8/23/2013
In Thailand, education is very important, but also is private. Each school has a tuition; the one we went to is per semester. Even with the tuition, the cost is relatively inexpensive compared to the cost of those in the United States, and the quality of education is excellent. Kevin, my cousin, is currently in kindergarten, and his school teaches kindergarten up to the twelfth grade. After that, they have a university in Bangkok. His school has about five thousand students, but when you think about it, it isn't that many students per grade unit since the ages range from about five years to eighteen years of age. Here's a picture of his school!
Our trip to Pattaya was specifically for the purpose of purchasing some spices we were unable to find in Rayong, specifically chili flakes and sage. Luckily, at Central, you have everything you could possibly want. Besides clothing stores and food hubs, there were electronics, departments stores, grocery marts, spas, banks, pharmacies, and other things you didn't realize you needed until you saw them. One funny observation I made was that there were many "Farangs" (pronunciation by Thai people: fuh- long). Farangs are identified as foreigners, typically with European ancestry. Many of the Farangs in Central, and Pattaya were from Russia, as we had noticed. Apparently Pattaya has turned into a haven for Russians, where the influx of the Russian immigrant population has risen to the point that there may quite possibly be a 'Russian Mafia' about there. Many of the public access locations are owned, or have been built by Russians, which I find intriguing. What I mean is that Thailand is turning into a melting pot of foreigners. There are also a lot of Australians, and Swedish Farangs.
Back to Central, here, if you are a Farang, you won't feel too far off from home because there are many popular name brands in clothing, like Fox, Body Glove, and French Connection. I will have to warn you though, if you are expecting low prices, you may be disappointed, because they about the same across countries for these name brand stores, if not more expensive due to these being imports.
Other familiar icons: Carl's Jr. (also known as "Hardee's" in the United States)
Lunch! (peking duck, and crispy pork, my Dim Sum comfort food)
Today, we all took a trip to Chanthaburi (จันทบุรี), to purchase Thai jewelry. Chanthaburi is considered the 'jewel capital' of Thailand, known for the excellent quality of jewels that are sold there. Also, the quality of gold is exceptional. 22 karat gold is considered the norm here, versus the 18 karat gold standard in the United States. Also, the designs of the jewelry is superb. One of the most familiar is the Thai princess design, due to it's elegance and that it looks like the crown of Thai Royalty. Here is the building we went into that had a plethora of jewelry to select from.
Before we left, we had the hearty breakfast of Joke!
On our way to Chanthaburi, we passed through Khlong (คลอง) which is a suburb. It was actually very pleasant and quiet, in the opinion of my aunt and uncle, residents of Thailand who have witnessed the population growth and urbanization of Pattaya and Rayong in the last few years. We traveled around, finding the "private" beaches, aka the beaches that the tourists haven't found yet. Let me say, these were beautiful and uncrowded.
Later, we went to lunch at a restaurant that had the interior design that was inspired by American design, because it was very modern. The food was good, but we had the problem of it coming out slow. The reason for this was that, after we had ordered, a "rally" of people associated with Nissan all came in at once, about 40+ cars. I didn't really understand what was going on, so I will have to ask someone who is more familiar with these groups and what their purposes are.
The infamous Thai soup cooker!
Well, that is all for now! Tomorrow is a trip to Bangkok. The trip takes about two hours, but we will see considering how busy the traffic becomes heading into the city.
-K
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