Pattaya Live Cam

The very name of Thailand evokes images of lotus ponds, whiteelephants and saffron-robed. Buddhist monks and straw-hatted figures bent over paddy fields. After it dropped its old name Siam in 1939, along with the habit of chewing betel nuts, it shifted gears and is now riding in the fast lane. It is even threatening to overtake some of the booming economies in the region.

Located at the crossroads of Southeast Asia, Thailand is now being perceived as the Gateway to Indochina. A land of rivers, lush paddy fields, clean beaches, tropical rain forests and rugged mountains, Thailand seems to be several countries rolled into one. One day you can be on an island surrounded by limestone cliffs, the next day you can be on the arid plains of northeast or rolling mountain ranges in the north. Covering an area of 514,000 square kilometers, the country has been divided into four topographical regions t the fertile Central Plains traversed from north to south by Chao Phraya River and its tributaries, the mountainous North, the semi-dry plateau of Northeast and the South, representing hilly rain forests, beaches and a number of offshore islands.