Top 10 South-East­ern Asia facts

Thailand. The country has always been called Mueang Thai by its citizens. Portuguese explorers named it Siam, possibly from the Chinese name “Xiam”. The name “Siam” was used officially by Thai government until 1939, when it was changed to Thailand. In 1945 the name reverted to Siam, and in 1949 reverted once again to Thailand.

Myanmar. In 1989, the military government officially changed the English translations of many names dating back to Burma's colonial period or earlier, including that of the country itself: "Burma" became "Myanmar". Both these names are derived from the name of the majority Burmese Bamar ethnic group. Myanmar is considered to be the literary form of the name of the group, while Burma is derived from "Bamar", the colloquial form of the group's name.

Manila is the most densely populated city in the world, with 41,515 inhabitants per square kilometre.

Ho Chi Minh City . The four largest cities in Vietnam are Ho Chi Minh City (8.2 million), Ha Noi (7.4 million), Hai Phong (1.9 million) and Can Tho (1.2 million).

Indonesia. Kalimantan is the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo (73% of the whole island).

Indonesia. Sulawesi is an island in Indonesia formerly known in Europe as Celebes. The name Celebes was originally given to the island by Portuguese explorers. It is widely considered a Portuguese rendering of the native name "Sulawesi".

Surabaya. The four largest cities in Indonesia are Jakarta (9.6 million), Surabaya (2.8 million), Bandung (2.6 million) and Bekasi (2.5 million).

Jakarta. The population of Jakarta is 10.2 million (2011), but the metropolis' suburbs continue far beyond city limits. The unofficial metropolitan area houses about 30 million of inhabitants.

Red River. The waters of river are indeed reddish because of the large amounts of red silt.

Cambodia. Thailand borders Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Malaysia.