Whats it like living in Phetchaburi?

[bbabythai]

We are looking to move from Issan to Phetchaburi. We want to move to a small city near the coast that is also close to bkk.

If you currently live in the city of Phetchaburi can you tell me what your opinion is? What are the schools like? My wife needs to get a transfer to a government hospital and thus assume theres one there.

What are the surrounding beaches like? How long is it to drive to them? I noticed cha am is close. How long does it take to drive there

Does P have a Robinsons, Markro or Big C

How many farang live there?

What are the national parks like in the area?

Any opinions on Phetchaburi are appreciated.

[pinkpanther99]

I lived in Phetchaburi for more than a year before moving from there about one year ago.

It's a nice place, pretty and picturesque but there's not too much going on, which is perhaps one of it's plus points, it's pretty quiet.

There is a very small expat/foreigner community there, maybe no more than 100 people, most of whom are foreign teachers under 30.

There's no kind of nightlife to speak of.

Schools are no better or worse than anywhere else in Thailand I'd say.

There is a Big C located in the town centre, next to the main highway.

On a good day you can reach Bangkok from Phethaburi about an hour and half.

As for the beaches, Had Chao Samran is the nearest (about 15mins from town centre) and it isn't great, in fact I would go as far to say as it's the worst beach I've visited in Thailand.

But don't let that put you off, I like Phetchaburi, as I say, the province itself is beautiful, it's just that the town is pretty quiet and there just isn't a lot to do, which may not be a problem if you're looking for the quiet life.

Cha Am is located about 30 minutes away by car and Hua Hin is about 45 minutes/one hour away.

There are actually some really nice beaches between Cha Am and Phetchaburi, which are virtually always empty.

Edited March 5, 2015 by pinkpanther99

[bbabythai]

thanks for the reply. We are looking to open a dental clinic. Is it a suitable place in your opinion. If you happen to know how many clinics are there currently that would be helpful.

cheers

[pinkpanther99]

thanks for the reply. We are looking to open a dental clinic. Is it a suitable place in your opinion. If you happen to know how many clinics are there currently that would be helpful.

cheers

I don't know exact numbers on dental clinics but what I will say is that like anywhere in Thailand, Phetchaburi already has quite a few dentists from what I can remember. Maybe there is room for one more but I couldn't say really as I don't know too much about dentistry!

I will add that there is an excellent dentist located close to the Big C. A Thai guy who speaks excellent English, is honest and always seemed very thorough when I dealt with. I'd go as far to say he's the best dentist I've visited in 4 years living in Thailand. Unfortunately, I've forgotten the name of the clinic but like I say, it's located on the road behind Big C and I guess he'd be one of you main competitors if you were to open your own dental clinic.

Edited March 5, 2015 by pinkpanther99

[CharlieH]

Moved to local forum for localised input

[PattayaPhom]

Reasonable schools, Aroon Pradit being one with E.P. Programme. Large hospital. Has one of the best dentists I have known in Thailand situated just behind Big C, reasonable cost and excellent work, as per PP99 post. Makro, Big C, plenty 7/11s and small Tesco. Nearest decent beach Had Chao Samran. Only foreigners are English teachers. Army base with shooting range if you are interested. Cha am is crying out for a decent dentist...maybe look there.

Cham has a small Government hospital which is just being expanded so maybe opportunities for your wife

Edited March 5, 2015 by PattayaPhom

[Aforek]

the Big C is good ; Makro, Taiwatsadu are between Cha am and Hua hin , no Robinson; Tesco lotus ( new ) is at Ta - yang, 10 kms from Phet ( the name Thai people give to Phetchaburi )

Cha am is crying out for a decent dentist...maybe look there.

True, the only dentist I know, ( for my GF ) is expensive, and I don't like him

if the dentist in Phet is so good, you should go to Cha am, many ( old ) farangs there

Edited March 5, 2015 by Aforek

[davidmann]

why no go and have a look ?

[Daniel Ingalls]

If you have a lovely wife, good marriage, don't go to Phchaburi Road, Its Hot, Dusty, and mock mock people and Cars, Buses, and motor bikes!

Opening up a new business in Dentistry........Go as far away as you can from Bangkok. Small towns such as Lumpoon, Lumpang, San Kampang, or even Chiang Mai would be better. If you ever lived in downtown Bangkok before you know what I'm talking about. Pnetchabui is loaded with with women with disputable talents and charms for the men. Especially those in the professional field..........Thai woman love medical uniforms, and if you look half decent, they will sweep you off your feet, could carless if your married or not. Stay away from that neck of the woods.

[pinkpanther99]

If you have a lovely wife, good marriage, don't go to Phchaburi Road, Its Hot, Dusty, and mock mock people and Cars, Buses, and motor bikes!

Opening up a new business in Dentistry........Go as far away as you can from Bangkok. Small towns such as Lumpoon, Lumpang, San Kampang, or even Chiang Mai would be better. If you ever lived in downtown Bangkok before you know what I'm talking about. Pnetchabui is loaded with with women with disputable talents and charms for the men. Especially those in the professional field..........Thai woman love medical uniforms, and if you look half decent, they will sweep you off your feet, could carless if your married or not. Stay away from that neck of the woods.

LOL

What the hell kind of advice is this?

The OP is asking about the province of Phetchaburi - not Phetchaburi Road in Bangkok.

Jesus wept.

[ableguy]

If you have a lovely wife, good marriage, don't go to Phchaburi Road, Its Hot, Dusty, and mock mock people and Cars, Buses, and motor bikes!

Opening up a new business in Dentistry........Go as far away as you can from Bangkok. Small towns such as Lumpoon, Lumpang, San Kampang, or even Chiang Mai would be better. If you ever lived in downtown Bangkok before you know what I'm talking about. Pnetchabui is loaded with with women with disputable talents and charms for the men. Especially those in the professional field..........Thai woman love medical uniforms, and if you look half decent, they will sweep you off your feet, could carless if your married or not. Stay away from that neck of the woods.

LOL

What the hell kind of advice is this?

The OP is asking about the province of Phetchaburi - not Phetchaburi Road in Bangkok.

Jesus wept.

Too much juice methinks.

[featography]

My wife of 9 yrs was born and raised in Phet. We lived in Samutsakorn between there and Bkk. Her family is still in Phet. We spent a lot of time down there with family before moving to Chiang Mai. After reading all the comments, I would suggest following up on possible opportunities Cha Am. I would never live in Phet. but did have a long standing desire to live in or around Cha Am. Beaches are very decent Mondays thru Thursday, but pack out Fri. thru Sunday night with native weekenders. Phet has Big C, Tesco, and Macro. There really isn.t much to do after the local sightseeing trips are out of the way. I wouldn.t go as far as Hua Hin too. That city is a small Pattaya, and I believe will become as decadent, large, and populated as Pattaya in 5 to 10 yrs. Another complaint I might share in my opinion, is Phet. is hot and humid 2 out of the 3 seasons. The cool season is only cool in the mornings as well. For those that think Phet isnt that far a drive to and from Bkk, haven.t made a habit of driving back and forth. It gets old in a year or 2 even at 4 trips per year. Farther south there is Prathcuap Kiri Kan (spelling is wrong) Province and that is very beautiful. Ban Krut, spelled 5 different ways on their signs, is an awesome fishing village the tourism trade have not paid much attention to so far. It makes for a great weekend or vacation getaway if you live in Phet, or Cha Am. From Phet. going the other way is Ratchaburi province and city. There are lots sightseeing drives for exploring. One thing to consider, Phet. has virtually NO farang food eateries. When we lived down there, the highlight of my life was, after having to enter Bkk at all was to find the farang food for the change of pace. Another consideration is there is only 1 main road, highway if you will, and it packed with heavy trucks 7 days a week. That is the only road going through Samutsakon, Petchaburi Provinces for commercial vehicles from Bkk to Southern Thailand. I hope that helps, without discouraging you. My advice, take several trips down and look around a lot. -

[featography]

My wife of 9 yrs was born and raised in Phet. We lived in Samutsakorn between there and Bkk. Her family is still in Phet. We spent a lot of time down there with family before moving to Chiang Mai. After reading all the comments, I would suggest following up on possible opportunities Cha Am. I would never live in Phet. but did have a long standing desire to live in or around Cha Am. Beaches are very decent Mondays thru Thursday, but pack out Fri. thru Sunday night with native weekenders. Phet has Big C, Tesco, and Macro. There really isn.t much to do after the local sightseeing trips are out of the way. I wouldn.t go as far as Hua Hin too. That city is a small Pattaya, and I believe will become as decadent, large, and populated as Pattaya in 5 to 10 yrs. Another complaint I might share in my opinion, is Phet. is hot and humid 2 out of the 3 seasons. The cool season is only cool in the mornings as well. For those that think Phet isnt that far a drive to and from Bkk, haven.t made a habit of driving back and forth. It gets old in a year or 2 even at 4 trips per year. Farther south there is Prathcuap Kiri Kan (spelling is wrong) Province and that is very beautiful. Ban Krut, spelled 5 different ways on their signs, is an awesome fishing village the tourism trade have not paid much attention to so far. It makes for a great weekend or vacation getaway if you live in Phet, or Cha Am. From Phet. going the other way is Ratchaburi province and city. There are lots sightseeing drives for exploring. One thing to consider, Phet. has virtually NO farang food eateries. When we lived down there, the highlight of my life was, after having to enter Bkk at all was to find the farang food for the change of pace. Another consideration is there is only 1 main road, highway if you will, and it packed with heavy trucks 7 days a week. That is the only road going through Samutsakon, Petchaburi Provinces for commercial vehicles from Bkk to Southern Thailand. I hope that helps, without discouraging you. My advice, take several trips down and look around a lot. -

They do have McDonalds

I dont know if Phet. has, but seem to think there is also A&W and KFC. Yes, 3rd cup of coffee kicked in. They do have both, but I found odd that if youre a root beer fan, you can only get A&W at their stores. None is sold in cans anywhere in Phet, or Samutsakon Provinces. Big surprise to me upon moving to Chiang Mai was the root beer in cans are sold everywhere, but there are no A&W restaurants.

[swissie]

Unusual that you and wife have decided to leave the Isaan. Normally if Farang settles in the Isaan it's a live sentence

You and your wife having agreed to leave the Isaan and (hopefully) leaving the Family-Clan behind , I recommend Cha-Am. All western amenities available, nice beach (Monday thru Friday). Cost of living in general still lower than Hua-Hin (but Hua-Hin is not far away for daily excursions .)

Nice place for a Farang/Thai couple to stay. Could be a place of harmony and peace for you and wife. Of course this will end by the time the "Isaan-Clan" finds out where the both of you live.

Courage to you and wife. Cheers.

[Ghoulst Writer]

saha thai department store for shopping not on highway in phetchaburi itself

[kekalot]

I've lived there for 2 months and walked around extensively.

not hard to be living a little bit off from the main center, it's like anywhere really.

I got brought by pickup to a beach once about maybe 20 minutes or so directly East of Mueang Phetchaburi, it was somewhat nice.. something akin to Cha-am I'd say but didn't have all them umbrellas and chairs

my favorite thing in Phetchaburi was the free fitness gym, you have to get a card and maybe pay 100 baht (can't even remember) but after that it's free no monthly fees.. they don't have everything a western gym would have but more than enough

the Big C is fair, the markets are nice (always prefer the Cha-am weekly market tho), I ate quite a bit at that central food market that opens daily near Tesco Lotus (one of those small ones).. something like "Pet Pai Boon" was the name my friend kept saying.

overall nice but I would not stay there a long time personally, I am too used to Cha-am I guess.

[nevets]

Phetburi wonderful sh sh sh don't tell anyone.

[AsianExport]

Any western food there ?

And can you tell me where I should not drive to avoid cops ? My new car is still on red plates in another province and I drive mostly at night...

Thanks.

[kekalot]

9 hours ago, AsianExport said:

Any western food there ?

And can you tell me where I should not drive to avoid cops ? My new car is still on red plates in another province and I drive mostly at night...

Thanks.

 

I can't say that I have seen much cops at night, my friend joked once that after 5 or 6pm they go to sleep (that is what she said after I asked why she didn't wear a helmet at night)

however, I can tell you that they set up road stops quite often somewhere in between Tha Yang on the way to Cha-am (and before the lights) and Phetchaburi.. I have seen that quite a few times at night on the way home to Cha-am.

 

also I have been stopped the other way around and forced to pee in a cup for amphetamines next to 15 or so very close thai guys close to a shack on the side of the street (about the same place, lol) but middle of the day.

big problem when i pee before leaving and it's about a 15 minutes drive.. trying to explain that to them was a moot point.

[AsianExport]

Thank you, do they check everybody for drug even if you do not look like a drug addict ? how ridiculous it is ? I think that with m red plates car they might have some temptation to stop me ? Do they stop everybody ?

So if there is only 1 road to avoid it must be easy to go to the south from BKK without driving on this road ?

I know that the only risk is to give them some cash, but i prefer to keep it for vacation !

Thanks again.

[kekalot]

it's on Phetkasem road which is the main road from Bangkok to like Surat Thani.

 

they didn't stop me every single time, but I drive a big bike.. that time with the testing I was wearing full gear and they must have seen through my visor cause they got excited and started shouting "falang! falang!" while pointing at me.

 

obviously, if it wasn't about being a shakedown, they wouldn't care if I was falang or not, right?

[AsianExport]

haha so true, it was good that you had nothing in your system. But do they check only meth ? I think they can even find if someone has smoked a single joint few days before in Holland or Colorado.

 

[kekalot]

4 hours ago, AsianExport said:

haha so true, it was good that you had nothing in your system. But do they check only meth ? I think they can even find if someone has smoked a single joint few days before in Holland or Colorado.

 

 

as far as I understood it (not much) there is some kind of drop they drop into urine that makes it go purple if you used amphetamines.

 

I am not knowledgeable more than what I found on google after I got home quite annoyed.. but they will never find anything on the sort on me cause I never even smoked a cigarette in my life and never drink (yes, the life of a party)

 

it happened about 10 months or so ago and might have happened a few times if I kept going to Phetchaburi on the regular I guess but I don't anymore (because my gf moved towards Hua Hin) so, maybe it's not done anymore.

still, slightly irritating.