Tuek Daeng

Tuek Daeng is a single-storey red-brick building on the coast at Laem Sing in Chanthaburi province, built by French forces in 1893 during their occupation of the town. It’s free to visit, daily 08:00-17:00.

The building went up on the site of Pom Phikhat Patchamit, a fort dating to the reign of Rama III. When French troops took control of Chanthaburi during the Franco-Siamese crisis of 1893 — a standoff over territory that saw France occupy the town for 11 years as leverage in negotiations with Siam — they demolished the old fort and reused its bricks to build new garrison quarters. Painted red and roofed with a traditional gabled tile roof and wraparound verandas, the building housed French troops guarding the mouth of the Laem Sing river through the length of the occupation.

France withdrew its forces in 1904 under the Franco-Siamese Treaty, which saw Siam cede Battambang, Siem Reap, and Sisophon to French Cambodia in exchange. Tuek Daeng sat abandoned for decades afterward until a 1984 restoration turned it into a library and non-formal education center. Today it operates as a small heritage site with modest displays on the building’s history and the occupation period — worth 20 to 30 minutes, not a half-day stop.

It pairs naturally with Khuk Khi Kai, the French watchtower a short drive away in the same Laem Sing riverside district — both are among the few physical traces the French occupation left behind in Chanthaburi, and both can be covered in a single loop out from town.

Insider Tip: Time your visit for late afternoon, when the light off the river mouth suits photos of the red-brick facade and there’s a better chance of a breeze off the Gulf of Thailand.

Watch out: There’s little shade around the building and no on-site food beyond whatever vendors happen to be nearby, so bring water if you’re combining this with Khuk Khi Kai on a hot day.