A new pizzeria has opened in town, and they truly make the most delicious pizzas I have ever tasted in Cha-am. It’s called Happy Pizza and it’s located just a block away from the well known Okay supermarket. The boss is Italian (he also speaks English and French), and he is very friendly.
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.
More than 700 people have already watched “Welcome to Cha-am, Part 1” on Youtube. Thank you all for your interest, and please let me know how you like it by rating the video or leaving a comment!
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!
We are happy to announce the launching of a new website called chaam-classifieds.com. As the name says, this website is a place to post and read classified ads related to Cha-am.
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.
Welcome to the second edition of Language Corner, your monthly guide to speaking Thai, brought to you by Insight English Cha-Am and Onlychaam.com.
You would expect that using the words “I” and “You” would be very easy to master in any language; however in Thai this subject becomes a little bit more complicated. The use of the pronoun “I” is used sparingly, with most Thais rarely using it in daily conversation. The most commonly used pronouns are Phom and Dee chan which are used by males and females respectively. Khun translates as “You” but often the name of the person being spoken to is used instead.
The following pronouns are also commonly used and can be used as either “I” or “You” depending on the situation.
Phii – someone older or respected
Loong – an older but familiar male (literally – uncle)
Thur – a very close friend or partner
Thaan – a highly respected person
Nong – someone younger (often used with waiters/waitresses)
Bpaa – an older but familiar female (literally – aunt)
Nuu – a young child (literally – mouse)
HOW ARE YOU?
A question you will hear again and again is “How are you?”. The formal version is “Sa-bai-dee mai khrap/kha?” or the informal Bpen yang ngai bang?
Practice the following dialogue between Parichat and David:
Parichat: Sa-was-dee kha Khun David. Sa-bai-dee mai kha? (Hello. How are you?)
David: Sa-bai-dee khrap. Khun la khrap? (Fine thank you. And you?)
Parichat: Mai dee ka, wan-nee, tam-ngarn yung maak. (Not good today. Work is very busy.)
Vocabulary:
Mai = No
Dee = Good
Wan-nee = Today
Tam-ngarn = Work
Yung = Busy
Maak = 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.insighteworld.com
The Kingdom celebrates His Majesty’s 82nd brithday on December 5. As it falls on a Saturday, Monday will be a day off in lieu. Thai people will thus enjoy a long week-end, and Cha-am will probably be packed with Thai people coming from Bangkok. There will be a ban on alcohol sale on December 5th (and bars will be closed) and a crackdown on drunk driving is announced, but you still want to be very careful if you drive around, as there will be a lot of traffic.
Please note that December 5 is also Father’s day in Thailand, so we wish all the best for all the fathers out here. Yes I’m also a happy and proud one!
We wish His Majesty The King a very happy birthday and a good health for the many years to come.
I already wrote about hitchhiking in Thailand in this blog, strongly advising tourists against doing it. Not because it is dangerous, though it could always be, but mainly because the Thais don’t hitchhike, they don’t know what it is and thus they wouldn’t stop to pick up a hitchhiker. But some people don’t do their homework before they leave, and yesterday in Hua Hin we saw a Farang, walking and sweating under the sun with his thumb up.
My wife asked me why he was carrying a big sign with “Prachuap” written on it in Thai letters. I said that’s because he wants to go to Prachuap. She said ‘What, he’s going to walk to Prachuap? He must be crazy!’ See? That tells you how much Thai people know about hitchhiking. So I explained my wife that he was hoping for a free ride, and she said no Thai would ever stop for him, as they had no clue what he was doing. I said yes, of course, I already wrote about it in my blog! But she said my blog was not that famous, and I had to agree.
Anyway I laughed and said only another Farang could recognize a hitchhiker and stop for him, so he could as well have spared the trouble of writing Prachuap in Thai, English would have been enough. But instead of laughing with me, my wife asked me why I didn’t stop to tell him!
Last night we found a tokay (gecko) inside our house. I always thought Thai people saw that as a sign of good luck, so I told my wife we should be happy because we would have plenty of luck. Well, that was probably another cliché about Thailand, because my wife just urged me to catch the gecko and kill it! I tried the usual “you’re the Thai here, you should be used to catch those things”, but she objected with her usual “you’re the man here, so you do something”.
I had no idea how I would catch the beast and I was pretty sure I would miss it if I tried to beat it with a stick, which seemed better anyway than not missing it and having to clean the butchery. So I did the only sensible thing to do and used a broom to chase it out of the house. Any chance of luck should be preserved…
Short weather report: it hasn’t rained for several days now and the weather is still hot. Nights are a bit cooler though.
The weather is quite unusual compared to the previous days, with a cool wind blowing. It looks like the rainy season is ending, and we are now entering the cool season. No need to wear a jacket or a pullover yet, but we can turn off A/C and use hot water in the shower. For tourists it’s the perfect weather to rent a bicycle and go for a ride along the beach or in the countryside…
The moon will be full on Monday night, November 2nd, and this will be Loy Krathong day. Like every year, Thai people will make or buy a krathong, which is a little boat made from a banana tree and decorated with banana leaves and flowers. They will light candles and incense sticks and release the krathong on a river or a lake. It will float away, carrying with it all the bad things and bad feelings, so that only good luck remains.
It’s always enchanting to see all the illuminated krathongs on the water, in a peaceful atmosphere. Make sure you don’t miss this event! In Cha-am the main celebration will take place at Wat Neran, this is on North Cha-am beach after the bridge that leads to the fishing pier. See you there!
