Ban Chang, Rayong.

[xarra]

Hi all,

i am malaysian's lady, married with 4 years old son. Me and my husband is planning to move in Ban Chang as we have a good offer in oil and gas industry. My concern is the enviroment and of course the education of my kid. And 1 more things im pregnant almost 5 month. How could i deliver my baby soon. Is there any private hosp there. And is it easy to find Halal food couse im muslim.

[zaphodbeeblebrox]

Hi all,

i am malaysian's lady, married with 4 years old son. Me and my husband is planning to move in Ban Chang as we have a good offer in oil and gas industry. My concern is the enviroment and of course the education of my kid. And 1 more things im pregnant almost 5 month. How could i deliver my baby soon. Is there any private hosp there. And is it easy to find Halal food couse im muslim.

Welcome to the board, and I hope you like Ban Chang.

Most of the pollution comes from the PTT oil refinery and chemical plants to the east in Maptaphut. I would recommend you get a house close to the beach, where the winds will keep the pollutants away. Phala Beach might be a good place to look. As for education, Garden International School is located in Ban Chang (near Phala Beach), and, while it is expensive, it is a fairly reputable school. There is a cheaper education alternative. GIS is next to Rayong English Program School (REPS), which offers 50% instruction in English and at a much lower tuition than GIS.

I'm not sure about halal food in Ban Chang. My girlfriend is Muslim (half Malaysian), and I know there is a mosque and lots of Muslim food available in Rayong. I'm sure if you go to the Mosque, and ask, you can find some halal restaurants in Ban Chang. Also, for a hospital, it is best to go either to Bangkok Rayong Hospital in the western part of Rayong, or Queen Sirikit Hospital at the Sattahip Naval Base, which is a public hospital.

[PattayaParent]

There's also St. Andrew's International School in Ban Chang.

[samgrowth]

Why not live in Rayong and commute to Ban Chang to work. More excitment here.

[patklang]

After reading many posts on here,it seems that Rayong is very polluted and not a place to bring up young children.

[Soutpeel]

After reading many posts on here,it seems that Rayong is very polluted and not a place to bring up young children.

Would agree with that statement..

[Jaidii]

Polluted? I don't think so. The industry has been there for many years now. There's always a risk of a big oil or gas leakage of sorts but the companies are ISO compliant and adopt western-standard HS&E measures. I've yet to see or hear evidence of pollution other than an odd news report of a few workers feeling queasy after inhaling fumes at their workplace. The sea can't be that bad either as the seafood is plentiful ....albeit the prawns are huge and octopus (octopii) have mutated to 'polypus' having 3 or more eyes and many more legs.

[Soutpeel]

Polluted? I don't think so. The industry has been there for many years now. There's always a risk of a big oil or gas leakage of sorts but the companies are ISO compliant and adopt western-standard HS&E measures.

Got to be the quote of the day... ...talk about naive..all kinds of toxic sh*t is being spewed out of MPT everyday...ISO means nothing, HSE standards mean nothing..

Certain villages around have 3 X the national average of illness' which can be related to industrial pollutants....Also I worked on the some of the plants in MTP for quite a few years and have seen first hand the so called HSE measures...

[patklang]

Polluted? I don't think so. The industry has been there for many years now. There's always a risk of a big oil or gas leakage of sorts but the companies are ISO compliant and adopt western-standard HS&E measures.

Got to be the quote of the day... ...talk about naive..all kinds of toxic sh*t is being spewed out of MPT everyday...ISO means nothing, HSE standards mean nothing..

Certain villages around have 3 X the national average of illness' which can be related to industrial pollutants....Also I worked on the some of the plants in MTP for quite a few years and have seen first hand the so called HSE measures...

Thats what i heard,maybe the guy lives there and is trying justify it???

What about the COSHH laws???

Control Of

Substances Hazardous To Health

[Soutpeel]

Thats what i heard,maybe the guy lives there and is trying justify it???

What about the COSHH laws???

What COSHH laws... ....there is a lot of lip service paid to safety, enviromental, the laws, procedures etc may be in place on paper, but not exactly enforced.....think of it this way...Thailand cant/doesnt even impose the most basic of traffic laws, so what change do we think there is that the enviormental policies/safety policies are imposed...

[mark45y]

There was one spill or leak last year all the schools were closed in the area. Maptaphut was made a pollution zone or whatever they call it about a month ago and the local industry bosses are trying to get the decision reversed.

They have started building a new refinery a few weeks ago.

It is like living in Lake Jackson Texas. Maybe Lake Jackson is a bit worse because the spills take the paint off of your car in a year.

There there is an alarm for a spill at least a couple of times a day.

I would assume the same here except the alarms don't work.

[Tokay]

The bulk of the pollution is in Rayong or in Ban Chang? I'm confused?

And how is overall pollution compared to say Pattaya?

Thanks.

[patklang]

After reading some of these posts my mind is made up,i will never live in Rayong.This has to be corruption again,pay the influencial people and get away with murder.

[Soutpeel]

The bulk of the pollution is in Rayong or in Ban Chang? I'm confused?

And how is overall pollution compared to say Pattaya?

Thanks.

The bulk is in between....Ban Chang is about 12km from the start of Maptuphut industrial estate and runs all the way to Rayong

Re Pattaya, depends which sort of pollution you are talking about..

[podgey]

I heard that the biggest health concern around rayong is the air polution. Not just hazardous for breathing but also the heavy metals that come down in rainfall around the area are then absorbed into local crops and water ways, fruit and veg, fish etc. So not only are you breathing the crap you might be eating it aswell.

I'm not sure if this is correct ,but i have noticed the locals are afraid to get rained on because it is a popular belief that you will get sick after. I scoffed at this mentality at first ,but now i am thinking it might have some truth in it.

Another statistic i heard was that cancer was more common around mataput/rayong than anywhere else in thailand. No idea where that come from or if it's even true.

I am hoping bangchang might be safe because our prevailing wind comes from the sth east.

So far i am unconcerned because if you compare Rayong to the air pollution around bangkok/ chonburi it looks pretty mild.

Disclaimer - I am not a scientist and have absolutly no evedence to prove my theories. I just like to think i know stuff.

[Richb2004v2]

I think Thais are a little like Gremlins, in that as soon as they get a bit of water on the head they get sick.

I've heard it said that although some of us think we are eating healthy here in Thailand we are actually exposing ourselves to more chemicals, as there are no enforced laws about what is put into the air, the ground, and livestock. It makes sense and is a bit worrying really.

[Tokay]

I'm starting to think that there is not a single place along the eastern sea board that is not full of pollution in one form or another.

Am I wrong or does a place exist?

[tvaddict]

there's a lot of confusion here, some guessing, some assumptions and some scaremongering

let me try to explain although i too am no expert and can only go on other sources for info

firstly lets establish what is ban chang...

it is a district of rayong and as such very large

the town ban chang is pretty small with its pala and payoon villages at the coast line

when people mention pollution they normally are referring to thick black smoke and a clearly cloudy and unhealthy skyline

this is not the case in Ban Chang-

you could live here for years and never be in any way aware of any pollution at all

however... take a short trip (6 km I reckon from payoon to the start of maptaput ) across beautiful natural fields and nature and you would arrive in maptaput ( still officially in the district of ban chang).

Here..... still no visible pollution at ground level but a glance up and yuou can't miss the oil refinery chimney stacks

so there must be pollution created here ( indeed too much)

live in maptaput and you would i feel be subjected to high levels of pollution

the next question is where does this airborne pollution go

the answer is for 75% of the year the prevailing winds take it east towards rayong town and further along the coastline

therefore , despite its proximity Ban Chang town is 'on the good side' of the industrial estates at Hemaraj, Asia and Maptaput and so , as is borne out by higher land prices than Rayong town it is the desirable side of Rayong in which to live. It should be said that proximity to Pattaya and Bangkok too may be a factor in it's desirable location.

evidence has been found to show that Maptaput has a higher than normal occurence of some health probelms associated with pollution- if i remmeber this was linked to leukemia

last month a major national court case was won by the residents of maptaput to prove the risk and to enforce better health measures, QC and accountability upon the industrial companies responsible for the pollution

obviously the case is hotly contested as the new measures which will come into force to protect residents as a result of making the area a special pollution control zone will be expensive for the companies to come into line with

so the evidence is clear - maptaput has pollution

ban chang gets some when the wind blows the wrong way

but remember- you won't see it

the area is beautiful ( unless ofcourse you're in the middle of one of the industrial estates in which case you'll be overwhelmed by the scale of these places)

however, some people on this thread i think have never been here and are imaging the smokey toxic nightmares of chinese industrial cities--- that is not the case here!!!

i'd love toknow how to compare bangkok's pollution and some industrial cities of china with this area-- i reckon ban chang is low

all i know is everytime i go to bangkok i feel tired and unwell within a couple of days

and enjoy the space, pace and atmosphere of ban chang on my return

and then there's another thing -- what type of pollution do you wish to discuss-

air, water, sea, visual, noise?

bangkok tires you out because of the noise, the visual non stop invasion into your headspace of all the neon, the signs and the traffic smog

hope that helps- i am ofcourse not an expert -- just my opinions

[longball53098]

I agree completely tvaddict. Banchang is "clean" from the air pollution that most people associate with industry. I believe you are correct about the prevailing winds and keeping the stuff away. My new place is in Phala and the air is always clear and clean as the wind comes off the sea. But as you say pollution comes in a variety of ways. I don't know about the sea and water pollution. Visibly Phala beach looks okay but who knows.The visible kind of pollution here in Banchang is like everywhere in Thailand, plastic bags and other junk that are everywhere. No on seems to care at all that their beautiful country looks like a junk yard or open landfill. They have lived among this trash for so long they don't even see it any longer. It seems no one from the highest levels of government down to the commoner could care less.

[Kamtheman26]

Hi all,

i am malaysian's lady, married with 4 years old son. Me and my husband is planning to move in Ban Chang as we have a good offer in oil and gas industry. My concern is the enviroment and of course the education of my kid. And 1 more things im pregnant almost 5 month. How could i deliver my baby soon. Is there any private hosp there. And is it easy to find Halal food couse im muslim.

Salam

I was wondering if you ended up moving to Ban Chang and if so how are you finding it? I am moving on 14th August 2010 to teach at Garden International School for two years and wanted to if there were local mosques in the area for me to continue Ramadan and be able to do my prayers on a regular basis at the mosque. Any general informaiton about the place, living there, hallal food etc would be helpful. I wait to hear from you.

Thank you

Khuda Hafiz

Kamrul Uddin

[stevehaigh]

the answer is for 75% of the year the prevailing winds take it east towards rayong town and further along the coastline

therefore , despite its proximity Ban Chang town is 'on the good side' of the industrial estates

...

so the evidence is clear - maptaput has pollution

ban chang gets some when the wind blows the wrong way

but remember- you won't see it

the area is beautiful ( unless ofcourse you're in the middle of one of the industrial estates in which case you'll be overwhelmed by the scale of these places)

thanks for the great info.

when does the wind blow the 'wrong way' over Ban Chang? is it a particular time of year or just a random thing.

when you say 'remember- you won't see it', about the pollution, how do you know? can you smell something ?

i'm interested in a house very close to payoon beach, can i assume that by the beach is better air and water?

[stevehaigh]

the answer is for 75% of the year the prevailing winds take it east towards rayong town and further along the coastline

therefore , despite its proximity Ban Chang town is 'on the good side' of the industrial estates

...

so the evidence is clear - maptaput has pollution

ban chang gets some when the wind blows the wrong way

but remember- you won't see it

the area is beautiful ( unless ofcourse you're in the middle of one of the industrial estates in which case you'll be overwhelmed by the scale of these places)

thanks for the great info.

when does the wind blow the 'wrong way' over Ban Chang? is it a particular time of year or just a random thing.

when you say 'remember- you won't see it', about the pollution, how do you know? can you smell something ?

on a completely different topic, what is the weather like in april/may/june? here in Hua hin area, its as dry at the nevada desert and just as dead looking. i think you get more consistent year round rain over that side of the pond. does it stay green all year or do you have multi-month brow outs like we do here?

PS, sorry for the double post, i thought i was editing the last post

[longball53098]

I have lived in my new home near the Phala beach (400 meters to water) for just over 1 year now. I can say the prevailing winds come from the south, southwest and west about 75 to 80 percent of the time. As now during this rainy season the west.

A few times during the last year the winds have come from the east directly from Maptaphut. When this east wind blows I have noticed an odor to the air. I think this is a random thing and not a specific season. Once in a blue moon the winds come from the north northeast and that seemed to be in the winter months. Much cooler and drier.

Also this year for us here is much wetter than last year. When we moved in around the end of July the area was quite dry. This year it rains here almost every day and cloudy much more. I'm sure this thing is a yearly thing as are the monsoons and some years are heavier than others.

I do not feel threatened by Maptaphut as I believe the winds keep this area clean and the once in a while east wind is not an issue for me.

[tvaddict]

http://www.windfinder.com/windstats/windstatistic_rayong_utaphao.htm

the link above shows wind behaviour stretched over a year for utapao airport, which is in ban chang

you can clearly see the prevailing direction is from the sea- from a south west direction for the year and you can see the directions per month broken down too

this is what i mean by 75%- in answer to your question

[longball53098]

Great site showing the stats about the winds here. I am pretty close on my guesstimate about the winds I experience here. The east wind I saw was based on a small windsock on my garage and the local trees. The east wind was not more than a few hours and not strong.