… Sai Kaew Beach Museum.
Yesterday, before I headed up to the Khanom Lookout Point I had to go down to Tha Sala. Now that I’ve moved to Khanom, it’s rather further away than from Sichon. So I figured if I had to go that far, I should throw in a little sightseeing along the way.
Just north of Tha Sala, on the main 401 trunk road, there’s a sign to “Museum Had Sai Kaew”. There’s almost no information online about the place, but one article did mention something about 8th. century relics and various artifacts recovered from the sea. I figured the 8th. century stuff could have some link to the ancient Hindu temple I’d visited a couple of weeks ago.
So, I tootled down a really narrow winding road until after a kilometer or so, I reached the sea. There’s a crossroads at the beach road, and beyond is a resort and a pleasant beach. I realized I’d been there before. I’d looked around, and wondered why the resort had so many adjoining buildings, with odd things scattered around outside, not realizing it was a museum.
And that’s why I called it a whacky museum. “Odd things scattered around” pretty-much sums up the place. What I hadn’t realized is they’re not just scattered around outside, but inside the many buildings too. There seems to be no theme to the place. You can indeed find 8th century Hindu relics from the ancient site, and they’re sitting right next to an old television, which I’m guessing is not 8th century.
And they seem to have far too many of everything. It’s like it’s all waiting to be sorted and distributed to other museums. Instead of having one or two old irons – the clothes-flattening type – they have fifty or more, all pretty-much identical. And rather than preserving a few broken old pots, they’re piled-up in the hundreds. Truly whacky!
Everything is anonymous. The only thing with a label, in any language, is this Hawksbill Turtle. Why? Not a clue. Maybe it came from another museum complete with identifying sign. The whole place is a mystery.
I wandered in and out of the various buildings, taking more than a hundred photos along the way. I didn’t see or hear anyone. Many of the photos are poor quality because there was virtually no interior lighting in many of the buildings. In some there was none. I just clicked, and let the flash pick out whatever was inside. I confess I exited one building rather rapidly when I heard something scurrying around. But it wasn’t rats, just a couple of kittens playing in the dark.
Here’s a few photos, so you can see the odd mixture of ancient and old…
The rest of the pix are in this gallery, and no, I’m not expecting you to look at the hundred plus. That would be cruel…
And then, just as I was thinking of leaving, I spotted some old cars and agricultural vehicles tucked away at the back, sitting in an area I don’t think I was supposed to go in. But, I can’t resist cars, old or new. I think these could be classified as a “barn find.” Will they ever be restored? I kinda doubt it…
It’s such an odd place that I really would like to find out more. I see the museum does have a presence on Facebook – in Thai – but maybe I can find someone to reply to me in English. Stay tuned.
