Wat Ban Don Shadow Play Museum, Rayong

The Wat Ban Don Shadow Play Museum is a museum at Wat Ban Don, a Thai Buddhist temple in Rayong, Thailand. The museujm displays shadow puppets, or Nang Yai, which are popular in southern Thailand. Many of the shadow puppets were brought here from Phatthalung in southern Thailand in 1887.

How the shadow puppets of southern Thailand ended up in eastern Thailand? In the late 19th century, the ruler of Rayong, Phraya Sri Samut Phokhaphai Chokshitsongkhram, heard of the shadow play performances of Phatthalung. He got in touch with the troupe and invited them to Rayong. He was so delighted by the performances that he bought 200 pieces of shadow play puppets, and hired the troupe to teach his subjects in Rayong how to perform shadow plays.

The shadow play stage at Wat Ban Don dates back to 1887, when the shadow puppets were brought over. Over time, the performing art became dated as the people turned to more modern form of entertainment.

In 1980, there was a revival of shadow play performances, with a competition held among villages. Since then, the art become a part of the Thai culture that is still being performed.

At Wat Ban Don Shadow Play Museum, visitors get to see the age-old shadow puppets, the sets, and watch a shadow play performance.

 Latest updates on Penang Travel Tips

Map of Roads in Penang

Looking for information on Penang? Use this Map of Roads in Penang to zoom in on information about Penang, brought to you road by road.

Disclaimer

Please use the information on this page as guidance only. The author endeavours to update the information on this page from time to time, but regrets any inaccuracies if there be any.

About this website

Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.