Living In Ayutthaya

[Dea]

Im going to move to Ayutthaya with my husband in November. I went there before and the city was nice though for me seems too quiet.

For me which is gonna be staying home as a wife Ayutthaya is very quiet. Anybody has an idea what activity that expats wife can do there beside surfing the net and reading???

Maybe sumbody know if theres an expats wife club there?? considering theres many foreign company there.

Cuz for me working as professional there seems impossible also

[sbk]

Welcome to the forum Dea. Hope you can find some help here, I've only ever been to Ayutthaya as a tourist, which, I suspect may be a problem for you. Lots of short-term tourists but very few long-term stayers. I feel your pain

Wish I could help, but surely there must be some centrally located women around??

[Dea]

Thx Lind...

I looked around n around there for 2 months try to find space for me to fit in and a hole to dig in but so far no luck maybe most of the expats choose to stay at BKK instead living in Ayutthaya...

But hopefully in November I will get lucky to find friends that has the same life as me so at least i have company to shopping... doesnt have to an expats at least she can speaks English cuz my Thai language so far still very poor..

[seville]

Hi Dea,

Did you ever think about going to the Historical Study Center, National Muesum or the college. I would think something might spark an interest in you and I would think there would be some very interesting Thai people who speak very good English there as well. There are a lot of artists around that area and an Art School. We ended up going and seeing an interesting show from a young Thai artist who's subject was Street Dogs.

Taking a class might be tricky if your Thai isn't great, but you never know. Volunteering somewhere might be another way to spend your time doing something worthwhile that you find interesting. I love the energy of Aytthaya. I'm sure there is something there you can sink your teeth into.

[sylvafern]

If you are in Ayuttaya town, it's not that far from Bangkok - only 45 minutes to Laksi. If you have transport, there would be nothing to stop you travelling into Bangkok a few days a week to join groups. There are plenty of voluntary organisations where expat wives help out in North Bangkok which you could join.

[pinglady]

I know this is an old thread but I lived in Ayutthaya for 3 years (just returned to NZ unfortunately) so I thought you might find my two cents useful.

The ex-pat community in Ay is pretty small, and there aren't many farang women. I made some great friends with local thai women - but I met most of them through teaching (I taught adult classes). Generally speaking the locals are really interested in meeting foreigners and getting to know them, especially if you are a woman and behave politely! So if you have the opportunity to meet English speakers through some kind of volunteer work or something it should be quite easy to make friends.

If you find it hard to meet people I guess a good place to start is Soi Guesthouse, the road that Tony's etc is on. A hangout for back-packers, short term English teachers etc, but if there is anyone interesting around it is probably the best place to meet them. Tuk, who works at Moon Cafe and the new restaurant across the road (I forget the name), is lovely, and she can introduce you to lots of people. You are also sure to run into my good friend Oh who has been doing a bit of tour guiding and often hangs out there with her clients. She is very keen to make a new foreign friend now that I am gone!

As for freetime... well, we just got a Robinson's store, and the new Amporn mall should be open by now. I used to do aerobics in the evening and went swimming at the Grand Hotel (Krung Sri also has a pool and gym). Apart from that it was mostly just eating! Luckily Ay has fantastic riverside restaurants, boat noodles, khao tom, japanese and korean restaurants, seafood, traditional snacks etc. And of course, Major Cineplex is just 40 minutes away in Rangsit.

Good luck, I hope you enjoy Ay. The people are generally middle-class so quite well-educated but not hi-so, and most of them haven't come across too many foreigners before so they are really interested and friendly. I found it easy to make genuine friendships there.

p.s re: transport, I'm sure you'll figure it out but the mini-vans are convenient, leave every 15 - 20 mins to Rangsit (40 mins), Victory Monument (1 - 1.30 hours) and Pinklao Sthn Bus Terminal (2 hours)

[Dea]

I really appreciate alot for all the suggestion that had been posted here..really helps me alot and make me relieve that it wont be hard finding sumthing to do there...

Looking forward to go back there again next month...!!