A Weekend in Chantaburi
Despite studying gemology for three months I’d not yet had the opportunity to go to Thailand’s most famous gem trading spot in the south of Thailand. Tik drove myself Paul, Pascal and Pascal’s girlfriend Anne there on Saturday.
We spent the night in a cosy hotel next to the river and were located in walking distance from the market centre. Walter, a gemologist at AIGS and his partner joined us in the evening and we went to ‘The half-moon bar’. We had a lot of whisky and were pretty dehydrated by the end of the night.
The following morning we accompanied Paul and Pascal to the gems market. I was suprised by how unlike a market it actually was. The day began with a heavy downpour which must have discouraged a lot of traders. There were no stalls but numerous people walking around, flasing gems from their pockets. Paul settled himself a a traders table, merely a table which attracts gem sellers like a shit does to flies. Immediately Paul was surrounded by Thai dealers, each shoving stones onto his table. It seemed a real hassle and Pascal pointed out a few stones which were obviously fakes. Perhaps unsuprisingly when a Thai sat down on the adjacent tables he was generally left in peace.
We returned Sunday afternoon, stopping for dinner in Pattaya.
