Hidden Gems

Sylvia and I had decided to travel to Jomtien Beach for a relaxing week-end before she goes off to India. Even though I had already been there, I dutifully went to the bus station and actually booked two tickets. On the way to the bus, I saw two people buying tickets for BangSaen and I asked them what that was like. In their broken English, they said it was great. I happen to know it is the closest beach location to Bangkok and it is where all the Thais go, but it is apparently rather slow which is why I initially agreed to go with Sylvia to Thailand's number one tourist destination....Pattaya/Jomtien and not Chonburi province which I sort of wanted to see.

Anyway, I luckily was able to get my money back for the Pattaya bus and bought two tickets for BangSaen. After an hour and a half, the two people I met at the bus station waved frantically for us to get off of the bus. Had I not met them, we might have ended up in the south of Thailand for all I know. Within minutes, a songkiew picked us up and we were at the beach before you could say sawadikup! Why I called this a hidden gem is because even though BangSaen is in Chonburi, the province next to Bangkok, one would never know it even existed. We have the Lonely Planet Thailand at home and looking in the index I cannot find Chonburi or BangSaen. It is as if it does not even exist yet it s absolutely delightful.

It has kilometer upon kilometer of great beach with thousands of Thais eating, relaxing, eating, and eating. They sit under the umbrellas you see in the pictures and get waited on hand and foot by roving food sellers who come with every type of seafood imaginable. I almost had a lobster for a dollar but decided against it because we just had a huge breakfast at the hotel...another hidden treasure.

The beach road had hundreds of hotels and we had no idea which one to pick. There was one other farang couple in all of BangSaen and when I saw them, I asked them where they were staying. They told me they found a great hotel about three blocks from the beach called the Casa hotel which appeared to be brand new. Daniel, it was just like the hotel we stayed in when we were in Phuket....fantastic....another hidden gem. ( a third the price of Phuket)

Saturday night, when we were walking around I asked a Thai couple where we should eat. They told us to take a Songtaw to the pier which I never even knew existed since there are no guidebooks, maps or tourist information I could find. The meal was delicious and when we were there all kinds of kids were sitting on the pier in makeshift circles playing the guitar, eating ( of course) and just relaxing. I took some pictures which the Thais seem to love. I only wish I knew making friends was this easy. I would have taken millions of pictures when I was a teenager!

We also saw a small car show near the pier. All of these souped up cars had music athumping, cars bouncing up and down and doors that seemed to be ready to fly off into the air as you can see. from the pictures. I guess the theme of this entry is hidden gems. I haven't even begun to explore Thailand yet even though I have been here for 6 months. Sure I have been to the major "attractions" but I am left wondering what I am missing.

At the moment, just debating whether to get a car next year so I can really explore the out of the way places. The advantage is I will see a lot. The disadvantage is that I will probably not meet as many wonderful people I keep meeting.