Thai Countryside Scenes

Hi there, Yesterday in the Thailand section, 100% of the new threads were just about beach destinations 😕... So here’s the counterattack in the form of this photo thread, dedicated solely to the countryside: the locals, their livestock, fields, farms, rice paddies, small rivers, and agricultural machinery. If you’ve got any pictures that fit these categories, feel free to add them! Comments welcome. For each photo, I’ll (or you can) indicate the area where it was taken.

Kanchanaburi:

Kanchanaburi:

Sri Chiangmai:

Soppong:

Tha Wang Pha:

The country just the way we love it. Well, we love all its sides!

Hi everyone.

Kanchanaburi



Kanchanaburi



Koh Yao Yai

Finally, we love all its facets.

To all of us, yes.

Thanks for starting this photographic conversation. Great lighting on the farmer’s sidecar in his rice field. Sugarcane is one of the main crops in Kanchanaburi Province, and during the right season, these trucks transporting it (sometimes in convoys) are a common sight on Route 323. Watch out for the frequent falling canes if you're in the vehicle behind.

Great topic. I’ll try to join in!

Mae Salong:



Tha Ton:



Kanchanaburi ("in" the sugarcane fields):



Thung Chang:



Thung Chang:

Stunning photos. Well done!

Ban Tha Song Yang (on the other side of the river, Myanmar):



Sangkhom:



Soppong:



Kanchanaburi:



Ta Wang Pha:

I’d spotted it online—the area around Ban Tha Song. Hardly anyone makes it there. Gotta say, you’re quite the adventurer! 🙂

Gorgeous photos… they really make me want to revisit the countryside…

I’d spotted it online—the area around Ban Tha Song

Ban Tha Song Yang or just Tha Song Yang? Two separate villages on the same Route 105. Since "ban" is just a prefix meaning "village," you could say both have the exact same name—so much so that even cartographers often mix them up, merging them into one spot despite the ~50 km between them (same thing on Google Earth). Both sit along the Moei River, which forms the border with Myanmar in this area.

Tha Song Yang: the southernmost of the two, about 2 hours by songthaew north of Mae Sot. A really peaceful, pleasant spot with hang yao service for locals crossing between the two countries. A few places to stay (including a decent hotel), some street food stalls, a market, and a 7-Eleven. Transport: six daily songthaews covering the full Mae Sot–Mae Sariang route, plus a songthaew every 20 minutes from Mae Sot to Tha Song Yang.

Ban Tha Song Yang: about 50 km farther north. Also peaceful and quiet, with a steady flow of hang yaos shuttling locals between the two countries. Thai is barely spoken here, and English isn’t at all—Karen is the dominant language. A few food stalls and a small market for meals, but no accommodations (so a soup vendor let me sleep in her shop after bringing me a mat, mosquito net, fan, and a multi-dish meal from her home). Transport: the same six daily songthaews that run the full Mae Sot–Mae Sariang route.

Myanmar as seen from Tha Song Yang:

Thanks for these beautiful photos! 😊

Kanchanaburi:



Kanchanaburi:



Thung Chang:



Tha Ton:



Mae Salong:

Mae Sariang:



Bo Kluea: Mlabri children. (https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mlabri)



Sangkhom:



Sri Chiangmai:



Tha Wang Pa:



Kanchanaburi:

Kanchanaburi:



Kanchanaburi:



Kanchanaburi:

Hi there, What a great initiative! These photos really reinforce my idea of planning my next trip to a rural area, far from the crowds. I also have similar photos from my last trip, but since I haven’t covered that aspect yet in my travel journal, I’ll post them later once I’ve made more progress on it.

A boat trip on the Salawin River between Thailand and Myanmar is something else... light-years away from mass tourism.

The other river that also originates in China and partly forms the border in Thailand. Thanks.

The countryside around Sukhothai A few hours by tuk-tuk through the countryside around Sukhothai in February. There’s rice, heavily sprayed with pesticides by workers without protection.



A modern planting machine... broken down.



In a village, a fighting cock enthusiast and his trophies.



A "local whisky" distillery.



Women processing and drying fish.





And also the stark poverty along the roadside.

The countryside around Sukhothai

In a travelers' forum, it's rare to see the words "countryside" and "Sukhothai" together in the same sentence... Bravo and thanks for your series of photos.

You're right, when you go to Sukhothai, it's for the temples of the ancient capital. I've been to Thailand often in January or February to show my friends around the country. But at that time of year, you don't see many active rice fields. I had noticed there were some around Sukhothai. When I went back two years later, I saw that a French guy was organizing countryside discovery tours by bike. Personally, biking between rice fields—I tried that in Vietnam—it's not for me. As soon as I see water, I panic! I asked him if he could organize the tour by tuk-tuk instead, which he did, but not exactly on the same paths. My husband and I did it by tuk-tuk with an adorable cycling champion who guided the tuk-tuk driver and acted as our English-speaking guide, while my friends did the tour by bike. It was fun, not too expensive, and no taxi would have taken us on that route. Plus, when it's really hot, you're better off in a tuk-tuk than on a bike.

In Sukhothai, we stayed at a charming guesthouse that arranged an appointment for me with an extraordinary masseuse—kind of like a local grandmother, no zen music, no incense, or lotus photos. In the evening, there was a nice food court and night market too.

As for the countryside, I've been several times to the east, in Nang Rong, where I sponsored children. They speak Khmer there, and it's near the Khmer temple of Phanom Rung. In winter, the rice fields are dry, adults head to the city to find work, and the kids stay with grandparents or aunts. I took lots of photos in villages that still work with silk and were trying to make a living from their weaving.

I really liked Pattalung—it's off the beaten path, but it's more of a lakeside town than countryside, so it doesn't quite fit your theme.

countryside (...) rice fields (...) lots of photos (...) villages

I’m jotting this down...

Kanchanaburi:



Kanchanaburi:



Kanchanaburi:



Thung Chang:



Tha Song Yang:



Mae Salong:

Kanchanaburi:



Kanchanaburi:



Bangkok:



Thung Chang:



Sri Chiangmai:



Mae Salong:



Bo Kluea:

Kanchanaburi:



Kanchanaburi:



Kanchanaburi:



Tha Song Yang:



Ban Tha Song Yang:



Soppong:



Thung Chang:



Thung Chang:

Kanchanaburi:



Kanchanaburi:



Mae Salong:



Tha Wang Pha:



Sangkhom:

Kanchanaburi:

Mae Salong:

Nong Khai:

Thung Chang:

Thung Chang:

Thung Chang:

Tha Song Yang:



Sangkhom:

The following photos were taken near Nong Khao (northeast of Kanchanaburi city on the road to Suphanburi). All the rice fields in the area were harvested in a single long day by an independent contractor with two machines that worked non-stop until late into the night. Some owners haul the rice away by truck, while others keep it on-site on tarps. The end of the harvest day didn’t lead to any celebratory meal. Photos of farmers overseeing the work are already posted further up in this thread.

Kanchanaburi:



Mae Sariang:



Bo Kluea:



Tha Ton:



Thung Chang:



Thung Chang:

Bangkok:



Bangkok:



Koh Kret:



Koh Kret:

Koh Kret:



Koh Kret:

Koh Kret for all the following photos.



















The temple has been redone since this photo was taken—no more dilapidation:

Quote from Jojoone in their thread "All over Thailand":

Good grief, what on earth do they put in those pesticides? Incredible we’re still alive!

When the name of the pesticide sounds appealing, it goes down a lot easier...



The same thing run through Google Translate:

Seriously? Amazing!!! :)

Top! !

Hello, What a great initiative! These photos reinforce my idea of taking a next trip to rural areas, far from the crowds. I also have this kind of photos from my last trip, but since I haven’t covered this aspect in my travel journal yet, I’ll post them later when I’ve made more progress.

A promise made... A promise kept.

When the countryside comes to the city...

Bangkok









Chiang Mai







Chiang Rai

Doi Hang on the way to Huay Kaew waterfall















Akha Village





Mae Salong

Hi Marien,

Your photos are gorgeous! 😮

Actually, all the photos in this thread are amazing! I just scrolled through the whole post, and it almost makes me want to go, even though I’m not (no longer) drawn to Thailand.

Thanks, that's kind!

Thanks for this lovely selection. I notice you also find countryside spots in Bangkok—that’s great!

all the photos in this thread are gorgeous!

Thanks.

Thanks for this lovely selection. I notice you also find countryside spots in Bangkok—that’s great.

And that’s not even all of them... But yeah, I discovered some totally unexpected countryside places right in the heart of Bangkok, and it was delightful!

Here are a few photos I took this morning shortly after 7 a.m. during my morning walk through the rice fields, 20 km from Chiang Rai, where I arrived two days ago. And I thought a lot about Songsam. Who would’ve guessed he’d be with me here? 😢 🤗 I’m dedicating these photos to you, Thierry—I know you’ll appreciate them.



And here he is, so cheerful from his tractor, hands pressed together, letting go of the wheel and leaning forward to greet me with a big smile as he approached. But in the photo, you mostly see the magnificent tractor up close and not so much the smile. So I’m not posting it. What exactly is he doing?







Marabou storks or some kind of Asian stork? Either way, they were feasting. And it was another farmer who pointed them out to me—I hadn’t noticed them at first.



And here I was, worried I’d get scolded for walking through their fields... With an incredible urge to pee and still not knowing if it’s okay to relieve myself in nature. My driver last year hinted that it wasn’t a good idea... Thais aren’t like Indians, who pee anywhere, even in the middle of the city 😠. But in nature? I used all sorts of tricks because after my tea, I had to empty my bladder three times (which never fully empties, by the way...). I can already hear someone saying I’m oversharing... She doesn’t like what I write, but she never misses one of my posts... 🤗

And this one—I thought he was spraying pesticide, but I saw a shower of little things coming out of his machine. Maybe fertilizer?



And her? She was sowing by hand, like we used to do when I was a kid... But what was she sowing? Rice?



Either way, everyone, completely absorbed in their work, still took the time to greet me cheerfully

Yes, everywhere in the country, people greet you, and the vast majority are friendly and exceptionally polite. Yes, they use pesticides as much as they can, with a lack of regulations that would shock any French farmer, leading to far too many cases of cancer. Yes, it’s extremely frowned upon to pee anywhere in nature. That said, while traveling through the country, you’ll regularly see workers taking a quick leak. When you’re far from home on a construction site with no toilets available yet, you’re not gonna hold it just for the sake of appearances.

Yes, it’s really frowned upon to pee anywhere in nature. (...) When you’re a good distance from home, on a construction site where there aren’t any toilets yet, you’re not gonna hold it just for the sake of propriety.

And when you’re an older man hiking, far from home—and any welcoming temple—with health issues (prostate), it’s the same deal. So for the past two days, I’ve been breaking this kind of unfair rule. Still, I make sure no one’s around, and banana trees and other lush bushes act as walls...

Morning walk and immersion in rural life around Chiang Rai.

I made two local discoveries in this village. 1/ In India, people don’t respect the environment, their neighbors, or passersby and turn nature into a dump. But at home, it’s spotless. You could eat off the floor. Here, it’s the opposite—outside, everything looks neat and flowery, but inside, what a mess! Farmyards are real filthy dumps. 2/ The houses on the village’s main street have pretty gardens and flowery doorsteps, but as soon as you turn onto the side streets, every house and garden is surrounded by really high, ugly cinderblock walls. Walking between these horrible rows of walls feels like prison corridors. Is it to hide the squalor they live in from passersby?

Thankfully, there are the rice fields...









I think I’ve figured out rice cultivation: you scatter the seeds by hand, collect the seedlings that sprout, and transplant them one by one—very carefully and... aesthetically. What a job! And then... the harvest...? But honestly, I don’t understand what they were doing here. They were loading a truck with these rolls, but I couldn’t get close enough to see what was inside because of the mud...



I came across a pig farm. Beautiful, well-fed, clean, and pink, but... terribly confined in individual cages...







This one broke my heart with its gaze, so I removed the bars... Plus, it wouldn’t stop talking to me. Seriously, I swear! More welcoming than the dogs...

And this... An offering?

Thanks so much, Marien, for these two new near-live series—I’m really enjoying them!

le magnifique tracteur

Gorgeous, and a 4x4 on top of that, so probably not a "poor farmer" (though he stayed loyal to Kubota)—maybe it was a contractor. Once, at Jodelavega’s place, I had a blast doing some minor work on his tractor (not 4x4). Since it’s the only four-wheeled vehicle I know how to drive, I took the opportunity.

And I was worried I’d get yelled at for walking through their fields...

As long as it’s during the day and you’re behaving respectfully and modestly, there’s not much to worry about. That said, you *do* need to watch out for stray dogs. That’s why I never walk in the countryside (including on its small roads) without a stick. Usually, just standing up straight and raising the stick (or a rock) is enough to scare them off—they’re often more dumb than brave. The same advice goes for biking in those areas, and there’s the added risk of falling, so always keep a stick in your basket.

Only once have I been bitten by a stray dog—ironically, it was in a city, but in India, in Pushkar. When I got back to the guesthouse, I asked if I should see a doctor. The owner looked at me like I was crazy and said, "Why? Just wait for it to heal." So that’s what I did.

But in Nature? I used all kinds of tricks because after my tea, I had to empty my bladder three times.

What, peeing on the king’s land??? Better not tell you the punishment for such a crime...

Just kidding. Do what (almost) everyone does everywhere: hide.

As for the machine I saw in the countryside around Sukhothai, it unrolls rice seedlings! No more manual transplanting for those who can afford it! In France, they sell rolls of turf on the same principle..

Message 19, 3rd photo.

Ah! So that’s what those rolls I saw were (5th photo)...