Thailand Travel Quiz – Test Your Knowledge

The Golden Triangle is a name coined by the CIA for an area of approximately 950,000 square kilometres that overlaps the mountains of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar.  This area was one of the main drug producing areas in the world.

The Lanna Kingdom was a state centered in present-day Northern Thailand from the 13th to 18th centuries.  Chiang Mai was the capital.

This was long before the country of Thailand existed.

December 5th is Father’s Day in Thailand.

It is also the birthday of the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Rama IX, He was Thailand’s longest ruling monarch and known as the Father of the nation.  So his birthday also became Father’s Day.

The current king is King Rama X.  He appears on the front and back of 1,000 Baht notes issued after 2016.  His father, the late King Rama IX is also on the back of this note.

Koh Tao is one of the world’s top destinations when it comes to number of annual dive certifications issued. Courses are among the most affordable in the world and there are abundant dive sites.

Currently there are more than 70 dive schools on the small island.

Phi Phi is a group of six islands. The two main islands are Phi Phi Don and Phi Phi Leh.

All accommodation is on Koh Phi Phi Don.

Koh Phi Phi Leh is uninhabited and is where the famous Maya Bay is located.

Despite not being as well known outside Thailand as Singha and Chang, Leo is by far the best selling beer in Thailand with well over 50% market share.

More on The best Thai beers here

The first full moon party was held on Koh Pha Ngan back in 1983.  It was attended by 20 – 30 people.

Since then it’s grown and every full moon tend of thousands of young people from Thailand and abroad head to Koh Pha Ngan for the Full moon Party at Haad Rin Beach.

Then IATA code for Phuket Airport is HKT

Don Meuang Airport is DMK

Pattaya (Utapao Airport) is UTP

Chaing Mai Airport is CNX

Phuket is a province of Thailand as well as being an island

Koh Samui is in Surat Thani province

Pattaya is in Chonburi Province

Hua Hin is in Prachuap Khiri Khan province

100 Satang = 1 Baht

These are coins in Thailand.  The bottom row are all smaller than one Baht.  These are 5, 10, 25 and 50 Satang.  They’re rarely used or even seen nowadays.  Shops usually just round change up or down to the nearest Baht and won’t bother using these small coins.

Koh Samet and Koh Chang are in the Gulf of Thailand but on the eastern seaboard.

Koh Pha Ngan and Koh Samui are further south in the Gulf.  With Koh Samui lying 13 kilometres south of Koh Pha Ngan

Thailand Standard Time is 7 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT 7).

Khlong Saen Saep is a canal that was built in 1837 to connect the Chao Phraya river in Bangkok to Prachinburi Province and Chachoengsao.

A portion of the canal is used for public transport by an express boat service in Bangkok.

Lopburi is famous for it’s temples and monkeys, which overrun the town centre.

Four provinces border Malaysia.  These are Satun, Songkhla, Yala and Narathiwat.

You might find this useful.

Believe it or not, Pad Thai was actually created in the 1930s in Thailand on the order of Plaek Phibunsongkhram, who was the prime minister at the time.

The dish was created because Thailand was focused on nation building. So he created this dish using Chinese noodles and called it Pad Thai as a way to galvanize nationalism.

Black Cock is a brand of cheap whisky.  What did you think it was?

Phuket is the largest – 543 km²

Samui is second largest – 228.7 km²

Koh Chang is third – 217 km²

Koh Pha Ngan – 125 km²

Bangkok is the capitol of Thailand but its name in Thai is:

Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit

Thais shorten this to ‘Krung Thep’

Really??? You should know this.  Bangkok is the capital of Thailand.

Whilst Thailand’s rail network is fairly extensive, there isn’t a train line to the eastern provinces of Chanthaburi and Trat.

Siam was renamed Thailand on June 23rd, 1939.

Formosa is the old name for Taiwan.

2,565 metres (8,415 ft)

Doi Inthanon National Park is one of the original 14 National Parks of Thailand. It covers 482.4 km² and spreads from the lowlands at 800 metres elevation up to the peak at 2,565 metres.

Thai Baht is the currency used in Thailand. You can’t spend USD or Euros etc in shops or restaurants.

Bath is a common misspelling, you’ll notice it on quite a few price tags and menus etc.

Kip are used in Laos and the Thai rupee doesn’t exist.

Khao Soi is a delicious northern Thai / Burmese chicken noodle dish

Khao Sok is a National Park with huge lake in the south of Thailand

Khao Yai is a National Park, home to wild elephants, about 2 hours northeast of Bangkok

Khao Kho is a hill country area in central Thailand.

King Bhumibol Adulyadej was born on December 5, 1927 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.

His parents were living in the US as his father was studying at Harvard University.

Loy Krathong is celebrated on November’s full moon in Buddhist countries in Southeast Asia.

People gather around lakes, rivers and canals to pay respects to the goddess of water.

This is done by releasing beautiful lotus-shaped rafts, decorated with candles, incense and flowers onto lakes, rivers and the ocean.

Spain is the correct answer.  It’s just a little smaller than Thailand.

Thailand has a land area of 513,120 km²

Spain 505,990 km²

Norway 385,203 km²

Greece 131,957 km²

Portugal 92,212 km²

The River Ping flows through Chiang Mai.

The river in Bangkok is the Chao Phraya.  The River Kwae is in Kanchanaburi and Chiang Rai is on the Mae Kok river.

Songkhla Lake is the largest natural lake in Thailand. It is on the Malay peninsula in the southern part of the country. Covering an area of 1,040 km²

‘Mai pen rai’ is roughly translated as it doesn’t matter / no problem / don’t worry about it.  So is often used by laid back Thais.

The King Power Mahanakorn is one of Thailand’s tallest buildings.  It has the highest observation deck in Bangkok.  On the rooftop, 314 meters above the streets of Bangkok.

The Man with the Golden Gun is a 1974 Bond movie that was partly filmed in Thailand.

Thai locations included Bangkok, Thon Buri, Phuket and nearby Phang Nga Province, where the most famous location Ko Khao Phing Kan, is situated.

This island was home to Scaramanga’s lair in the movie, so is now simply known as James Bond island.

Phanom Rung is a Hindu Khmer Empire temple complex set on the rim of an extinct volcano and is located in Buriram Province in northeast Thailand.

Thonburi was the previous capital

The four capitals of Siamese Kingdom:

Sukhothai – 1238 to 1378

Ayuttaya – 1350 to 1767 (two capitals for a while – some overlap with Sukhothai)

Thonburi – 1767 to 1782

Bangkok – 1782 to present

Nok Air paint the nose of their planes to look like a bird.  ‘Nok’ is Thai for ‘bird’

King Rama VII commissioned a palace to be built near Hua Hin in 1926, shortly after Hua Hin Train Station was built.

Bun Bang Fai is a mad Isaan rocket festival timed to encourage the rains to arrive for the start of the rice harvest.

Villagers make homemade rockets and fire them into the sky. Unlike normal fireworks these are more like 100kg missiles that can fly for several minutes in random directions. Assuming they don’t explode on launch.