Ratchabury

[swissie]

- My wife claims, Ratchabury would be a perfect long term stay for me (us). Has some mountains (I assume=Hills), not too far from Bangkok, not too far from the sea, good for all kinds of farming, land not expensive. Paradise is awaiting, right?

Anyone living (or having been in the aerea) is welcome to comment on the above.

- I have "Googled" myself silly, but can't really find any meaningful pictures of Ratchabury an it's countryside (exept for the floating markets!) Any help?

Cheers, Swissie.

[fj709]

Dear Swissie,

Are you asking about Ratchaburi about 80 miles west of Bangkok on the main road to Hua Hin? If you are I know a little about the area having first been there nearly 40 years ago and now have a house near there at a town called Chom Bueng. I stay there during the English winter.

Regards

FJ

[swissie]

Yes FJ, thats the Town / Aerea I mean.

[DEREK-C]

Hi, Ratchaburi is the main city of the province of the same name. There are quite a lot of "farang" living in the area, especially in and around Ban Pong. It's a a mix of many nationalities, I'm from the UK and live about 45k from Ratchaburi 28k from Ban Pong. My friends living locally include fellow Brits, Americans, Canadians, Swedes, Australians, Danes, Norwegians. We have meets at a coffee house and several of us join up for golf. Ratchaburi itself has quite a history and there are quite a few interseting sites. I have heard recently that there are plans to craete a pedestrian walkway by closing one of the roads by the river to give an added attraction. For shopping it has a large Tescos, Big C and the smaller Robinsons. Robinsons often has some of the items you don't find ar the other 2.

As for location the popular sea side resort of Cha-Am is about 100k away with Hua Hin about 130. The road there is very good and would take around an hour in reasonable traffic. The scenic area of Ratchaburi is to the N. East of the city. Chom Bueng about 45k and Suan Pueng about 65. This is the hilly area and has water falls and hot springs. It has quite a lot of development for tourists at the moment. In fact the Prince is a frequent visitor to one of the resorts. You will find quite a lot on the web.

Kanchaburi (ridge on the R Kwai) is about 90k away and that is where our Immigration Office is loacated. Kan gets a lot of tourists and there is quite a large expat population there.

As for me I've been here 8 years and love the area. There are allsorts of attractions that it would take pages to list them all. One of my rlaxing afternoons is to drive to look at the water cave, then just before dusk visit Wat Khao Chong Phran and see millions of bats emerging from the hillside caves.

If you want any specific info please PM me.