I did not know what to expect about Surat Thani, I could find hardly any info about it online. I was really hoping it would be close to the beach and on the map it looks like it is about 30 km away, but after driving around on our mopeds for over an hour we never found it.
Conner being silly in the songthew taxi on the way to out hotel
I am sure it is near, I can smell the ocean air and there are palm trees everywhere we are just gong to have to get a map or take a tuk tuk to get there. We rented mopeds for the first 2 days, but they were extremely expensive, we could buy our own moped for what it costs to rent one for 2 months. It is not a tourist town so the prices for short term rentals are actually a little more since there is no competition.
1 of 2 moped rentals in town
these boys kill me, they were meditating at the moped shop
We found Jarrett’s school the first day and then drove around trying to find a house nearby. It is about 10 km out of town and not really by anything, so we decided to come back to the city for now so the boys and I would have things to do while Jarrett is working and he could take the local transportation to work.
this is the university by Jarrett’s school that he will be teaching English at. It was outside of town surrounded by a beautiful jungle and palm trees. I would love to live out there if we can find a house to rent.
A lady that works at the university, who is from Texas as fate would have it, is meeting with us tonight for dinner to give us the inside scoop of Surat Thani.
My first impressions have been good. Everyone is extremely nice, since it is not a tourist town I don’t feel like we are looked at like a piece of meat. A man even woke up his sleeping baby just to tell us “hi”, and everyone keeps taking pictures of our children since I have not seen one other white person in 2 days! I am a little disappointed that we were not closer to the beach, if there is a way we can live there and have Jarrett commute we will do it, I hope to find out more from the lady tonight.
The city itself is amazing and has a lot of fun things to do. We rode around for awhile yesterday trying to find a hotel to live in for a couple of weeks that was in a good location that we would not need mopeds. We found the perfect one, it is across from the biggest night market in town and near the mall which has a play place and a Starbucks (not that I noticed). We can walk to the night market and take a quick tuk tuk to the mall. The hotel is only $13 a night and we have 2 beds, A/C, fast wifi, and a garage to park our car, but since we don’t have one the boys can play in it. We will just stay here until we can find a good house or apartment.
Conner ‘the flash’ running into the super fun 2 story place place
the boys were soo excited to be back in a city
Peyton fell on the way into the mall and scraped his leg badly, I told him he could get a dessert and he chose donuts
Magnum ice cream had a picture taking booth, and the boys were so excited to dress up like a king and take their pictures
Conner really wanted to hold the goblet-hehe
It feels good to be settled for a little bit, I am excited to have a new adventure and life here. And plus the amazing Thai islands of Koh Samui and Krabi are just a boat ride away, we hope to take trips on the weekends to visit them.
Yay! I’m happy to hear that things are going good so far and how neat about the lady going to help!! I know you will find the perfect home…hopefully right by the ocean too! the boys are just too much, so funny, and soo cute! I miss them soo much! Looks like there are many fun things for them to do, and yay for Starbucks for you!! That’s a bummer that the mopeds are so exspensive. I hope Jarrett likes his school and that goes well. Love you all so much and cannot wait to see what all you find out!
yes lamo about the mopeds, I REALLY love driving one around, we might just buy one. love you too
Best of luck on house hunting. I hope you find a great deal right by the beach. That would be sooo nice!!! Hopefully the nice lady can give you bunches of great tips about the area. I hope Jarrett likes his new school and everything goes wonderful for you guys !!!!
thank you so much Amy, we actually had an amazing time with our new friend and she had the best tips, I think we will be all settled very soon.
Love seeing your adventures! The kids look so old and sweet.:)
I know!!! what is happening to our babies?! get back in my belly! hehe
Hooray for Starbucks. the rest is of littleimportance. Ha After the boys meditation session, I!m sure all will go well.Conner makes an excellent king and tell Peyton I fall and no one gives me chocolate donuts. I want to come live with you. you have more fun! I don’t know if it will be possible to find a house as unique as the one you moved from but I pray you find the perfect one. I hope you are all happy with your new adventure and I send love to all.
i know about Starbucks, but I still have not actually got one yet! If $4 seemed like a lot in America, it seems like even more now that it is priced at 120 baht and we can all eat dinner for that much! I am going to treat myself sometime soon though:) I laughed so hard about you and the donuts, I will buy you some next time I am there when you trip:) i love you so much
Yay! looks good so far! Cant wait to hear more. Hope all goes well figuring everything out.
thank you so much Maile, are you getting so excited to come to Thailand too?!
sure am! hope we can meet up!
Great post, I hope you find the ocean soon, I’m sure your ‘lady’ will point you in the right direction! I love Conners stripey blue pants, very pirate-esq. Good luck with the house search, I know you’ll find something great!
thanks about the blue stripped pants, they are his 2nd favorite next to the fire pants. They are from mini Boden-I LOVE their shorts for little boys. I waited too long for the sale this year and they were all sold out, I needed to get him some more, they are getting holes in them:) and yes our “lady” was a HUGE help.
You’re wise to take some time to get your bearings before settling on a place. The south is amazing- good food, good beaches, good weather. Why not buy your own mopeds and sell them before you leave?
that is a great idea Robin and we are thinking about doing that. We are waiting to see where we live first though because they have a great songtheuw (sp.) service so if we are close to the route we will just use that, if not we will get a used moped!
Yippee!!! You made it safe and sound and it does sound like another great spot. Hope you find the ocean soon so the boys can run and be free
. The boys look so happy … Hopeful you will find your new family Robinson home soon!! Xoxo
i hope so too! we go to look at one on the river tomorrow so hopefully we can find one soon:) xoxo
Now that looks like a cool place to explore/live! Love the indoor play centre. Still cant believe how cheap the hotels are over there
And yeah the beach would be ideal.
Kyle (our youngest) was looking at your photos as I was reading this – “That looks like such a cool place to be, I must go there one time” – smart kid for his age…cause it so looks good!
that is so cute about your little Kyle, you should totally go to Thailand, its not that far from Australia:) at least you could afford a hotel!
I guess the boys were so stressed about the moped prices that they needed to meditate to calm themselves! I pray you find the perfect home, but more importantly, THE BEACH!! So glad you found a Texan to give you pointers. It sounds like you located a great place to stay in the meantime. Peyton certainly made a great choice of desserts ~ Granddaddy will be very proud & I would’ve chosen the same! Love the photo shoot of the boys being a king and Conner cracks me up with the goblet ~ Royalty in the making! Hmmm….Starbucks….I bet Jarrett had to point that out to you
Prayers for your new adventure and for finding the perfect place to live! Lots of love & hugs!
haha, yes on everything you said. We learned a LOT from our new Texas friend and I think we will find a great house, not by the beach, but she said she goes to the other islands on the weekends-woohoo, we will be doing the same:)