Three Pagodas Pass, the main Burmese invasion route in the Nine Armies' War

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

December 1785 – January 1786Stop 2 of 7

The vanguard crossed the pass first. King Bodawpaya's royal army of 50,000 followed and camped at the head of the Ranti River, not far from the pass. Siam sent a Burmese prisoner, held since the Thonburi period, as an envoy to negotiate at the royal camp, but nothing came of it.

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The Tha Din Daeng campaign: Siam strikes at the frontier

Late February 1787Stop 6 of 6

The Siamese chased the fleeing Burmese as far as the crown prince's camp on the Mae Kasat stream, beyond the pass. The crown prince withdrew to Martaban. The Siamese burned all the granaries and supplies the Burmese had stored along the road, then ended the campaign and went home.

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Why the big army had to come this way

From Martaban to the Mae Klong basin, the road through Three Pagodas Pass and down along the Khwae Noi River is the shortest. But it runs through forested hills where food is hard to find, so a large army had to bring its supplies up behind it in stages. This was the very weakness that Prince Maha Sura Singhanat used to wear down the Burmese at Lat Ya.

King Bodawpaya's royal army of 50,000 was camped at the head of the Ranti River, not far from the pass, with the armies of two of his sons further in, at Sam Sop and Tha Din Daeng. None of these armies ever reached the battlefield at Lat Ya, because the vanguard was blocked and supplies could not be passed forward.

The place today

Today it is a border trade checkpoint between Thailand and Myanmar. Three small white chedis stand in a row on a lawn, surrounded by souvenir shops, about 20 kilometres from the district town of Sangkhla Buri. The crossing opens and closes as the situation changes, so check before you travel.