Ban Thale Noi Tourism-based Community

Ban Thale Noi, formerly known as Ban Noen Sa, is a fishing and farming community on the bank of the Prasae River in Klaeng district, Rayong, a little upstream of where the river meets the Gulf. The name means “little sea,” but this is a river village, not a beach — a separate place entirely from the better-known Thale Noi bird sanctuary and wetland in Phatthalung, over 700 kilometres to the south, which shares the name by coincidence rather than connection.

The community won Thailand’s national Tourism Award (11th round, 2017) and holds official Community-Based Tourism standard certification since 2019, recognition built on one signature activity: afternoon boat trips where villagers toss pork fat onto the Prasae’s surface and Brahminy kites — rust-red birds with white heads — dive down to snatch it mid-air. The same trips pass fish traps, shellfish beds, and the mangrove forest the village helps maintain along both riverbanks. Development here follows the sufficiency-economy model — tourism income is fed back into mangrove replanting and small-scale conservation rather than expansion for its own sake.

On land, visitors can learn to weave hats and baskets from nipa palm leaves, cook krachab — a spicy local vegetable salad the community is known for growing, an unusual crop for this stretch of Rayong — and visit Wat Ratchabanlang, home to a Buddha image woven from rattan and linked to local accounts of King Taksin. Meals draw on the river’s catch: crab, shellfish, and fish straight from the traps. A community meeting hall seats up to 100, which is why school and study-tour groups make up a fair share of weekday bookings.

The village sits off the main road between Klaeng and the Prasae river mouth, a short drive from Rayong town. It’s one of several community-based tourism villages in the province — alongside Ban Wang Wa and Krasae Bon, each with its own specialty — and operates daily from 08:30 to 16:30, with homestay lodging available for an overnight stay. Come in the mid-to-late afternoon for the kite feeding, bring sun protection for the boat trip, and email the community ahead (talaynoi.cbt@gmail.com) so a guide and boat are ready.

Insider Tip: Aim to arrive by 15:30 — the kites gather as the afternoon heat eases, and boats that leave later catch a smaller, less active flock.

Watch out: Don’t confuse this with “Thale Noi” in Phatthalung (the famous lotus-lake bird sanctuary) — same name, opposite side of the country, entirely different place and wildlife.