Thai Soang Village

Thai Soang Village is the community of Ban Ko Raet, a Tai Dam (also called Lao Song) settlement in Bang Pla subdistrict, about 9km south of Bang Len via the Bang Len-Don Tum road. There’s no entry fee and no gate — it’s a residential village you walk through, not a staffed attraction.

The Tai Dam trace their origin to the Sip Song Chu Tai region straddling modern Vietnam and Laos. Groups were resettled in Siam around 1768, during King Taksin’s reign, first at Ban Nong Prong in Phetchaburi’s Khao Yoi district, and later spread to Nakhon Pathom, Ratchaburi, and Kanchanaburi as families sought farmland. What you’ll actually see walking Ban Ko Raet’s lanes: wooden houses on stilts in the older Tai Dam style, family workshops where residents still weave cotton and hand-plait rattan and bamboo into baskets, and a slower daily rhythm than the busy Bang Len market town nearby. Some households sell woven pieces directly; asking first is the norm, and a little Thai (or patience with gestures) goes further than English here.

Watch out: don’t expect a curated cultural-village experience with signage, demonstrations, or an admission desk — that infrastructure exists at the separate Thai Soang Cultural Centre near Wat Sra Si Mum in Kamphaeng Saen district, roughly 40km away, not at Ban Ko Raet itself. What you get here is the genuine article minus the polish: a lived-in community that happens to be open to visitors, so keep expectations proportionate and your visit brief and respectful.

Insider Tip: The Tai Dam are historically known for indigo-dyed black clothing (โซ่ง literally references the dark colour) — if you see it worn rather than displayed, it’s usually at a temple merit-making day or funeral rite rather than for visitors, so photograph discreetly.

Getting here means your own transport — car, motorbike, or a taxi arranged from Nakhon Pathom town, roughly 45 minutes northwest. There’s no public bus route into the village lanes themselves. Combine the trip with Thung Bua Daeng Na Bang Len Floating Market, a short drive away in the same district, for a fuller half-day in Bang Len beyond the provincial capital’s temples and museums.