<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8026486922644414719</id><updated>2011-11-27T16:46:27.107-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Smiling Siam Tour</title><subtitle type='html'></subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://smilingtour.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8026486922644414719/posts/default?max-results=100'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://smilingtour.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><author><name>tiip_hooley</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07888843754678029541</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>8</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>100</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8026486922644414719.post-1362303235593323213</id><published>2009-08-18T09:42:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-08-18T09:46:17.264-07:00</updated><title type='text'></title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_twf0Xx_Pins/SorabI8UI5I/AAAAAAAAAD8/IwDHNYhi1OU/s1600-h/SimilanIslands-Beach.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 204px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_twf0Xx_Pins/SorabI8UI5I/AAAAAAAAAD8/IwDHNYhi1OU/s320/SimilanIslands-Beach.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371345665384522642" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(128, 64, 0);"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.329412) 1px -1px;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="  line-height: 25px; font-family:Helvetica;font-size:17px;"&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 17px; line-height: 25px; "&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(128, 64, 0);"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.329412) 1px -1px;"&gt;The &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(128, 64, 0);"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.329412) 1px -1px;"&gt;Similan Islands&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(128, 64, 0);"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.329412) 1px -1px;"&gt; (&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_language" title="Thai language" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(128, 64, 0);"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.329412) 1px -1px;"&gt;Thai&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(128, 64, 0);"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.329412) 1px -1px;"&gt;: &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span lang="th" lang="th"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(128, 64, 0);"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.329412) 1px -1px;"&gt;เกาะสิมิลัน&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(128, 64, 0);"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.329412) 1px -1px;"&gt;) is a group of &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islands" title="Islands" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(128, 64, 0);"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.329412) 1px -1px;"&gt;islands&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(128, 64, 0);"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.329412) 1px -1px;"&gt; in the &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andaman_Sea" title="Andaman Sea" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(128, 64, 0);"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.329412) 1px -1px;"&gt;Andaman Sea&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(128, 64, 0);"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.329412) 1px -1px;"&gt; off the &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coast" title="Coast" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(128, 64, 0);"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.329412) 1px -1px;"&gt;coast&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(128, 64, 0);"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.329412) 1px -1px;"&gt; of &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phang_Nga_Province" title="Phang Nga Province" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(128, 64, 0);"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.329412) 1px -1px;"&gt;Phang Nga Province&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(128, 64, 0);"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.329412) 1px -1px;"&gt;, southern&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thailand" title="Thailand" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(128, 64, 0);"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.329412) 1px -1px;"&gt;Thailand&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(128, 64, 0);"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.329412) 1px -1px;"&gt;. It is a &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_park" title="National park" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(128, 64, 0);"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.329412) 1px -1px;"&gt;national park&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(128, 64, 0);"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.329412) 1px -1px;"&gt; which was established in 1982.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(128, 64, 0);"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.329412) 1px -1px;"&gt;Similan Islands National Park was established after the one-year exploration by the Foresty department. The park is the &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archipelago" title="Archipelago" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(128, 64, 0);"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.329412) 1px -1px;"&gt;archipelago&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(128, 64, 0);"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.329412) 1px -1px;"&gt; consisting of nine islands which are Ko Bon, Ko Bayu, Ko Similan, Ko Payu, Ko Miang (two adjoining islands), Ko Payan, Ko Payang, and Ko Huyong. Recently, the park was expanded to included two remoted islands which are Ko Bon and Ko Tachai. The Similans are situated 70 kilometres from &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phang_Nga" title="Phang Nga" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(128, 64, 0);"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.329412) 1px -1px;"&gt;Phang Nga&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(128, 64, 0);"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.329412) 1px -1px;"&gt; town. "Similan" is a &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yawi_language" title="Yawi language" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(128, 64, 0);"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.329412) 1px -1px;"&gt;Yawi&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(128, 64, 0);"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.329412) 1px -1px;"&gt; word which means "nine". Similan is one of the most famous diving sites in Thailand.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;h3 style="background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: initial; border-bottom-color: initial; margin-bottom: 0.3em; "&gt;&lt;span class="mw-headline"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(128, 64, 0);"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.329412) 1px -1px;"&gt;Dive sites&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(128, 64, 0);"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.329412) 1px -1px;"&gt;The Similan national park is famous for its divesites. It has typically 2 different kind of diving. East side diving consists of gently sloping coral reefs with sandy patches and the occasional boulder in between. West side diving is known for its huge underwater granite boulders with numerous swimthroughs. Maybe the most famous east side dive site is East of Eden, off Island number 7. Elephant head rock is arguably the most famous west side dive site with a maze of swimthroughs and the reputation for spin-cycle like currents running in every direction.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(128, 64, 0);"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.329412) 1px -1px;"&gt;Elephant head rock was named by Horst Hinrichs from Germany in the mid 70s, founder of one of the oldest dive shops in Phuket, Santana Diving.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(128, 64, 0);"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.329412) 1px -1px;"&gt;Other popular divesites include North Point, Deep Six, Boulder City and the awesome pinnacles off Koh Bon and Koh Tachai.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(128, 64, 0);"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.329412) 1px -1px;"&gt;The mother of all divesites in the Similans, which is actually part of Surin national park, is Richelieu Rock. Famous for its incomparable variety and abundance of marine life. Whale shark sightings are not uncommon here.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(128, 64, 0);"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.329412) 1px -1px;"&gt;However, since 1999, its once most beautiful dive site, the Fantasy Reef, has been closed from all diving activities after its condition had significantly deteriorated. the National Park officially blames diving for the deterioration, while dive operators in the area claims that fishing boats, with or without permission, enter the national park during low season, when no dive operators are allowed in the national park.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(128, 64, 0);"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.329412) 1px -1px;"&gt;The national park also claims that the dive site suffered significant damage from the tsunami in 2004. Since noone but the national park staff is allowed to dive Fantasy Reef it is impossible to oppose to that statement, but still, The argument has been used for the government in order to extend the closure period.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8026486922644414719-1362303235593323213?l=smilingtour.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://smilingtour.blogspot.com/feeds/1362303235593323213/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://smilingtour.blogspot.com/2009/08/similan-islands-thai-is-group-of.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8026486922644414719/posts/default/1362303235593323213'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8026486922644414719/posts/default/1362303235593323213'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://smilingtour.blogspot.com/2009/08/similan-islands-thai-is-group-of.html' title=''/><author><name>tiip_hooley</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07888843754678029541</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_twf0Xx_Pins/SorabI8UI5I/AAAAAAAAAD8/IwDHNYhi1OU/s72-c/SimilanIslands-Beach.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8026486922644414719.post-6197241717527146587</id><published>2009-08-18T07:02:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-08-18T07:04:08.692-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Backpacking In Thailand</title><content type='html'>&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(73, 73, 73); font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Planning a trip to Thailand appeals to travelers of all shapes, sizes and budgets because it is quite easy to navigate about the different cities and main attractions. The travel is also inexpensive, leaving you with more money to explore the booming silk industry, as well as the delicious cuisine. Thai food melds a combination of mind, body and soul into their spicy and sweet balanced meals, offering some of the best dishes in the world. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Why Thailand is So Popular&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;When planning a backpacking trip to Thailand, you may have heard of what attracts tourists to the various areas about the country. In the North, trekking through the mountains is quite popular. More than 300 temples can be located in the beautiful natural surroundings of Chiang Mai. Top-notch quality and inexpensive stays can be found at every corner, offering flavorful food and interesting shopping outlets. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As a backpacker, you will find an abundance of places to stay at in the area, including Julie's Guesthouse. At this establishment, you will be able to sign up for a couple of days trekking through the jungle that features lovely views and a first-hand look at how the locals thrive. To avoid getting hit by the monsoon rains, plan an adventure for this area between the months of October and April. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Central Thailand brings the allure of Bangkok, which overflows with shopping, addicting cuisine, palaces and temples. The Chao Phraya River provides a great scene to explore. Main attractions to consider include the Royal Palace, the Wats and Chinatown, as well as the Chatuchak Weekend Market. Notable festivals can be experienced in Ayuthaya, where scenic riverside gardens await in Sukhothai. The endless possibilities for exploration are mind-boggling. The islands of Southern Thailand bring you closer to white sands and warm waters. The largest of the bunch is called Phuket, where other notable selections include the Phi Phi Islands and the waterfalls of Krabi. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Nightlife&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Many tourists enjoy the overall aspect of Thailand nightlife. This is one of the main reasons a large amount of travelers backpack throughout the country: nature, culture, food and fun. If it's a good time you're looking for, try the many go-go and beer bars in Pattaya, as well as Chaweng Beach (Ko Samui) that parties into the wee hours of the night. Koh Phangan is the site where thousands of locals and tourists gather to celebrate by the light of the full moon. It's a world famous beach party that never seems to end, offered once every month. It is one of the best places to experience the food, drink and dance of Thailand island life in an event that literally rocks the senses.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The law of the land states that bars and nightclubs close at 2 in the morning when visiting Bangkok, but there is always somewhere to go, whether it's just a delicious restaurant tucked away on a side street. The largest area to explore is called Patpong, which provides three streets to explore. For more information on the ins and outs of Thailand, check out the latest information posted on www.jeng-thailand.com.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8026486922644414719-6197241717527146587?l=smilingtour.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://smilingtour.blogspot.com/feeds/6197241717527146587/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://smilingtour.blogspot.com/2009/08/backpacking-in-thailand.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8026486922644414719/posts/default/6197241717527146587'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8026486922644414719/posts/default/6197241717527146587'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://smilingtour.blogspot.com/2009/08/backpacking-in-thailand.html' title='Backpacking In Thailand'/><author><name>tiip_hooley</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07888843754678029541</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8026486922644414719.post-1557738258101082633</id><published>2009-08-18T07:00:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-08-18T07:02:28.928-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Phuket: An Amazing Scuba Diving Location</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_twf0Xx_Pins/Soq0P8BLRCI/AAAAAAAAAD0/xxHCmhJFP4U/s1600-h/phuket-beach-big.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 212px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_twf0Xx_Pins/Soq0P8BLRCI/AAAAAAAAAD0/xxHCmhJFP4U/s320/phuket-beach-big.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371303691494835234" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Phuket is located in Thailand and is very highly rated. In fact, it is among the world's top ten scuba diving locations. Exotic culture, adventure both above and below the surface, unforgettable food, Phuket has all the right ingredients for a perfect diving holiday. There are breath taking reefs and remarkable underwater rock formations in addition to the different types of marine life that are found here that provide some amazing opportunities for divers of all levels and persuasions. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;One can go live-aboard diving and there are also daytrips and plenty of dive points, dive centers as well as dive courses available for the scuba diver. Liveaboard diving in Thailand from Phuket and Khao Lak with liveaboard boats to Similan islands, Richelieu Rock, Phi Phi, Hin Daeng and Hin Muang, are good examples of where you can go to in this great scuba diving location. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Phuket and Phi Phi Island, which are among the top 10 scuba diving locations in the world boasts of splendid crystal clear water, awesome rock formations as well as an ecosystem that is vibrant and contains a lot of marine life. The water is also warm having average surface temperatures of 82 degrees Fahrenheit and there are hundreds of different varieties of both stony as well as soft corals surrounded by bright colored fish as well as other creatures of the sea which also includes some large reef fish. While stony corals are the life blood of the reef, soft corals are a prominent part of the reef. In some places they look like vast fields of undersea wildflowers.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;For those who would like to see big animals there are the Whale Sharks as well as Manta Ray whose sighting is pretty common. In addition, there are also dozens of other picturesque island destinations that lie in close proximity and can be reached by day boats as well as live-aboard cruises, from Phuket. The consistent water temperatures make it possible to go diving throughout the year, right off the coast of Phuket. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;For those who desire to visit this beautiful scuba diving location, they can look forward to having great food and under expert supervision they may enjoy their stay where the accommodation too, is very comfortable. And those who wish for Scuba certification, this extraordinary scuba diving location will provide many affordable Dive Shops where beginners may learn the basics and others may try out the master instructor certification.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Besides its outstanding water treasures, there is a whole lot more available right here at this wonderful scuba diving location in the form of beautiful beaches, gourmet restaurants, vivacious night life as well as a number of other attractions all available where and when one wants it. There are also popular dive centers such as Dive Asia, Colona Diving, Similan Diving Safaris, Moskito Diving, Blue Planet Divers, and Sea Bees Diving plus a number of others for those who desire to try out more of this scuba diving location at Phuket.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8026486922644414719-1557738258101082633?l=smilingtour.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://smilingtour.blogspot.com/feeds/1557738258101082633/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://smilingtour.blogspot.com/2009/08/phuket-amazing-scuba-diving-location.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8026486922644414719/posts/default/1557738258101082633'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8026486922644414719/posts/default/1557738258101082633'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://smilingtour.blogspot.com/2009/08/phuket-amazing-scuba-diving-location.html' title='Phuket: An Amazing Scuba Diving Location'/><author><name>tiip_hooley</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07888843754678029541</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_twf0Xx_Pins/Soq0P8BLRCI/AAAAAAAAAD0/xxHCmhJFP4U/s72-c/phuket-beach-big.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8026486922644414719.post-1673405119020207985</id><published>2009-08-18T04:03:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-08-18T04:06:16.311-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Come to Joy Party!!!!!</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_twf0Xx_Pins/SoqK3bKlSuI/AAAAAAAAADQ/uLB_WZxm1Ak/s1600-h/300px-Full_Moon_Party_March_2003.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_twf0Xx_Pins/SoqK3bKlSuI/AAAAAAAAADQ/uLB_WZxm1Ak/s200/300px-Full_Moon_Party_March_2003.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371258190382320354" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 180px; height: 135px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_twf0Xx_Pins/SoqK2yVA2MI/AAAAAAAAADI/5kxtZgjGYdM/s200/180px-Full_moon_party_haadrin.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371258179420215490" /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="  line-height: 25px; font-family:Helvetica;font-size:17px;"&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande'; font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande'; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 17px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 25px; "&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;The &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Full Moon Party&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt; is an all-night &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beach" title="Beach" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;beach&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party" title="Party" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;party&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt; that takes place in &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haad_Rin" title="Haad Rin" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;Haad Rin&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt; on the island of &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ko_Pha_Ngan" title="Ko Pha Ngan" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;Ko Pha Ngan&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thailand" title="Thailand" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;Thailand&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt; on the night of every &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_moon" title="Full moon" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;full moon&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;The first Full Moon Party was improvised at a wooden disco not far from the beach in 1985 for giving thanks to about 20-30 travelers.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;sup id="cite_ref-surat_0-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1em; font-style: normal; "&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_Moon_Party#cite_note-surat-0" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; white-space: nowrap; "&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;[&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;1&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;]&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt; The Full Moon Party gained fame quickly through word of mouth, and the event now draws a crowd about 20,000-30,000 every full moon evening.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;sup id="cite_ref-surat_0-1" class="reference" style="line-height: 1em; font-style: normal; "&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_Moon_Party#cite_note-surat-0" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; white-space: nowrap; "&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;[&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;1&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;]&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt; The party carries on until the sun rises the next day. All the bars on the sunset beach of Haad Rin town stay open and play music such as &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%26B" title="R&amp;amp;B" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;R&amp;amp;B&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drum_and_bass" title="Drum and bass" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;drum and bass&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_music" title="House music" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;house&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dance" title="Dance" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;dance&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt; and &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reggae" title="Reggae" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;reggae&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;The event has become a part of the itinerary of many travelers to &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia" title="Asia" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;Asia&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;. Entry to the event is completely free if staying at a Haad Rin Hotel or catching a ferry boat from Koh Samui Directly to Haad Rin beach. Yet if staying elsewhere on the island you may have to pay about 100-200 Baht for entry, claimed to be used for the clean up effort. In recent years, local&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrepreneur" title="Entrepreneur" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;entrepreneurs&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt; have attempted to expand upon the event with spinoffs like the &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half_Moon_Party" title="Half Moon Party" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;Half Moon Party&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt; and Black Moon Party.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8026486922644414719-1673405119020207985?l=smilingtour.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://smilingtour.blogspot.com/feeds/1673405119020207985/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://smilingtour.blogspot.com/2009/08/come-to-joy-party_18.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8026486922644414719/posts/default/1673405119020207985'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8026486922644414719/posts/default/1673405119020207985'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://smilingtour.blogspot.com/2009/08/come-to-joy-party_18.html' title='Come to Joy Party!!!!!'/><author><name>tiip_hooley</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07888843754678029541</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_twf0Xx_Pins/SoqK3bKlSuI/AAAAAAAAADQ/uLB_WZxm1Ak/s72-c/300px-Full_Moon_Party_March_2003.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8026486922644414719.post-8754670712374536913</id><published>2009-08-14T01:28:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-08-14T02:25:03.101-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Amazing &amp; Diverse Thailand</title><content type='html'>There are many many and many tourist attractions in Thailand which somehow totally different. Tourist around the world come to Thailand on different destination. Some come to enjoy famous entertainment places both good and bad reputation. Some come to admire natural or culture places. If you haven'tt make your decision yet. I suggest you read this first after finished look at the ADs on your left hand, you'll find useful ads to help you decide.&lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;Beautiful Nature&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;As you can see the right picture --&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 190px; height: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_twf0Xx_Pins/SoUin5-YNAI/AAAAAAAAACY/qewL62RQztY/s200/DSCF4398_1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5369736199681881090" /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;and wonder where on earth is this beautiful place? Well, welcome to South Thailand where you can see&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt; the clear bluish sea sooo far beyond your eye sight can imagine. Including, some fantastic festival that hold at some island which persuade 100,000 tourists to visit every year.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;Come to the peak of Thailand, the North. The greenish forest which chill climate suits for western tourist. Chiang Mai is the most famous and popular ever. It have both culture and natural place. Oh, almost forgot there are entertainment places by the way. The below picture is the forest at the highest peak of Thailand, very green, isn't it? &lt;/div&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 171px; height: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_twf0Xx_Pins/SoUkBmeVmZI/AAAAAAAAACg/m8R2vgT5Mqk/s200/npc57.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5369737740635445650" /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;only teaser for today, I'll post the others places later. And don't forget the left-ads can help you. Click it,plz!!!!!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8026486922644414719-8754670712374536913?l=smilingtour.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://smilingtour.blogspot.com/feeds/8754670712374536913/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://smilingtour.blogspot.com/2009/08/amazing-diverse-thailand.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8026486922644414719/posts/default/8754670712374536913'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8026486922644414719/posts/default/8754670712374536913'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://smilingtour.blogspot.com/2009/08/amazing-diverse-thailand.html' title='Amazing &amp; Diverse Thailand'/><author><name>tiip_hooley</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07888843754678029541</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_twf0Xx_Pins/SoUin5-YNAI/AAAAAAAAACY/qewL62RQztY/s72-c/DSCF4398_1.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8026486922644414719.post-4337678828956705058</id><published>2009-08-14T01:04:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-08-14T01:27:44.434-07:00</updated><title type='text'>??</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;Siam? Thai? Does it different? The answer is NO.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;Siam is Thai and Thai is Siam.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;However, these 2 words can describe on another way. If you want to visit Thailand tourist attractions Kanchanaburi, for instance, you can say Thai nuture in Kanchaburi is wonderful. Conversely, if you visit Bangkok; the capital, such as a couple royal temple you would say Siam temple is fantastic. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;So, SIAM might be called as 'culture' or 'traditional' ,whereas THAI might be called as modern siam tangible aspects.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8026486922644414719-4337678828956705058?l=smilingtour.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://smilingtour.blogspot.com/feeds/4337678828956705058/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://smilingtour.blogspot.com/2009/08/blog-post.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8026486922644414719/posts/default/4337678828956705058'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8026486922644414719/posts/default/4337678828956705058'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://smilingtour.blogspot.com/2009/08/blog-post.html' title='??'/><author><name>tiip_hooley</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07888843754678029541</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8026486922644414719.post-7878942999664980092</id><published>2009-08-11T08:51:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-08-11T08:54:58.003-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Once Upon A Time in World War II</title><content type='html'>&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="  line-height: 25px; font-family:Helvetica;font-size:17px;"&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0);"&gt;Kanchanaburi&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);"&gt;(&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_language" title="Thai language" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);"&gt;Thai&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);"&gt;: &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span lang="th"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);"&gt;กา&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 114px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_twf0Xx_Pins/SoGUK2XGKOI/AAAAAAAAACQ/W6Jv1GF5w0k/s200/250px-Thailand_location_map.svg.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5368735144914331874" /&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "&gt;&lt;span lang="th"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);"&gt;ญจนบุรี&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);"&gt;) is a town (&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thesaban_mueang" title="Thesaban mueang" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);"&gt;thesaban mueang&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);"&gt;) in the west of&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thailand" title="Thailand" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);"&gt;Thailand&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);"&gt; and the capital of &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanchanaburi_Province" title="Kanchanaburi Province" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);"&gt;Kanchanaburi&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provinces_of_Thailand" title="Provinces of Thailand" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);"&gt;province&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);"&gt;. In 2006 it had a population of 31,327. The town covers the complete &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tambon" title="Tambon" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);"&gt;tambon&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);"&gt; Ban Nuea and Ban Tai and parts of Pak Phraek and Tha Makham, all of &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphoe_Mueang_Kanchanaburi" title="Amphoe Mueang Kanchanaburi" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);"&gt;Mueang Kanchanaburi district&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);"&gt;, and parts of the &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);"&gt;tambon&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);"&gt; Tha Lo of &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphoe_Tha_Muang" title="Amphoe Tha Muang" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);"&gt;Tha Muang district&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);"&gt;Kanchanaburi is located where the &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khwae_Noi_River" title="Khwae Noi River" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);"&gt;Khwae Noi&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);"&gt; and &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khwae_Yai_River" title="Khwae Yai River" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);"&gt;Khwae Yai&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);"&gt; rivers converge into the &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mae_Klong" title="Mae Klong" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);"&gt;Mae Klong&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);"&gt; river, where in 1942, under Japanese control, the famous &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bridge_on_the_River_Kwai" title="The Bridge on the River Kwai" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);"&gt;Bridge on the River Kwai&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);"&gt; was built by prisoners of war (&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/POW" title="POW" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);"&gt;POWs&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);"&gt;). A &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanchanaburi_Memorial" title="Kanchanaburi Memorial" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);"&gt;memorial&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);"&gt; and two museums are also located here: the &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thailand-Burma_Railway_Museum" title="Thailand-Burma Railway Museum" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);"&gt;Thailand-Burma Railway Museum&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);"&gt; (opened in March 2003), and the &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JEATH_War_Museum" title="JEATH War Museum" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);"&gt;JEATH War Museum&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);"&gt; dedicated to the bridge and the &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Railway" title="Death Railway" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);"&gt;Death Railway&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);"&gt;. The city is also home to&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"&gt; the &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanchanaburi_War_Cemetery" title="Kanchanaburi War Cemetery" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"&gt;Kanchanaburi War Cemetery&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"&gt;. It is the easiest access point to the nearby &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_Temple" title="Tiger Temple" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"&gt;Tiger Temple&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"&gt;Kanchanaburi spans the northern banks of the river and is a popular spot for travelers, its location at the edge of a mountain range keeping it much cooler than the other provinces of central Thailand. The city has two major commercial districts: the downtown area consists of a grid of several streets with office buildings, shop fronts, and a shopping mall; and the riverfront area businesses are mostly located further west along River Kwai Road. Once a year a carnival comes to town and is set up in the area next to the bridge. At night there is a small pyrotechnics display that reenacts the Allied bombing of the bridge.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8026486922644414719-7878942999664980092?l=smilingtour.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://smilingtour.blogspot.com/feeds/7878942999664980092/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://smilingtour.blogspot.com/2009/08/once-upon-time-in-world-war-ii.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8026486922644414719/posts/default/7878942999664980092'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8026486922644414719/posts/default/7878942999664980092'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://smilingtour.blogspot.com/2009/08/once-upon-time-in-world-war-ii.html' title='Once Upon A Time in World War II'/><author><name>tiip_hooley</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07888843754678029541</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_twf0Xx_Pins/SoGUK2XGKOI/AAAAAAAAACQ/W6Jv1GF5w0k/s72-c/250px-Thailand_location_map.svg.png' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8026486922644414719.post-1196463172090503247</id><published>2009-08-11T08:40:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-08-11T08:43:25.400-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Meet Us Smiley Siam Thai</title><content type='html'>&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 17px; line-height: 25px; "&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 51, 0);"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 51, 0);"&gt;Kingdom of Thailand&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt; (pronounced &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span title="Pronunciation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)" class="IPA" style="font-family: inherit; "&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IPA_for_English" title="Wikipedia:IPA for English" style="background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; text-decoration: none; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;/ˈtaɪlænd/&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_language" title="Thai language" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;Thai&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;: &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span lang="th" lang="th"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;ราชอาณาจักรไทย&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;Ratcha Anachak Thai,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;IPA: &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/small&gt;&lt;span title="Pronunciation in IPA" class="IPA" style="font-family: inherit; "&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IPA" title="Wikipedia:IPA" style="background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; text-decoration: none; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;[râːtɕʰa ʔaːnaːtɕɑ̀k tʰɑj]&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;span style="white-space: nowrap; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;(&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media:Th-pratheidthai_raachaanaajakthai.ogg" title="Media:Th-pratheidthai raachaanaajakthai.ogg" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;&lt;img alt="" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/21/Speaker_Icon.svg/13px-Speaker_Icon.svg.png" width="13" height="13" style="border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; vertical-align: middle; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; " /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Th-pratheidthai_raachaanaajakthai.ogg" class="internal" title="Th-pratheidthai raachaanaajakthai.ogg" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;listen&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/small&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;) is an independent country that lies in the heart of &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southeast_Asia" title="Southeast Asia" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;Southeast Asia&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;It is bordered to the north by &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laos" title="Laos" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;Laos&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt; and &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burma" title="Burma" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;Burma&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;, to the east by Laos and &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodia" title="Cambodia" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;Cambodia&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;, to the south by the &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Thailand" title="Gulf of Thailand" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;Gulf of Thailand&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt; and &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia" title="Malaysia" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;Malaysia&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;, and to the west by the&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andaman_Sea" title="Andaman Sea" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;Andaman Sea&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt; and Burma. Its maritime boundaries include &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam" title="Vietnam" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;Vietnam&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt; in the &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Thailand" title="Gulf of Thailand" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;Gulf of Thailand&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt; to the southeast and &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesia" title="Indonesia" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;Indonesia&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt; and &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India" title="India" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;India&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt; in the &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andaman_Sea" title="Andaman Sea" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;Andaman Sea&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt; to the southwest. The capital and largest city of Thailand is &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangkok" title="Bangkok" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;Bangkok&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;. It is also the country's center of political, commercial, industrial and cultural activities.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;Thailand is the world's &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_outlying_territories_by_total_area" title="List of countries and outlying territories by total area" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;50th largest country&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt; in terms of total area (slightly smaller than &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yemen" title="Yemen" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;Yemen&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt; and slightly larger than &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spain" title="Spain" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;Spain&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;), with a surface area of approximately 513,000 km&lt;/span&gt;&lt;sup style="line-height: 1em; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;2&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt; (198,000 sq mi), and the &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population" title="List of countries by population" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;21st most-populous country&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;, with approximately 63 million people. About 75% of the population is ethnically &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_people" title="Thai people" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;Thai&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;, 14% is of &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_Chinese" title="Thai Chinese" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;Chinese&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt; origin, and 3% is ethnically &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_Malays" title="Thai Malays" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;Malay&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;sup id="cite_ref-Central_Intelligence_Agency_2-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; "&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thailand#cite_note-Central_Intelligence_Agency-2" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; white-space: nowrap; "&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;[&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;3&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;]&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt; the rest belong to minority groups including &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mon_people" title="Mon people" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;Mons&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmers" title="Khmers" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;Khmers&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt; and various &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hill_tribe_(Thailand)" title="Hill tribe (Thailand)" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;hill tribes&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;. There are an estimated 2.2 million legal and illegal migrants in Thailand.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; "&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thailand#cite_note-3" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; white-space: nowrap; "&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;[&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;4&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;]&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt; Thailand has also attracted a small number of &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expatriate" title="Expatriate" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;expatriates&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt; from developed countries in the West.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; "&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thailand#cite_note-4" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; white-space: nowrap; "&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;[&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;5&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;]&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt; The country's official language is &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_language" title="Thai language" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;Thai&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;Thailand is one of the most devoutly &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhist" title="Buddhist" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;Buddhist&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt; countries in the world. The national religion is &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theravada" title="Theravada" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;Theravada&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism" title="Buddhism" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;Buddhism&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt; which is practiced by more than 94.7% of all Thais. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim" title="Muslim" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;Muslims&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt; make up 4.6% of the population and 0.7% belong to other religions.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; "&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thailand#cite_note-5" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; white-space: nowrap; "&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;[&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;6&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;]&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt; Culture and traditions in Thailand are significantly influenced by &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India" title="India" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;India&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;, as are &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burma" title="Burma" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;Burma&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laos" title="Laos" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;Laos&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt; and &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodia" title="Cambodia" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;Cambodia&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;Thailand is a &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitutional_monarchy" title="Constitutional monarchy" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;constitutional monarchy&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt; with King &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhumibol_Adulyadej" title="Bhumibol Adulyadej" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;Bhumibol Adulyadej&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;, the &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Kings_of_Thailand" title="List of Kings of Thailand" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;ninth king&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;of the &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chakri_Dynasty" title="Chakri Dynasty" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;House of Chakri&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;, as the ruling monarch. The King has reigned for more than sixty-three years, making him the longest reigning &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarchy_of_Thailand" title="Monarchy of Thailand" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;Thai monarch&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt; and the longest reigning current monarch in the world. The King is recognized as the Head of State, the Head of the Armed Forces, the Upholder of the Buddhist religion, and Defender of the Faith. Thailand is the only country in Southeast Asia that has never been colonized by a &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe" title="Europe" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;European&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt; power.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;Thailand experienced rapid economic growth between 1985 and 1995 and today is a &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newly-industrialized_country" title="Newly-industrialized country" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;newly-industrialized country&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt; with an emphasis in exports and a flourishing tourism industry, thanks to various world-famous &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourist_destination" title="Tourist destination" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;tourist destinations&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt; such as&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pattaya" title="Pattaya" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;Pattaya&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangkok" title="Bangkok" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;Bangkok&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;, and &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phuket" title="Phuket" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;Phuket&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;sup id="cite_ref-middleIncomeCountry_6-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; "&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thailand#cite_note-middleIncomeCountry-6" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; white-space: nowrap; "&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;[&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;7&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;]&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;sup id="cite_ref-GuardianThailandOverview_7-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; "&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thailand#cite_note-GuardianThailandOverview-7" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; white-space: nowrap; "&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;[&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;8&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;]&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8026486922644414719-1196463172090503247?l=smilingtour.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://smilingtour.blogspot.com/feeds/1196463172090503247/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://smilingtour.blogspot.com/2009/08/meet-us-smiley-siam-thai.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8026486922644414719/posts/default/1196463172090503247'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8026486922644414719/posts/default/1196463172090503247'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://smilingtour.blogspot.com/2009/08/meet-us-smiley-siam-thai.html' title='Meet Us Smiley Siam Thai'/><author><name>tiip_hooley</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07888843754678029541</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry></feed>
