I'm doing a bit of a mapping project and I'm trying to place a few different addresses using a combination of google maps and bing.

I'm having trouble whenever an address is a "moo" something. For example, I can't find "Moo 15, Tambon Krachaeng, Kanthalarak, Si Sa Ket."

What does Moo really mean? Do villages go by another name than just their number, and is there a way to figure out which number corresponds with which village?

Thanks for your help!

Moo is a smaller side street off of a soi that comes of a thanon (main road) I think and a yak is an even smaller one?

I've yet to find any logic whatever to Thai addresses once you leave the realms of the (relatively) ordered cities.

Our whole village is 'moo 3' which is prefixed by a plot number, so we are '4 moo 3' followed by the sub-district name then the Tambon, the plot numbers follow no order I can see.

We are on a relatively major (4 digit) road but the road doesn't have a name so it doesn't figure in the address at all.

You stand no chance whatever of finding our place on a map from the address alone. At least putting the postcode into Google Maps gets you within a couple or five km, sadly there's a ruddy great river running right through the centre of the postcode region so you can easily be within 500m but have a 10km drive to get there.

In my village, the plot number is number in which the resident was built. When my place was built I was the 127th. There is no order on the road.

The chaos is fascinating. Thanks for taking the time to explain!

I thought Moo was the Postal District

Moo is a smaller side street off of a soi that comes of a thanon (main road) I think and a yak is an even smaller one?

So what is a Thambon? I live on soi 7, but my address is 18/67 M.8 soi 7. Care to define that all for me? I am in same state of confusion over all this as the gentleman that started this thread.

That's a tough project. If you do anything in Thailand and they need your address you have to supply them with a map. So therefore most Thais don't understand the address system either.

Good luck

my take is a moo (muban) is a small area( hamlet/village) inside a larger tambon (parish) inside a larger amphoe (district) sattahip, pattaya inside a changwat ( county) ie Rayong, Chon buri

see here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Administrative_divisions_of_Thailand

I thought that "moo" meant village.

Where I stay we are surrounded by physically separate villages

each with a number, eg Moo 12, Moor 13, Moo 14, etc

Edit: Yes, the post above is correct, Moo is short for Mubahn (sp?)

http://www.thailandguru.com/thailand-postal-office-couriers.html

Addresses in Thailand

Finding an address is usually difficult in Thailand. You normally need directions from someone, and most businesses provide a map. Why?

Unlike in most western countries, street addresses in Thailand are not sequential order as you go down the road. They are usually in the order in which the structure was built, so that house number 12 can be next to house number 53, and house number 11 can be a kilometer away!

The street name is usually NOT on the address on Thailand, except in central Bangkok and a few other places, especially for homes. However, even in Bangkok, while you have the street name, the address numbers are still not in order so you still have somewhat of the same problem as in the provinces, though at least you know you're close, maybe within a kilometer or two ... but that's still a lot of area to hunt around for.

Before I present city addresses, let's first look at the standard for nationwide addresses.

Thai addresses are usually in the form:

XXX/YYY Moo ZZ

T. aaaaaaa

A. bbbbbbb

City, Province, Postal Code

For example:

765/345 Moo 12

T. Ban Mai

A. Pakkred

Nonthaburi, 12345

In the latter example, the 765 (XXX) is the house group, and the 345 (YYY) is the house number within the group. You will find house groups mixed up with each other, so that going down a soi you may find 56/234 beside 56/789 beside 56/987 beside 41/2 beside 41/3 beside 56/876 beside 98/321, and you may find 56/232 a kilometer away from 56/233. The groups tend to designate the age of the house, i.e., a building phase.

Then there is the Moo, also spelled Mu or abbreviated M., which is the village number, so the example designates village number 12 within Tambon Ban Mai.

Each province is split into about 5 to 25 districts called Amphur, and each Amphur is split into many Tambon, and then each Tambon is split into many Moo groups. In the address above, T. is Tambon and A. is Amphur. People often put in M. for Moo.

In the cities, you can have addresses like this:

321/456 Sukhumvit soi 39

Klongton-Nua, Wattana, Bangkok 10110

The difference is that it has a street name instead of a Moo number (instead a soi number, see next paragraph). Also, they tend to drop "Tambon" and "Amphur" words, though that's what Klongton-Nua and Wattana are, in this example.

Most city addresses will have a "soi" number. The main roads have perpendicular streets going off both sides, which are called "sois" and are even numbered 2, 4, 6, etc., on one side and odd numbered 1, 3, 5, etc., on the other side. As you go down the road, they tend to get out of sync so that soi 71 can be across the street from soi 48, but they are always in order on the same side of the street, i.e., before soi 48 is always soi 46.

Many sois usually have a name, too, for example, Sukhumvit soi 4 is called soi Nana (well known), but the name of the soi is usually not specified, only the number, and if you said a typical soi name, most people wouldn't know where it is, but if you say Sukhumvit soi 39, they know generally where that is!

However, once you find the soi number, the office and house addresses are normally not in order, so you have the same problem as in the provinces and suburbs, such as "I'm now on Sukhumvit soi 39, but where is house 321/456?" In the city, people usually don't know each other, unlike in the countryside, so you better have clear directions. If it's a business, then ask the motorcycle taxis because they normally know.

If you need to find a place, the best thing to do is ask the person you are trying to find, and get directions like this: "From Sukhumvit Road, go to Sukhumvit soi 39, turn left, go 1.2 kilometers to L'Opera Restaurant, turn left again, go 50 meters to turn right at the next sub-soi, then go down another 80 meters and our house is on the right, number 321/456" or something like that.

In the countryside, once you get close enough you can often just ask for a person's family name and someone will know. The problem is getting close enough, because there are no signs saying "Mu 5 this way, Mu 6 that way". You can see addresses with Mu numbers on them and ask someone where is Mu 12, and keep getting closer and closer ...

On a weekday, you can call or go to the post office to ask. On a weekend, you can find the Tambon village headman's house and go ask him, and someone may even take you to the home. Otherwise, you can ask around, but people don't remember house numbers and it's best to ask for names, and hope they know who you are looking for.

However, in the end, the best thing to do is just get directions from the person or place you are seeking out.

Moo is a smaller side street off of a soi that comes of a thanon (main road) I think and a yak is an even smaller one?

Totally wrong....

Moo is short for Mooban (moo meaning "group" bahn meaning "house" so mooban = village.

Soi is an alley, yaek is a junction (sam yaek = T intersection, si yaek = X intersection)

From top to bottom you have:

Jangwat = province

Ampoe = District

Tambon = sub district

Mooban = village

all villages have names as well as numbers, but for sending a letter you use the number of the village rather than the name.

The address in a small village will be something like:

house number, village number, tambon, ampoe, jangwat.

in larger villages you'd also have a soi number but usually no such things as road names

In my village, the plot number is number in which the resident was built. When my place was built I was the 127th. There is no order on the road.

Actually it's numbered after the order the plot got the chanote land title.

I wonder when they will also demand Latitude and Longitude details on all addresses.

Good luck with that endeavor mate!

Don't take it for granted that when looking for a certain place or plotting the location of such on a map that it is the actual location that you want. I would suggest going into "street view" to see if in fact it is what you expect it to be!

For example: If you take the address for the new temporary Immigration Dept. in Bangkok, taken from the Immigration website and stick into Google maps (Major Hollywood Suksawat, Suksawat Road, Ratburana) it actually gives you the wrong location. It is a Major Hollywood Suksawat, but not the right one! But if you put in Major Hollywood Ratburana it should give you the proper one on Soi Suksawat 60

Among other things Google maps actually has the Soi that my condo is on named incorrectly!

Thailand has:

Provinces or Changwat (76) - like Bangkok for example

The capital city of the province shares the same name as the province - i.e. Bangkok is the capital city of Bangkok Province

The city has districts (Khet) or Amphur/Amphoe - mine in Bangkok is Khet Bang Rak

The Amphur is divided further into sub-districts called Tambons/Tambol - like mine, Bang Rak

Moo (Moo Ban) - this would be a village outside of Bangkok, if in the city of Bangkok it will be the sub-division of an area

Thanon - this would be a main road/lane like Sukhumvit Road

Soi - this is a side street branching off from a main street, the Soi will be a number of that main road such as Sukhumvit Soi 11

I think that's about it...any other TV posters please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong?

good luck!

I wonder when they will also demand Latitude and Longitude details on all addresses.

This is BTW the best way to operate a GPS in Thailand! I always try to find the exact location in GoogleEarth. In Bangkok and other big cities, it is possible to use a POI (point of interest) nearby, like hotels.

Thais navigate by phone. They ask first for the region and call then for the last kilometres. The Thai address have no common system and even non-local Thais have a problem with it. That is also the reason why HomePro etc. always ask for a map...

Every Thai village has both a name and a number. In some instances a large village (not necessarily a "tessabon tambon" or township) may cover two village numbers without having two distinct names. Townships start at 99 for a "village number" and run backwards from there, FYI.

The village number is the last two digits of the eight-digit geocode given by the Thai authorities. Geocode 43020201 for example is village 01 (Ban Nam Pong) of tambon 02 (Nam Mong) of amphur 02 (Tha Bo) of province 43 (Nong Khai).

The first four digits for province and amphur, "4302" in our example, also appear on the Thai ID card denoting the place where a person's birth was registered. Since it follows a person for life, this is why some people bring their newborns to Bangkok to have their birth registered at a family member's household in the capital. It avoids some discrimination later in life.

You're not going to find Google Maps or any other offshore service which is specific to the village level. They only started outlining the tambon boundaries.

Search in the right place and you can find coordinates for most villages. The grid system is somewhat obscure, and some entries are inaccurate.

When you see an address such as 12/34 M. 1, it's telling you that this is sub-lot 34 of lot 12 in village 1. The master lot numbers were originally assigned a long time ago, and in a relatively arbitrary way. To make things worse, if you subdivide and sell master lot 34, the newly created independent lot will not be 35, but instead the next available number in that village. This is why clusters of shophouses in Pattaya and elsewhere may run 52/1 to 52/20 with 237/1 to 237/50 following, then 126/1 next door to that.

A soi name and/or number following the 12/34 M. 1 designation is just a courtesy and has no real standing or importance outside of Bangkok. In Bangkok the tambon and amphur are now called kwaeng and khet respectively following a municipal reform many decades ago (although the old-timers may still refer to them as such). But the property deeds should still use this system even in Bangkok where the more familiar number-and-street system is in use.

And nothing in that precludes the owner or master tenant of a cluster of shophouses (some can span several blocks) of assigning their own non-legal building numbers to each designated shophouse which already has a sub-lot/lot Moo something address.

If you would live on
1234/567 Moo 89
Tambol Nongprue, Amphur Banglamung
Chonburi 20150



1234/567 = house number, being the 1234th house in the zone 567 (i.e. housing estate/village/condominium)
Moo = best translated as hamlet
89 = hamlet number 89
Tambol = Village
Amphur = Municipality
Chonburi = district capital
20150 = Zip Code

Easy, isn't it? The challenge is to visit Khun Daeng living on 12/34 Moo 10 in Nongprue. Only way to find out is to ask where Moo 10 is and take it from there by asking around OR TO BE BORN AS A THAI POSTMAN!

I live in Bangkok burbs and have a numbered street address along a highway frontage road. However, no numbers are displayed on the street or even block numbers at crossroads. Many Thais here use local landmarks as part of the address, like "near Big C."

The number of the moo is assigned by the Land Office if I remember correctly. To decipher the you'll need a map from them, there's no logic. And they screw it up from time to time, f.ex. our house shares the address with another one miles away, it's a huge pain as lots of the post gets mixed up.

I think the Moo's are much bigger than defined villages. Here in good old Nongprue I live in Moo1, used to live nearby in Moo 13, Walking Street is Moo 10. I did see a Moo Map in the Municipality office which should the whole of Nongprue subdivided into Moo's, I don't think there was anything over 13.

Navigating the wilds of Thailand, I have learned to always be close to the address in late morning / early afternoon.

Find the nearest post office and ask them.

They know where everyone lives, which can have nothing I can figure out to do with the address I have been given.

Even slipped 100 baht to the motorcycle delivery driver and been taken right to the door.

Crossy, on 27 Feb 2014 - 16:48, said:

I've yet to find any logic whatever to Thai addresses once you leave the realms of the (relatively) ordered cities.

Our whole village is 'moo 3' which is prefixed by a plot number, so we are '4 moo 3' followed by the sub-district name then the Tambon, the plot numbers follow no order I can see.

We are on a relatively major (4 digit) road but the road doesn't have a name so it doesn't figure in the address at all.

You stand no chance whatever of finding our place on a map from the address alone. At least putting the postcode into Google Maps gets you within a couple or five km, sadly there's a ruddy great river running right through the centre of the postcode region so you can easily be within 500m but have a 10km drive to get there.

What I found on house number, and this was in Kathu, the numbers were allocated as a house was built, this means that the numbers jump all over the place, this made it so hard for the postie he simple pops the mail in any mailbox then lets the house owners/tenants sort it out Give you an idea, 5 houses in a row, in our Soi, 35 37, 65, 23, 21.

You all appear to be putting logic to something distinctly Thai. I really do not understand how you can do that!

May sound boring, but there are quite extensive articles on the topic in the wiki.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subdivisions_of_Thailand (from the birds perspective: "Administrative divisions of Thailand")

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_addressing_system (Thai adressing system)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muban (muban, the village level)

English speakers will now be confused , as the articles (also) show the official transcripts for the subdivisions: changwat, amphoe, tambon, khet/khwaeng. mu(ban).

And not to forget: Pattaya is (as in other sense) a "special construction":

The city of Pattaya is a special municipal area which covers the whole tambon Nong Prue (Nongprue) and Na Kluea (Naklua) and parts of Huai Yai and Nong Pla Lai.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pattaya

"Pattaya" is not a necessary part of the postal adress btw.

Basiclly everything was said.

A vaccant lot has no number. You just start building. The very moment the bathroom is completed you can apply for the house number. (Funny. Not so long time ago the houses in the villages didn't even have bathrooms. Business in the bushes.)

With this number you can apply for an electric meter and water supply.

The dash numbers (xxx/x) are a workaround. E. g. When the offspring builds a new house in the same moobaan as the parents they can use mama/papa's house number followed by /1, /2, /3......

Acctually I have two house numbers. Beside the real one an extra one for the electric company. We applied for the meter with mama's number plus /2 (#/1 is already in use by one of her daughters) to get electricity before the bathsrooms wer finished.

I assume that every separate unit in a condo building has its own "dash" number ? (e.g. 223/12, 223/17 ...).

A friend lives in a condo building in Jomtien, adress starts like this, followed by the mu (moo) number.

The number after the dash does (of course ) not correspond to his "apartment number".

What about UK where some houses have names, not numbers. It is not just Thailand!

"Moo"s are municipal regons (villages or any certain area) for sure, not exactly for postal purposes.

the best way to know about "moo"s in a city/area, is having a local municipality map, and remomber, they're not in sequences always:

Name
Moo, Road
Tambon, Amphur
Province, Postal code

From large area to small: Province (Jungwat), District (Amphoe), sub District (Tambol), Village (Hmuban), section (Hmu), lastly, ths plot number

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