National Maritime Museum of Chanthaburi

On one of our recent week-in trips we visited the city of Chantaburi on the way to Pattaya. We were told there was a nice museum off the beaten path towards the river , so off we went in search of this museum.Well after driving thru several small villages and up a curvy road we found it. We were not disappointed at all as not only was there a museum, but we had also found Fort Nuenwong , the fort and wall and canons used by King Rama 111 to fight off the Burmese troops invading Thailand ,in ships coming down the river. The fort is located on the bank high above the river,making it was a ideal place to fight them off and sink their ships as the made their way up the river.The National Maritime Musuem is the first and only museum to house thousands of undersea artifacts,located on 3,500 square meters situated within Khai Nuenwong,it is a twin building with six floors. It houses, art and artifact and models and actual collectables dealing with sea life of the local villagers.It has what I believe to be some of the finest displays of model ships and maritime articles I have seen in Thailand.

It's off the beaten path and not so easy to find , ask around and I'm sure you will be glad you took the little side trip to the Fort and museum. Hope you enjoy something a little different ,not just temples all the time , I know I did . Malcolm