Phra Si Phanommat Memorial

Phra Si Phanommat Memorial stands at the Sri Phanommat Market junction in Laplae district, honoring Nai Thong In, a Chinese-descended customs official who became Laplae’s first district officer. Entry is free and the grounds are open at any daylight hour — the statue sits close enough to the market that a visit here folds naturally into a stop for the town’s produce stalls.

Nai Thong In was recognised during the reign of King Rama V, receiving the title Khun Phisan Chinarakij before being appointed governor of Laplae in 1904. In 1908 he was elevated further, taking the name Phra Si Phanommat along with a senior administrative rank. Locals credit him with organising the road-building and water-management projects that shaped Laplae’s early development as a town. When he died in 1921, his ashes were enshrined at Wat Mon Prang, and the community later raised this memorial in his honor at the market crossroads where he’s remembered today.

Insider Tip: Time a visit for Songkran (13-15 April) — Laplae holds an annual ceremony here with monks reciting prayers, offerings of boiled pork and fruit, and a folk custom of reading lucky numbers from the ash pattern left by burnt incense sticks. Locals photograph the numbers and use them to pick lottery tickets, with some reporting wins in the days after.

Laplae sits a short drive north of Uttaradit town center. The memorial itself takes only a few minutes to see properly — combine it with the adjoining Sri Phanommat Market, or, if visiting around May-June, with Laplae’s durian orchards, the district’s best-known agricultural export. Two heirloom cultivars, Long Laplae and Lin Laplae, are grown almost exclusively in this district and command premium prices at Thai fruit markets; roadside stalls near the memorial sell them direct from the orchard during peak season. Dress respectfully as you would at any Thai memorial, and expect a quiet, low-key stop rather than a major sight — its value is local history and the Songkran custom, not scale.