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Thread: Surin Trip

  1. #1
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    Surin Trip

    My parents and Grandad are on holiday in Thailand and I thought it was about time they stopped having fun at the beach and get to see some more of Thailand, so we went on a trip up to see my wife's family in Surin.

    We needed to travel in style so we hired a van....



    Yes, real quality, a Toyota Hiace thingy with the back seats taken out to fill up with all out shit, but still enough room to fit all the family, 8 of us, in.

    So we set off on the road to Surin, which kind of goes to Ayuthaya first, but we were supposed to turn off for Saraburi, but we missed the turn and my Dad decided to do a U-turn.....anyway, there ain't no U-turn to come back so we ended up going about 30 kms back in the wrong direction before we could turn back (and after a detour into a truck terminal for some unknown reason).

    Anyway, after a while we ended up in Saraburi where we went to the market and had some noodles, bought some crisps from the 7-11 and didn't take any photos. It was OK and there was a river.

  2. #2
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    Then we headed off again and drove past some fields and hills and things which we didn't take any pictures of. After a while we came to a big pond type thing....



    and there was a little park to stop at and have some more to eat...



    Amazingly they have little gnomes which look very lifelike and a little bit like my daughter.

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    Deciding not to go into Korat itself we stopped at the Korat Resort, which is just outside of the city and quite convenient if you're going on the road to Surin....



    Well, this was quite a nice big place with plenty of green fields and things around it. It had a driving range a small and not very well kept three hole golf course, Ostriches, a little park with excercise stuff and quite a nice swimming pool...



    It seemed reasonably well priced...a normal room was 900 baht including breakfast and was quite well sized. If you've got a family you might be advised to take on one of the bigger rooms at 1200 baht as they really are quite big and has a double bed and a sofa bed and is quite big really. I don't know who had the camera, but again they failed to take any pictures of these things. I feel that I have let DD and the side down by not showing any toilets at all, but they were quite nice and well, big.



    There is also a nice restaurant there...food was good and reasonably well priced and you got to listen to three very bored people sing Karaoke all night. The best was the guy, who also controlled the very advanced music system and sang all your favourite English songs without pronouncing a single word correctly. Anyway, my daughter enjoyed it and danced around a lot, my son just put flowers in his hair to look gay.

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    Breakfast was OK, but it was one of these set things where they manage to give your three drinks at the same time and everyone has to pass things round to get what they want, I much prefer a buffet myself - no real milk either and not enough toast, but OK.

    After that we swam again and then got on the road to Surin. We passed more fields and things and some animals and people, but took no photos of anything.

    About half way between Prakonchai and Prasat we take a right turning (....just at the junction here there is a Minimart owned by an Enlishman called Andy who seems a very nice guy and helped us find one of our hotels, anybody know him?.....) ....anyway after the right you go down a proper road for about 5 km, then you get onto the dirt track that leads to the village.....



    For any of you acid freaks out there I have fiddled with the colours of the above image and you are not having any kind of flashback

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    So here we meet some of the family...






    For some reason my parents didn't want to stay in the worldclass luxury of an Isaan village, so we headed off to the big lights of Surin to fingd a hotel. From the internet we'd found a couple to choose from, but we'd decided on the Thong Tharin which seemed to be the best, but the eggs seemed to be a bone of contention amongst many of the guests. Anyway with my excellent map reading skills we went round and round in circles and finally got there...



    The rooms were a little bit old, but at 700 baht a night it was a pretty good deal and it is right in the centre of Surin. I was informed that the breakfast was quite poor though and no-one even dare mention the eggs.

    Me and the family stayed in the village where the chickens kept me awake all night and on the second night I'm sure I had a rat scratching around near my head.

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    The next day was nice and cool so we took a walk around the village and rice fields....



    The one thing that i noticed had changed in the village (I lived there for 3 months about 4 years ago) was the number of cows around, there were only a few before, but now there was loads of them...moooooooo!!!





    My son likes to ride on motorbikes, so we sent him off for the day....



    No need to go to the shop, everything we need is in the garden...



    Here's something that might become interesting for the future in a Hillbilly kind of way....



    This bot of land here is on the edge of the village backing onto the rice fields. I'm guessing it's about 2 rai though I could be very wrong. Anyway, this is maybe where I'll start my own Hilbilly style building project, although I doubt It'll get going for a fews years yet.

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    Thanks to Andy the shopkeeper my parents were able to find a hotel in Prasat which is much nearer to the village then Surin. This was a new resort and we would have found it the first day had they bothered to put up any kind of sign showing that it was there....I wonder how much passing trade they are losing just by not having a sign...



    Anyway, the place is very new and very nice....at 750 baht a night it's quite expensive for the area, but i guess it will do good trade for all the farangs who have wives and girlfriends living in the area. Rooms were nice and it had a decent pool..




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    On the way back we did pretty much the same, but in the other direction.

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    Sounds like an excellent adventure with the NickA family! I have always wanted to go to Surin for the elelphant roundup.

    Where are your parents planning on visiting next?

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    ^I guess somewhere near the beach, so probably Cha-am, Hua-Hin, Pranburi or somewhere like that.

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    Well done Nick.

    Cute daughter as well.

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    Surin Trip

    Yes, trips up-country can be great fun. I've have a few up to Nakorn Phanom over the years, and each is memorable in its own way, for good or for bad. I particularly enjoy taking first-timers (to Thailand) up-country after maybe three days in Pattaya so they can appreciate the difference between the perceieved view of Thailand and the rural.

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    Good to see that you all had a good trip. Shame about the person in charge of the camera not doing their job. DD will 'have words' I'm sure...

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    Nice photos.

    You made it to the news letter. I wasn't good enough this time

    By the way NickA when is the baby due?
    I would say you look about 7 months along

  15. #15
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    Gee thats a bit harsh Squirrel.

    I'd say about 6 month

  16. #16
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    ^^You have the wit of a bargirl No, really, they used (when I frequented such places) to tell the same joke......every day...again......and again......




    ......and again

  17. #17
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    Hey, I really did make the newsletter.....eat my dust Squirrelsy

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    Nice photos.

    You made it to the news letter. I wasn't good enough this time
    my superior Phrae thread missed out too.
    Blatant favo0uritism yet the statistics speak for themselves.

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    Thailand Expat HermantheGerman's Avatar
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    Hi NickA


    First of all I have to apologize to you, I always thought you where some old looking fart!
    But you're actually a pleasant looking guy (don't worry I'am not gay).

    Where those Hotel prices walk-in prices or did you book it before?
    How much did you pay for the car?

    I'll be doing a Tour de Thai in December with my family. Planning on going North and South with e rented car (my wifes car is too old). The route will be something like this Bangkok-Sathahip-Bangkok-Ayutthaya-Nakhon Sawan-Chiang Mai-Chaing Rai-Phitsanulek-Bangkok-Chumpon-Nakhon Sri Thamarat-Krabi-Prachup khiri Khan-Bangkok-Sathahip-Bangkok.
    If anybody has suggestions about Hotels bring... them on....thank you.

  20. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by HermantheGerman
    If anybody has suggestions about Hotels bring... them on....thank you.
    You'll need a rest home after that journey.

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    You might find a hotel in Ayutthaya here

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    phanom Dong rak

    Not allowed to include image until 10 posts????



    Looks just like my in-laws place not too far away.
    Ging ampur phanom Dong Rak. Siculab village.
    Do you know it?

  23. #23
    Have you got any cheese Thetyim's Avatar
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    Hi Tayto, I see that was your first post.
    Are you the Tayto that lives in Chiang Rai ?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Dougal
    Where those Hotel prices walk-in prices or did you book it before?
    They were all walk in prices, but it was during the low season so expect to pay more during December. During November prices for hotels in Surin can quadruple for the elephant round-up.



    Quote Originally Posted by HermantheGerman
    How much did you pay for the car?
    Not sure exactly, but it was around 1,500 baht a day. I'm sure you can get it much cheaper, but my Dad likes to go through Avis for some reason.



    I'm just back from another trip to the Cha-am/Hua Hin area.....might be able to put some photos up in the next couple of days.

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    same, same

    Quote Originally Posted by Thetyim View Post
    Hi Tayto, I see that was your first post.
    Are you the Tayto that lives in Chiang Rai ?
    That's me.

    I am just back from a quick tour of your neck of the woods.
    Got some nice photos but not allowed to post for a while.
    Stayed in the Paradorn hotel, great value at 350 baht a night including breakfast( soup rice, tea and toast).

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