Thailand (Prathet Thai, meaning "land of the free")

Capital:
Bangkok (Krung Thep, meaning " city of angels")

Area: 513,115 sq. km.

Population:
Thais are wellknown for their friendliness and hospitality. A large majority of over 62 million citizens of Thailand are ethic Thai, along with strong communities whose ethnic origins lie in China, India and elsewhere. About 7 million people reside in the capital city of Bangkok.

People:Thai (80%), Chinese (10%), Malay (3%), and the rest are minorities (Mons, Khmers, hilltribes) Ethnic Thais form the majority, though the area has historically been a migratory crossroads, and has thus produced a degree of ethnic diversity. Integration is such, however, that culturally and socially there is enormous unity.

Religion:
Buddhism (95%), Muslim (4%), others (1%)

Government:
Thailand has had a constitutional monarchy since 1932. Parliament is composed of 2 houses, The House of Representatives and the Senate. Both representatives and senators are elected by the people. A prime minister elected from among the representatives leads the government. The country is divided into 76 provinces. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration comes under an elected governor. Appointed provincial governors administer the other 75 provinces (Changwat), which are divided into districts (Amphoe), sub-districts (Tambon) and villages (Mu Ban).

Time: The time in Thailand is seven hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (+7 hours GMT).

Emergency Telephone Numbers:
Central Emergency (Police, Ambulance, Fire) : 191
Highway Patrol : 1193
Crime Suppression : 195 or 0-2513-3844
Tourist Police (English, French and German spoken) : 1155
Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Call Centre : 1672
Immigration Bureau : 0-2287-3101-10

Visa & Taxes informations
When you enter Thailand without visa you can get 30 days permission to stay, is possible to extend your staying at Samui immigration office for 15 more days ( cost 600 Baht ). With Tourist visa you have permission to stay 60 days in Thailand and you can extend it 30 day ( 1900 Baht ) + 15 days ( 200 Baht ) + 7 days ( 200 Baht ) + 7 days ( 200 Baht ). When you want to stay longer just few days you can pay at the international airport in the moment you leave the country 200 Baht each day you are out of visa. Remember when you are leaving, to keep in your pocket 400 Baht/person for Samui airport Tax and 500 Baht/person for Bangkok International airport Thailand tax.

Phuket
Phuket is Thailand ’s largest island, approximately the size of Singapore. Phuket nestles in balmy Andaman Sea waters on Thailand’s Indian Ocean coastline 862 kilometres south of Bangkok. Phuket is blessed with magnificent coves and bays, powdery, palm-fringed white beaches, sparkling island-dotted seas, sincerely hospitable people, superb accommodations and seafood, delightful turn-of-the-century Sino-Portuguese architecture; numerous sporting and leisure opportunities; a lush tropical landscape – all of which combine to create a delightful ambience for truly memorable holidays. Some 8°N of the Equator, and well below the latitudes of destructive tropical storms, Phuket's balmy tropical climate is tempered by cool NE breezes from November to March, and by fresh on-shore winds in summer months.Time is + 7 hours ahead of GMT, 1 hour behind Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia.
The Andaman Sea, separated from the Bay of Bengal by the Andaman-Nicobar Ridge, is part of the Indian Ocean. Thailand's Andaman coast extends for 870 kilometres from the Surin Islands on the northern border with Burma to Tarutao National Park on the southern border with Malaysia. Hundreds of islands are accessible to small craft from Phuket, many of them uninhabited, many of them forested and fringed with spectacular coral reefs. You often won't find a footprint on the beach.
Two distinctively different varieties of island are found in the Andaman Sea, each of them scenically striking in its own way. Low-relief granite intrusions, including the Surin and Similan islands, run in series roughly parallel to the more dramatic limestone islands. Island groups such as Koh phi phi have been shaped by a variety of forces from a massive limestone platform that was deposited 350 million to 450 million years ago.
Phuket Island itself is mainly granite, with low forested mountains and a series of fine white-sand beaches, mostly on the west coast. Much of the forest has been cleared, first for rubber plantations and then for tourism development. The one remaining significant stand of virgin rainforest – Khao Phra Thaeo Park.
Phang Nga and Krabi provinces, mainland and islands alike, display the same dramatic limestone ("karst") geography of the Phi Phi Islands. Khao Sok National Park, just to the north and east off Phuket, has large areas of tropical forest, some of it still remote enough to harbour wild tigers.
The official census shows 231,206 people living in Phuket. Since this figure only includes those registered as resident in Phuket province and there is a significant (semi-permanent) work force from other provinces of Thailand and as many as 35,000 visitors at any one time, it is likely that a more realistic figure would be much higher
Phuket Town, the main town, has over 60,000 inhabitants.
Patong Beach, the most developed of the west-coast beaches, has evolved from a fishing village into a thriving little resort city over the past 15 years or so.

Climate
Phuket has two major seasons: the Rains Season from May through October, and the Hot Season from November through April. There are many sunny days throughout the Rains Season: showers customarily last little more than 2 or 3 hours. September is the wettest month. The best months are November through February. Average temperatures range between 22 and 34 degrees Celsius.

Phone
Tourist Information Tel : 0-7621-2213, 0-7621-1036
- Emergency Tel : 199
- Torist Police Tel : 0-7621-9878 or 1155
- Marine Police Tel : 0-7621-1883
- Phuket Provincial Office Tel : 0-7621-1366
- Phuket Airport Tel : 0-7632-7230-7
- Immigration Office Tel : 0-7621-2108
- Thai Airways Tel : 0-7621-1195, 0-7621-2946, 0-7621-2499
- Bangkok Airways Tel : 0-7622-5033-5
- Phuket Air Tel: 0-7635-1337
- Phuket Adventist Hospital Tel : 0-7621-2386
- Phuket Ruamphaet Hospital Tel : 0-7621-2950
- Sirirot Hospital Tel : 0-7624-9400, 0-7621-0935