Ban Non Salao Silk Weaving Village

Ban Non Salao in Phu Khiao district is one of the biggest weaving villages in Chaiyaphum, where almost every household works a loom. Its signature is khit — a supplementary-weft technique that builds raised geometric patterns into the cloth, worked here mostly in cotton, with silk thread used in some pieces. This is a long-standing Lao-descent Isan weaving community, with a housewives’ weaving cooperative running since 1978.

Watch weavers pick out khit patterns thread by thread using a “mai khit” pattern stick, and dye yarn with natural and modern colours. The work on sale runs from mudmee (ikat) cotton cloth to khit-patterned scarves, shawls, table linens, cushion covers and bags — buy directly from the makers and the money goes straight to the household. Note that the village weaves bought cotton and silk thread rather than raising its own silkworms, so the visit is about the loom work and the patterns rather than a full silkworm-to-cloth farm.

There’s no formal admission booth or set route — you walk the lanes past open-fronted houses where looms sit right at the doorway, and most weavers are happy to have visitors watch and ask questions even without much shared language. Trade is informal: prices are set per piece rather than haggled hard, and buying direct is the whole point of visiting rather than a token gesture. The village also holds the Hae Nak Hot festival each May, a sixth-lunar-month event with a rocket procession, though it’s a local festival rather than something laid on for tourists.

Insider Tip: Go between 9 and 11 AM. By early afternoon several households pause weaving for the hottest part of the day, and you’ll see fewer looms actually in motion.

Combine the visit with Phu Khiao Wildlife Reserve in the same district, or push further to Pa Hin Ngam National Park, one of Chaiyaphum’s better-known natural sights.