I imagine I'm not the only expat living in southeastern Thailand, but it's easy to get that impression from TV. If you're living in that lovely stretch of Thailand from Rayong to Trad, I'm interested in sharing information about life in the area.

Thanks.

I go to Chanthaburi once in a while. My GF's family lives there. I stayed at the KP Grand Hotel before, quite nice. I love the fruits in Chanthaburi, whenever I go - I try to get some fruits back to Pattaya. Also I like to go to Chao Lao Beach once every 2 weekend.

I'd love to relocate there once my rent here is finished, what's the rental market like over there for big houses (4 bdrm+) with private pools, etc? Do you guys have ADSL too?

This post has been edited by kudroz: 2006-04-25 11:42:43

I'm sorry I don't know much about the rental market here, we bought a home instead. There are quite a few large homes here and I'm sure some of them have pools, but I don't know if they come up for rent. Thais who have money tend not to rent, and there isn't much of an expat housing market here yet. We do have ADSL from TOT.

You're right that it's a very nice area, with excellent food and some nice beaches nearby. But next time you need a hotel in town, try the Maneechan Resort instead of the KP Grand.

I'm not in Chantaburi, but we will be moving to south of Rayong at the end of the year - so not that far from you.
"Tuffy" and his wife just moved to Sattahip recently...and
"Savage" is in Chantaburi, try to PM him to get more info and farang talks

I lived in Chanthaburi for the best part of two years.

There is little of interest in the town itself once you have seen all of the temples there and strolled the park to death. The surrounding countryside is some of the nicest in Thailand in my opinion but can be hard to reach without your own transport.

Nowadays you have all the trimmings apart from an English Soundtrack cinema. Theres a big Lotus just out of town and TOPS in Robinsons in the centre of town which have al lof the fast food you can need.

The best nightlife is near the park. Theres Diamond Pub, a large Thai Style nightclub with live performances after 10pm. It gets rammed and is a good fun place.

Down the road, heading back towards town from Diamond theres a cool little bar with no name which is air con inside and has a nice garden for smokers. Most expats in Chanthaburi (and there aren't many apart from a few gem dealers and rest tend to be teachers at the Schools and Rajabhat) tend to swing by there at the weekends. Its well priced as well!

Fact is that if you need expat company then heading back to BKK, Pattaya or similar is going to be your best bet. One of the joys of being there was that during the week you could keep yourself pretty much to yourself and then at weekends head off to Ko Samet, Ko Chang, Pattaya or Bangkok all of which are easily reached from Chanthaburi.

Chanthaburi has some pretty nice little corners such as Chanthorn Pochana Restaurant near the Kasemsarn Hotel, and the River Guest House and all in all is a liveable [place.

One Caveat is to avoid the centre of town between 16.30 and 18.00 as because of a lack of planning the traffic can be chaos.

 100_0218.JPG ( 34.34K ) Number of downloads: 33

 100_0220.JPG ( 37.29K ) Number of downloads: 20

 100_0254.JPG ( 40.17K ) Number of downloads: 20

 100_0269.JPG ( 43.16K ) Number of downloads: 22

 100_0276.JPG ( 30.75K ) Number of downloads: 29

 100_0292.JPG ( 46.06K ) Number of downloads: 26


Kitchakut National Park there is a definite plus.


This post has been edited by sriracha john: 2006-04-25 14:43:27

This is gorgeous, imma look that up on Google Earth now and definetly try to go there next time im in town.

With the rains lately, now is the opportune time of year to visit the full and free-flowing waterfalls of Kitchakut:

http://www.trekthailand.net/central6/index.html

as well as Phlew National Park, also in Chantaburi:

http://www.trekthailand.net/central10/index.html

If I wasn't here, I'd likely be Chantaburi John....

But a long way from the "low life farangs of inner city Pattaya", whose forum you have the misfortune to share.

Aow ... I didn't say that ... didn't even think it ... well, not for long anyway

The wife and I just moved from Aran to Chanthaburi and love it, still moving in but almost done. We rent a house (new) but no swimming pool for 6200bt per month, The pool at the new travel lodge is avail. for 100bt per month. If your in the area give a shout........If I can help with looking for a house let me know,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,.........Jim

Hi retiredusn. Your posts have been helpful, thanks. The missus finally agreed to our eventual relocation from Lopburi to the Chanthaburi area. We stayed at a beach resort last year and ever since I knew this would be an ideal location for us ( me? ). We'll be returning again Dec. 14 to start to look around for a small rental home or affordable resort bungalo on/near the water. We'd like to invite you and the wife over to the resort some afternoon that week to say hi and for a little meal. Please PM me if you are interested. (I also am retired from the States.)

This post has been edited by Lopburi99: 2008-11-21 19:22:22

Sent you a PM this AM