Then rounding the bill up to the nearest 100 Baht is usually the way to go at most restaurants in Thailand. Tips will be put into a kitty that gets divided equally among employees. So if your waiter has been especially good or efficient and you want the tip to go to them, you need to make a show of putting it in their hand or pocket.

The idea of ordering at the bar isn’t common in Thailand and especially not at places that cater mainly to Thai drinkers. There’s no need to tip in small roadside restaurants. https://cryptolisting.org/ Neither waiters nor the owner will expect even a small tip. But if you have enjoyed your meal and just want to say ‘Thanks’, leave a 20 Baht note on the table when you leave.

If you have valuables that you want to keep safe, Island Cafe, located at Top Resort, White Sand beach has bank quality safety deposit boxes available for very reasonable rates. Your message isn’t bounced back as un-deliverable which may lull you into a false sense of security and you think you’re finally on a roll. You spend the next day eagerly awaiting the reply, and then you spend the following day eagerly awaiting the reply, and the next, and the next until it dawns on you that perhaps a follow-up email is in order. A week later you’ll then email me and ask me why you can’t contact your hotel of choice.

trat coin

An experience that leaves you marveling at the poor construction on the concrete walkway for which huge tracts of mangroves were obviously cut down to enable it to be built. For a nicer mangrove forest experience, head to the head of the bay in Salakphet, turn left as you pass the temple in the village and follow the road to the end. Here a wooden walkway through the mangroves awaits you. There are a few sings with information about the mangroves, but nothing in Engish. Most Europeans who travel and take boat trips or snorkelling tours can swim or at least have the ability to float and also understand that the odds of the boat sinking are comparatively minimal. Many Thais, for whatever reason, aren’t naturally buoyant and therefore feel the need to don a day-glo orange life preserver at the mere mention of open water.

Cheap coaches to Bangkok

There’s a very nice beach bar on White Sand Beach, just south of Sabay Bar in front of Tantawan bungalows called ‘Tapas Bar’, situated under a large tree and is cheap, quiet and serves very nice snacks & nibbles. In addition to the main Thai banks, there are a number of authorised money exchange businesses in Thailand. One of the companies which consistently receives positive feedback from expats and frequent visitors to Thailand is SuperRich. They have exchange counters at a number of locations around Bangkok including shopping centres and Skytrain stations. Changing money into Thai Baht in the UK or Ireland will be bad value compared to the higher exchange rate you would get if you waited until you arrived in Thailand to change your cash.

You’ll find plenty of scenic view type postcards for sale island wide. However, if you want something a little different take a look at Curlykez Gallery’s collection of postcards. The arty pics make a refreshing change from the usual deserted beach, palm trees and sea view photos. Resorts such as Tropicana, Ramayama, Bhumiyama, Panviman, Aiyapura, Aana, the Chill, The Dewa and even Emerald Cove can all be booked at the fringes of high season for the same cost as a night in an English Bed & Breakfast.

  • If you feel the urge to make a twat out of yourself in public then you can find a dozen or so small ‘videoke’ places which have coin operated machines that play Thai music videos with transliterated English subtitles.
  • If you plan on staying a while you could also keep an eye out for coin operated washing machines, you can find the in out of the way shops tucked down alleyways on all the main beaches.
  • The cost, including delivery for a boat and engine which is ready to go is from around 60,000 baht, get one in Trat town.
  • The position of ‘Fireshow Guy’ now seems to be top of the career aspirations of local teenagers who, rightly, see this as their one shot at getting off with a buxom backpacker chick.

Whether it does or not, I have no idea as I don’t have a caged chimp or rabbit to do a spot of DIY animal testing on. But if it is carcinogenic I wouldn’t worry too much as the effects are unlikely to kick in for another years or so after first application. This area of Thailand is famed for producing yellow oil, a herbal cure all that has been proven to be an effective treatment against everything from insect bites to AIDS, cervical cancer and Bird Flu. I’ve encountered several snakes since I’ve been here although they aren’t that common in our area of the island. (The largest that has been caught & photographed on Koh Chang was a python which was about 8 metres long. ) But a couple of years ago I did see the biggest snake I’ve ever seen outside a zoo – approx 3 metres long.

Regions Etsy does business in:

All due to the high tax on wine – both domestically produced and imported. There must be forty or fifty small shops on Koh Chang that sell identical souvenir t-shirts, sarongs, fisherman’s trousers and bikinis. A bit of variety wouldn’t go amiss, that’s for sure but I guess there are still some people on the planet for whom the ‘McShit’ t-shirt is a ‘must have’ item of clothing. If you’re buying from these shops, do like the Thais and haggle.

  • Edwards was delighted with the appearance of his portrait on the catalogue cover.
  • Koh Chang’s first language school opened it’s doors in July ’06 and as with most ideas that don’t involve selling junk to tourists, closed a year later.
  • When it rains it really does piss down with a vengeance.
  • This wouldn’t be Thailand unless some poor dumb creatures were being exploited.

Check the latest prices by clicking on the image – this will take you in a new tab to our affiliate partner Agoda. When you use a bank card from your home country, the ATM will add a fee which is usually 220 Baht, but can be as high as 250 Baht at some locations. This is a separate fee to any that your own bank may charge for using your card abroad. On arrival at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi airport there are cash machines and exchange booths airside and again once you clear arrivals. The exchange booths are convenient, but the rate is normally lower than you will get at other locations in Bangkok.

But you’ll need a sea kayak to get there or have to get someone to take you out in their boat. It’s where very wealthy Thais who could eat anywhere come to eat seafood when they are on Koh Chang. This restaurant is well known for the low price & high quality of the seafood, rather than for it’s decor or location.

Royal Ruh Khus 3ml – Eastern Wild Vetiver Perfume Oil | Distilled | Exquisite Raw Smokey Earthy Note | Artisan Parfum by PPG

A truly abysmal map, which was unique in that the map itself contained no content that could be of use to anyone was produced by a german guy a couple of years ago. A testament to his marketing skills rather than his cartography. To me an elephant’s natural habitat is in the jungle and not tethered a few metres from the roadside.

trat coin

Koh Chang has a fire department and they own a fire tender. (Note the singular.) This is based in Dan Mai, on the east coast, a mere 30 – 45 minute scenic drive from most hotels on the west coast. With that in mind, best to make yourself aware of where your hotel’s fire extinguishers are when you check in – as you’ll be helping the staff to put any blaze in your room out. Usually a couple of dumbells, one exercise bike and either a treadmill or exercise bike. Keep fit by running on the beach, paddling a canoe, renting a bicycle or just enjoying a daily swim in the sea. There is a small gym, ‘Chang Gym’ in VJ Plaza, Klong Prao which has some free weights .

Run by a mother and daughter, using the mother’s recipes. She’;s in the back cooking and Ning is out frotn taking orders and looking after diners. I haven’t had any Thai food that is better than this on Koh Chang. There are only around 10 tables, so arrive early or call them to book a table in high season. One thing to remember is that everything is made fresh to order and so don’t expect a fish to arrive at your table in 10 minutes, figure on nearer 45 minutes – the time it takes to prepare and cook from scratch. Veggie options are available for all dishes and make sure you leave some room for desert – home-made ice cream or friend banana with cinnamon honey.

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Head right round the the south east of the island to the end of the road, past Long Beach. In the channel between Koh Ngam and Koh Chang dolphins regularly make an appearance early in the morning, that’s sunrise early and not 9am early. The lure of becoming a diving instructor isn’t simply the about getting paid to work in exotic locations.

Refuse all offers of help from the Cambodia guys who will approach you. If you’ve made it this far you can fill in a simple form in English without their assistance. If you don’t already have a Cambodian visa, head to the open door of the visa office. Klong Prao Beach Bytecoin Mining – A very long long sandy beach and, unlike most other beaches it actually has sand virtually along its entire length. As with most beaches on the island it only slopes gently into the sea which means you have to wade a hundred metres out in order to swim at low tide.

We organise private tours in Bangkok, so do contact us for more information. Incidentally, we also provide transfers between the Airports and your Bangkok hotel. Wat Suthat consists of the main temple or wihan, the cloisters and the monks quarters, all set within a rectangular 10 acre walled grounds.

  • On Koh Chang large, more remote resorts cope by hiring water tankers to bring water in from other areas of the island on a daily basis.
  • Our dog gets free sausages when he comes with us, we don’t.
  • Many of these are off the beach, by the roadside, but some do offer much better value of money as they have to compete on price and not location for guests.
  • At the same time, the Americans were putting the finishing touches on a larger program.

For the test reported here, the gun was pedestal mounted just behind the pilot’s seat in the Fairchild-Hiller Peacemaker Aircraft. The M61 and XM197 20mm guns are automatic aircraft cannons for use against aircraft and ground or seaborne targets. These guns are electrically or hydraulically powered, belt fed or linkless feed, and electrically fired. A round of ammunition is fired through one barrel at a time, as the barrels and rotor assembly rotate once around the rotor housing.

Thais tend to enjoy going to beach resorts where the beach and the hotels are separated by a road, this allows easy access to the beach for both somtam vendors, the deck chair mafia and tourists. Foreign tourists prefer to stay as close to the beach as possible, leading to the land next to the beach being private property which is occupied by a resort. Koh Chang’s beaches are of the farang style, great if you are staying on them but getting to the sand can be a hassle if you’re not.

But they do have other food and regular Thai food as well. There are police boxes roadside on all the main beaches. I’m not quite sure of the purpose as the one time I needed some help they weren’t much help. I just wanted a brief report, in Thai, to say I had reported my phone as being lost, having this would enable me to get a new SIM with the same number from the mobile phone company. But I was told that this simple form couldn’t be issued at the police box. So I had to go 30 kilometres to the main police HQ in Dan Mai where initially I had to hang around for 15 minutes, until a commercial break in the program that was showing on the TV in the office.

Anyone heading to Koh Chang by bus should leave Bangkok before 12pm to make sure that they can get to Laem Ngop or Centrepoint piers in time for the 7pm ferry. There are an increasing number of afternoon / evening markets on Koh Chang. Vacant plots of land are rented to traders who set up at various places on different days of the week.

Anyone making a quick visit to Koh Chang in the hope of snapping up a nice plot of land or property to rent easily will probably be in for a disappointment unless they are happy to pay over the odds. Virtually all rentable real estate isn’t advertised anywhere in Thai or English and the stuff that is is often overpriced and/or not worth renting in the first place. A pity, because if promoted and supported by businesses and resorts on the island properly it could have been a nice little annual tourist attraction for the island. But no-one could be bothered to enter, so it was called off at the last minute. This is why, although lots of people do build on farmland on Koh Chang, you shouldn’t spend your life savings doing so. If you are building a house, build it on titled land and have the plans approved properly.

Tipping in Thailand

The only downside is that Rayong is a 180 km drive from Koh Chang. ‘Tan Trekking’ is a one man trekking company run by a Thai guy, Tan, who lived in Australia for a few years and who has worked as a tour and trekking guide in Chiang Mai and Krabi prior to moving to Koh Chang. He’s also fully licensed a a tour guide by the Tourist Authority of Thailand. He speaks excellent English and cuts his own routes through the jungle. He runs a variety of different tresk from short half day walks for families and older folks to more strenous treks to the top of Khao Jom, the peak overlooking White Sand Beach.