pommy pete

Buy yourself one of those gas air rifles and have some sport, some people in the States use shotguns when prying drones fly over their gardens

Our local Tesco Lotus in Bangchang has the annoying habit of running out on the basic items on mid day Saturdays, ie potatoes, carrots and onions. Last week I was so annoyed I called the manager and asked him about this happening almost every week and trying to explain that ordering enough stock means more sales and profits for the company. His dead pan faced reply was "shop early" This store is always running shelf stock down to nothing before reordering, it must be a Thai thing. we are hoping for a Big C opening one day to give this useless shop some competition. I now usually drive to Rayong for my shopping now, to a well stocked Big C and a Tops in the new Central shopping complex a good 1/12 hour round trip but worth it

I did my retirement extension in A put ( Mat Aput ) yesterday, no letter from bank asked for, just Australian embassy income confirmation letter and I handed in my bank books updated on the day. I was 8 days late due to sickness and had to pay a 4000 bt fine other than filling in forms and supplying photo all went well. Was not asked to fill the personal details form that was about a month ago. A friend who was there at the same time was trying to get his first retirement visa and was told he had to get his income letter translated into Thai and stamped at the Immigration in Bangkok, they told him this was a new order.    

Ban Chang is like most places,it has it's positives and unfortunately it's negative side. The Beach for the most part resembles a rubbish dump, the one exemption is at the end of Palu beach, were the restauanteur works hard at keeping it clean,and this is where you will find that most Farangs and their families go.

There are a few gyms, probably the best is at a mo Bahn just north of sukhumvit road.

Plenty of golf courses for those who are not into exercise.

A soi for the overweight and passed it bar girl.

Some decent restaurants, Though not the choice as in Pattaya and elsewhere .

Plenty of reasonably priced houses for rent.

For shopping, Ban Chang has probably the worst Tesco in Thailand. This means that most Farangs travel to Pattaya, approx 45k or to Rayong approx 30k, to purchase their provisions. Both of these towns can also boast decent shopping malls. Unfortunately Pattaya traffic is usually grid locked.

As others have said there are quite a few Farangs in this district, mostly off shore workers, those employed at Mataput or retirees. Not so many foreign tourist.

You have probably made the correct decision to visit and get a feel of the place, one person may like while another will not.

I lived in Bang Chang for two years, I left because of the pollution coming from the industrial area.

The bar strip is full of women that were kicked out of Pattaya for being so ugly.

The beaches are filthy.

It is the worst Tesco in Thailand.

What a lot of <deleted> I have lived here for 3 years and the Navy beach is clean and the water quality superb the Bar strip is busy with some of the most lovely girls in Thailand great pub called the Camel with great falang and Thai food, Ban Chang is the next place to boom unfortunately but a great place to invest you can still buy a beach front 45sq condo for under 1 million, I bought 3x 45s and merged them to make a 135sqm two bedroom two bathroom on the 4th floor with absolute sea view that cannot be built out for 2 million. In 3 years living here we have still not tried all the eateries there are so many

Very good advice.