Chanthaburi
Riverside Old Town Of Chinese, Vietnamese And Catholic Heritage; A Weekend Gem Market; The Heart Of Thailand'S Fruit Growing East · Chanthaburi, Chanthaburi
Chanthaburi is a provincial capital in eastern Thailand, about four hours from Bangkok, whose old quarter along the Chanthaburi river is one of the most characterful in the country. The Chanthaboon waterfront community is a lane of century-old wooden and brick shophouses with carved fretwork, shuttered windows and family shrines, built by Chinese, Vietnamese and Thai merchants and now home to small museums, cafes and old-style shops. Across a footbridge rises the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, a Gothic-style church often called the largest in Thailand, built for a Catholic community founded largely by Vietnamese refugees. On weekend mornings the streets near Si Chan road fill with gem dealers bent over rubies and sapphires in the country's best-known gem market. The province is Thailand's fruit basket, famous for durian, mangosteen and rambutan in the hot-season harvest, and the town is tied to King Taksin, who gathered his forces here after the fall of Ayutthaya in 1767. Waterfalls, mangroves and quiet beaches lie within an hour.
Chanthaboon Waterfront Community, Wat Mai, Chanthaburi, Chanthaburi, 22000, Thailand
NO OPENING TIME HERE WAS CHECKED. The typical pattern: the waterfront lane is a public street open at all hours, with house museums, shops and cafes opening roughly late morning to early evening, some closed one weekday, varying by house; the cathedral is usually open to visitors during the day outside services, with masses on Sunday and some weekday mornings and evenings; the gem market runs on Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings only, from about 8 or 9 am to early afternoon; national parks open daily from about 8 am to 4.30 or 5 pm. The traps that ruin a day are arriving midweek for the gem market, walking the waterfront at midday when little is open, entering the cathedral during mass, and planning a beach day in the wet season. Confirm current times before relying on them.