“It is perhaps the most unique and graceful object of architecture in Siam; shining like a jewel on the broad bosom of the river, fantastic and gilded, flashing back the glory of the sun, and duplicated in shifting shadows in the limpid waters below.”

            Anna Leonowens, governess to His Majesty King Rama IV’s children, was known for her fanciful turn of mind, yet, for all its purple prose, this description of her first sight of Phra Samut Chedi as she arrived in Thailand by sea in 1862 captures the awe of what was once an initial glimpse of the Kingdom that greeted all travellers. Situated at the mouth of the majestic Chao Phraya River, in Samut Prakan, historically known as Pak Nam “river mouth”, the 38-metre-high chedi is missed by today’s air travellers, but it remains one of the many interesting sights to be seen on a fascinating, of offbeat, day excursion from Bangkok.

            Directly south of the Thai capital, Samut  Prakan province straddles the Chao Phraya estuary and, as such, it possessed strategic importance during the centuries when access to the Kingdom was by sea. It provided the initial point of contact for arriving ships and formed Bangkok’s first line of defence.

                Today, Samut Prakan is little known to visitors aside from its two major tourist attractions, the Crocodile Farm and the Ancient City, and while these are admirable, to see nothing else of the province is to miss glimpses into Thai history, as well as scenes so characteristic of provincial life.

            Founded as a small fishing village in the 1620s, when Ayutthaya was the capital, Samut Prakan originally stood on the west bank of the river, in what is now Phra Pradaeng district, and consisted of little more than a humble collection of bamboo huts. With increasing foreign trade in the latter half of the 17th century, however, it quickly grew in importance as the point where arriving ships had to stop to allow onboard a pilot and custom officials, as well as being obliged to offload all of their cannon.

            After the establishment of Bangkok as the capital in the late 18th century. Samut Prakan’s strategic importance became even greater and its walls, moats and other fortifications were strengthened. However, in 1819, this was still deemed insufficient protection and HM King Rama II commanded the town to be relocated across the river to Pak Nam to better guard against possible attacks from the sea. Subsequently, gun batteries were built on both sides of the Chao Phraya, as well as on a little mud island that lay in midstream. By the late 19th century, more than 20 “forts”, more strictly fortified gun emplacements, had been constructed at various  points along the riverbank and, while many of these are now in a dilapidated state, a few have been preserved as historical sites.

            Surprisingly, history proved the defences to be more a deterrent than anything else and only once were they engaged in any significant hostile action. This was the famous Pak Nam incident on July 13, 1893, when the French sent two gunboats up the Chao Phraya River during a territorial dispute with Thailand. A skirmish ensued with an exchange of fire between the foreign ships and Chulachomklao Fort on the west bank of the river. The engagement was brief and, while there were casualties on both sides, damage to life and property was limited. Although a minor affair, the incident prompted that start of negotiations between Thailand and France.

            The historical significance of the area, however, is not limited to military action and includes milestones in national development. The first telegraph service in Thailand, inaugurated in 1875, operated between Bangkok and Samut Prakan, a distance of 45 kilometres. The link was later extended via a submarine cable to a lighthouse in the river.