I've been wanting to go to Thailand for years and somehow it never seems to happen. I have been looking at it recently, but now I'm hearing about a conflict with Thailand and Cambodia. What do you think of safety in Thailand, under these circumstances?

While conflicts are never predictable, if you're not going near the border area, you should be fine. Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and the Andaman Sea islands, for example, are far from the border where the fighting is taking place.

Good info, thanks tripplanner.

Thailand is a big country and the conflict is currently restricted to small areas close to disputed borders and far away from where most tourists will visit. Of course these minor conflict often have a habit of spiralling out of control, though this would seem very unlikely. Tourism is a massive part of both country's GDP and it would not seem in either country's interest to let this drag on. My bet would be on a quick resolution and then back to normal but clearly you should keep an eyes on government travel advisories (though if you are from the US then bear in mind that these are invariably over cautious).

I stopped visiting Thailand years ago as it had become vastly over touristed though we do occasionally use it as a waypoint en route to other asian countries. The current situation would not stop me visiting though I would forget about combining Cambodia and Thailand or going anywhere near the borders between the two countries

Thanks catch23. I'm going to keep an eye on things before booking.

Cambodia has some helicopters. Thailand has F-16s.
Cambodia has missiles with an 80-mile range. It is roughly 160 miles from Bangkok to the border. The other parts of Thailand of tourist interest are much farther from Cambodia.

Cambodia's military looks like it is there for internal use. Protect the government and its interests, suppress civil unrest. Enforcement of national laws, like by sending soldiers to destroy a drug lab. Maybe some border security for illegal activity (smuggling, e.g.) but they would not be able to stop the Thai army or invade Thailand. Kind of like Denmark vs Nazi Germany.

That's all pretty interesting, thanks.

Good to know it’s only around the border since I’ll focus on the fun parts of Thailand and keep an eye on the news.