Ban Na Samai

Ban Na Samai, in Na Samai subdistrict a short drive from Yasothon town, is a working basketry village where bamboo weaving supplements the rice-farming income of most households. The craft here isn’t a staged demonstration — it’s the town’s actual economy, and it shows in the piles of split bamboo drying on porches and the steady, practised pace of the weavers.

Kratip khao — the lidded baskets Isan households use to serve and keep sticky rice warm — are the signature product, alongside rice steamers and larger carrying baskets woven from the same split cane. A bamboo kratip khao replica over 3 metres tall stands at the village entrance, built by residents as a landmark and shorthand for what the place does. Beyond basketry, some households carve miniature wooden ox-carts as souvenirs, and a smaller number of named local craftspeople work in brass casting and wood carving, including Buddha images — trades documented in Thailand’s community museum records rather than invented for tourists.

Visiting means walking between houses rather than following a marked route: watching the splitting and soaking of bamboo cane, the weaving itself, and buying pieces straight from the person who made them. There’s no formal admission gate or visitor centre, so what you see depends on which households happen to be working when you arrive — morning is more reliable than afternoon, since most weaving happens before the day heats up.

Insider Tip: Buying directly from a weaver’s porch, rather than a roadside stall, gets you a better sense of the actual work — and the price is the same either way.

Watch out: This is a residential village, not a tourist facility. There’s no English signage or set tour route, and turning up without some Thai (or a guide who has it) makes it harder to ask permission before stepping onto someone’s porch.

The village sits about 10km from central Yasothon, reachable by taxi or songthaew in around 20 minutes. Shade is limited along the unpaved lanes between workshops, so a hat and water matter more than you’d expect for such a short visit.

For more of Yasothon’s craft and temple heritage, Wat Maha That Yasothorn and Phaya Thaen Public Park both sit within the same short radius of town, making a combined half-day out of central Yasothon.