Volunteering at a Glance:

• 2-week minimum
• Volunteers must arrive initially on Mondays before noon
• Stay as a guest if coming for less than 2 weeks
• Varied, educational morning and afternoon volunteer sessions Monday-Friday, with Wednesday afternoons and weekends off
• Access to a range of daily activities and workshops for free
• 5,600 THB contribution upon arrival for the first 2 weeks; this goes towards our shared costs for dormitory accommodation, food, and running the project. 
• 400 THB per night after the first 2 weeks
• Private accommodations available for other prices

Gaia Ashram is an eco-community, learning center, and land regeneration project in the Northeast Thailand’s Isan region. We offer courses and workshops on Permfaculture, Ecovillage design, natural building, and Deep Ecology. At Gaia Ashram we are a community of all beings, where we aim to live in harmony with nature and with all of the plants, animals and fungi who inhabit this beautiful planet.

We practice:

• • Organic farming
  • Permaculture
  • Ecosystem restoration
  • Agroforestry
  • Reforestation of our land
  • Natural building
  • Making natural products
  • Working with the local community
  • Art & creativity
  • Nature-based spirituality
  • Reconnecting with nature
  • Yoga & meditation
  • Living in community

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKhCfUx552I

How to volunteer at Gaia Ashram in Thailand?

 

 

Volunteers are welcome to join us for at least 2 weeks. 2 weeks = 14 nights; stays of 12 or 13 nights are accepted, but the 5,600 THB for the first 2 weeks still applies. Alternatively, it’s possible to volunteer for just one week if you also participate in our Ecovillage Lifestyle Experience Week (ELEW) before you volunteer. If you cannot stay for two weeks and you are also unable to attend the ELEW, then you can join us as a guest for a shorter amount of time instead. You may also join as a guest if you need more leisure time and a less structured stay. This will give you the freedom to decide when to join or not.

During your time at Gaia as a volunteer, however, you will learn about and gain experience with a wide range of skills and aspects of Ecovillage life. You’ll do all this together with other volunteers; in fact, Gaia has been growing fast, and most of the time, we have between 15-50 people staying onsite for varying lengths of time!

We highly recommend that our volunteers participate in the ELEW course, which happens a few times per year, if possible. This course will give you an understanding of the Ecovillage Lifestyle and Ecovillage design principles. In the process, you’ll get to know our land, our areas of work, our ethics and values, and learn the basics of natural building, gardening, permaculture, and deep ecology. This introduction week will also help you to understand various aspects of community living. It will make your volunteering experience at Gaia more enriching by way of really making the principles behind what we are doing here at Gaia come alive. It will also give you a clearer idea of how you can best contribute to ongoing projects. If you stay for a long time, we can find a work area together that suits you, our project, and mother Earth.

We ask our volunteers to support us 5 to 6 hours per day. Wednesday afternoons and weekends are off. On the weekends, we can help volunteers to organize trips to the nearby cities of Nong Khai and Udon Thani if they are interested. There are also a range of leisure activities available to guests and volunteers at Gaia (see leisure section lower down on this page). 

 

IMPORTANT: We ask that new volunteers please arrive before noon on Mondays, so please plan your arrival accordingly. If you are arriving in our part of Thailand before you come to Gaia, you can stay in the nearby cities of Udon Thani or Nong Khai. We recommend Mut Mee Guesthouse in Nong Khai for community vibes right on the Mekhong River. Thanks!

Gaia Ashram welcomes families and people with kids who want to volunteer and join the community. Families should take care of their kids themselves and Gaia Ashram will give the families the time and space to do so. Kids are welcome to join our activities that are appropriate for them.

If you are interested in volunteering with us, please contact us and make sure that you read through the information below to the end and read through our vision and values.

Volunteer activities on our tropical permaculture farm in Thailand

 

We have a few main kinds of volunteer activities at Gaia Ashram:

• • Natural building

• • Organic gardening & permaculture farming

• • Ecosystem restoration and regeneration odf nature

• • Making natural products such as essential oils and hydrosols (this area is not currently active as of summer 2024)

• • Others (architecture, arts, marketing, documentation, designing, etc.)

Working with natural cycles and patterns:

We have 3 seasons in Thailand, and our activities are strongly linked to the natural cycles :

Rainy Season: July until October

At this time we are planting lots of trees and some water-loving veggies. There also might be some ongoing building projects going on that we will be working on.

Cool season: November until February

This is the main time for vegetable production and organic gardening but also a good time for building projects as it is dry.

Dry/Hot Season: March until June.

Generally, the hot season is a time for building and a good time for us to go to places that are not so hot. We are closed to the public in April and most of May.

Learn about Natural and Earthen Building at Gaia Ashram

At the moment, we have 7 natural buildings on our land. We are still working on some structures, maintaining existing ones, and renovating others. We try to use as many natural materials as possible and we try to design our systems to have a very low to zero environmental impact. Some of the things you might be learning regarding natural building during your stay:

• • Making Adobe bricks

• • Building walls

• • Natural plasters

• • Natural Paints

• • Wattle and cob

• • Earthbag building

Ecosystem Restoration & Regeneration

Our aim is to regenerate the land and to help Mother Earth and all her beings to thrive. From nature’s perspective, Gaia Ashram is only in the ‘establishing’ phase, or in other words, the beginning. The land we are regenerating is about 13 hectares and used to be a rice field up until 2014, with degraded soils and pretty much nothing on it. Now, in 2024, we can see that the land has come a long way towards restoring itself and transforming. Pioneering species are doing their work, native trees have come up again, and we are assisting nature, or Gaia, in its self-restorative ability. This process of assisting nature is one of the most important volunteer jobs.

By doing this, volunteers can get an understanding of what it takes to support Mother Earth in her natural restoring and healing process. It’s very rewarding to see land go from bare, degraded agricultural land to a thriving ecosystem with delicious edible treats for all beings, and to play a role in this transformation.

To heal nature and ourselves is what we are all about at Gaia Ashram. Gaia Ashram aims to be a place that inspires people to do the same.

Other volunteer Activities

We also occasionally (though not so frequently) have specific tasks for people who have skills and can help in the following areas:

Architecture:

• Making designs for the structures on our new land + assisting with construction. We are especially looking for someone who is experienced with both architecture and natural building for this position. 

Office:

• • social media development

• • website development

• • marketing

• • event promotion

• • organization

Art & creativity:

• • design and implementation of artwork such murals, mosaicking, natural sculpting etc.

Spirituality:

• • offering yoga sessions

• • meditation session

• • other spiritual sharings

Gaia Cafe

• • serving customers

• • helping in the kitchen

• • making and selling natural products

Work Structure for Volunteers

During the week we work on a range of projects depending on the needs of Gaia at that time. We have a morning session, a break for lunch, chores, and resting, and another session in the afternoon (see daily schedule below).

Volunteers and interns also join the chore groups that help us to organize our community life and to take responsibility for our shared home. Volunteer chore teams cook breakfast, take care of the dishes, take care of the compost, and clean the community spaces. When you arrive, a community member will put you into a chore team and explain more about this. If anything is not clear, please do not hesitate to ask the team or any longer-term volunteers.

Daily Schedule

Our days are structured as shown below most of the time, but can change slightly due to season, activities, ongoing courses, and the number of volunteers. There may not always be evening and afternoon activities, although those slots are usually filled by volunteers, guests, and interns who wish to offer an activity, workshop, presentation, or game to the community.

 

 Weekly structure 

• • Monday:        Cleaning blitz / Intro to week / Afternoon: making eco-bricks 

• • Tuesday:        Regular Working Sessions

• • Wednesday: Morning Working Session / Afternoon: Trip to local Market / Evening: documentary 

• • Thursday:      Regular Work Sessions 

• • Friday:            Regular Work Sessions

• • Saturday:      Day off. Optional trip to Nong Khai or Udon Thani.

• • Sunday:         Day off. Optional trip to Nong Khai or Udon Thani.

Practical Information:

Gaia Ashram has developed to the stage where we are now funded through personal investments by the founders, through our educational offerings, through donations, and through contributions from our volunteers, interns, and guests.

Volunteer Contributions:

For every week as a volunteer, we ask for a contribution of 400 THB per night for dormitory accommodation (see info lower down on this page for fees for other types of accommodations). These fees include food throughout your stay. Children below 4 years old (0-3) are free to stay with us without cost.

The volunteer fee helps cover day-to-day daily living expenses such as electricity, groceries, water, etc., as well as upkeep of the land and infrastructure. It also goes towards the salaries for local staff who support the project & the volunteers. 

From our end, aside from food and accommodation, this exchange means that you receive access to:

• Education and hands-on experience with the volunteering activities we do during your stay (natural building, permaculture gardening, etc)
• A range of programming which usually costs a few hundred baht per session/class to attend elsewhere; these offerings might include yoga and/or tai chi, meditation, dance, community-building activities, game nights, workshops, and more.
• A beautiful natural environment that has been lovingly restored over the course of the past ~10 years  
• An immersive community living experience

Your contribution helps sustain  Gaia Ashram and her regenerative activities, and we are very grateful for your support. 

Volunteer Fees (All prices include 3 meals per day):

Volunteer in dormitory: 400 THB per night

Volunteer single room : 550 THB per night

Volunteer double room (1 person) : 700 THB per night

Volunteer double room (2 people) : 1,000 THB per night

Volunteer double room (3 people) : 1,350 THB per night

Volunteer double room (4 people): 1,600 THB per night

Volunteers in Family House:
1-2 people: 1,500 THB/Night
3 people: 1,800 THB/Night
4 people: 2,100 THB/Night
5 people: 2,500 THB/Night

Volunteer in Gaia’s tent: 400 THB per night

Volunteer in own tent: 300 THB per night

Please note that camping is possible only from November – March.

If a couple stays in a double room and one is a guest and the other is a volunteer, the total price will be 1,290 per night.

Gaia Ashram Residential Internships

If you want to dive deeper into Permaculture, Ecovillage design, and holistic living, and you are motivated, dedicated, and committed, we would love to host you as an intern. Interns commit to staying for at least 3 full months.

For more information have a look at our INTERNSHIP page.

Thai visa

If you are coming to Thailand for a short time, most countries are eligible for visa-free entry. This means you can stay in Thailand for 60 days, and then you can extend it for another 30 days for 1900 baht at a local immigration office (for Gaia Ashram, at Udon Thani).

If you want stay longer than these 90 days, you may be eligible for the Destination Thailand Visa, which is valid for 5 years and allows visitors to stay for 180 days per entry, extendable by another 180 days each entry by visiting an immigration office and paying 1900 baht. The DTV visa is for digital nomads, people who sign up for Thai ‘soft power’ activities such as Muay Thai or Thai cooking classes, and people who have scheduled a series of medical appointments in order to do medical tourism in Thailand.

If you need to cross the border, you can cross to Vientiane, Laos easily; that border is less than one hour from Gaia.

Please be aware that the date by which you must depart is on the stamp given on arrival by the Thai immigration officer at the airport/land crossing.

Volunteer Insurance

We ask that volunteers get appropriate travel insurance that covers volunteering in Thailand in case of any incidents. Please check out the following insurance companies as a reference; these specialize in travel insurance and would cover volunteering:

• • World Nomads

• • OVEurope

What to bring?

• • Flashlight

• • In the cool season (November till the beginning of March) some warm clothes

• • Rainy season boots are helpful/raincoat or umbrella

• • Mosquito spray (also available in our shop)

• • Work clothes

• • If you have some projects to share, bring the relevant documents or equipment.

There are many ways to get to Gaia Ashram; for detailed information on how to reach us, see HERE. 

Our Facilities

Our facilities are basic but comfy. The volunteer fee of 400 baht includes accommodation in our spacious dormitory above the Sala, our main community building at the heart of Gaia Ashram. Private accommodation is available for an additional fee (see table above under ‘volunteer contributions’).

Fairy House:

For those that want more privacy, there is the Fairy House which is right next to the forest. We call it the fairy house because the little forest is wild and full of unseen beings. 

Gaia Cafe

Our visitors can wind down and relax at Gaia Cafe. There we sell our natural products from the land and serve tea, coffee, hot chocolate, juice, and sometimes snacks like cookies and brownies. 

Bicycle Tourists

Gaia Ashram welcomes traveling cyclists and provides spaces for them to set up their tents. However, we advise against camping during the rainy season. Please inform us beforehand if you plan to stay in your tent.