Hi ,

We are thinking about moving to Surat this year ( going for a holiday there next month to have a look around ) I have been living in BKK for almost a year and my GF has studied and lived here for around 10 years but now she would like to be closer to her family in Nakon sii thamarad plus we feel maybe Surat is a better place for business as in BKK everything has been done a milion times over .

I have seen from previous posts there in little in the way of Falagn style houses and no condos so that will be a challenge in its self but i want to know more about the restaurants and general things to do there , I love Samui so that will take care of weekend breaks away but does Surat have Central malls with Falang movies ?

What about the eating out ? i mostly eat thai food , well what i would call semi falang version of thai food , cow pads , beef / pork in black pepper , massaman and green currys etc but i still enjoy a decent steak or english fry sometimes .

Not interested in any western style junk food chains .

Are there many decent restaurants there ?

With living in Samui ,Pattaya then BKK I have been spoiled food wise for years .

I can cook to a certain extent and do so a few evenings a week but we prefer to eat out so do they have Tops markets or something similar for imported fruits and foods etc ?

My main concern when i check the South topics on here is alarming amounts of posts about shootings and bombings , most seem to be in the deep southern regions i have never heard of but do any of these things occur in Surat ?

Dont fancy getting shot nipping out to pick up me apples and pears and a pint or milk !!

I have never lived in Surat but do go there regularly enough. Unless they've built something new, then no, no Central. There is a movie theater but the movies are all in Thai. There is a BigC, Makro, and Tesco. There is a small department store downtown but it doesn't have much.

No idea about the western food in Surat, sorry. I can't imagine there is much. Lots of Thai food, and Southern food is the best IMO

The Muslim violence is restricted to the Southernmost provinces, Surat will have Thai on Thai violence but in general, don't piss anyone off and you will be fine.

TBH, Surat has always struck me as a very boring place to live. But, maybe its improved.

Thanks for the replys , doesn't seem like there are many falangs in Surat then , and as for no Central thats going to upset the missus ! Great for me thougth .

Not sure what the traffic comment means , last time we were passing threw Surat on the way to the airport it didn't seem that bad and surely it cant even be close to the madness off driving around Krungthep .

Anyway we are still planning a long weekend down there next month some time to check the place out so if any body has some tips on somewhere nice to stay for a few days they would be much appreciated .

Cheers .

Believe me .... Surat or Chumphon,Hatyai or Songkhla ............... give Nakhon as wide a berth as you can.