Hi All,

Nice little website and forum you've got here! My name's Matthew. I'm a 31 year-old American ESOL teacher (CELTA and SIT TESOL qualified, starting an M.Ed soon, no longer just a backpacker kru ) with about 5 years of BKK teaching and living under my belt (+ almost a year teaching/and then doing tsunami relief work in Sri Lanka before I hit these shores) I've got a strong connection to PKK/BS/BSN: I'm legally married to a girl from the Baan Thammarat-Klongtoey side of BSN (signed the papes last March) and we've finally got a wedding organized at her home for this April 24th. She comes from the Cherdchoochawalit Clan - if you drive through BT-KT they're the ones with the big orange house with a little shop out on the porch (that's the flagship house, anyway).

So I thought I'd introduce myself here. We plan on spending a handful of years back Stateside before moving back here (perhaps there - BSN, or nearby, or perhaps Hua Hin if we have a kid and decide to do an international school thing but still be close to the Grands etc.) Not sure.

Well...where to begin. There's a lot to ask, learn, share, people to meet. As for the upcoming wedding, we've reserved some of the last rooms at Coral for my folks and brother...we're just getting invites out so we'll soon know how many BKK friends to expect, and decide where, if anywhere, we'll put them up. I may be back on the site in the near future looking for rooms and asking tons of questions related to wedding accom. etc. etc. Of course they'll be 500 or so Thai family there, mostly sleeping on the many floors of the many family houses in the village. Which is just fine for lots of my friends as well, so...we'll see.

I've been down there maybe ten times over the last 4 years, but never really had a good chance to explore the surrounds all that much. I mean in my own way...been on lots of trips with the fam, waterfalls in the back of pickups, beach trips, errands, etc. but never just had free time to get to know the place in the meandering yet thorough way that works for me. I hope to get a chance soon, especially if I can manage to buy a car of my own at some point soonish.

Anyway...cheers to all, thanks for the site and the forum. I hope to contribute and enjoy it into the future. BTW, I've been a member of an active Thailand forum for teachers, ajarnforum.net since I started, and have been both a regular and a moderator over there. Essentially my whole Thailand life is laid bare on there if anyone's curious...as it happens, plenty of pics and even vids of trips to BSN during Songkrans and family trips etc. Perhaps in the future I'll post some links here just for giggles. I go by Matthew on there. Creative, I know.

I'll also be back with many other queries not related to weddings; schools around BSN, things the community of farangs gets up to, business opps and land/house buying among others...

Thanks
Matthew

Welcome to the board, feel free to post anything interesting on the area here. Hopefully meet up at one of the local watering holes one day!

^ Thanks a lot for the welcome!

Question:

Does anyone know if there is another resort/hotel/guesthouse pretty much next to Coral? I've booked a few of the last rooms available at Coral in April, and I'm looking for an 'overflow' place preferably within walking distance. I've only been down there once, and I remember there being at least one place in either direction? Just next door? But memory fails. And I think Suan Luang Resort was just up the road?

Thanks for any and all feedback. I'll keep checking out the website, which I think by itself may clear this up. Sunrise also looks very nice but I'm hoping to keep everyone in one tight group.

Cheers all.

iTalay is next to the Coral, they have better rooms for better rates there also!

Great, thank you very much for that info. That's exactly what I was looking for!

I also found the maps of the BS area and BS town. Also quite helpful. Cheers.

I can't seem to find iTalay's contact info. I'd be grateful if there's anyone out there who might be able to help me out with this. Cheers again!

Oops. Spoke too soon. There it is, right on the website there, in the Accom. section. Who'd a thunk it!

Well, they must be pretty decent then! I'm just about to call down there. Cheers for that.

Coral's prices are really high. You can get great places in Phuket for 2850 baht!

Yes the Coral, like most other large hotels, over inflate their prices during peak periods (Chinese New Year).

Sure, but two weeks after Songkran, in the hot/low season? Just seems excessive. I figure they've got such a good hold on a niche market maybe (French uninterested in major tourist junk) they could sustain this. But then I usually fall back on the fact that in Thailand market forces and business decisions don't always have that precision look about them like they do in the cradles of capitalism. That, and the fact that I don't really know a thing about the economy of tourism anyway (though I hope to, someday).

Hey, thanks for the continuing info.

Do you own a GS/bar/restaurant business down there yourself, Buksida?

Nope, just a very regular visitor to the area.

Hey, cool...

...pretty slow forum y'all got here.

Slow...but good!

It reflects the pace of life in Bang Saphan!

Cheers Caller.

I'm looking forward to living that life sometime in the future.

Hi I am richard and new to the forum but post on several Thai and UK forums

I live in Hua Hin and a village 70 klics north east of Khon Kaen and have been in Thailand now 9 years plus

I find overlaping forums can be useful at times when members want information about other parts of Thailand. Hope I can contribute

Cheers

Hi Richard. I, too, post on a few forums. They are all helpful in their own way.

I really like Hua Hin. We've got relatives there and try to drop in whenever we can.

Sounds like the recent 'Fringe Festival' was a success. Good news.