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Tha Din Daeng: the Burmese camp that King Rama I's army stormed in three days in 1787

Tha Din Daeng is a landing on the upper Khwae Noi River, between Thong Pha Phum and Sangkhla Buri. In the Nine Armies' War it was the camp of Burma's 6th army, and it gave its name to the war of the following year, the Tha Din Daeng campaign, in which the Siamese marched up and stormed the Burmese camps within three days.

Layer upon layer of mountains in the evening, seen from a grassy ridge
The mountains above the Vajiralongkorn Dam reservoir, in Khao Laem National Park · Photo: Kzoverheat · CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

The Battle of Lat Ya: the Burmese main force through Three Pagodas Pass

Stop 4 of 7

The 6th army of Prince Kama, another of the king's sons, 12,000 men, camped at Tha Din Daeng as the first line of support behind the vanguard. When the vanguard was broken at Lat Ya, it was this army that passed the news up to the royal army.

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The Tha Din Daeng campaign: Siam strikes at the frontier

About 21–23 February 1787Stop 4 of 6

The Burmese vanguard was camped at Tha Din Daeng and Sam Sop, with the granaries of supplies it had brought up and stored. The Siamese came up and built their camps only two or three kilometres away.

Main battlefield of this campaign
Against
The Burmese vanguard of about 30,000 under Myin Wun and Myinme Wun, the same commanders who had lost at Lat Ya
Where
The camp at Tha Din Daeng, on the upper Khwae Noi River
How
The Siamese attacked the camps at Tha Din Daeng and Sam Sop at the same time, with cannon fire exchanged day and night.
Outcome
After three days of fighting all the Burmese camps had fallen.

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The Tha Din Daeng campaign, 1787

After his defeat in the Nine Armies' War, King Bodawpaya sent the crown prince with 50,000 men to try again, by Three Pagodas Pass alone, and cured the old weakness by setting up granaries at intervals all along the road. A vanguard of about 30,000 came forward and built camps at Tha Din Daeng and Sam Sop.

King Rama I and Prince Maha Sura Singhanat took their armies by boat up the Khwae Noi River to Sai Yok, then went on overland. The Front Palace prince's vanguard attacked the camp at Sam Sop while the royal army attacked the camp at Tha Din Daeng. After three days of fighting all the Burmese camps had fallen. The Siamese went on to burn the granaries as far as the crown prince's camp on the Mae Kasat stream.

Nirat Tha Din Daeng

King Rama I is believed to have written the long travel poem known as Nirat Tha Din Daeng during this campaign. It tells of the journey from Bangkok through Sai Yok up to the battlefield, and counts as an account of a military march told by the king himself.

The place today

Today Ban Tha Din Daeng is a community on the shore of the Vajiralongkorn Dam reservoir, in Prang Phle subdistrict. There is no memorial of the fighting in the area. Highway 323 between Thong Pha Phum and Sangkhla Buri passes close by, with reservoir viewpoints and Khao Laem National Park along the way.

Position on the map: Approximate coordinates of the Ban Tha Din Daeng area, Prang Phle subdistrict, Sangkhla Buri district. The old camp site on the Khwae Noi River lies beneath the reservoir of Vajiralongkorn Dam.

Places to visit and eat near Tha Din Daeng

Where to eat nearby

Directions on Google Maps ↗Back to the route map

Sources
  1. The Tha Din Daeng campaign – Thai Wikipedia (in Thai)
  2. Nine Armies' War – Thai Wikipedia, citing the Royal Chronicle of Rattanakosin, First Reign, and Thai Rop Phama (in Thai)

Last updated 14 November 2026