Shane

My folks will be traveling in Thailand for two weeks around Christmas. Our knowledge of Thailand history is limited to what the movie "Bridge Over the River Kwai" instructs. Any knowledge about Thai historic sites would be helpful.

Kathie

There are, of course, many historic sites in Thailand. If you're interetsed in "ancient" history rather than WWII history, you'll probably be interested in Ayutthaya, an ancient capital north of Bangkok. It's an easy day trip from Bangkok, either via road or river. Sukothai is an older capital farther north, and less visited. It would need to be a day stop perhaps on the way to Chiang Mai. You can also fly into Sukothai on Bangkok Air. There are some Lana ruins in the Golden Triangle area. Depending on exactly what you are interested in, there are some isolated Khmer ruins in Thailand. All are more difficult to get to and are off the toursit trail.

If you are really interested in historic sites, consider a side trip to see the Temples at Angkor in Cambodia. (You can fly non-stop from Bangkok.)

Two weeks is not a lot of time. Buy a good guidebook and decide what you want to see.

MikeBuckley

<i>Buy a good guidebook </i>

I second that! A forum such as this one is great for fine tuning plans and expectations, but there is absolutely no substitute for a guide book when determining what might interest you on a first visit to anywhere. In that regard, the more pictures, the better. I highly recommend <i>The National Geographic Traveler Thailand</i> as a basic book for determining the best fit of Thailand's offerings with your interests.

citiboy50

I suggest you go to the chiang Mai area and engage Nippon as a guide. We used him 5 days.The area is full of temples,caves, waterfalls and mountains. The caves have temples therein.

alice13

There is plenty of history in Bangkok itself - temples, palaces, etc. And others have mentioned the ancient capitals of Ayutthaya and Sukothai.
You mentioned the Bridge on the River Kwai - Kanchanaburi is well worth a visit if you are interested in WWII. It is an easy trip on the bus from BKK and plenty of operators offer day tours from there to the surrounds inc the Bridge itself and a short trip on what remains of the original railway line. There is also a worthwhile museum in town and the cemetery is a moving place.
But you do need to do some research first. Every country has a history and it's always worthwhile finding out about it before you go.

JamesA

I agree with everything said, like anywhere the history goes 'way' back or there is more recent history. You need to check out some books from a library and have a browse thru. Although history of 'confliect' is sad it is true that the River Kwai are can be a very 'moving experience' and it actually 'hits home with a resounding thump' when you see all the Allied Graves and the Museums, it really brings things home and is a lesson too!! For Briits and those from Australia and NZ it holds special importance but soo too a large number of Japanese also visit there as a form of Pilgrimage. The 'History' side of Thailand gets little commercial 'hype' but it is still a place where you can not only delve into the history but see much of the remnants of that still visable, not just in ruins or temples but more mundane. read up and you will find it fascinating.

MikeBuckley

To add to the comments about Thailand's history, it has been exceptionally enjoyable for me to so a second reading of Thailand's and Angkor's history (the two are inextricably linked part of the time) now that I have been there. My point is that it's no less important to review the history having been to Thailand than to do so before going there. Doing so before and after has its own merit.