Administrative offices of Samut Songkhram province

Like in several other provinces, in Samut Songkhram the main offices of the administration are located within one compound. When we went to the floating market in Amphawa we had to pass that compound, so I could shortly stop there and walk around to take photos of all the buildings.

The main building is of course the province hall (Sala Klang, ศาลากลาง), which also has the main parking lot in front. Since we went there on the weekend the parking lot was completely deserted, and I was the only person strolling around there.As usual, a statue is placed in front, if I am not totally mistaken it's king Chulalongkorn, similar with the statue on the Royal Plaza in Bangkok.

East of the parking lot is the city pillar shrine (San Lak Mueang, ศาลหลักเมือง), a small building with the wooden pillar inside.As usual, this pillar is covered with gold and has colorful clothes stripes around it in order to honor it. The shrine itself however looked like it needed a little renovation already, as the color started to fall off. Especially that small tree starting to grow in the roof shouldn't be there, but for the photo it adds some nice green color.

Continuing along the road to the north next comes the provincial court (San Changwat, ศาลจังหวัด). The photo I made isn't that good as there were too many bush and trees blocking the view, and I did not want to walk inside on the grass to find only to find a better spot for the photograph. The next building however was easy to photograph again, the district office of Mueang Samut Songkhram district (ที่ว่าการอำเภอเมืองสมุทรสงคราม). For a change this office did not have the photo of HM the King, but of princess Sirindhorn placed in the frame in front.

Returning to the parking I lot I chose not to walk the same way back, but instead walk inside the compound to the backside of the province hall. This turned out to be a very good decision, since to my surprise I then found the building of the Provincial Administrative Organization (PAO) as well.I hardly ever find this office marked on any maps, usually only the above mentioned province hall and district office are shown.

I only could not take any photo of the municipal office, which is located on the other side of the street - simply because they put a thick sun-shading net over the parking lot in front of the building, so it was impossible to take a photo showing the facade of the building.

And as usual, I have created a Google Map with all the offices marked.



View Samut Songkhram administration in a larger map