Thailand

Thailand's entries divide between the ruined capitals and the working coast. Ayutthaya was one of the largest cities in the world in the seventeenth century, with foreign quarters for four nations, and a Burmese army burned it in 1767, melting the gold from the Buddhas. Chiang Mai kept the language, script and cooking of the Lanna kingdom for five centuries, and its food is milder and more herbal than the Bangkok version that travelled.