CAPITAL BANGKOK - POPULATION 67 MILLION - AREA 511,770 SQ KM -OFFICIAL LANGUAGE THAI
Just as Thailand was rebuilding its tourism industry after the tsunami tragedy, it began making headlines for all the wrong reasons: terrorism in the south and post-election coups in a country known as a bastion of serenity in the region. But tourism in Thailand is so firmly established that the impact of these events has not been major. Budget airlines have made short stays possible and an emphasis on wellness tourism, such as massage classes or Buddhist retreats, have created good reasons to rediscover the ancient kingdom. And there's still the checklist that made Thailand the pick of the 1990s: Buddha, beaches and Bangkok.
KHAO PHING KAN, PHUKET, THAILAND
This self-styled 'James Bond Island' comes courtesy of The Man with a Golden Gun, the latter scenes of which were filmed in Thailand (Khao Phing Kan is baddy Scaramanga's hideaway in the film). Back in 1974 when the film was shot, the island was an undiscovered paradise. Now tourists flock by the busload, but the place is still idyllic, if completely devoid of almost anything tangibly Bond-related. Still, several other jungle-topped limestone promontories - which Bond would have obligingly skinny-dipped off - also rear out of the turquoise water hereabouts. Guess where everyone else isn't. |
