Rural and Village life in Thailand

Our products primarily come from small villages in rural Thailand, villages with only a few hundred people, handcrafting products in Thai style. Our buying them helps support people find meaningful and skilled work in their own districts and communities, though we are only a small part of that.

Village life in Thailand is very different to life in places like Bangkok, Chiang Mai or even Khon Kaen.

It is a lot slower lifestyle, obviously, and the plethora of shopping facilities you find in the cities is definitely not available. Yet nearly two thirds of Thailand's people still live in rural areas or villages, with work often closely tied to agriculture.

Administratively, outside of Bangkok, the country is divided into provinces and each province has a capital city. Outside of the provincial cities, are districts or Amphoe.

Each district has a capital town and local government.  Districts are subdivided into smaller areas call Tambons (sub districts) and the Tambons are divided into villages.

An average Thai village will have 100 families, a population of about 600 people.

Each village will have a headman or Puyai Baan. He is responsible for the village.