Interesting Facts about Thailand 02

Here are some more interesting facts about Thailand that you might not have known before. I will post some more next week.

11. Prior to 1913, most Thais did not have surnames.

12. Thailand’s most expensive pure-breed of dog is the beautiful ‘Bangkaew’. Half-wolf/half-house dog, the Bangkaew has it’s origins in Phitsanulok province. Premium Bangkaew dogs sell for around 50,000 baht ($1,300). There is currently one in Phitsanulok (Top Father) which is watched by a security guard as it is valued at an astonishing…….2,000,000 baht ($54,000)!

13. According to the ‘Guinness Book of Records 1995′, the Thai language has the second largest alphabet in the world. Second only to Khmer.

14. The name Bangkok (Thai language in origin) means ‘Village of Olives’ (Ban Mah-gork).

15. An English mistake is the ‘Maekhong River’. Known in every English book about Thailand – as the ‘Maekhong River’, it ought to be called the Khong River instead. ‘Mae’ already means ‘river’ so there is no need to repeat oneself.

16. The 1994 Guinness Book of Records contains the entry: the world’s biggest restaurant – the Royal Dragon Restaurant, Bangkok – can serve 5,000 eaters in its palatial dining rooms at one time.

17. According to extensive research carried out in 2001, there is an average of 5.2 cockroaches per Thai house!

18. Nakhon Pathom, boasts the tallest Buddhist pagoda both in Thailand and in the world.

19. Wat Traimitr (Temple of the Golden Buddha) this is the world’s largest solid gold Buddha, cast about nine centuries ago. The image is three meters high and weighs five and half tons.

20. It is illegal in Thailand for women to visit night-time entertainment venues alone. They must go with a man!

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Read more 100 Things You Didn’t Know about Thailand at ThailandQA Forums.