His first stop today will be London where he will meet with British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Tomorrow, he will head to Paris to meet French President Jacques Chirac.

Thaksin will fly to Moscow the same evening and then pay a brief visit to Japan on Thursday before flying to China on the same day. He will take a one-day break in China on Friday before heading home on Saturday. Next Sunday, he will depart the Kingdom again, this time for the Philippines.

Thaksin is seeking to enhance his role on the global stage following his decision not to assume the premiership in the next government, although his Thai Rak Thai Party won a majority in the April 2 election.

"I am going to meet with global leaders as friends. I will discuss the confusing political situation in Thailand with them," he said. "They would like to know first hand what is happening in our country. Why is it so strange? They would like to know the reality because when they read the newspapers they can't make any sense out of it."

Thaksin will be absent from the annual convention of the Thai Rak Thai Party tomorrow. He has assigned a deputy party leader to chair the event.

"Don't ask me anything about politics. I am unemployed," he said. "Politics has gone crazy. Thai Rak Thai is not a naughty boy. We have been following the democratic rules all the way."

Thaksin's upcoming trip is his second foreign jaunt in a month and is widely seen as an effort to reduce political pressure at home where election results show Thailand is still facing a political crisis.

Thaksin has been making a series of tactical retreats after losing the confidence of the country's elite, academics and the middle-class, following his family's tax-free sale of Shin Corp to Temasek Holdings of Singapore.

During the Songkran holiday festival, Thaksin visited the United Kingdom and the United States, where well-wishers and protesters from local Thai communities greeted him.

Thaksin said he knows the leaders he will visit quite well after five years of cooperation between Thailand and their countries.

"Since we know each other well, we should have a meeting and coffee together," he said

"They are willing to welcome me. When I asked for the appointments, they readily agreed to meet me," he said.

In the Philippines, he will meet President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as well as Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi who will be in Manila at the same time.