Staying with a Thai family in Thailand

We had the opportunity during this trip to stay for 10 days with a Thai family. It was a wonderful opportunity for us to see the lifestyle, food, and traditions of a local Thai family. The family had 5 people living in that house. A Thai-French couple, their two kids and the grandmother of the kids. There were a few others who stayed at the house but they were not there everyday. We had a separate room with a large bed and we shared rest of the house with them. Living with a Thai family gave us the unique opportunity to see how they manage their homes, and how and what they cook each day for their meals.


It was a small village of about 100 people in the Buri Ram province in the northeastern part of Thailand. The village was along the road connecting two small towns, Nang Rong and Lam Plai Mat. Our journey to the village was interesting. We got on a Songthaew (which is a long distance shared taxi) with an older man probably in his 60s, who didn't speak a word of English. A few minutes into the ride he searched his bag and gave Nora a sacred white thread and asked us to tie it on her hand. Then a few moments later, he took out another one and asked us to have it. Then he gave us an old locket with the King Rama IX's picture on it. He then gave a small picture of himself. And then he gave a small cloth cut of a monk's clothing. We found the gestures of this person heartwarming. The things he gave us seemed like things that he carried with him for a long time. It was surprising and heartwarming to see him do this for us.

We had the unique opportunity for 10 days to experience life in an extended Thai family. We got to see how they take care of their elders and children, how they connect with their communities, how they see and live their lives and how and what they cook for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We will try and write about Thai cooking in a separate post later. During our stay with them, we got the opportunity to help them build a few layers of their mud house, weed their vegetable garden, move a tree, and install water pipes for some sections of the house. The backyard of the house had a small play area where Nora had a nice time playing with the swing attached to the nearby pine trees.

Our 10 days passed by very quickly and we were ready to move on to our next destination to explore more of Thailand.

Play time with the children

Building a few layers of the mud house

Riding on caravan to a nearby grocery store that was 15km away

Nora's play area during our time there