The land of a thousand smiles! (Cha-am)

Member Name: jayjolynn

Product:	Cha-am
Date:	30/10/06 (74 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap food and drink! Cheap everything!

Disadvantages: not so nice beach....

CHA AM

Most British tourists go to neighbouring Hua Hin, for their holiday whereas Cha-am is very much a Thai resort. There are many Thai people come here for their holiday break, or weekend break and we met a lot of families at our hotel, Regency Cha Am. You will find many of them come away from Bangkok to escape the bustle of City life. At weekends, the place came alive with Thai people coming down for the weekend.

It took us nearly 3 hours to get from Bangkok to Cha Am, by taxi. I know you may think this may have been expensive, but no, if you make an agreement with many of the taxi drivers you can get about for next to nothing! We paid about £25 for this 3 hour journey, but there was 4 of us in this peoples carrier with room for another 2 easily, so split up the cost, and it’s not expensive at all for this length of journey!

There doesn’t appear to be a real centre to Cha Am. It seems to stretch along the water front with no ‘main’ town centre.
Cha Am has grown somewhat from being an unknown fishing village, to a destination where many Thai people escape for peace and quiet! It was also made popular by the fact that the Klai Khlangwon, the summer palace, frequented by the Royal family is situated here.

OUTSIDE CHA AM REGENCY

One little area in Cha Am (outside our hotel) was a beautiful little village which had a variety of little open air restaurants, tailors, general shops, clothes shops and dry cleaners, all lined side by side down this one little street. Very characteristic, and at night time, everyone puts up their little lights and the whole place looks so inviting!

The restaurants were fabulous and you could eat a steak dish for around £4 or a tradition green curry (my favourite) for around £3.
The beers were cheap and we soon found out that the wine wasn’t too expensive either (considering we found it quite expensive in Bangkok!) You could eat 2 meals, with beer and a bottle of wine for 2 people for around £16!

We made friends with quite a few of the locals here, and you soon find that these people are so inviting that you cannot help but love them to bits!
I must point out though that one bar in particular (all ladies) is over welcoming, well to the gentlemen anyway. Need I explain more?!!

You can walk along the beach in Cha Am and eat at the many fresh sea food restaurants littered along its beach front, and it is really charming to sit and watch the sea as nightfall takes over. You can choose from many restaurants along this coastline, and I haven’t seen an expensive one yet! I believe these restaurants along the beach are the way to see Cha Am at its best and to try out the true Thai dishes!

THE BEACH

The beach itself, well, I cannot say it’s the nicest beach in Thailand I’ve seen, but it is clean enough, but nothing like the beaches in other Thai resorts where they are picture postcard settings!
One good thing is they are never crowded and the only people really on the beaches are the vendors, selling silk and cotton various household goods, and perhaps wooden ornaments. You can barter with them, but I always try to bear in mind that you should never insult them to the point of wanting something for nothing! Pay what you feel they are worth and don’t be too greedy! These people need to make a living and if you bear in mind you are still getting it for a fraction of what you would pay at home, then just use a sensible head and come to a compromise then everyone goes away happy!
I bought 2 silk throws from two different vendors (only to make it fair). They were identical throws, only in different colours. One I got for about £9 and the other about £7! So, never expect to pay the same amount for the same item!

The vendors themselves are very friendly and do not pester or are as pushy as other places! We got friendly with a few of them, and we spent many days sitting chatting to them on the beach…..they have a great sense of humour and laugh at anything you say (good for anyone who wants someone to laugh at your otherwise rotten jokes)!
They love getting their photo taken and every picture we have is of smiling, happy people!

There are quite a few horses on the beach, and you can hire these for different times, and that brings me to another bad point (though not really a complaint)! The horses do have to relieve themselves somewhere, and I guess they are not house trained to do it other than where they stand! So watch what you stand on, on the beach! Ha…

MARKETS

Hua Hin is noted for its Night Bazaar, and a lot of tourist visit here, and is only 10 minutes drive from Cha Am, but if you go into the main Cha Am ( I use ‘main’ lightly, as I’m not sure where the centre really is), there is a fabulous market that is mainly for the Thai people. It has everthing from flip flops for about 50p, T shirts about £1 and fake watches for about £4! There are also countless food stalls, and fast food stalls, well Thai style, but one of these stopped us in our tracks!

On this stall, they were frying cockroaches, beetles and an array of disgusting insects. I didn’t know whether to throw up there and then, or just stand in amazement, watching many of the locals munching there way through these!
One German tourist bought a variety of these different insects, and he stood and tried out everyone, giving us graphic details of their texture, feel and taste!
On the whole he said some were quite tasty, but …...I will take his word on that one!

As we were walking round this market, there was a Mother with a hose washing down her three children, and they were giggling with laughter! One of the children came up and pulled me into the path of the water hose, and of course I was soaked, so there was much giggling going on at my expense! This is the Thai people’s sense of play, and they just laugh their way through life, it would appear! Wonderful people!

I came away from that market laden with goodies and wondering how much weight I will be allowed on the plane with! My case was getting heavier and heavier by the day!
Now, Cha Am itself has not got many interesting tourist areas, but Hua Hin and the Palace mentioned earlier are nearby, which is another story, but this review is based on Cha Am itself!

SUMMARY

Lovely people, terrific restaurants dotted everywhere. Cheap and cheerful!
You will find it hard to spend all your holiday money here!

Oh, and take an empty suitcase with you for all the goodies you can bring home!

Summary: Thai people must be the friendliest nation! Cha Am, only its beaches let it down!