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As a major gateway, Thailand looks to improve its access to its neighbours. We look at two recent examples of policy favoring the country as a gateway to the rest of Southeast Asia. The opening of a new official border checkpoint between Kelantan and Southern Thailand on December 21 is unlikely to make both regions cooperating more in terms of tourism, as violence continues to plague Thailand's three Muslim-dominated Southern provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala.

It is easy to see why Thailand's beloved king chooses to spend his twilight years residing in Hua Hin. The tranquil beachside community is only a three-hour drive from Bangkok, yet it is a veritable world away from the congested confines of the Thai capital. 

A sunburned craftsman leans over to mix slaked lime and cement, and slaps the traditional mortar mix onto the sagging base of a 200-year-old temple in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand. Cars and noisy motorized rickshaws buzz past the temple while nearby shops emblazoned with "Nokia" sell the latest mobile phones.

As the late afternoon sun bathes the horizon in purple and crimson, I wander slowly down the long, curving beach. Though rocks mar part of the five-mile-long stretch, most of the waterfront is covered with white sand. On the southern end of the beachfront, a towering, slim golden Buddha statue peers out over the sea, and I can see small white and yellow shrines cut into the rocks of a nearby mountain fringed with low mist. 

Here I am as I told Cherisse Chuidian of Mandarin Oriental in Manila to experience the legend, one of the 1000 places to visit before I die. The first lesson to learn is that when in Bangkok, The Oriental Bangkok is The Oriental, even if it is part of the Mandarin group and not Mandarin Oriental as we know it in Manila. The Oriental has been in existence since 1876 on the banks of the Chao Phraya River. When the Mandarin group bought the hotel and its fabled history, Mandarin added Oriental to its name and not the other way around. If you ask a taxi to bring you to the Mandarin Oriental, he might drive you to the Mandarin and that is different from The Oriental. 

In the age of George W. Bush, to travel the world is to be hyperconscious of being American. You keep expecting people to shake their fists or pity you. So it's refreshing to visit a part of the world, Southeast Asia, where few give a fig about America. You announce you're American and people just smile and say, "Saw-ba-dee." Hello, welcome.

In mid-September 2006, a bloodless “democratic coup” swept through Thailand, the region’s darling of democracy. Military leaders justified their actions as a purely temporary means to wrest the country back from a power-hungry tycoon and restore the functions of government. 

Bangkok is a notorious destination for sex tourism.But the lives of many of the city's sex workers are full of danger, disease and the urgent need to send money home. Pim, who recently left her job in a go-go bar, has a typical story: "I grew up in the countryside in Phetchabun, northern Thailand. My parents were farmers and I helped them in the fields. We were poor but we always had enough to get by.