Arriving in Bangkok, and perhaps flying to Chiang Mai or Phuket, the casual visitor to Thailand may well be unaware that the majority of Thais live in the countryside, and are farmers: mostly rice farmers, but also fishermen, and producers of large quantities of tapioca, rubber, grain, sugar, and pineapples, to name but a few of the many crops.

You would be missing a key element of Thai culture if you did not venture out of the cities to explore the villages and markets in the rural areas.  The floating markets in many cities are particularly colorful and unusual to foreigners.  But there is nothing quite like an early morning visit to a small village market to get a real insight into the life of the average Thai person.