Many Priyapat dwellers commute, heading for Bangkok on Friday and returning
on Sunday night or Monday morning to work. For expatriots and spouses,
things to do and places to see in Rayong and outlying areas. Children
can go to local international schools, The
St. Andrews and The Garden International School in Baan Chaang.
For higher education, The Asian University is half an hour away on Route
331 or the Utapao Road. Thai schools include the St. Joseph's School
on Sukhumwit Road opened to children of all faiths.
For transportation
to Bangkok and other cities, by plane
from Utapao is the fastest and shortest. Utapao also offers daily
flights to Samui and Phuket, Samui and Singapore, Pnom Penh, Vientiane,
Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
A
train departs every afternoon from Plu Ta Luang in nearby Sattahip
arriving at Hua Lampong in Bangkok, whence other trains can be taken to
all points. A bus
departs
from its station every half-hour daily and arrives at Mo Chit in Northern
Bangkok with connections to the North and Northeast. Or, take a
bus to the eastern station of Ekamai. By bus or by car, the beaches
of Rayong, Chantaburi and Trat are within easy distance. From there
are boats and ferries to the islands with their beach-side tourist accommodations.
Golf enthusiasts will delight in the many golf courses in the vicinity.
For evening relaxation, two drive courses are busy nightly on the main
Sukhumwit Road. New nightclubs and western dining places have opened
up in Rayong City and Baan Chaang, with Italian and French fares available
in local dining places.
Not least
in entertainment are local beaches of Rayong with savory delights sold
along both sides of the street. Seafood restaurants offer endless
varieties of exotic dishes. Other, such as specialty Phad Thai
Restaurant, populate roads further inland. Close by Priyapat are
restaurants featuring exquisitely delicious dishes of fried whole fishes
doused in unique sauces, spicily stuffed soft-shelled crabs, seafood fried
in hot paste, among the range of delicacies served under pine trees with
rolling whispers of breaking waves. Food in Rayong is by far better
than in Samui and light-years better than in Phuket. |