gtrekker

The BBC Profiles provide an economic, historical, and political overview, with a section on current leaders. The Profiles also list the media outlets, which include television and radio stations and the press.

If It's Good Enough for Van Damme...
David Garrido goes from the training ring to ringside seats on the trail of the ancient art of Thai kickboxing.

Thailand Full Moon Party
Are they what they used to be? Fleur Bainger goes to Koh Pha-Ngan's most famous bash, where debate runs hot. Bucket cocktails - friend or foe?

Southern Thailand
Rafael Wlodarski talks about tsunami-affected Thailand. He's seen a remarkable recovery - mâi pen rai, as locals would say.

National Geographic's People and Places feature provides a short overview of the destination and include a Features section with related articles, photos, and videos, depending on the destination.

Travel + Leisure Magazine's guide to the greatest hotels worldwide as selected by its team of reporters and editors.

Weatherbase provides historical weather information such as "average number of day above 90," "average number of days with thunderstorms," and other similar types of data.

Up-to-date information provided by the State Department on matters such as passport and visa requirements, safety and security, crime, health and medical issues, any areas of instability, and the location of the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate. It also links to Travel Warnings for that country, if there is one.

From website: The kingdom of Thailand lies in the heart of Southeast Asia, making it a natural gateway to Indochina, Myanmar and Southern China. Its shape and geography divide into four natural regions : the mountains and forests of the North; the vast rice fields of the Central Plains; the semi-arid farm lands of the Northeast plateau; and the tropical islands and long coastline of the peninsula South...click for website

Frommer's Forums are divided into countries, and all the messages relating to a country are presented in a list that makes it easy to browse through the topics.

Review site with hotel reviews and candid photos posted by users.

Asiarooms.com Travel Guides provide information on topics such as Culture, Tourist Attractions, Festivals, Things to do, How to get in, and Where to Eat.

Concierge.com destinations guides include information on getting there, getting around, lodging, places to eat, see and do, ... etc. Although Concierge.com may not have as many hotel recommendations as some guide books, they provide hotel photos along with the recommendations. The destinations guides also have links to articles about the destination published by Concierge.com or Conde Nast Traveler.

Frommer's has put a substantial amount of content online, making Frommers.com a good resource for travel planning. The site is easy to navigate since all the destinations are organized by similar topics such as "Getting There," "Restaurants," and "Suggested Itineraries."

USA Today's Country Guides have information on topics such as Money, Health, Accommodations, Entertainment, Top Things To Do and See, Getting There, Getting Around, Climate, and Map. You can also select the topics you are interested in and create a mini guide that puts all the information on one page for easy reading.

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published October 2006
On September 19, Thailand's military announced that they had taken over the government from Prime Minister Thaksin Shinowatra. So what does it all mean?

Five Questions for Sadanand Dhume, Bernard Schwartz Fellow at the Asia Society and former Far Eastern Economic Review reporter

1. Thailand is a democratic country, and yet it has a long history of coups. So why did this "bloodless" coup happen?
It happened because Bangkok's elites, including King Bhumibol Adulyadej, have grown weary of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, but they know they can't defeat him in an election. ... click for full article

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published March 2006
Bouncing back post-tsunami, Thailand is on a roll, with a booming economy, a flourishing arts scene, and an efficiently cosmopolitan capital. Giddy from cleaner air and new transport, Jamie James gets a contact high from Bangkok's worldly buzz

Bangkok is one of the most heterogeneous, if not miscellaneous, cities in the world. Wandering down Sukhumvit Road, a main thoroughfare, in one block I passed a Kashmiri restaurant, a camping-gear shop, a diamond merchant, and a passel of friendly girls in red high heels in front of Pedro's Bar before arriving at my destination, the California Wow Xperience, a popular exercise club. At the entrance, speakers aimed at the street keened and thudded with techno music. Directly underneath, two old women sat on camp stools, peddling lottery tickets and Buddhist amulets, while behind them a little girl sprawled on the sidewalk doing her English homework under a banner advertising a two-for-one membership promotion. ... click for full article

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published October 2006
Less than two years after the tsunami, Thailand's beaches are again perfect and once raging waters have returned to vivid clarity. Mike Di Paola takes an audit and finds touching stories of human grace and resilience ... click for full article

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published May 2007
Now that the travel industry is beginning to tackle social issues from poverty to health care, the hotel you choose can make the difference between

• a child going hungry or being fed
• a wildlife habitat being protected or destroyed
• a woman giving birth to a healthy child or one infected with HIV

As part of our new focus on the impact of tourism on communities and the planet, Conde Nast Traveler reports on what the largest hotel companies are doing to help-and why your choices matter more than ever ... click for full article

Virtual Tourist has user reviews on topics such as Hotels, Things To Do, Restaurants, Local Customs, Nightlife, Off the Beaten Path, Tourist Traps, Transportation, ... etc.

In addition to standard listings on attractions, restaurants, and lodging, Fodors.com has a section called "Features" that are specific to the destination. For example, the Features section for Paris has articles titled "Cheese Primer," "Bistro to Brasserie," "Pampering Spas," . . . etc.

IGoUGo is a travel review site. The reviews are organized into "journals," which are a collection of reviews by an author about a trip, such as reviews on hotels, restaurants, nightlife, experiences, photos, ... etc.

Off-Beat Bangkok
Want to escape the bustle of Bangkok? Just get off the main roads and into the canals, back- alleys and Skytrains.

National Geographic Traveler's 48 Hour Destinations Guides list Traveler Magazine's best picks of planning resources, such as blogs, podcasts, maps, newspapers, movies, and books.

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published May 2005
Why cut corners on the Continent when you can still live large for less all over the globe? Our foreign correspondents scout out seven of your favorite spots for sweel hotels, top tables, and plenty of the high life-all for under $250 a day.

Siamese Sensuality
Bangkok has long been that rarest of cities: an international cultural capital where an aristocrat's lifestyle can be had for a pauper's purse. Palaces, museums, and temples charge no entrance fees to visitors, and locally made textiles and other crafts are as affordable as they are striking. One cardinal rule: Avoid the "by-the-kilo" seafood meals that no local would touch even at a tenth of the bill. The new Skytrain and subway have eased the city's legendary gridlock and choking air pollution, helping to usher Bangkok into its prime. ... click for full article

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published November 2006
Amid Bangkok's babel, Lawrence Osborne finds two suit makers who rise way above the rest to give men the ultimate shopping experience: perfect fit at a laughable price

Almost every Bangkok street seems to offer life's three essentials-food, sex, and tailors. Mine does. Soi 51, off Sukhumvit Road near Soi Thong Lor, is where many members of Bangkok's high society have their mansions. And between the karaoke girlie bars for Japanese salarymen is the tailor, the inevitable fixture on any Bangkok soi, or lane. The setup is formulaic. Usually there will be a small window with faded Italian fashion posters suggesting some tenuous connection with the maestros of Milan. Then there will be a knockoff Armani suit with a vaudeville silk hanky poking out of the breast pocket, and a moth-eaten tuxedo looking like something salvaged from a tomb. In the same window, you will invariably see a Sikh or Jain gentleman in a turban making eloquent hand gestures at you as you walk by. It's almost like being invited into a brothel: a little old-fashioned perhaps, but definitely hospitable. ... click for full article

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published April 2007
The Parthenon. The Taj Mahal. Hagia Sophia. The Hotel Marques De Riscal? At no other point in history have there been so many great buildings worth the trip. This year's marvels include the Le Corbusier-designed Church of St-Pierre in Firminy-Vert, France (finally realized forty-one years after the architect's death); the thrillingly off-kilter extension to the Denver Art Museum, by the controversial Daniel Libeskind; and of course Frank Gehry's latest project, the Hotel Marques De Riscal in Elciego, Spain, its frame writhing with the architect's signature titanium ribbons. These are buildings ahead of their time...and, who knows, perhaps timeless as well ... click for full article

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published July 2007
Islands and beaches. Both promise pleasure, escape, beauty. Combined, they create that most elusive destination-paradise. After twenty years of global reporting, we present the thirty best island beaches in the world today. Sheltered by reefs or pounded by surf, edged by lagoons or on the brink of the deep, they range from remote alabaster arcs to hip-and-handy sandbox playpens. And they deliver on every desire. Pick your paradise ... click for full article

July 2006
From your petal-strewn bed, gaze out at the beach and inhale the scent of Zeavola's fragrant scaevolas (Scaevola taccada), a flowering shrub that gives this southern Thailand resort its name. The architecture of your expansive teakwood villa was inspired by the dwellings in a rural village, but the allusion, and the illusion, end there: ... click for full article