Chaiya: where the Front Palace prince's army broke the Burmese in the southern campaign of 1786

What happened here

December 1785 and March 1786Stop 4 of 7

On the way south the Burmese burned Chaiya as they had burned Chumphon. On the way back it became the only battlefield of the southern campaign on the Gulf of Thailand coast.

See the whole route on the map →

From a burned town to a battlefield

When a Burmese army of 7,000 crossed the Kra Isthmus and attacked Chumphon in December 1785, Bangkok was still tied down by the great battles at Kanchanaburi and in the north, and had no troops to send south. The governors of Chumphon and Chaiya did not have the men to fight, so they led their people into the forest. The Burmese burned both towns and marched on to Nakhon Si Thammarat.

In March 1786, with the fighting at Kanchanaburi and Ratchaburi over, the Front Palace prince brought a fleet of about 20,000 men down to Chumphon and sent Phraya Kalahom Ratchasena and Phraya Cha Saenyakon ahead as his vanguard to Chaiya. The Burmese commander at Nakhon Si Thammarat sent Nemyo Gonnarat back north to meet them.

The Siamese arrived first and surrounded the Burmese before their camp was finished. Both sides dug trenches and fought. Then heavy rain put the Siamese cannon out of action, and the Burmese were able to break out to the west. A Burmese officer named Tong Phayung Bo was shot dead in the fighting. The Siamese pursued and took many prisoners. The Burmese commander-in-chief, following behind, heard the news and withdrew over the hills towards Mergui.

The place today

Chaiya today is a district of Surat Thani. It has Wat Phra Borommathat Chaiya, whose chedi is the most complete example of Srivijaya art in the country, with Chaiya National Museum next to the temple. Not far away is Suan Mokkh, the forest monastery of Buddhadasa Bhikkhu. The town's best-known souvenir is Chaiya salted eggs.