Welcome to Saraburi

Well ladies and gentleman this is it. Saraburi in all it's mediocre glory. Sure it does not have the beaches of southern Thailand or even the mountains of the north, in fact there are little to no reasons for anyone that does not live here to visit. No fancy malls, grand palaces, or places to pet and see exotic animals. For all intensive purposes Saraburi contains zero tourist attractions. What it does have though is a large amount of middle class Thai people living day to day life the only way they know how .... simply Thai. That is to say Saraburi is filled with open air night markets and countless street vendors lining the streets day after day, rain or shine. Saraburi is the place to go if you to get away from the tourist industry in Thailand, a place to get a distinct, and sometimes offsetting, but more often refreshing, taste of what real life is like in Thailand. Not to say that the beaches of the south or mountains of the north are by any means fake Thailand, but they are heavily influenced by tourism and in most cases cater to the western traveler. Not the case in. Saraburi. Most people that live here have only seen a hand full of farangs, or western foreigners, and there is still a novelty involved in ever seeing one.

It is not possible to walk down the street in Saraburi without getting a few interested stares. Especially from children who honestly look at you like you were made of candy with their mouths half open and eyes wide, no one can stare like a little kid that is really probably seeing their first white person. To be honest people in Saraburi are fairly excited to see farangs do anything and smile and laugh when we attempt the simplest tasks. Who knew a white person could ride a motor bike or play soccer? I can't explain the looks I received the first day I walked on to the pool deck of the local swimming pool, lets just say everyone stopped what they were doing to check out how and what I would do when I jumped in. Now this probably sounds less than fun always being stared at like some sort of zoo exhibit, but that is just it, they stare until the realize you are just like them, which takes about two weeks, and then they become some of the warmest and most accommodating. people I have ever come across. In the south and the north a white person is a tourist passing through, more of a something than a someone, and this is true of all tourist areas it seems you become a walking currency symbol.

There are few to zero tourists in Saraburi on any given day, maybe catching a bus or a train. It is when you stick around here for more then a week that you are treated like a member of the family. The staring does not stop, nor does the amazement that you know how ask for a piece of chicken, or say correctly and pay 25 baht, and how could it untill you have met all 600,000 people that live in Saraburi. You will still get the stairs, giggles, and simles but they are friendly and warm and mean little more than that there is a language barrier that can only be broken by well smiling and giggling.

This picture is what you would see entering. Saraburi. from Bangkok. The off ramp turns straight in to the main street that goes through the city and cuts it in half. It is small and simple but if you know where to look Saraburi is that hidden gem that most people never find when they travel. It is about an hour and a half from Bangkok, so far enough from the main city to get away from the hustle a bustle of city life, but close enough that you are not living in a bamboo hut showering only when it rains. It takes about twenty minutes to drive from one side of the city to the other and in every directions is beautiful countryside. Much of it farmland used for rice, raising cattle, and chickens. On that note very quickly who knew best fried chicken on the entire planet is made in Thailand, the best I have ever had at least .... by far. The two ladies that make it set up their stand on the street heading from the main street to my house and the fact that their chicken is amazing and they never stop smiling makes it tough to walk past everyday without stopping. Just one of the many examples of what makes Saraburi special, more of which I hope to share while I am here.

This is the street that takes me home every day. The red busses are the city busses and the white one is an ambulance heading back to the hospital which is just outside of this picture. Yes, there are that many motor bikes parked on this street at most times.

This is the outside market that takes place every other day and is about a ten minute walk from my house. I recently found a guy that steams whole redfish and puts them in to a kind of spicy salad. Delicious and supposedly he catches them an hour or two before the market opens.