Chantaburi Old Town

The Father's Day (King's Birthday) holiday is here, although with the passing of the beloved Ninth King in October, it's a bit more somber than usual. Instead of everyone wearing yellow as in years past, the whole of the kingdom has worn black for the past fifty days. The new king officially accepted his position on Thursday, and life in Thailand goes on under the reign of King Rama X.

For the long weekend, I am currently in Chantaburi! It's a province five hours east of Bangkok, on the coast past Pattaya and Koh Samet, and near the Cambodian border.

Arriving just after eleven in the morning, the first stop was Chantaburi Cathedral of Immaculate Conception, the province's most famous landmark.

Chantaburi Cathedral

The Gothic Cathedral in the city center was preparing for a wedding, and would close to guests at noon. We got there just in time! The caretaker chatted with me a bit. He told me the large Christian community in Chantaburi had lived their for three hundred years. Their ancestors had originally come from Vietnam in the early 1700s. The church building itself had been built by the French during their short 10-year occupation of Eastern Thailand as part of their Indochinese territories.

inside the cathedral

I noticed some really interesting cultural distinctions about Thai Catholicism. First, everyone was asked to remove their shoes and cover their legs and shoulders, like at a temple.

Mary in silver

The statue of St. Mary, a beautiful solid silver casting covered in glittering gyms was displayed in a shrine, which although not unique, did remind me a lot of the shrines displayed around Bangkok, at least in the way it was designed.

The statue was 70kg of pure silver, the caretaker told me. It was commissioned in 2004 for the 100th anniversary of the completion of the cathedral.

Each temple in Thailand usually has some sort of amulet market where people can buy prayer beads and amulets. I was surprised to find a shop very much the same behind the cathedral! Although instead of Buddha and famous monks, the amulets displayed Jesus, the Pope, and important saints. I find it really interesting how Thai Christianity has incorporated some aspects of Thai culture to help it spread more easily.

Christian "amulets"

By then it was lunchtime. We crossed the river from the cathedral to eat at one of the restaurants along the riverfront.

the riverfront

The Old Town is an area of charming old streets with Chinese-Thai shop-houses on either side of the narrow alleyways.

Old Town

After exploring for a few hours, we bought some ice cream at the traditional-style family-owned Rocket Ice Cream Company, bought a few postcards to send, then hired a driver to take us 20 minutes out of town to the beach, where we would be staying.

old shops on the river

Chantaburi is far from the most well-known province in Thailand. In fact, I would be surprised if a whole lot of foreigners even know about it. It's a nice, quiet province not too far from Bangkok, and it will be a great place to spend the long weekend. I'm looking forward to a lot of relaxation and fresh seafood.

arrival at the beach!