Nabua Village for Tourism

Nabua is a Phu Thai village in Renu Nakhon district, Nakhon Phanom province, known locally as the site of “Wan Siang Puen Taek” — the day the gunshot broke out. On 7 August 1965, government police clashed here with the first armed cell of what became the Communist Party of Thailand’s two-decade insurgency, and the village spent the following years occupied by the military as a “red zone,” with residents accused of Communist sympathies killed or driven into the forest. Entry to the village is free; the community tourism program runs daily, 08:00-17:00.

Experience

That history is central to why Nabua opened as a tourism village rather than incidental to it. A small community learning center displays artifacts from the period alongside older items reflecting Phu Thai daily life — among them handmade buffalo-leather sandals, a detail that turns up in local accounts of the era. The village also has an unlikely link to international cinema: director Apichatpong Weerasethakul spent years researching Nabua’s suppressed history for his multi-part “Primitive” project, work that fed into Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, the first Thai film to win the Palme d’Or, at Cannes in 2010.

Alongside the historical material, Nabua maintains a working Phu Thai cultural identity — its own dialect, traditional dress, and the fawn Phu Thai, a regional dance performed at gatherings and for visiting groups. A baisri sukhwan wrist-tying ceremony, a blessing ritual common across Isaan’s Lao- and Phu Thai-influenced communities, is often arranged for visitor groups alongside the dancing. These aren’t staged for daily walk-up traffic — most groups arrange a visit in advance through the village’s tourism program, which can also set up a home-cooked meal with a host family.

Atmosphere & Timing

Insider Tip: Contact the village tourism group ahead of a visit rather than turning up unannounced — dance performances and the wrist-tying ceremony are arranged for groups, and a same-day visit without notice may mean the learning center is the only thing open.

Watch out: This is a real residential village with a heavy, specific history, not a recreated cultural theme park — treat the learning center’s material and any conversation about the 1960s-80s period with the same seriousness you would a memorial site.

Practical

Nabua sits in Khok Hin Hae subdistrict, Renu Nakhon district, best reached by car from Nakhon Phanom town or from the better-known handicraft stalls of Renu Nakhon itself, a short drive away. There’s no scheduled public transport directly to the village.