"'Facts', broke in Heyst in his courtly voice. ‘There’s nothing worth knowing but facts. Hard facts! Facts alone, Mr Tesman’
I don’t know if old Tesman agreed with him or not, but he must have spoken about it, because, for a time, our man got the name of ‘Hard Facts’”
Victory, Joseph Conrad
• The King of Thailand, is the world’s longest current living head of state behind Queen Elizabeth 2nd of England and Fidel Castro of Cuba.
• Thailand is the world’s largest exporter of rice.
• Thailand is the third largest market behind Japan and the US for the 7-11 convenience store chain.
• Thailand is roughly the same size as France (513,115sq km).
• Years in Thailand are counted from the beginning of the Buddhist Era, which began 543 years earlier than the Christian Era. Therefore, according to the Thai calender, the year 2007 is 2550.
• Thailand has 76 provinces
• According to a 2005 government survey 43% of the labour force in Thailand is engaged in agriculture.
• Doi Inthanon at 2,595m (8,514ft) is Thailand's highest mountain.
• Until 1917 a white elephant appeared on the national flag of Thailand.
• In 1940, Thailand moved its New Year’s Day from April 13 to January 1.
