Koh Lanta Museum, Old Town
On a trip to the Old Town, in the very deep Southern part of Koh Lanta, in search of the local hospital, I drove past the Old Town and decided to have a look inside and I was struck by the charm of this small village. Just for the record, one of the road sign spelled Old Town as 'Oil Town', a classic TIT!
One of the very first things that struck me and caught my attention was a house built in a style of mansions and houses in the deep South of the USA. Have a look at the picture above, to me that house yells 'The South will rise'.
To my big surprise however, it turns out to be the local museum! As described on the plaque above. Unfortunately it looked very much closed and not to be opened in the near future.
One of the few or rather only things on display is this boat, whatever it represents. This is actually what caught my eye and made me decide to stop and have a look, since it looked so scenic!
The whole house has been recently renovated and painted but it also looks that the day after it's official opening and the brass left Koh Lanta, it was closed immediately. Don't these stairs look like stairs coming straight out of a Stephen King novel or movie?
I would love to have the opportunity to visit the actual museum and will ask around a little bit if and when it may be open or maybe get somebody to open it just for me.Stay tuned!
Camille
6 comments:
The old district office. Reminds me very much of the old province hall of Nonthaburi, which is also a very nice old wooden building - but there they successfully installed a very nice local museum. It's sad that on Ko Lanta such a local museum did not work, there should be enough tourists who'd like to see something off the beach sometimes.
Where is that building exactly? On Google Earth I cannot see anything like it near the current district office (7.6554°N 99.0418°E).
Hi Andy,
It's in the Southern part of the island, near the communal pier and the local hospital is just a km or so away on the main road.
This is located near a kind of small round about.
Found it - it's at 7.5306 N 99.0939 E, unless the Panoramio photos are totally misplaced.
Would you mind if I use one of the photos to illustrate a "Thursday linkage" post pointing to this posting?
Hi Andy,
No problem at all, it's fine to use that photo.
The Koh Lanta Community Museum, which was in development for two years, was opened on 9 December 2007 by Krabi Governor Siva Sirisaovalak. Dedicated to the history and identity of the island’s main three communities, the museum is set in the old, wooden district hall and exhibits include old Chinese furniture and accessories, fishermen paraphernalia, a charcoal-producing kiln and a ceremonial boat the Chao Leh (Sea Gypsies) use for their Loy Rua Festival.
Open from 9am-5pm
Tel/fax: 075 697 069
lantaproject@gmail.com
Thanks for your reaction, I would love to have a look at the exhibition. Can you help me with a visit when it's open?
Thanks in advance
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