Culture, Etiquette and History

Etiquette that matters

• The monarchy. Insulting the King or royal family is a crime carrying 3-15 years per count, and foreigners have been prosecuted. Don't discuss it, post about it or share others' posts.
• Temples and monks. Cover shoulders and knees, take shoes off where others do, and women should not touch monks or hand them things directly.
• Keeping face. Raising your voice gets you nowhere. Calm, smiling persistence works.
• Heads and feet. Don't touch heads; don't point your feet at people or Buddha images.
• The wai. Return a wai from a peer; you don't need to wai service staff or children first.

Language and regions

Central Thai is the national language. The north speaks Northern Thai (Kham Mueang), the northeast speaks Isan, closely related to Lao, and the deep south speaks Malay as well as Thai. A few months of lessons for reading and the five tones make shopping, doctors and immigration far easier.

Festivals

• Songkran (Thai New Year, 13 to 15 April): the water festival, listed by UNESCO in 2023. Many retirees stay home.
• Loy Krathong (November full moon): floating offerings on rivers and lakes.
• Buddhist holy days: alcohol sales stop on major ones.
• Chinese New Year, Diwali and Ramadan are all visible in their communities. Ramadan 2027 is expected 8 Feb-8 Mar 2027 (expected; moon-sighting dependent).

A short history that explains today

• Ban Chiang near Udon Thani is one of Southeast Asia's oldest farming and bronze-working sites.
• Sukhothai (13th century) is remembered as the first Siamese kingdom; Ayutthaya (1351 to 1767) became a trading capital with Portuguese, Dutch, Japanese and Persian quarters.
• Bangkok became the capital in 1782 under the Chakri dynasty, which still reigns.
• Siam was never colonised, partly by acting as a buffer between British Burma and French Indochina.
• In the 1960s and 70s US airbases at Korat, Udon, Ubon and U-Tapao and rest-and-recreation trips to Pattaya began the expat settlement you see in those towns today.

Our full timeline covers every period, with sources.

Thailand in numbers

Registered population 65,809,011 at the end of 2025, with 14% aged 65 or over and 988,620 registered non-Thai residents.