Samut Prakarn - Bang Kachao

The area in the map has been coined by many as “Bangkok’s Green Lung”. The area is actually namled Bang Krachao. In 1977, the government proposed to create a version of Singapore’s Sentosa Island. This was done by enforcing strict building regulations.  .

As can be seen from this picture from a high-rise condo-building on the Bangkok side of the river (along Rama 3 Road), there are no high-rises in the Bang Kachao district.  

There are lots of things to do on the peninsula, but don’t expect any chic hotels or finger nail spas. Among foreigners, one of the most famous activities is biking although no Bangkokian consider riding a bike a thing any sane person would do. 

Small roads, narrow concrete tracks, and wooden paths meander through the greenery of Bang Krachao The majority of the tracks and paths have no railings and since they are elevated above the ground or a swamp so falling down would spell disaster.

In soi Petchahueng 33, there is gallery paying tribute to Siamese fighting fish. It is in Ayutthaya-era styled architecture buildings situated in a large beautiful garden. 

Almost 200 years ago, the Pom Phlaeng Faifa fort was built at the river bend. The fort ruins are now located in the Sri Nakorn Khuan Khan botanical park. This park is also a good place to ride your bike at leisurely pace. With large ponds, tall shady trees, and many types of plant species it is also an excellent place for bird watching. 

Another niche activity is watching fireflies. Many tourists stay in one of the "home stay" houses along the banks. Prices range from USD 10-30 per night for riverside lodging, breakfast and dinner. The cheaper options are without not air-condition and revealing clothing, rowdiness, and loud noises are frowned upon. 

Samut Prakarn - Chulachomklao Fort

Chulachomklao Fort (Pom Phra Chulachomklao) played an important role in the history of Thailand. The fortress helped to protect the sovereignty of the country in 1893 when, during the reign of King Rama V, the British and French empires were looking to colonize countries in Asia. So, King Rama V sought different ways to protect his kingdom, and he got fortresses at river mouths renovated and re-equipped to fight any aggression. The king also got several foreign naval specialists as consultants to plan the development of the Thai navy and appointed a Dane to head these efforts

Today, the fortress is still in use as a Naval History Park and is home to the H.M.S. Mae Klong Battleship Museum. There is a magnificent monument of King Rama V located right next to H. M. S. Mae Klong.

In the fortress, you can see the guns that were used to fight the invading armies. There is an exhibition hall where you can see photographs relating to the battles (especially the conflicts with the French) and the development of the Royal Thai Navy. However, the Manhattan incident is not mentioned. 


The HMS Mae Klong Battleship (built in Japan) was - after serving for 60 years - decommissioned and turned into a museum. 

At the riverside restaurant, there is a small souvenir shop manned by students from the naval academy. You can also buy a cap indicating that you work for the Forensic Police. 


You can also take a walk along the path to observe nature and ecological preservation. You can visit the nearby mangrove to see egrets, sea gulls, mudskippers and many types of crabs.

Pom Phra Chulachomklao is open daily from 8.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m. but visitors have get "permission" to enter, which basically means that you have to leave your ID card with the guards at the entrance gate. There is no admission fee.

Samut Prakarn - Wat Khun Samut Jeen

Wat Khun Samut Jeen is a temple in Samut Prakarn Province that due to erosion of the coast line has ended up being inundated by the ocean. On the Google Earth shot below, the temple is the cluster of trees at the bottom of the picture (taken at high tide).

Wat Khun Samut Jeen is located near Ban Sakhla (drive towards Chulachomklao Fort and turn right a few kilometers before the entrance to the fort), but can only be reached by boat. The area is very low-lying – probably under sea level – so the main activities are shrimp farming and fishing. 

Along the road to Ban Sakhla, long-tail boats can be rented to bring you to your destination anywhere in the expansive network of canals.

A one-way trip to Wat Khun Samut Jeen cost 40 baht per person, but maximum 100 baht if three people or more travel in the same boat. 

You’ll be heading down a canal lined with short stumpy nipa palms and electricity poles. Some houses along their canal can be reached by motorcycle or foot on elevated concrete pathways, but the houses furthest away from the road can only be reached by boat.

After about ten minutes in the boat, I reached a small jetty where the boatman told me that I had to disembark. I had to continue the remainder of the way on foot. He gave me his mobile phone number and said that I should ring him when I was ready to return.

The small jetty was surrounded by shrimp farms - long narrow man-made ponds with embankments in-between them - as far as they eye could see in all directions. To get to temple, I had to walk on these embankments although work on an elevated concrete pathway had started.

After walking for about ten minutes, I reached the first house of Ban Khun Samut Jeen. There were some pictures and maps that indicated that over the last 20 years or so, the sea had encroached on the land by about one kilometer. 

Walking down the track, I came to a bright red building housing a Chinese shrine. An elderly woman was trotting along and she said the shrine was called Noom Noi Loi Chai and it was worshipped by local fishermen. Apparently, this shrine had already been moved once due to land erosion.

I offered to carry her bag with groceries and walking further along the shrimp fields, we passed a number of wooden shacks until we reached the woman’s home. I was enjoying the cold water offered in return for my beast of burden services, when a neighbor came running. His old mother was under the weather and he was looking for herbal medicine to remedy her illness as the nearest medical clinic was many kilometers away.

About another ten minutes of walking, after leaving the shacks behind, I finally emerged at the edge of the Gulf of Thailand.

Straight ahead was a concrete raised walkway with the temple in the distance surrounded by trees. As I arrived at the temple the first structures, I passed were the kutis, the accommodation for the five resident monks. These were built on stilts in order to stay above high tide. A bit further were the crematorium, the open sala, and the temple.

The kutis were rebuilt on stilts, but the temple building itself couldn’t be raised. So, they raised the level of the floor by over a meter thus blocking the lower half of the windows. So, to look out of the window, you have to sit down on the floor.

Evidence of the land erosion could be clearly seen by looking out into the Gulf of Thailand. A line of electricity pylons stood testament that there was once a thriving community under there waters.

The abbot, Phra Somnuk, was sitting in the sala and he briefly described how the monks and the temple had been close to disaster during a big storm in 2003. Although a few articles ran in the local press, the outside world did not really take notice of the temple’s plight until a bilingual website was created in 2007. Since then, donations have enabled the temple to build elevated concrete walkways as well as a breakwater wall intended to stop erosion and give mangrove saplings a chance to root and spread.

However, the abbot was quite stoic about the fact that nature is likely to prevail over man and said that things are actually only bad during big storms, which inevitably will happen once every two or three years.

P. S.

There is a public boat to Ban Khun Samut Jeen leaving the pier at the Paknam Market in Samut Prakarn’s Amphoe Muang every day at about 9.00 am. The boat returns to Paknam at 3 pm.