Five Great Things About Thailand

Thailand is a great country to visit or to live in. The relaxed pace of life and low cost of living make it both a pleasant place to be and a cheap one. Here I will highlight just 5 things that make it a great place.

1. Great Food – Thai food is probably the best thing I find about living in Thailand. Not only is Thai food and superb combination of flavours, it is always made with fresh ingredients, usually bought that morning at the local market.

Although Thai food is famous for being spicy there are lots of dishes that are not spicy and it is always a simple affair to order food with no chillies in; in fact usually Thais will produce food with a low level of spiciness when they are serving foreigners, but not always so watch out! One of my favourites is Thai Green Curry which can be really spicy or quite mild. I usually order mine mild as I have tired of being overwhelmed by chillies.

For those people who are interested in cooking their own Thai food I would suggest taking a look at this website – Appon’s Thai Food – it is really good.

The other great thing about Thai food is its value for money. Eating simple dishes on the street is as cheap as 25 baht per plate/bowl and even eating in really nice restaurants usually results in a bill for around $10 per head.

2. Great Scenery – Thailand has a great variety of scenery to admire, although sometimes you have to go looking for it as there is a lot of development alongside roads.

Mountain scenery in northern Thailand can be spectacular with beautiful mountains such as Doi Inthanon, Doi Ang Kang and Doi Chiang Dao easily accessible from the city of Chiang Mai. In fact Doi Suthep rises impressively from the outskirts of Chiang Mai and is a popular place to visit for the temple which provides a great view over the city.

In the central plains and north east, rice fields create a beauty of their own in the wet season. Beautiful verdant green fields separated by palm trees and temples make a really nice picture but many people never get to see this side of Thailand as it requires some travelling down small village roads to see this scenery at its best.