From Wikitravel

Chonburi (ชลบุรี) is a city in Eastern Thailand, two hours from Bangkok.

[edit] Understand

Chon Buri, in short "Mueang Chon", has been a popular seaside town of the eastern coast for a long period of time. It is also an agricultural site of economic plants such as sugar cane, cassava and Para rubber trees, as well as, a location of the Eastern Seaboard Development Project and significant industrial factories.

From historical evidence, Mueang Chon Buri has been settled since the Ayutthaya period. Originally, it comprised of many small towns such as Mueang Bang Sai, Mueang Bang Pla Soi, and Mueang Bang Phra. Later, King Rama V combined these towns together into Chon Buri province.

[edit] Get in

[edit] By car

There are many routes from Bangkok to Chon Buri as follows:

1. Take Highway No. 34, Bang Na-Trat to Chon Buri.
2. Take Highway No. 304, Bangkok-Min Buri, passing Chachoengsao province-Bang Pakong into Chon Buri.
3. Take the old route of Sukhumvit Road, Highway No. 3, passing Samut Prakan province to the intersection of Bang Pakong District. Enter Highway No. 34 to Chon Buri.
4. Take the Motorway, Bangkok-Chon Buri-Pattaya. Tel. 1193, 0 3839 2001.

[edit] By train

From Hua Lamphong Railway Station, there is 1 daily train running to Phlu Ta Luang Railway Station in Chon Buri. For further information, please Tel. 1690, 0 2220 4444, 0 2222 4334 or www.railway.co.th.

[edit] By bus

The best way to get to Chonburi is to get a bus from the bus terminal of the Bangkok Airport Suwarnaphumi. A free shuttle bus plies around the clock between the arrival terminal of the airport and the bus terminal. From the bus terminal it is 85 km to Chonburi center and takes about 1 hour and 10 minutes.

From the Eastern Bus Terminal (Ekkamai), there are many air-conditioned buses to Chon Buri from 5.30AM-9PM every 40 minutes, Tel. 0 2391 9829. Also, the second-class air-conditioned buses are provided from 5.30AM-9PM every 30 minutes. Tel. 0 2391 2504. Non air-conditioned buses leave Ekkamai every 30 minutes from 5AM-9PM. Tel. 0 2391 2504. Otherwise, there are also air-conditioned buses leaving the Bangkok Bus Terminal (Mochit 2). Air-conditioned buses take the Motorway from 6.30AM-6.30PM. Tel. 0 2936 2852-66 or www.transport.co.th.

Additionally, there are private buses departing from the Southern Bus Terminal. Air-conditioned buses to Pattaya run daily along the Bang Na-Trat route and stop at the Rot Rungrueng Company Limted’s air-conditioned bus terminal on Pattaya Nuea Road. They leave from 5.30AM–6.30PM every 2 hours. Tel. 0 2884 5582 or Pattaya Branch at Tel. 0 3842 9877.

[edit] Get around

[edit][add listing] See

• Thai Alangkarn Theatre - PattayaThe Extravaganza Show. presents Thai Performing Arts in a panoramic concept. located on km155 Sukhumvit Road (from South Pattaya to Sattahip, Thai Alangkarn is on the left). The entire project includes a prototype 70 metres Hexa Stage Theater with 2,000 seats in tiers, Cultural Rostrum and a Restaurant with 1,000 seating capacity. Open daily (except Wednesday). Regular show 18.00 hrs. ; tel. +66-38256 007 [1].E-mail:rsvnpty@alangkarnthailand.com

• Wat Yai Inthraram (วัดใหญ่อินทราราม) It is an ancient and significant temple of Mueang Chon Buri, influenced by the late Ayutthayan architectural style. The Ubosot was built in its Gunwale Curve base and inside displays mural paintings.

• Phra Phutthasihing Shrine (หอพระพุทธสิหิงค์) The shrine houses a replica of the Phra Phutthasihing cast in pure silver.

• Wat Thammanimit (วัดธรรมนิมิตต์) It was constructed in 1941 and is a place where the Phra Phutthamongkhon Nimit Buddha image resides. It is a concrete Buddha image decorated with mosaic tiles in the Boarding a Boat posture.

• Ang Sila (อ่างศิลา) is a seaside fishing village. Most villagers are skilled in making implements from granite. Items made are mainly mortar and pestle widely used in Thai households in the olden times and figurines of animals.

• Wihan Thep Sathit Phra Kitti Chaloem or Nacha Sa Thai Chue Shrine (วิหารเทพสถิตพระกิติเฉลิม หรือ ศาลเจ้าหน่าจาซาไท้จื้อ) It is a Chinese shrine. It is a 4-storey building decorated in the extraordinary Chinese architectural art and housing various Chinese deity images.

• Khao Kheow Open Zoo, ☎ +66 38 298-270. 08:00-18:00 daily. A huge zoo with about 8000 animals of 300 species. Night safari are given for 100 baht/adult or 50 baht/child at 19:00-20:00. 50 baht/adult, 10-15 baht/child.  edit

• Khao Sam Muk (เขาสามมุข) is a low hillock situated between Ang Sila and Bang Saen Beach, along the Road, facing the seashore. A habitat of scores of wild monkeys, the hill-top affords a panoramic view of the Bang Saen Beach.

• The Marine Scientific Institute (สถาบันวิทยาศาสตร์ทางทะเล) Situated in the Burapha University at Bang Saen Beach. It is a modern aquarium with realistic underwater environment.

• Bang Saen Beach, (หาดบางแสน) is a well-known holiday beach only 14 kilometres from the provincial town. In 1943, the government built the first holiday resort in the country here. It is now under the supervision of Saen Suk Municipal Administration.

• Laem Thaen (แหลมแท่น) is in the area of Bang Saen Beach near Khao Sam Muk. It is a cape reaching out to the sea where pavilions for relaxation and restaurants are situated. There are a lot of people coming to do fishing in the area.

[edit][add listing] Do

• Chonburi Annual Festival (งานนมัสการพระพุทธสิหิงค์และงานกาชาดประจำปีจังหวัดชลบุรี) This fair is held about mid-April during the Songkran Festival. Phra Phutthasihing, Chonburi’s principle Buddha image, is put in a procession around the city.

• Wan Lai Festival (ประเพณีวันไหล) is a Chonburi merit making day of the seamen on the Thai New Year during the Songkran Festival, organized during 13-20 April every year. There is alms-offering to the monks, ceremony of pouring water onto the Buddha’s image, sand pagoda making, splashing water and local games and sports in Chonburi. The areas where the Wan Lai Festival is organized are as follows:

• Pattaya–Na Kluea Wan Lai Festival and Na Kluea Kong Khao Fair (งานประเพณีวันไหล พัทยา- นาเกลือ และงานกองข้าวนาเกลือ) are organized on 18-20 April every year at Lan Pho Public Park, Na Kluea and Wat Chai Mongkhon in South Pattaya.

• Songkran Si Maha Racha Festival and Kong Khao Tradition (งานประเพณีสงกรานต์ศรีมหาราชาและงานประเพณีกองข้าว) is an ancient festival of the Chonburi locals. At present, Si Racha District still preserves this tradition and organizes it every year, during 19-21 April, to worship the gods who have been protecting them throughout the year. Activities comprise of the procession led by the elderly and various organizations in traditional Thai costume, a worship ceremony, spirit offering ceremony, Kong Khao tradition demonstration, local games, demonstrations, and sales of traditional desserts and local food.

• Ko Phra Sai Wan Lai Festival, Bang Saen (งานประเพณีก่อพระทรายวันไหล บางแสน) is the festival which has been conducted by the Saen Suk people from the past. Originally, it was called “Ngan Thambun Wan Lai”, a gathering of people from various villages to do the merit making in the Songkran Festival or the Thai New Year Day, taking place on 16-17 April, every year. Monks from every temple in Saen Suk sub-district are invited to perform the religious ceremony. There is merit making, food offering and bahting ceremony. Later, there are activities of sand pagoda making, water splashing, local games and sports, etc.

• Ngan Bun Klang Ban and Phanat Nikhom Basketwork (งานบุญกลางบ้าน และเครื่องจักสานพนัสนิคม) are traditions that have been passed on for a long period of time of the Phanat Nikhom people. They are organized on Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the first week of May or the Thai 6th lunar month. The locals will bring food, offer them to the monks, and dedicate the merit to the guardian spirits, enemies from a former life, the deceased relatives, as well as, to drive out bad things, to ask for rain during the season and to wish for abundant food and plants. After the religious ceremony, there is lunch, local games and a demonstration of Phanat Nikhom basketry making.

• Chonburi Buffalo Race (งานประเพณีวิ่งควาย) This is a long-established celebration of this most useful animal of Thai farmers. A fun-filled event, it is held not only in Chon Buri itself but also in Ban Bueng and Nong Yai districts. The beasts of burden are dressed outrageously or with admirable creativity by owners depending on their imagination. Assembled in the courtyard in front of the town hall, the buffaloes partake in racing, or take part in physical fitness and “fashion” contests.

[edit][add listing] Buy

Robinson's Department Store: The only department Store is a department store in Chonburi, Thailand that have alot of small shops inside. Either what you like to buy. They have a Tops food center in the ground floor and a 4 or 5 floors of Robinsons Store inside..Everything you will find in Bangkok is in there too

There are also many shops found around the street located around food vendors. They sell possibly anything for a reasonable price.

[edit][add listing] Eat

Thai cuisine is the national cuisine of Thailand. Thai cuisine places emphasis on lightly prepared dishes with strong aromatic components. Thai cuisine is known for being spicy. Balance, detail and variety are important to Thai cooking. Thai food is known for its balance of the five fundamental taste senses in each dish or the overall meal: spicy, sour, sweet, salty and (optional) bitter.[1]

There are many restaurants in Chonburi, Thailand:

• Nirvana Boutique Restaurant
• Tui's Place
• Laemtong Bangsaen
• Thai Cafe: Drinks
• Sriracha Lodge Restaurant: A restaurant with a view

Food Vendors, Street Food in Thailand

Street vendors offer food that is cooked naturally by near by residents and it is the true flavor of Thailand. Some restaurants tweek their recipe for tourists but if you want the true flavours of Thailand street vendors are recommended, and also it is very cheap and delicious.

Enterprising food vendors set up clusters of stalls, transforming major street corners, empty lots and alleys into lively food bazaars. Many are mobile, peddling from one area to another on tricycles and motorcycles with fixtures attached, or pushing mini-kitchens around on wooden carts. More modest are hawkers on foot, bearing filled baskets balanced on a wooden yoke upon one shoulder. Along the klong (canals) and waterways, sellers paddle their mini-shops from home to home, offering "boat noodles," curries over rice and an assortment of kanom (sweetmeats and snack foods).

Nibbling on street food is an inexpensive way to dine out in Thailand. You can fill yourself at lunch for 30 baht, and spend not much more for a hearty, well-balanced supper of several courses. A refreshing mid-morning or mid-afternoon snack can cost the same or less. But the low price does not indicate a low quality of food. In fact, a lot of street cuisine is very good and rivals some of the more refined gourmet restaurants, and the variety to choose from is immense, including many wonderful treats rarely seen on restaurant menus. Among these are traditional delicacies that are complicated to make and labour intensive that many street vendors are able to give owing to their specialisation in only one or a few items. They become experts at cooking their specialties, after having done it every day for years, and often become well known and patronised in their area of the city.

Bangkokians are known to travel great distances in horrible traffic to particular corners of the city, where an "aunt" or "uncle," "grandma" or "grandpa" makes the best of this or that. Some of the city's most affluent citizens can be seen mingling with the crowds or sitting next to labourers in tattered clothes on rickety stools around well-worn tables. The vendors need no advertising other than their products, as news of good food spreads quickly in a culture with a highly cultivated sense of taste.

[edit][add listing] Drink

There is a good nightspot in Chonburi called Buzz Killington's. It is great place for a pint of Guinness but be warned this place closes quite early. Look out for the owner Scott, an expat from Australia.

[edit][add listing] Sleep

Chonburi, Bangkoks nearest seaside town, is located on the eastern coast of the Gulf of Thailand, only 80 kilometres from Bangkok. The area boasts abundant natural resources, which are highlighted by delightful beaches, local colors, traditions, delicacies and fresh seafood. This is a popular resort among Bangkokians who seek the nearest escape from hectic weekly schedules as Chon Buri has something for everyone. In addition, Chon Buri is the centre of the Eastern Seaboard Development Project, with its industrial parks and fishing villages. Distances from Amphoe Muang or Chon Buri Town to other districts

[edit] Contact

[edit] Get out

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