The Kingdom of Thailand is in Southeast Asia , bordering Laos and Cambodia to the east, the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia to the south, and the Andaman Sea and Myanmar to the west. Thailand is also known as Siam, which was the country's official name until May 11, 1949. The word Thai means "freedom" in the Thai language and is also the name of the majority Thai ethnic group Thailand is divided into 75 provinces, which are grouped into 5 groups of provinces by location. There are also 2 special governed districts: the capital Bangkok and Pattaya.