Ban Pho Kong Tourism Community

Ban Pho Kong is a community-based tourism (CBT) village in Chuea Phloeng subdistrict, Prasat district — a Khmer-heritage silk-weaving community registered with Thailand’s official CBT network. Entry is free, and the community welcomes visitors daily from 08:00 to 17:00.

Experience

The village specialises in a fine silk yarn known locally as “mai noi” (little silk), and visitors can follow the production chain hands-on: mulberry cultivation, raising silkworms, natural dyeing, and weaving on traditional looms with villagers guiding each step. A second, less expected activity sits alongside the silk trade — the community also bottles natural spring water as a small local enterprise.

Ban Pho Kong runs Khmer-language and script classes to help preserve a heritage that’s fading elsewhere in the province, and performs the Khaon Petingtong folk dance, a routine that mimics the movement of a rice-pestle grasshopper, for group visits. The village’s own name is part Khmer: โพธิ์ (a bodhi tree) plus กอง, a Khmer word describing something bent or curved — after a bodhi tree in the village whose trunk grew with a visible bend.

The community operates as both a day-trip stop and a homestay destination. Visitors who want to stay overnight can arrange it directly through the community (cbtbanphokong@gmail.com) rather than through a hotel booking platform.

Insider Tip: Ask to see the full silk process in sequence — mulberry leaves, silkworms, dyeing, then the loom — rather than just the weaving demonstration; most day visitors only see the last step.

Atmosphere & Timing

With 15 bathrooms and a 50-person meeting room, the village is set up to host school groups and organised tours as much as independent travellers, and guides work in both Thai and Khmer. Morning visits catch the weaving workshops at full capacity, before the midday heat sets in.

Watch out: There’s no public bus route to the village — reaching Ban Pho Kong means a private vehicle, rental car, or a pre-arranged tour from Surin town, roughly 20km north.

Practical

Ban Pho Kong is one of several Prasat district sites worth combining on a Khmer-heritage day out in Surin, alongside Prasat Hin Ban Phluang and Ban Plai Castle.