Thailand is situated in the heart of south-east Asia and is the gateway to Indochina. It shares land borders with Myanmar (Burma) in the north and west, the Andaman Sea in the west, Laos in the north and north-east, Cambodia and the Gulf of Thailand in the east, and Malaysia in the south. Thailand covers an area of nearly 513,115 square kilometres, roughly the size of France, and extends about 1,620 kilometres from north to south and 775 kilometres from east to west. The shape of the country is similar to the profile of an elephant with a long trunk stretching down the peninsular. At school, students are taught that their country resembles the shape of an ancient axe with the peninsular being the handle. Visit the Geography section for more information. Map Source: Lonely Planet

A Day and Night picture of Thailand. You can easily spot Bangkok in the night picture as it has the greatest concentration of lights. Just as bright are the seaside resorts Chon Buri and Pattaya on the eastern seaboard and other cities up the central plains towards Chiang Mai in the north. The darkest region is the north-easter plateau.