Thailand vs Cambodia

Why people mix them up

Thailand and Cambodia are neighbours in mainland Southeast Asia with a long shared border, a Buddhist majority and many cultural links, from temple architecture to classical dance. Both flags use red, white and blue horizontal stripes, and both countries are popular with travellers who often visit them on the same trip. People frequently compare them, ask which one has Angkor Wat, and wonder which is bigger.

How to tell them apart

• Angkor Wat is in Cambodia, and it even appears on the Cambodian flag.
• Thailand's flag has red, white, blue, white and red stripes with a wide blue centre; Cambodia's has blue, red and blue stripes with a white image of Angkor Wat.
• The capitals are Bangkok (Thailand) and Phnom Penh (Cambodia). Phnom Penh stands where the Tonlé Sap river meets the Mekong.
• Thailand is much larger, about 513,000 km², nearly three times the area of Cambodia.
• Thai and Khmer are written in different scripts, although they look related to outsiders.
• The currencies are the baht (Thailand) and the riel (Cambodia).

Memory hook

Cambodia's flag carries a picture of the temple, so Angkor Wat is in Cambodia. Thailand is the big country with the long Tail running down the Malay Peninsula.

On the map

Find the Gulf of Thailand. Thailand wraps around its northern and western sides, with a long, thin southern arm running down towards Malaysia. Cambodia is the compact, roughly square country on the gulf's eastern side, between Thailand, Laos and Vietnam, with the large Tonlé Sap lake in its centre. If the country you are tapping has a long southern tail, it is Thailand.