The climate in Thailand, year round, is tropical. Its at about the same latitude as northern South America and the average yearly rainfall is 100 inches. She may get chilly here.

Thailand has an area of about 198,000 square miles; its the size of France. Its main section is nestled between Burma, Laos, and Cambodia, but a long section of the country stretches down the Malay peninsula on the only land route north from Singapore and Malaysia.

HatYai is a major commercial, entertainment, and shopping center in the Songkhla province. The entire province has about a half million people and Thailand itself has a population of 60 million.

Those 60 million people are 75 percent Thai, 14 percent Chinese, and 11 percent "other." The language is Thai with English as the major commercial language. Reportedly, street signs are in both Thai and English. The population is 95 percent Buddhist, four percent Muslim, with Christians and Hindus in the last one per cent.

Thailand was probably settled over 5000 years ago and archeologists believe the first cultivated rice was grown there at that time. 1238 is the traditional date for the nations founding, as a monarchy. During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries Westerners came to live and trade in Thailand and some Thai traveled to Europe for schooling. But when Western powers began to interfere in Thai matters they were forced to leave and all contact with the West was ended. The name "Thailand" means free nation: Thais are proud of never having been colonized. Late in the eighteenth century Thai monarchs reestablished contact with the West and in 1932 the absolute monarchy ended with the establishment of a constitutional monarchy with a bicameral legislature.

Thailand has railroads, highways, and as you might expect for a country with 1600 miles of coastline, a merchant marine fleet. There are three heliports and 106 airports: 55 paved and 51 unpaved. (I love that statistic.) Fifty-four percent of the workforce is in agriculture, 15 percent in industry, and 31 percent in services, including government services.

As crossword puzzle doers know the Thai unit of currency is the baht. Its worth about four US cents.

The Thai national anthem is played twice a day -- on radio and television, at police stations, and in public areas. We can hear the anthem on the web. In fact, there are several good web sites about Thailand, including one to learn the Thai language. Check out learningThai.com, thailandlife.com, and hatyai.com. On the web you can learn to say hello in Thai. Its "sawatdee khrab" if youre male and "sawatdee kaa" if youre female.

There are over 135 Rotary clubs in Thailand and the 2002-2003 president of Rotary International is from a Bangkok club.

Thai food is wonderful making use of fresh fruits, vegetables, seafood and oriental spices available there.