Brilliant colours, a vibrant culture and a generous, hospitable people make Thailand a magnet for Western travellers. The orange robes worn by Buddhist priests crossing pale green rice paddies, blue water lapping at pure white beaches and the amazing beauty of the rainforests that grow thick ok the mountainsides are images that best represent the splendour of this ancient land. The stilted houses are home to a people that has created a culture famous for its vitality, energy and creativity, which turns everyday objects into works of art. Craftsmanship is best expressed in the royal courts where monuments, temples and palaces of extraordinary splendour are decorated with lacquer, mother-of-pearl, silver and bronze, and embellished with objects of unmatched beauty. However, it is the people of Thailand that give this country its inimitable character: from the painted hill-tribes of the north to the curly-haired Ngoh pygmies in the south, this kingdom is inhabited everywhere by the most generous of people. The image that remains fixed in the traveller's mind long after all others have vanished is that of the gentle smiles seen everywhere.