This article examines the role played by oil palm cultivation in transforming the living world of farmers in a village in Southern Thailand, based on the interaction between villagers’ actions and reactions by the environment. The mode of living in the research site had been self-sufficient in terms of paddy cultivation and utilization of surrounding natural resources. However, the introduction of a modern style of rubber cultivation in the 1970s, followed by oil palm cultivation in the 1980s, completely changed the village’s socio-ecological order. These two crops cover the entire village besides residences. The villagers purchase all food materials and even drinking water, and they enjoy a modern way of living fully equipped with electrical appliances and cars. The elders in the village still remember—and somehow miss—the past life, while the youth, mostly college graduates, have lost their ties with the natural environment in daily life.

Oil palm, in spite of its smaller cultivation area, has played a more vital role than rubber in transforming the living world of the village, because harvesting and selling the fruit are outsourced to middlemen’s labor. Some villagers employ labor for rubber tapping and harvesting. This system enables the villagers to be “white-collar” farmers. Although there are attempts by some villagers to reduce their living costs and secure food safety by cultivating upland rice and vegetables for self-consumption, it is difficult for them to drastically change their livelihoods and become completely self-sufficient. What appears at first glance to be a rich village is in fact vulnerable to both natural and market conditions.

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 Amphawa canal community is chosen for this paper to represent another idea of how community response to the change from the townscape preservation project of the traditional community. Since 2001, many development project was launched by public and private sectors. With the cooperation of the community, the modification of traditional building as homestays is one approach initiated by community to stimulate the use of traditional buildings and to sustain the way of life of people in the community for support economic community in the area.
 The interviews of local people (users) who have transformed their houses to homestays from the beginning of the restoration plans in 2001 to 2013 aims to create better understanding from the users' points of view on the modification of their traditional living houses to tourist accommodation and homestays along Amphawa Canal.
 Homestay houses along the Amphawa Canal possess timeless architectural heritage with unique features and in material used, together with roof, door and window design, and ventilator style. From the users' points of view (homestay's owner) in Amphawa reflect a mutual concern to create recreational cultural activities for visitors in line with conservation of local identity of the place. Follow sustainable ecotourism concepts, all homestay owners aim to share cultural wisdoms and knowledge of their community with the tourists while also preserving original characteristics and authenticity of the buildings and environment.
 From the study show that ecotourism has pay important role in the community after the rehabilitation of the Amphawa floating market in early 2004. The changes occur in the Amphawa communities are tend to change for survival community which are key important for historical and cultural sites shown. It was found that the rehabilitation. in communities along the Amphawa canal in Thailand are bottom up process by activity model. The management in the community is modified to survive the cultural community by people in the community as the operator. The homestay experiences have supporting collaboration in community; the traditional ritual, place authenticity and identity, for example the morning food offering activity for the monk who rowing boat or walking pilgrimage along the canal, Boat tour, Fireflies sightseeing boat trip, etc.
 Even though follow the interview data, there has not been clearly controlled or subsidies support the modification of identity value of water based community in waterfront areas. These may affect to the changes of waterfront landscape. Furthermore, to control and maintain, survived and to protect the traditional water based community from many threatened by the Business and globalization, high competition of the accommodation which affects the images of the place, Still, it is essential to support protection activity especially in term of policy and regulations to protect the valuable places and important of culture material and maintenance, which is likely to limit in this community.
 In conclusion, a case study of Amphawa canal community with the use of the activity model by homestay. The approach that show the important of the water-based way of life can be survive through the strong of community participation. However, from this paper, it would be possible to point out that there are challenges between economic scale and regional scale. As current situation, the economic scale to control for business base on ecotourism. Then, the regional scale to sustain and keep identity of the place. By these two scale, it can be said this is the success of homestay business in Amphawa. This could be another idea of cultural conservation on traditional community, not only for conserve traditional building design but also sustain and succeed local identity through the cultural activities, traditional celebrations and local way of life.

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Many of studies of the Thai economy have so far had little concern for local cities on the premise that Thailand consists of a capital city, that is, Bangkok, and the rural area, that is, the rest of the country. Even when local cities are studied, they used to be regarded just as target areas for administrative control and regional development programs by the central government, and/or for exploitation by external big companies. In short, those studies paid little attention to actors within local economies.
In contrast to those studies mentioned above, the current studies increasingly make efforts to understand local economy from some internal viewpoint by putting emphasis on the active behavior of provincial businessmen, some of the most important economic actors in local cities. The aim of this paper is to review the current trends of these studies and to point out issues to be further studied. The results are summarized in the following three respects:
First, since the end of 1970's, not a few scholars belonging to the so-called“political economy school (Samnak Setthasat-kanmuang)”have published the results of their research on the history of development and political behavior of provincial businessmen who base their business activities upon local cities.
However, these studies statically considered provincial businessmen as merchant capitalists, dependent capitalists, or Jao Pho. As a result, they underestimated the dynamic aspect of their business expansion and the variety of their responses to the changing politico-economic situation.
To the contrary, it is necessary to make thoroughly positive researches of the active behavior of provincial businessmen in the changing conditions in the intra-national and international economy, political power structure, the government's economic and industrial policy, and in relation to external capital. At the same time, it is important to avoid defining a priori the existence, form and role of provincial businessmen.
Second, full attention should be also paid to the role and function of provincial business associations. It is true that as studies on Jao Pho have already shown, there are big businessmen at the provincial level who can exert great influence (itthiphon) upon provincial government officials and politicians as well as upon the local business world. But at the same time, it should be realized that there are not only such influential businessmen but also many provincial businessmen who make efforts to do business sometimes by cooperating with others through formal business associations at the provincial level (e.g. provincial chambers of commerce). Moreover, provincial business associations increasingly are expanding the scope of their activities.
However, those provincial business associations such as provincial chambers of commerce have a relatively short history and have played still limited roles in the policy-making process of the government. It is necessary, therefore, to conduct further research on the roles and limitation of provincial business associations in terms of their historical background of organizing themselves and the relative position of those associations in the local business world.
Third and lastly, comparative studies of local cities within Thailand are also necessary. Judging from some cases on which studies of Jao Pho are based, the arguments of those studies may be persuasive. However, studies of other cases indicate that there are at least some cities with a more pluralistic social form to which the Jao Pho model does not apply.
What socio-economic factors bring about such differences between areas? This is also one of the issues to be further studied.

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This paper is a study of the life stories of three former street children who move between family, peers, and NGOs. It analyzed the roles of families and peers by participatory observations and their narratives through activities with them. The results showed that family and peers play different roles from the previous studies, which were fixed and depicted only one aspect. The study results showed that peers worked to connect with NGO support, were role models to show their connection to society, and created relationships that had a positive impact on each other. Family members act to attract their child to home. Behind their behavior of extrusion and attracting child lie complex family circumstances, sexuality, drugs and HIV, to which the families reacted in different ways. And the child also continues to “come and go” in response to the family’s reaction.

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