Dozens of old bicycles for rent are kept under Amporn Leesuksam’s wooden house and in her concrete courtyard. Amporn is the village head of Ban Khok, in the U Thong district of Suphan Buri.
“Ban Khok has been home for us, the Lao Khrang ethnic group, since our ancestors immigrated from Luang Prabang in Laos to the kingdom during the early Rattanakosin period,” Amporn said.
The ethnic group is called Lao Khrang or Tai Khrang because they use lac insects (or khrang in Thai), to dye yarn and cloth.
Their traditional costume is dark red in colour. Some groups might wear a red blouse or shirt, while others might wear a red phasin (tube skirt). For some groups, all their clothes are red. In Ban Khok, formal attire is a woven cotton, long-sleeved red blouse with a Mandarin collar and long black skirt with a red lower border.