Matt's Town: Paknam, Samut Prakan

By Matt

After saying goodbye to Shelly and the other teachers, I piled my luggage into a cab and set the coordinates for 35 kilometers south of Bangkok to my town of Paknam.  The other new teacher, Alyssa, rode with our school “representative”, Kai, another English teacher from the States that has been at my school for over a year. 

Our journey took about an hour to the townhouse.  We pulled up and I immediately realized that the area/townhouse was nothing like the photos provided on the website.  (I had prepared myself for this already, but I think Alyssa was overwhelmed).  The neighborhood was dark, dirty, and smelled like the inside of a tuna can. 

We walked into the townhouse and were immediately greeted by a Thai family in the kitchen.  I wasn’t sure if these people were the live-in maids or we were picking up the keys to our place from them, but it soon became clear that the older Thai guy was actually one of our roommates.  Interesting.  We proceeded upstairs to check out the available rooms and Alyssa and I flipped a coin for the room with windows on the 3^rd floor.  I won and schlepped my bags up to my new digs.  The townhouse has four floors, 6 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a full kitchen, and a living room with satellite TV that even gets ESPN, Fox, etc in English.  Schweet.  There is also a "roofdeck" that has been inexplicably closed off with a roof and a mosque next door.  The call to prayer five times a day has been an adjustment, but the Muslim food nearby is a welcome addition.

The clever sign above the door reads "Home Sweet Home"

View from the "roofdeck" towards the next door mosque and Bangkok in the distance.

My new pad

Dinner was at the pork noodle soup stand on the corner, which also happens to be on the 2^nd busiest street in town.  The pollution, loud cars, and stray dogs did nothing to help Alyssa’s concerns, but I had a feeling that seeing everything in the daylight the next day would help. 

The next morning, we joined up with Kai and Richard, a 45-50 year old Brit that has set up camp in Paknam for the last 18 years.  Richard arrived in Thailand on an around the world trip and was planning to spend a week teaching at my school (his family is friends with the school owners).  18 years later and he’s still at the school performing various functions while running a web design company on the side.  It’s rumored that he is partially responsible for getting the internet setup in Thailand and after viewing his websites and blogs, I wouldn’t be surprised.  We headed off to check out the riverfront area a few blocks away that also serves as the welcome point to Paknam.  There is a small replica of Big Ben next to the adminstration buildings and a short walking path along the Chao Praya River, the same river that flows through Bankgok to the north (see pics of both below).  We then headed over to the local Tesco/Lotus (think Walmart, but nicer) to buy school supplies and housekeeping things for the townhouse.   




Little Big Ben, brought to you by Seiko



I'm pretty sure most of the fish in this river have two heads.

There is a night market filled with great street food options (see pic below), and a brand new gym three blocks from the townhouse with a 25m outdoor pool.  The gym charges almost $70 USD a month, but the rich folks in the area have no alternative…..exercising outdoors here is a one-way ticket straight to lung cancer.  Other pluses include the short commute to school, a driving range, and the nearby proximity to Bangkok.  There is a nearby crocodile wresting farm and the “Ancient City” which is a large park with replicas or actual relics from Thailand.  I’m told calling it a miniature park is unfair.  Shelly and I will have to check it out in the near future because I understand it’s one of the few, if not only, green spaces nearby.



The night market in central Paknam has lots of great food options such as....

a tough call between the steamed crap and shark-fin soup.  this menu was actually made by one of my 7th graders for our food lesson.  and yes, you can unfortunately find shark-fin soup here.

There is little else to say about this place.  Thankfully, Paknam is much less scary in the daylight after our first impressions.  However, this is still a fairly poor and industrial area.  Shelly clearly has the better location in my opinion and we’ll attempt to spend more time in her little town....