The first edition last year was a huge success, with over 100,000 participants. This year the police and the municipality will be prepared to face such a big crowd, which boosts tourism and brings income locally, but which also brings problems in terms of traffic, clashes among teenagers, and littering.

The concert will begin at 3pm and end around midnight.

Food plays an important part in Thai culture and this is reflected in the way Thai’s use questions about food in small talk.  There are two words for eat, the formal “tarn” and the informal “kin”.  You are most likely going to hear “kin” used in general everyday conversation but you should use “tarn” to show respect and general politeness.

“Kin khow rue yang?” translated literally as “Eat rice yet?” is used in Thai often in place of “How are you?”  The correct response to this is “Kin laew” or “Yang mai kin” which mean “Eat already” and “Not yet eat” respectively.

HAVE YOU EATEN YET?

Practice the following dialogue between Parichat and David:

Parichat: Sa-was-dee kha khun David. Tarn khow rue yang ka? (Hello. Have you eaten yet?)
David: Tarn laew khap. (Yes already.)
Parichat: Tarn a-rai kha? (What did you eat?)
David: Phad ga-pow gai khap. (Stir-fried chicken with basil leaves.)
Parichat: A-roi mai kha? (Was it delicious?)
David: A-roi mak khap. (Very delicious.)

Vocabulary:
Tarn = Eat
Khow = Rice
Rue = Or
Yang = Not yet
Laew = Already
Gai = Chicken
Ga-pow = Basil leaves
A-roi = Delicious/tasty
Mak = Very

Language Corner is brought to you by Insight English Cha-am.

For Thai Classes contact 032 - 470 681 and for on-line study visit www.insightenglish.com

June is also the time for the annual Jazz Festival, which will take place in Hua Hin, from June 18 to 20. There will be two stages on the beach, one in front of the Sofitel and the other in front of the Intercontinental (between soi 79 and 81). Check this website for the lineup, which includes Thai musicians, and Asian and western artists like Noon (Japan), The Brass Monkeys (Philippines) or Lee Ritenour (USA) and Jack Lee Asianergy (USA).

Sunthorn Phu was a very famous Thai poet, even known as the “Siamese Shakespeare”. He was born in 1786, under the reign of King Rama I, and became immensely popular after he wrote Phra Aphai Mani, a long poem relating the adventures of two princes. The anniversary of his birth is celebrated on June 26 at the Sunthorn Phu Memorial Park in Rayong, with shows based on his plays. It would be a nice day to visit Puek Tian beach, a few kilometers north of Cha-am, where huge sculptures of Sunthorn’s fictional characters are immersed in the sea.

Krua Krungthep (Bangkok kitchen) was a nice restaurant on Narathip road. There was a live band and a big TV screen playing at the same time, and you could eat at tables or on Thai cushions. Now it’s no more, it was razed to the ground and we don’t know what will be built next.

The Raya resort, on the southern part of the beach, has not opened yet but their restaurant already has. The setting is nice and romantic and the food is delicious, but oh my god, the bill is quite steep!

Finally, you may wonder what has become of the Kaenchan hotel, which was just after soi Cha-am North 5. Well, it’s been redesigned and refurbished, and is now known as the Unico Sandara hotel. More information soon on our hotels page.

Here is “Welcome to Cha-am, Part 2″. You can also download it from our site or view it directly on Youtube. Your comments are most welcome!

The Mekong River Commission was established in 1995 by an agreement between the governments of the Lower Mekong Basin, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam. The Summit, which is the first of its kind, will gather regional Prime Ministers, political leaders, MRCs Dialogue Partners, the People’s Republic of China and the Union of Myanmar, its Development Partners and a range of experts in the field of transboundary water resources management. This event marks the 15th Anniversary of the Mekong River Commission and will serve to reaffirm at the highest level, political commitment of Member Countries to the mission of the MRC.

A few other places in Cha-am have opened recently. Let’s mention Udomagg, a shop on the beachfront which sells shoes and bags for a reasonable price, and CJ Express, a food shop on the fresh market’s place (at the corner of Lotus Express). I also tried a new restaurant pompously called “Mountain View Resort“. It’s on Phetkasem road, on the left when coming from Bangkok, just before the junction between the road going to Cha-am and Hua Hin and the bypass going to Pranburi. The food was good but apart from that it was your typical Thai restaurant: staff poorly trained, 3 items ordered but got only 2, and so on. I only mention it because of the location (convenient for the people leaving in Hup Kapong).

It is also rumoured that a new Big C will open on the north side of Hua Hin, opposite the Sheraton hotel area. There is a huge building site there, but some people also say that it will be a factory outlet.

Last but not least, some real good news. After Pattaya, Samui and Phuket, Bangkok Hospital is going to open a new branch in Hua Hin. The new hospital will be near soi 94, that is a few hundred meters south of Hua Hin Market Village. Construction has already started, and it should be finished within a year or so. It is great news for all people living in Cha-am and Hua Hin, as it will be the first high standard hospital in the area.

Happy Pizza

Udomagg

CJ Express

I got an email a few weeks ago from someone (let’s call him Tom) telling me that my page about Cha-am’s nightlife was not quite up to date. I’m used to saying that Cha-am nightlife is a bit tame, and that it’s better to go to Hua Hin to have some fun. But Tom said it was now the contrary, and that there were many people from Hua Hin coming to Cha-am for some action. I was a bit skeptical, but field research is something I take seriously, so I promised Tom I will spend more time in bars and see if I come out with a different point of view.

As it happens, after two years in Cha-am I now have a bunch of friends, and I mean real friends, not just people to hang out with because we’re the same nationality or we get drunk together. We have begun to go out on a regular basis, so I’m already gathering some precious information about nightlife. Only my wife, for some reason, doesn’t seem to understand the importance of my mission! She doesn’t need to worry though: last time I chatted with a young and pretty bargirl, I found out she was a nursery nurse during the day, and we ended up talking about kids. (No, not how to make kids, as my friends insinuated).

Anyway, stay tuned for some fresh news about nightlife in Cha-am, and please feel free to share any tips or updates!

It had been announced for a long time but we finally did it, here is a video of Cha-am! I took the opportunity of the new year’s holidays to go out and shoot images in various places. Back home, the difficulty was to edit out almost everything I had filmed, to keep just the very best and make a short clip (less than 5 minutes).

So here is “Welcome to Cha-am, Part 1″. You can also download it or view it directly on Youtube. Your comments are most welcome!

If you have something to sell, a property for rent, or you wish to advertize your business, exchange books, meet new friends, find a maid or any other kind of service, this website is all yours.

Please feel free to send us your ads via the submission form, they will appear online as soon as we have reviewed them. The service is free, no registration is needed and publishers can be contacted directly. As the website is still in its early days, your feedback is most welcomed.

Cha-amers now have a place to post their ads, you can spread the word! Thank you for your support.