Wapi Pathum is an insignificant village in the Isan, or North Eastern region of Thailand.
If you do a search of Wikipedia for Wapi Pathum, you will not find much about it. If you search Wikitravel for Wapi Pathum you will most likely not find it listed at all. Although Tripadvisor does have it listed, it has no content.
So why have we listed it on this web site, and why would you consider going on a tour with Thai Group Tours to visit a tiny village in the district of Wapi Pathum?
I once asked a Thai lady what drove so many girls from their family farms in the Isan region to go and work in the beer bars and go-go bars 0f Bangkok and Pattaya. To help answer this question, I was invited by one of the ladies to visit their village and take a look for myself.
It was an eye opening experience and I am grateful to all the people of the village that made me feel so welcome. Although they could not be described as primitive, or tribal, as some describe the Hill Tribes of Northern Thailand, they are definitely poor and have a difficult life working the rice farms. It was evident from the reaction of the locals as I walked through the village markets that this was not a tourist town. I did not see another white face in the village for the first 12 days I was there. The only other white face I saw in the village was a young American who had come to the village with his Thai girlfriend. I would like to quote an anonymous writer on the subject of Thai Women and the burden that is placed upon them. The full article talks in detail about the negative stereotype of the perceived young Thai Girl older foreign man relationship.
To understand Thai women we must understand their culture, although culture does vary slightly in a country that has been carved up amongst neighboring countries at varying times. Regardless, the cultural conditioning and responsibilities that fall on daughters of a Thai family present a burden, a burden to put the future prosperity of their family before their own happiness. Indeed, it also falls upon the daughter(s) to provide financial care for their parents in old age where the government fails to adequately provide.
To get a better understanding of this subject, I recommend you either read the full article, or come with us to Isan on one of our village tours. In fact I really recommend you do both.
Village Kitchen
Village Dwelling
Village Temple at Wapi Pathum
Livestock in Isan Region