) and 3,500 wild elephants. We saw 3 of them.
LGBT rights are regarded as some of the most comprehensive in Asia. Same-sex marriages will start in 2025, the first in a Southeast Asian nation – 37th in the world. Sexual orientation and gender identity are protected since 2015. Change of legal gender is not recognised, however, even if the applicant has undergone sex reassignment surgery.
Traffic is… ‘interesting’. There probably are rules, but the most important one is: just go, be organic. It works: order in chaos, and we never heard a car honk.
Food: what can I say about Thai food that has not been said in praise a thousand times? It’s all true. Fun: “You want spicy?” “Me-spicy or Thai-spicy”? “Hihihi…”
The official language of Thailand is Thai, but sixty-two languages were recognised by the Royal Thai Government.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) released a campaign in 2013 to show how LGBT-friendly the country is. This is “Welcome to The Land of Smiles”: and smiles, you will get aplenty.