"It is possible to store the mind with a million facts and still be entirely uneducated".
Alec Bourne
• King Prajadhipok was the last absolute monarch in Thailand. He abdicated in 1935.
• Thailand’s first Prime Minister was Phraya Manopakonnitithada (1932 – 1933).
• 2,230 sq km of Thailand is water.
• An estimated 350,000 migrants will be naturalised as Thai citizens by 2009.
(TNA)
• Currently there are 54,000 NGV(natural gas for vehicles) vehicles in Thailand.
(Bangkok Post, December 26 2007)
• The traditional Thai units can be converted into metric units as follows: 1 picul = 60 kg; 1 catty = 600 grams (100 catty = 1 picul); 1 baht (named like the currency, used to weigh gold) = 15.16 grams; 1 carat = 20 centigrams (5 carat = 1 gram); 1 sen = 40 meters; 1 wah = 2 meters (20 wah = 1 sen); 1 sauk (¼ wah) = 0.50 meter; 1 keup (½ sauk) = 0.25 meter; 1 rai (1 sq sen) = 1,600 sq meters; 1 ngan (¼ rai) = 400 sq meters; 1 sq wah = 4 sq meters (100 sq wah = 1 ngan); 1 kwien = 2,000 liters; 1 ban = 1,000 liters (2 ban = 1 kwien); 1 sat = 20 liters (50 sat = 1 ban); 1 tannan = 1 liter (20 tannan = 1 sat).
• The Thai alphabet consists of 44 consonants and 32 vowels.
• The average amount spent per foreign tourist in Thailand for 2007 was 3,700 baht per person per day.
(Bangkok Post, December 26 2007)
• Thailand’s national unemployment rate is 2.1%
(CIA World Factbook, 2006 est)
• Short message service (SMS) traffic on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day is projected to surge to 100 million messages from about 62 million last year.
(Bangkok Post, December 29, 2007)
