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dirtydog

Sri Racha isn't really your average tourist destination as it really hasn't got a lot going for it, a few Thai seafood restaurants, a Robinsons, a ECC if you want to be a TEFLer, a couple of hotels like the City Hotel and Laem Thong Serviced Apartments, and of course as with any Thai town a few Temples, got to admit I don't know the name of this one, its just as you enter Sri Racha from the Pattaya direction it's up on the mountain on the right, the entrance is between the ESSO garage and the Jet Jiffy petrol station.

The road up the mountain has a sheer drop off to one side with no barriers so probably not a good idea to try it after a few beers, but you do get a good view, here's a picture of Sri Racha and the bridge to Koh Loi (Koh Loy Temple/Sri Racha).



Koh Loi is probably worth a visit as it has some turtles plus the temple stuff although weekends it is packed

Getting near the top of the mountain it has some pretty good views of Sri Racha.



The Temple - Wat itself isn't very impressive but the monks houses were pretty good, most were built into the mountainside and each was different, this house was probably the smartest I reckon.



Nice views of Sri Racha Harbour and Koh Loi from his place.



A bit lower down the mountain and not so impressive was this monks house.



One of the shrines at the temple.



Theres 2 ways to get to the temple grounds and they don't join by road, the way I went it went straight to the top of the mountain, the trouble is most of the temple area is halfway down the mountain, here's some of the poxy stairs you have to walk down, and then walk back up to get to your car had to have a rest half way up



The only thing that Sri Racha is a tiny bit famous for is of course the Sri Racha fish sauce, quite a claim to fame I suppose if you like fish sauce, think they do chilli sauce as well.

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dirtydog

Here we are at the main temple, behind this building is a big gold stuppa* not sure of the spelling but a great big gold thingy that you can see from Sukhumvit Road, trouble is the fence and gate to get to the main building is locked so couldn't get to the stuppha.



Pretty sure its just to the left of the white temple building.



Another Buddha shrine that you can have a pray at.



Another shrine and some monks houses.



And of course the main farang type of thing in Sri Racha is suprisingly the Robinsons shopping mall, although they do have a computer shopping mall down the road, one of the Tuk Com shopping malls.

Bexar County Stud

Actually there is an enormous Assumption school (5,000 + students) in Sri Racha that employs a lot of farang English teachers. And there was plans to build an International school in the city, but I think that the economic crisis has put the kibosh on that.

ISE (International School of the Eastern Seaboard) is outside of town, although that's certainly not a TEFLer gig. 100K starting salary, or so I've heard.

There are quite a few farang restaurants down by the water, at least there was a couple of years ago when I was last down there. Not a bad place, Sri Racha IMO.

Wai Narm

Assumption College is a famous school with ex-massage parlor king and current hammer-wielding politician Chuwit as well as PAD leader Sondhi amongst its illustrious alumnae. It's one of those pseudo-Catholic schools where corporal punishment is doled out daily with delight. The farang teacher community is a relatively new thing for them, although their chintzy 25-30K/month salaries are as old as the hills. There's more than 30 of them there now, although 8 years ago, there was only 1.

ISE, is the reverse. It is a truly international school and is technically in Bo Win. Their teachers earn even more than what you suggest. The other international school in the area is being built and is scheduled to open later this year. It's a cooperative effort between the Japanese government and local Eastern Seaboard Japanese companies. It will be staffed exclusively by Japanese teachers with Japanese students their objective.

As for farang restaurants, there aren't any...but if Japanese or Korean is to your liking, there are loads of them in the city.

Bexar County Stud

Thaksin is also an alumnus. So what?

Corporal punishment, although technically illegal, is hardly restricted to Assumption in Thailand in case you didn't know. And actually, the first Assumption school opened in 1885 - in fact, Assumption are some of the pioneers of the so-called "farang teacher community." There are 14 schools in Thailand, not 30, and Assumption has been operating schools in Thailand for over 100 years. I teach at one that has been in operation for over 50 years.

English programs vary from school to school, as each operates more our less independently. Similiar to International schools, some of Assumption schools in BKK require their farang teachers to have teaching qualifications from their native countries, and pay salaries accordingly. And there are some Assumption schools who staff mostly non-native speakers. Like I said, it varies from school to school.

My school pays me 45K/year, + 10% annual raise upon contract renewal, plus yearly flight and Christmas bonus, which last year for example, came to over 80K in bonus money. Is this your idea of "chintzy?" Makes for a pretty comfortable lifestyle outside of BKK IMO.

In fact, their English programs vary from school to school. Ours is quite good, with high qualifications standards, but I don't doubt there are some that fall short of the mark. You'd be surprised how even high-paying International schools struggle with turnover and finding qualified teachers in Thailand.

Wai Narm

Toxic Shittywater most certainly did NOT attend Assumption College Sriracha, which is what I and others are discussing.

I never said Assumption College Sriracha is the sole provider of excessive discipline in Thai schools. It's just that one would hope and/or expect a school that charges significantly more than a government school to have a better track record of enlightened education over basically a free school. Sadly to the tuition payers, it certainly doesn't, though.

The number "30" I referred to was the number of farang teachers at Assumption College Sriracha (once again, that was what was being discussed), not the number of nation-wide Assumption schools. I hope you aren't as easily confused teaching as you appear to be here following the discussion.

and Assumption College Sriracha is about as far removed from an international school level as you can get without dropping a smidgen down to a public government school. Assumption College Sriracha is, as previously noted, primarily staffed by unqualified, borderline, and ECC-level instructors.

No, what I said was that the 25-30K a month salary that the farang instructors at Assumption College Sriracha (sorry, but there's that pesky on-topic reference again) are paid is chintzy. But then again, if you're only paid 45K for a year, I suppose they are actually getting paid more than you.

Now there's something you finally got right as international schools do struggle with finding and keeping the high caliber of staff they have, even when they are paid 135K/month base salary plus a whole slew of other benefits, (eg. 25K/month housing allowance) and even when both the husband and wife are paid that (international schools love husband and wife teaching couples). Despite all that, which would be an ECC-level teacher's wet dream, they still have difficulty keeping their staff happy. It's why the school administrators have to go on oversea hiring trips to find the quality teachers they need.

dirtydog

That Assumption school is a few hundred k baht per year for school fees, so should imagine they would pay proper salaries.

I only went there to take my son to some scout camp thing they had going, now thats a pretty massive place set up on big grounds, I used to go to some of the restaurants down by the sea near the harbour, only ever saw Thai seafood restaurants on the piers though, then again I aint going to drive 30 km from Pattaya to go to a farang restaurant in Sri Racha.

Bexar County Stud

They don't in fact charge that much, (a few 100Ks). You might have to pay key money to get in, but the tuition for the entire year should be around 50 - 60k.
Even if they did charge a lot, that money would certainly not be passed down to the farang teachers. It is a catholic school after all.

PeterP

My stepson is a border there, annual fees and accommodation are approx 120,000 baht. Pretty good value for what is a good school and keeps him away from the gangs in Pattaya.

Yes, we paid 50k key money and he had to pass an entrance exam.

It's huge, but pretty well disciplined. They do English Programmes but the school is certainly a Thai rather than International school.

Peter

Wai Narm

"Good school", of course, is subjective, but their history is objectively notorious for issuing corporal punishment to students, often excessively.

Ask your son about that. Perhaps he's heard of the teacher there that was eventually and reluctantly, by the school, released for breaking a student's arm in order to "teach him discipline."

Their English program is rather abysmal when the borderline and ECC-level TEFL'ers teaching it are considered.

Wai Narm

While what Assumption charges for tuition is steep (for what the students are given, but then again, S & M doesn't come cheap), the teachers' salaries don't reflect that as 25-30K/month is the norm.
Their own camp ground reflects the massive land-ownings they have in the city.

You are correct about the restaurants down by the water. I'm not sure what Bexar County Stud was referring to as there has never been farang restaurants down there.

Btw, the name of the temple you provided very nice photos of is Wat Khao Pakoo.

Thank you for them.

dirtydog

Thanks for that, shall add it to the initial post as I had no idea of the name of the Temple.

Robinsons has a couple of farang Thai style restaurants, I remember having an awfull 89baht steak in there one time, might have been one of the Thai chain restaurants though, but it was pretty dismal

Bexar County Stud

You referred to Assumption College, I thought you were talking about all the Assumption Colleges as a collective, since that's how the schools are often addressed. Also, you used the terms "one of them," "teaching community," them" again, it's not exactly clear what you are referring to.

You're right, Thaksin went to school in Chiang Mai.

45K, so horrible I agree. I'm glad it's not my only source of income.

There most certainly were farang restaraunts down by the water. For one, there was (or is, I haven't been there in a couple of years) an Italian place right across from the park that I ate at several times.