Moving To Koh Samui With Children

[Nadica]

I was wondering if I could find some information about how would be the life in Koh Samui with two children.

Is the island safe place to move to with family?

Are there reliable babysitting services on the island?

I have checked that there are some nice schools but I have no precise idea about. My children are at the age of 1 and 3 years.

How does the medical system works?

Any information will be very appreciated.

[head1]

Hi i am living on Samui. First of all, are you Thai ? or are you married to a Thai ? If yes then it will not be easy but it will be do able. If no then it will be very hard for you to live with 2 small children on Koh Samui. There are private schools, here the at the cheapest private school you are looking at about 130000 baht a year for 1 child. Baby sitting here is rubbish. The best bet there is to send the to a nursey at a private school. That is about 8000 - 9000 baht a month for 1 baby up to 5 years. ( Not including transport to the nursey ) . You will need private Health insurace for you and your family ( if they do not have thai passports ) Aagin for a family of 4 with bupa looking at about 30000 - 35000 a year for the family maybe more. Also if your children dont have thai passports you are looking at visa runs very 3 months ( again more money and not cheap for 4 people ). To raise children on Koh Samui is not a cheap thing to do. Will you be working here ? I dont know where you are from but if i was you i would think long and hard about moving to Koh Samui or thailand in gernal with a western family. If you have a thai wife then it makes it alot easyer but still not very easy. If i had a wife from another country i would never ever think about living anywhere in thailand. Dont forget the friendly smiles you see from ' locals ' as a tourist is far from the truth when you are living here. Living here is a different world to being on holiday here. Think hard and make sure you know what is best for your family.

[Lite Beer]

Moved to the Samui Forum.

[Lite Beer]

You are an Italian Family with two small kids.

You have no work set up and would like to start a business but do not seem to have any ideas on how to go about it.

You also seem a bit vague on Visa requirements.

Think long and hard before making a move.

Do all the research you can.

As said, private schools are not cheap and neither is health insurance.

Whatever you do you will have to do 90 day border runs for quite a while.

[dmax]

in my view its prob one of the safest places to live with children in thailand. go stay for a month then get the feel of it.

[lazygourmet]

in my view its prob one of the safest places to live with children in thailand. go stay for a month then get the feel of it.

... until the kids meet meth-head friends and start to ride motorbike!

[Rooo]

... until the kids meet meth-head friends and start to ride motorbike!

So what are parents for? Let's not even start on that line. What an absolute silly comment. ( Not from a mod, but from a parent ).

[Nadica]

Non of us is Thai national, we all have european passports, we have visited Samui on several ocasions and we do know the schools and med insurance costs. We have already evaluated the possibilities for opening a business there and already made several appointments with consulents about the immigration requirements we must perform.

We need to understand and find a way to be able to manage our business and in the same time to have peace of mind that our children are been well taken care of.

The older one will go to school, we have alrady filled out the application form and we know the costs, my biggest concern is if I would be able to find a part/full time helper to give me a hand with the smaler one.

Safety of the children for us comes first.

I am trying to get familiar with everything before making the final move.

As for being europeans we actualy live out of Europe in a quite third world country so I don't have any specific requirements that a European/US person would.

Are there other families with children in Samui that run their private buinesses that might give me some tips?

[South]

Non of us is Thai national, we all have european passports, we have visited Samui on several ocasions and we do know the schools and med insurance costs. We have already evaluated the possibilities for opening a business there and already made several appointments with consulents about the immigration requirements we must perform.

We need to understand and find a way to be able to manage our business and in the same time to have peace of mind that our children are been well taken care of.

The older one will go to school, we have alrady filled out the application form and we know the costs, my biggest concern is if I would be able to find a part/full time helper to give me a hand with the smaler one.

Safety of the children for us comes first.

I am trying to get familiar with everything before making the final move.

As for being europeans we actualy live out of Europe in a quite third world country so I don't have any specific requirements that a European/US person would.

Are there other families with children in Samui that run their private buinesses that might give me some tips?

I don't want to sound bad here but .... It sounds that you have not one iota of how life in Thailand is ... let alone Samui. Seriously, throw away your dreams, Finish off your working life, and then, and only then, when you have proper capital behind you 'think'about moving here. Otherwise you will lose/or are gauranteed to lose whatever you have invested here or strived for.

Just being a realist!

[maccaroni man]

At the end of the day life is what you make of it. I can understand your want for change while at the same time wanting to know that your children are cared for. It looks at though you have set a budget already, a full time live in or off care taker will cost anywhere from 7k baht up. I have never worried about the childrens saftey while at home and I do not allow them to ride on bikes or even play in the street but we have a large garden so...... my oldest son was just over 2 yrs when we first arrived and the one thing that stood out for us compared to other places we had lived was the lack of children to play with, children so we put him in school much sooner than i would have liked. Things have changed quite a bit in the last 10 yrs, I think there are mothers groups and play groups, there are many, many more things for western kids to today such as sailing, football, martial arts, music lessons and play gyms. If you are prepared to the financial risk and have a budget in place medical is good on the island, shopping is good, weather is good, no need to speak thai, it can be a fun, relaxing life, if you have the cash.

[Rooo]

I have added this LINK , as we have had previous discussion on this. Maybe combining the two will give all a better pic of what was talked about.

[womblejamie]

1)The island and the rest of Thailand I feel is as safe as many places to live with a family and children. The kids are a bit young at the moment, but like a previous poster said there are a variety of sporting activities like sailing, martial etc... to keep them entertained. Just putting them in a one of the schools or nurseries and they will soon make friends.

2)For babysitting services you are probably best off getting a recommendation from a school a nursery or even putting an advert up at one of supermarkets and interviewing the applicants yourself.

3)Medical system seems fine to me. I'm with Bupa and had to use the hospital once and it was all covered by my scheme except a nominal admin or something fee.

As for other posters telling you "don't do it", make your own choice. Thailand is a beautiful place, as you are aware after visiting and wanting to live here, but some people feel its is their duty to warn you, thinking that you don't have the intelligence to investigate yourself. Good luck in your ventures and hope all goes well for you.

[Boo]

I have a nearly 3 year old son & moved back to Samui recently. I found a good thai nursery where he is very happy & we have so far not had any issues. My husband is thai though so it does smooth the way somewhat but I would suggest planning to come for a year, ensure you have enough money & a back up plan in case it doesn't work out & just go for it. The kids are young enough for you to be able to go back to your own country wihtout making too much of an impact in them.

I would also advise placing both the children in some kind if childcare, the baby maybe just part time but as another poster pointed out, there is a lack of groups & places to go where the children can socialise so being in a nursery environment will be good for them to mix with other kids.

Finding reliable staff esp for childcare is an issue in Thailand due to lack of references & language barriers so just ask around, use your instincts & if looking after your baby make sure you are crystal clear on the rules.

[Nadica]

Thank you all for the tips, they gave me a good idea on what I can expect on the island. We will surely take all of this in consideration think all over again and do our best to make sure that we are ready for the move.

We live in the Caribbean and good child care is very difficult to find here too, not to mention the state of the private schools... st least here we are in an english speaking island so we can interact with the people.

I think that the language bariere is not something to underestimate for sure.

How about the medical staff in the hospitals? Are there many english speaking doctors?

How long would a average person need to get familiar with the Thai language and what is the best way to learn hai? I have checked that there are Thai language courses for adults

Should the children learn Thai in schools?

[head1]

You say you live in the Caribbean. I also lived in the Caribbean ( cayman islands ) for 8 months before i came to live on Koh Samui. Listen i made the biggest mistake of live live to leave the Caribbean to come and live in Thailand. Koh Samui is ok ( not a bad place to live ) but it is in no way better than the Caribbean.

* Living standards are much better in the caribbean ( on most islands ) than in thailand.

* The locals in the caribbean are more friendly and alot less racist than thai's in general.

* Better visa rules in the craibbean.

* Weather just the same

* Little daily things like getting repairs done ( fixing cars, fixing things wrong with your home etc ) much easyer to have done in the caribbean. You will get a much better job done there and the locals wont rip you off as much as they do here.

* On most islands in the Caribbean ( even the non english speaking islands ) people speak alot better english than in thailand. The english standard in Thailand is ok to get by on but very few thai speak enough for good conversations. In the Caribbean you will probley have locals islanders as friends as well as other expats . That is not the case on Samui Local Thai's and farangs are never real friends as farangs are generally looked down on by thai's.

There are many other things better about the caribbean. These are facts and i know alot of expats on Samui hate to hear anything bad said about the island ( for some reason ? ) But before people start moaning and telling go back to the caribbean, as i said Samui is not a bad place to live but it in no way is better than the caribbean. I live on Samui now becuase i have a family here and only for that purpose.

My advice to the OP is stay in the caribbean . The life style in the caribbean can not been found here, you will have to give up so much. Moving to Thailand from the caribbean would be a huge mistake for any westerner to do ( a even bigger mistake with a young family )

[maenam]

You say you live in the Caribbean. I also lived in the Caribbean ( cayman islands ) for 8 months before i came to live on Koh Samui. Listen i made the biggest mistake of live live to leave the Caribbean to come and live in Thailand. Koh Samui is ok ( not a bad place to live ) but it is in no way better than the Caribbean.

* Living standards are much better in the caribbean ( on most islands ) than in thailand.

* The locals in the caribbean are more friendly and alot less racist than thai's in general.

* Better visa rules in the craibbean.

* Weather just the same

* Little daily things like getting repairs done ( fixing cars, fixing things wrong with your home etc ) much easyer to have done in the caribbean. You will get a much better job done there and the locals wont rip you off as much as they do here.

* On most islands in the Caribbean ( even the non english speaking islands ) people speak alot better english than in thailand. The english standard in Thailand is ok to get by on but very few thai speak enough for good conversations. In the Caribbean you will probley have locals islanders as friends as well as other expats . That is not the case on Samui Local Thai's and farangs are never real friends as farangs are generally looked down on by thai's.

There are many other things better about the caribbean. These are facts and i know alot of expats on Samui hate to hear anything bad said about the island ( for some reason ? ) But before people start moaning and telling go back to the caribbean, as i said Samui is not a bad place to live but it in no way is better than the caribbean. I live on Samui now becuase i have a family here and only for that purpose.

My advice to the OP is stay in the caribbean . The life style in the caribbean can not been found here, you will have to give up so much. Moving to Thailand from the caribbean would be a huge mistake for any westerner to do ( a even bigger mistake with a young family )

interesting post.

[Birdman]

The only minor difference is, that the Caribbean is a cluster of islands with a wide ethnical range hunted and therefore characterized by many foreign occupants for centuries, while Samui is just a tiny place belonging to a rather homo gene, Buddhist Thailand...

[Nadica]

We live in Caribbean in Antigua. It is Very different than Cayman islands. Antigua is much rural and less developed country. People here tend to be very racist towards the foreigners/ or towards white peopole to be more precise.

We live here for 4 yaers alraedy and I honestly cannot say that I have ever felt myself welcomed.

I always thought that it comes because Antigua is a young country still creating its culture and from the recent slavery taht people say was very hard.

From our visit in Thailand I noticed the respect that people show you, and to be honest Koh Samui seems New York comparing to Antigua...

I believe that Thais are racist towards the foreigners specialy since is their land, thair country and they might feel disturbed by the fact that so many people move it to their homeland.

Here a person gets a clear message that is not welcomed.

I thank you all for the observations they are all surely of a good use.

[itishothere]

Good luck with your planning!!

Moving to any new country is always going to be difficult; no amount of research can really prepare you for what it is actually like to live there. Only time can do this for you. The best piece of advice I have seen is to have a back-up plan. Try to budget for going back 'home' and starting again if it all doesn't work. Samui is a great place to live, many of us are very happy here. But it isn't always right for everyone!