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Krabi is the main town in the province of Krabi on the west coast of southern Thailand at the mouth of the Krabi River where it empties in Phang Nga Bay. As of 2020, the town had a population of 32,644. The town is the capital of Krabi Province and the 10 Krabi city sub-districts. Tourism is an important industry. Krabi is 783 km (487 mi) south of Bangkok by road. At the start of the Rattanakosin period in the late eighteenth century, when the capital was finally settled at Bangkok, an elephant kraal was established in Krabi by order of Chao Phraya Nakhon (Noi), the governor of Nakhon Si Thammarat, which was by then a part of the Thai Kingdom. He sent his vizier, the Phra Palad, to oversee this task, which was to ensure a regular supply of elephants for the larger town. So many followers immigrated in the steps of the Phra Palad that soon Krabi had a large community in three different boroughs: Pakasai, Khlong Pon, and Pak Lao. In 1872, King Chulalongkorn elevated these to town status, called Krabi, a word that preserves in its meaning the monkey symbolism of the old standard. The town’s first governor was Luang Thep Sena, though it continued for a while as a dependency of Nakhon Si Thammarat. This was changed in 1875 when Krabi was raised to a fourth-level town in the old system of Thai government. Administrators then reported directly to the central government in Bangkok, and Krabi’s history as an entity separate from other provinces had begun.

Much of the province has been given over to several national parks. Top destinations are Hat Noppharat Thara – Mu Ko Phi Phi National Park, Ao Nang, Railay, and Ko Phi Phi. The province includes over 80 smaller islands such as Ko Lanta and Phi Phi, well-known to adventurers, yachtsmen, scuba-divers, snorkelers, and day-trippers from Phuket. Krabi’s beaches attract both native Thai people and foreigners alike.

Ko Lanta National Park, also in Krabi Province, includes several coral-fringed islands with well-known diving sites. The largest island, Ko Lanta Yai, is the site of park headquarters and is also home to “Chao Le”, or sea gypsies, who sustain themselves largely through fishing. The islands are best visited during the drier months of October through April. Wikipedia

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Wuhan is the capital of Hubei Province in the People’s Republic of China. It is the largest city in Hubei and the most populous city in Central China, with a population of over eleven million, the ninth-most populous Chinese city, and one of the nine National Central Cities of China.

The name “Wuhan” came from the city’s historical origin from the conglomeration of Wuchang, Hankou, and Hanyang, which are collectively known as the “Three Towns of Wuhan” (武汉三镇). Wuhan lies in the eastern Jianghan Plain, at the confluence of the Yangtze river and its largest tributary, the Han River, and is known as “Nine Provinces’ Thoroughfare” (九省通衢).

Wuhan has historically served as a busy city port for commerce and trading. Other historical events taking place in Wuhan include the Wuchang Uprising of 1911, which led to the end of 2,000 years of dynastic rule. Wuhan was briefly the capital of China in 1927 under the left-wing of the Kuomintang (KMT) government. The city later served as the wartime capital of China for ten months in 1937 during the WWII. Wuhan is considered the political, economic, financial, commercial, cultural, and educational center of Central China. It is a major transportation hub, with dozens of railways, roads, and expressways passing through the city and connecting to other major cities. Because of its key role in domestic transportation, Wuhan is sometimes referred to as “the Chicago of China” by foreign sources. The “Golden Waterway” of the Yangtze River and the Han River traverse the urban area and divide Wuhan into the three districts of Wuchang, Hankou, and Hanyang. The Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge crosses the Yangtze in the city. The Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest power station in terms of installed capacity, is located nearby. Historically, Wuhan has suffered risks of flooding, prompting the government to alleviate the situation by introducing ecologically friendly absorption mechanisms.

While Wuhan has been a traditional manufacturing hub for decades, it is also one of the areas promoting modern industrial changes in China. Wuhan has three national development zones, four scientific and technological development parks, over 350 research institutes, 1,656 high-tech enterprises, numerous enterprise incubators, and investments from 230 Fortune Global 500 firms. It produced GDP (nominal) of US$274 billion in 2021. The Dongfeng Motor Corporation, an automobile manufacturer, is headquartered in Wuhan. The city is home to multiple notable institutes of higher education, including Wuhan University and the Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Wuhan is a major city in the world by scientific research outputs and it ranks 14th globally and 5th in China (after Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, and Guangzhou). In 2017, Wuhan was designated as a Creative City by UNESCO, in the field of design. Wuhan is classified as a Beta- (global second tier) city together with seven other cities in China, including Changsha, Dalian, Jinan, Shenyang, Xiamen, Xi’an, and Zhengzhou by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Wuhan is also one of the world’s top 100 financial centers, according to the Global Financial Centres Index.

In December 2019, SARS-CoV-2, a novel coronavirus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic, was first discovered in Wuhan and the city was the location of the first lockdown of the pandemic in January 2020. Wikipedia

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An image from Wuhan, China

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