Chanthaburi / Koh Chang, Thailand
The importance of fruit to Chanthaburi is recognised in the decorative street signs that can be seen in and around the Chanthaboon old town area. The signs also depict the rabbit emblem of Chanthaburi.
The name Chanthaburi translates as ‘moon city’. In Thai folklore there are stories about the ‘Rabbit on the Moon’ because if you look closely at a full moon, you may be able to make out the outline of something which looks similar to a rabbit or white hare. With Chanthaburi being the ‘moon city’ the rabbit has been adopted as an emblem of the province and appears on some street signs.
Chanthaburi is also famous for its gems and Chanthaburi Rubies in particular, are of a very high quality. A lot of buyers come to Chanthaburi because of this and there is a big gems market in Chanthaburi city.
You do need to be careful though, as unscrupulous dealers might be tempted to sell you a piece of coloured glass, whilst claiming it to be a ruby, emerald or sapphire!
My wife is from Chanthaburi so we do spend a lot of time here with the family and this was the case on our recent visit. We were based in Tha Mai District and from there, set off on day trips and also went to Koh Chang for a few days.
On a couple of occasions, we went to the local beaches with Laem Sing and the slightly smaller Ao Yang the most popular. These are Thai style beaches backed by lots of restaurants which stretch from the road to the trees which offer the locals some shade at the edge of the beach.
The Thais go to these beaches to eat seafood in a cool setting rather than to sunbathe, but there are deck chairs and tables available and you can hire canoes to paddle out to nearby islands.
Wind-surfing and Kite-surfing are also very popular sports for the locals.
You don't see too many westerners here but there are lots of hotels and bungalows of various sizes sprouting up and I checked out nearly all of these when searching for availability for a few days for my family.
The local government are in the process of building promenades with nice street lighting and it is clear that this is an up-and coming destination which to date, does not really feature in travel brochures.
There are a number of waterfalls and national parks nearby and on another day we went to a favourite of ours which is Nam Tok Phlio National Park (Nam Tok means waterfall).
We drove a little way up the mountain before entering the National Park. Not too far from the entrance is a picnic area where you can relax and there is a really nice pool area between rapids, where we swam amongst all the thousands of carp that are there.
The fish just swim around you, you can buy some green shoot type food and if you hold it in the water by your legs you will see a feeding frenzy take place around you.
There is also a moss-covered Chedi here which is also very popular.
We went to my favourite temple in the area called Wat Khao Sukim. It is a stunning temple and museum perched on the top of a very big hill which affords stunning views over Chanthaburi. To reach the temple we had to park the car then sit in little carts which are winched up the side of the hill about 100 metres on tracks.
The majority of temples you see in Thailand are decorated with lots of gold and occasionally coloured glass and sometimes they might be completely white, like 2 temples I went to in Nan province and Chiang Rai province.
In Chanthaburi there is an enormous temple that is actually blue and white with thousands of ornate tiles, called Wat Pak Nam Khaem Nu.
The temple is really stunning and great to visit, especially as it is so different to any other temple you are likely to come across.
Like most other provinces in Thailand, you normally only see Buddhist temples (Wat), though there are some Mosques in the far south.
A striking landmark here in Chanthaburi is the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, built on the site of a former Catholic church, which was actually established by some Vietnamese migrants. It took a few years to build, with the foundation stone laid in 1906 and eventually received Cathedral status in 1944.
The Cathedral is well worth a visit and is quite stunning.
Koh Chang is an Island in Trat province and we decided to spend a few days there.
We hired a mini bus to take us from Chanthaburi to Koh Chang and it took just over an hour to get to the Car Ferry Port and within 10 minutes we were on the ferry. It only took about half an hour for the ferry to get to Koh Chang so we were soon back on the minibus.
We headed for White Sand Beach because I have two small daughters and wanted things like supermarkets and restaurants to be easily accessible and there was certainly plenty of everything along the road parallel to White Sand Beach.
The beach was very clean and the water was very calm. Even walking out up to my chin I could still see clearly the sea bed and my girls delighted in chasing the schools of fish swimming close to the water’s edge.
We have now been to Koh Chang a few times and even after a storm the night before, it still seems to be clean and calm the following morning!
They loved Koh Chang and we shall definitely return again.
Koh Chang is also the gateway to a few more neighbouring islands such as Ko Mak and Koh Kood, which remain fairly quiet except for a few small resorts and a couple 5 star hotels.
Not too many tourists come to Koh Chang, so if you are looking for somewhere a bit different to the beaches and islands in the south, this is an excellent alternative.
These islands also give you easy access to Cambodia, as Cambodia has her own islands next to the Thai islands.