Greetings from Rayong

It is now four days since we moved from Minburi to Rayong. We are just starting to get on top of the unpacking, and it will probably take us a year before we get around to removing everything from boxes. The move itself turned out to be more stressful than I anticipated, and it is not something that I want to go through again in a hurry. Oa spent weeks preparing for our change of location, everything was packed and ready to go, but things still ended up being a bit messy on the day. It turned out that we had too much stuff to fit into one removal truck, and in the end we had to hire two trucks.

The moving day was nothing like how I’d planned it. I’d this image in my mind of arriving in Rayong by noon, so that we could spend the afternoon on the beach, but we didn’t arrive until early evening. By that time we felt too tired to do much of anything. I’d been looking forward to visiting a beach restaurant to celebrate our first day in the new house. We did go, but we were all too sleepy to enjoy it. I knew beforehand that there was little chance of reality matching my plans, but it was still a bit of a disappointment when it didn’t.


My First Burst Tyre

On Sunday I experienced my first ever burst tyre. I taught myself to drive a few years ago on the back roads of Lopburi, so I’ve got huge gaps in my driving knowledge and this includes how to change a tyre. It happened while I was driving down towards the beach on a road that is full of potholes. I just heard a bang and the car started to wobble a little bit – I didn’t know what happened initially. I managed to find the spare tyre and tools in the back of the car. I tried to look as if I knew what I was doing, but Oa and Timmy weren’t fooled. Luckily a passerby, who did know what he was doing, was able to spot my ineptitude and changed the wheel for me.

Mae Rampheung Rayong

Evening Walks on the Beach

I moved my family to Rayong, so that I’ll be able to go walking on the beach in the evenings. It is a selfish reason, but I need to be able to exercise outdoors after a day working away on the computer. I’ve been able to go on a walk the last three evenings, and it has been absolutely wonderful. The nearby beach at Mae Rampheung goes on for miles, and I’ve been walking for an hour and a half. It’s all sand, so I’ve been able to do this in my bare feet. I finish my walk off with a quick dip in the sea – pure heaven.

7 Replies to “Greetings from Rayong”

  1. Wow, that sounds awesome Paul! What a paradise it must be to go for beach walks and swims every day. Glad you survived the move, that’s never a pleasant process…

  2. Rayong has gone downhill rapidly. I spent 2 weeks there last year and was accosted by ex-pats trying to sell their delapidated and neglected businesses. It’s turned into a biut oif a shithole, sadly, as it was once a nice place.

  3. Paul, great to hear you made the move, despite long day and blown tyre. Never experienced one of those myself (touch wood) but always think how scary it must be, especially at high speed, when I see shredded rubber littering the highway. Best of luck settling into your new digs and surrounds.

    1. Thanks Snap, the burst tyre wasn’t as bad as I’d been expecting but luckily I was driving slowly at the time. It is now 10 days since we moved here, and the benefits of the change are becoming more obvious. I love my walks in the evening on the beach – it is like being able to go on holidays for a couple of hours each day.

  4. You told me that it stuffed the feet up, i would l8ve to go to forrest temple if you can spare the time, i will buy you a new pair of shoes for beach walking for your troubles pretty please, have just starting to recover from bike mishap and looking to do some miniful mediti8n to help me along ,did you like your mediti8n canddle thanks paul

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