Category:Rayong Province

Map Keys
	Large Prasats		Arogyasalas
	Large Ruins		Dharmasalas
	Medium Prasats		Ancient Bridges
	Medium Ruins		Ancient Cities
	Medium Tuols		Ancient Kilns
	Small Prasats		Ancient Quarries
	Small Ruins		Ancient Reservoirs
	Small Tuols		Ancient Villages
	Museums		Carvings
	Depositories		Other Structures
	Wats		Prehistoric Sites
	Neak Ta's		Unknown Sites
	Unconfirmed Sites

The important Thai province of Rayong with its manufacturing centres, seafood industry and coastal resorts doesn't appear to have featured very highly on the ancient Khmer list of useful parts of the empire. (There may well, of course, be more but to date we've only identified one confirmed site of archaeological interest in the province - the tentative tuol site of Wat Ban Khai.)

Siltation may have extended the largely flat maritime province south over the centuries and, with the exception of a few, low forested hills, a thousand years ago the province probably consisted of extensive coastal mangroves and inland swamps. Few, if any ancient settlements have been identified and the population was certainly sparse with much of the land being unsuitable for cultivation. The flat, straight coastline didn't offer the promising ancient port sites as neighbouring Chathaburi did and it lacks the convenient river transportation routes afforded by the Bang Pakong, Chao Phraya and Mae Khlong to the west. (1) More imposing jungle-clad hills in today's Chachoengsao Province also cut the Rayong coast off from early population centres in Sa Kaeo and Prachinburi.

The Khlang Yai and Ranong Rivers may have provided minor access routes to the open waters of the Gulf but you can almost imagine the ancient ship's captain setting off from an overnight stop at Wat Ban Khai saying; "right lads - only 20 kms of mosquito and crocodile-infested swamp to go then it's plain sailing".

(1) Pak Nam Rayong is today an important fishing port but its topography has certainly altered significantly after a millennium of erosion and siltation.