|
Ratchaburi
|
| Q |
The Lonely
Planet guidebook says......? |
| A |
It’s
the first year that Ratchaburi has been entered. Best to avoid this place -
no one speaks English. |
| Q |
In general, what are the
pickings like for an EFL teacher? |
| A |
A few
schools now have an English program and there are 2 private language
schools. Some teachers from the local schools do some extra work here. More
and more farangs are showing up - I believe there are already 30 farangs
here. The pay is good, its very cheap here and so far all of the schools
provide a living place. Starting salary is about 28.000 baht. |
| Q |
How far from Bangkok or
civilization? |
| A |
It's
only an hour and a bit to Bangkok. Places like Hua Hin are only half an hour
away although it takes about 2 hours by train. |
| Q |
Is there any
entertainment or do you invite friends round for Scrabble? |
| A |
The
only thing to do here is to drink or to shop. Plenty of nice little cozy
bars here and there and there are also a few nightclubs. These are best
avoided to be honest. However, never ever does a farang have to pay the
entrance fee, which
means you can spend this money on a bottle of J.Walker. UBC never lets us
down either. |
| Q |
How much to rent a house
or basic apartment? |
| A |
A typical
house
will cost about 2,500 baht per month,
however, as far as we
have been told the school pays for this. Some schools have got amazing
living quarters on top of the school. Great deal. Free living a stone's
throw away from the school and the bars are all very close. |
| Q |
Shopping malls,
department stores? |
| A |
We
have a huge Tesco, Robinson and Tops. The local stores and markets provide
the same for less. |
| Q |
Internet cafes?
(snail-speed Hotmail default page or fatties playing Ragnarok?) |
| A |
As in
most Thai cities, internet is the newest thing for people to do.
You can find internet places
everywhere. It costs an entire 10-15 Baht for an
hour. What a rip off!!! Haha. Where else can you find it this cheap and
surprise surprise it runs on about 10 MB per minute. My internet back home
was slower than this. The best time to hit an internet place is after 8 when
all the kiddies have gone to bed. |
| Q |
Will you be stared at?
and what's the likelihood of a good beating? |
| A |
Yes!!! Not just stared at but kids running away crying cause they spotted
something different and the breasts are a bit bigger than mommies. It has
happened because a lot of new teachers that arrive here, don’t socialize
with the Thais. As I quote from one teacher: Why are you socializing with
the Thais? That’s sick! I still wonder how this Canadian guy survives here in Ratburi. Ratchaburi is a big military town so when the boys come out to play
once a month you might wanna be a bit careful with what you say to these
guys. And please don’t moon these guys it left one teacher here in the
hospital. His face was cut with a razor blade. |
| Q |
Taxis, buses....or horse
and cart? |
| A |
Songtaews,
tuk tuks, motorcycle taxis. The only taxi you will find here is if one got lost on the way to the
floating market or if a few farang teachers have been partying in Bangkok
till the early morning. ( Taxi Bangkok to Ratchaburi should not cost you
more than 1000 baht!!!) |
| Q |
Main advantages of living
there? |
| A |
It's so much cleaner that Bangkok. The city is pretty and it's got some nice
sightseeing things.. It is so cheap.. Where can you get a large Heineken for
55 Baht? Its not far from other places and it’s easy to travel. The train
station is downtown and the bus station is in front of Tesco.
The people are
so friendly and nice, it rarely happens that we have to pay more than 200
baht for a night out. Everyone wants to be your friend here. Treat them nice
and you get so much back! It’s a good place if you want to save some money.
Don’t come here if you are anti-alcohol though! The food is nice, even
though we are far away from Isaan. At every corner there is a food stall that
sells Isaan food. Yum! Ratchaburi is also famous for the noodles they make
here ( no not just the pottery). We are civilized, we have one KFC that does
delivery and one pizza company. A very large choice of what to eat! (Not)
|
| Q |
And what are the
downsides? |
| A |
It is hard to find someone that speaks English. Hey but that’s why we are
all here. The hardest thing is to order from Pizza Company - it usually
takes 50 attempts. They will keep hanging up on you. And once you want to
order you have to tell them in such baby language that you end up having
everything wrong. ( NO no its their fault we don’t get what we ordered for.) You are on the
verge of becoming an alcoholic. The people are so friendly, but I can't talk
to them cause I don’t speak friggin' Thai. |
| Q |
Any local attractions? |
| A |
The
oldest monastery, monkey caves, hermit caves, of course the pottery ( the
ones with the dragons on them are all made here.) Yes, and the farangs that
live here are probably the biggest attraction to the locals. |
