Saraburi Forum

[dvdlock]

Hi,

Does anyone know of a Saraburi forum please.

I would like to learn more about that area in terms of local amenities, schools, housing etc.

Thanks.

[gotlost]

If there is such a form its against TV rules to post and will have to be PM.

[dvdlock]

<br>If there is such a form its against TV rules to post and will have to be PM.<br>

<br><br><br><br>Ah yes, good point.  Many thanks.<br>

[AmeriThai]

The entire province or just the city? Why not just ask what you want to know about Saraburi here?

[dvdlock]

The entire province or just the city? Why not just ask what you want to know about Saraburi here?

I am looking for information about Saraburi City and the province really. I will be moving to Thailand in the near future (pending house sale in UK) and am researching places to live.

My wife's family are near Korat, my business dealings will be closer to Bangkok. Our daughter is 9-years old and her schooling needs to be considered.

Saraburi may possibly be ideal in terms of location but I would like to learn more about the place.

Although TV has lots of informative information from posters all over Thailand I felt a Saraburi expat forum would likely have lots of that information already posted, and yield a quicker response, in this case than TV.

Anyway, if anyone can help I am looking for information on schools in the area with English program, housing availability (rental), local amenities such as supermarkets, malls etc, Internet availability and anything that may be of interest for someone considering moving to the area.

Thanks in advance.

[phutoie2]

Well you do not appear to be getting too many replies!, so I will tell you what I know, which is not a lot!.

I live 130 KM north of Sara Buri and used to shop at the big Tesco's there, well until they built another Tesco and Big C in Petchabun City.

Sara Buri is quite a busy city, its a transport hub for many area's, a big bus station and railway station.

It has two big hospitals, one is Mittaparp Hospital and I know they have specialists come up at weekends for consultations, I have a few friends who have had some major surgery done there.

South of Sara Buri there is a big International school called St John Mary, the other school popular with ex-pats is North of Sara Buri on route 21, heading towards Chai Badan, its a RC convent school called Assumption. My neighbour has sent his daughter there for several years now, and they take boarders.

There is a Makro in SB too, out on Route 2.

I would consider the small town of Nakhon Nayok which is East of Sara Buri, it has a good road link to Bangkok/Korat too, near Khao Yai national park and has a decent night life!, my wife hails from there.

[dvdlock]

Well you do not appear to be getting too many replies!, so I will tell you what I know, which is not a lot!.

I live 130 KM north of Sara Buri and used to shop at the big Tesco's there, well until they built another Tesco and Big C in Petchabun City.

Sara Buri is quite a busy city, its a transport hub for many area's, a big bus station and railway station.

It has two big hospitals, one is Mittaparp Hospital and I know they have specialists come up at weekends for consultations, I have a few friends who have had some major surgery done there.

South of Sara Buri there is a big International school called St John Mary, the other school popular with ex-pats is North of Sara Buri on route 21, heading towards Chai Badan, its a RC convent school called Assumption. My neighbour has sent his daughter there for several years now, and they take boarders.

There is a Makro in SB too, out on Route 2.

I would consider the small town of Nakhon Nayok which is East of Sara Buri, it has a good road link to Bangkok/Korat too, near Khao Yai national park and has a decent night life!, my wife hails from there.

Thanks phutoie2,

That information has given me about 100% more than I knew about earlier and helps a lot.

I found the link to St John Mary school www.saintjohnmary.com but unfortunately it seems to be dead. Haven't found Assumption school website yet but still looking.

I'll see what I can find out about Nakhon Nayok, thanks for the suggestion.

If anyone has any other information/advice regarding Saraburi it would be appreciated.

[AmeriThai]

There might be some expat forums specific to Saraburi, but I haven't heard of any, which you'll better understand below.

We spend our time split between Thailand and the US. We have a modest house at Hin Kong, in the district of Nong Khae, which is located south of the city of Saraburi, roughly halfway between Saraburi and Wang Noi along Hwy 1, although we're somewhat in the sticks. About the only time we go to Saraburi is to go the bank or pick up a few things at the talat there. IMO, as cities go, Saraburi is a bit on the small side. As a central location, Saraburi (city) makes it reasonably easy to get to Nakhon Ratchasima (Korat), Lopburi, Ayuttaya, or BKK. Travel to BKK, via Hwy 1, can take a couple of hours or so (by air-con bus), depending on how many stops are made along the way and BKK rush hours, although you may want to do your own driving. It's roughly 108 kilometers between Saraburi and BKK,

There are farangs scattered around the province, but I haven't seen many, other than occasional backpacking tourists passing through by bus. That's probably because there aren't a lot of things of special interest to foreigners in the province or the city. As you can probably assume, agriculture (rice farming) is the primary income producer in the province. For day-to-day interactions and activities, it's probably a good idea to brush up on your Thai language skills.

On the plus side, it's cheaper in the long run to live there. Since we have our own place, I can't really tell you about the availability of rental housing, although there are certainly some to be found. What about staying with your wife's family for a while to give yourself some time to look around. There might be some real estate agents that are located in Saraburi who handle rentals as well. It might also be worth checking TV's "Real Estate, housing and land ownership" forum. If there's nothing specific to Saraburi, then start a new thread of inquiry there. On the other hand, if most of your business dealings are in or near BKK, you might be better off finding a place that's closer to BKK.

[dvdlock]

There might be some expat forums specific to Saraburi, but I haven't heard of any, which you'll better understand below.

We spend our time split between Thailand and the US. We have a modest house at Hin Kong, in the district of Nong Khae, which is located south of the city of Saraburi, roughly halfway between Saraburi and Wang Noi along Hwy 1, although we're somewhat in the sticks. About the only time we go to Saraburi is to go the bank or pick up a few things at the talat there. IMO, as cities go, Saraburi is a bit on the small side. As a central location, Saraburi (city) makes it reasonably easy to get to Nakhon Ratchasima (Korat), Lopburi, Ayuttaya, or BKK. Travel to BKK, via Hwy 1, can take a couple of hours or so (by air-con bus), depending on how many stops are made along the way and BKK rush hours, although you may want to do your own driving. It's roughly 108 kilometers between Saraburi and BKK,

There are farangs scattered around the province, but I haven't seen many, other than occasional backpacking tourists passing through by bus. That's probably because there aren't a lot of things of special interest to foreigners in the province or the city. As you can probably assume, agriculture (rice farming) is the primary income producer in the province. For day-to-day interactions and activities, it's probably a good idea to brush up on your Thai language skills.

On the plus side, it's cheaper in the long run to live there. Since we have our own place, I can't really tell you about the availability of rental housing, although there are certainly some to be found. What about staying with your wife's family for a while to give yourself some time to look around. There might be some real estate agents that are located in Saraburi who handle rentals as well. It might also be worth checking TV's "Real Estate, housing and land ownership" forum. If there's nothing specific to Saraburi, then start a new thread of inquiry there. On the other hand, if most of your business dealings are in or near BKK, you might be better off finding a place that's closer to BKK.

AmeriThai,

Thank you very much for your insight. Very interesting and helpful.

When we eventually move to Thailand our plan is to rent a serviced apartment for a while and spend the first few weeks travelling around looking for a location that fit's our needs. In the meantime I am trying to research as far as possible to gain as much up front information to help make that decision easier. My wife is from Korat but apart from the odd visit over the years we have been away for 20-years or more and as you know things change a lot in that time, even in Thailand.

So far it appears that Saraburi may not be the right solution. In terms of location it fits well but the low number of farangs in the area may be an indicator to a lack of schoolsthere with an English program, which is a priority.

However, settling in Korat poses a similar problem and it doesn't look promising anywhere in between. I am however looking at the Phyayen & Muak Lek area as there is an international school there.

Alternatives seem to be as you mentioned, looking nearer to Bangkok. I am looking at Nonthaburi also but I really don't want to be any closer to Bangkok than that if I can hep it.

Obviously we can't make any definitive plan until we are actually there, but I am sure it will make life much easier with a bit of forward planning.

Many thanks again.

[AmeriThai]

So far it appears that Saraburi may not be the right solution. In terms of location it fits well but the low number of farangs in the area may be an indicator to a lack of schoolsthere with an English program, which is a priority.

However, settling in Korat poses a similar problem and it doesn't look promising anywhere in between. I am however looking at the Phyayen & Muak Lek area as there is an international school there.

Alternatives seem to be as you mentioned, looking nearer to Bangkok. I am looking at Nonthaburi also but I really don't want to be any closer to Bangkok than that if I can hep it.

Most of the schools around Saraburi province seem to include teaching English as a second language. I don't really know anything about the international schools. Speaking from my own experiences in our location in the province, with regard to learning English, most of the kids don't seem to bother practicing it outside of school, partly because there's few opportunities to practice what they've learned, and because they just keep speaking in Thai as soon as school is out. As such, their English skills remain extremely poor, except for a few common phrases and words.

Nonthaburi is a pretty nice location. In my opinion, a couple of other spots that might be worth looking at in other areas north of BKK, are around Rangsit and Don Meung. Also, east of the Don Meung airport, heading out Thanon Sai Mai to Thanon Sukhaphiban (around the area of Talat Wongsagon), there are a number of gated communities, although I have no idea if there are any serviced rentals. Worth a check with the community on-site sales offices to see if there are any rentals. Personally, I think I'd be a little bit cautious about 'serviced accommodations', unless you actually know the maids, etc. Sometimes things can have a funny way of mysteriously vanishing, especially if you're not around to keep an eye on things.

Here's a good-sized community with a nearby wat/school. Our daughter and son-in-law used to live there, which is where my familiarity of it comes from. Directly across the road is the Talat Wongsagon via a footbridge, unless you're daring enough to cross the road directly. There are several other similar communities heading south.

[dvdlock]

AmeriThai.

Thanks once again for your post, it is most helpful and has enable me to broaden my field of view, so to speak. I'll now spend some time looking at the areas you have suggested and see what I can find out about them.

The difficulty with my daughters schooling will be finding somewhere, where lessons are conducted in English until such a time as she is proficient enough in Thai for it not to be a problem. She understands Thai but speaks little (more because of being self conscious than ability) but can not read or write Thai. Hopefully, by the time she is of high school age it will no longer be an issue. I just wish I was in a position financially for her to attend somewhere like Harrow in Don Muang, but currently that would not be an option.

Just taken a pause to take a look with Google Earth once again, must admit it's a bit daunting. Hopefully things will come together more when we are on the ground there.

Thanks again.

[Thanyaburi Mac]

AmeriThai.

Thanks once again for your post, it is most helpful and has enable me to broaden my field of view, so to speak. I'll now spend some time looking at the areas you have suggested and see what I can find out about them.

The difficulty with my daughters schooling will be finding somewhere, where lessons are conducted in English until such a time as she is proficient enough in Thai for it not to be a problem. She understands Thai but speaks little (more because of being self conscious than ability) but can not read or write Thai. Hopefully, by the time she is of high school age it will no longer be an issue. I just wish I was in a position financially for her to attend somewhere like Harrow in Don Muang, but currently that would not be an option.

Just taken a pause to take a look with Google Earth once again, must admit it's a bit daunting. Hopefully things will come together more when we are on the ground there.

Thanks again.

The Saint John Mary School, just south of Saraburi town, has a new www site at: http://sjmis.ac.th/index.php/schoolprofile

Just up the road from Saraburi in Muak Lek District is the Adventist school: http://www.aims.ac.th/

Mac

[dvdlock]

Thanks for the links Mac.

[backtomyroots]

If you live in Muak Lek you can use the St Mary John International School in Saraburi --they run mini buses door to door

[dvdlock]

If you live in Muak Lek you can use the St Mary John International School in Saraburi --they run mini buses door to door

Many thanks for the info.

Would anyone have a Google Earth placemark for St Mary John International School in Saraburi.

Thanks.