Living in Rayong

[sarahelisabethh1]

May I gently suggest that you begin spelling English with a capital 'E', if you will be teaching it?

Best wishes, and enjoy Thailand.

What a silly, irrelevant comment. I'm a 22 year old girl asking for advice and the best advice you can give me is this? Why are you even on here if you have no intention of giving any sort of positive or helpful feedback.

[sarahelisabethh1]

This posts are so informative, but have also scared me to death. Thanks everyone for your advice.

[HLover]

You pick the wrong country too come too with so many fears. If you think your a teacher how do you expect to be a teacher here and show by example how to learn and grow in life.

Walking and riding a bicycle will give you some freedom.

Walking alone and/or riding a bicycle is very dangerous for a single female.

Not if she is unsightly.

[sandrabbit]

Rayong is a large town. You will have few problems as long as you constantly use an abundance of common sense. ThaiVIsa is not the best place for women to seek advice, being inhabited by lots of misogynists expats with but a few voices from women willing to brave the testosterone-lacking insecurities of many of the posters. For some insights into womens lives in Thailand from a Thai perspective may I suggest the blog of a long time friend: http://thaiwomantalks.com/

I agree, just look at the post by HL above .....

[NickJ]

I love Rayong. Been here well over a year. Not a bar person. If I was 22 I would not come here. Sure there is everything here. But you need at least a motorbike to get around. The English teachers I have encountered are way strange. Have never seen any young ex pat girls walking around.

Unless you are very into the Thai experience I would not even consider it.

[beachproperty]

I love Rayong. Been here well over a year. Not a bar person. If I was 22 I would not come here. Sure there is everything here. But you need at least a motorbike to get around. The English teachers I have encountered are way strange. Have never seen any young ex pat girls walking around.

Unless you are very into the Thai experience I would not even consider it.

Not sure how to read this post .....except very misinformed. I have lived in Rayong (Muang Rayong), the city for over 7 years. It's ALWAYS been a nice town. Its growing, just got a Central, Laem Tong (the other shopping mall) is expanding AND and have plenty of Bars with live music Zoots, etc. There are 2 Big C's, a Tesco Lotus, and a Makro.

Although the previous poster " has never seen any young ex pat girls walking around" that doesn't mean a thing. There are plenty of young expats ...usually teachers. A friend of mines son was asked how many expats teachers there were at his school ....He said "over 50" ..and that was just one school.

"Unless you are very into the Thai experience I would not even consider it." .....Complete and utter nonsense.

If the school was "Assumption" or "Saint Joseph's" that you got the offer from ...they are on Sukumvit with plenty of places nearby to live, and transportation is easy

As for "safety"....Rayong is as safe as any town if not safer....just use your common sense

Give Rayong a try ...I think you'll like it ....

Edited March 4, 2016 by beachproperty

[Eyespy]

I used to live and teach in Rayong City and love the proximity to Ban Phe and the entire coastline to Cambodia.If you're into swimming,snorkeling,hiking and exploring ,then the entire Bulapa region is awesome.Some of the best coffee houses in Thailand and great live music.

[JGV]

Your post was about loneliness

I suggest you focus on your own interests initially and with your busy schedule at work time will fly

Get the Internet installed where you live and find out where other schools are who may have farang teachers.

Meeting your own nationality is not easy here and Pattaya although full of farangs isn't that helpful as most are either on a bar stool or in a relationship with a Thai woman. Also it is a long way to travel. I know because I am reluctant to travel from Sattahip which is half the distance.

I am a teacher working in Sattahip

If you just want a chat by all means contact me - I am in a relationship so don't worry that this is a pick up line because it isn't.

JGV

I am 61 so more like a grandfather figure

[Mooner]

Rayong is a decent city. There is everything you need. Im not sure there is a huge amount of young westerners there but i have seen lots of married guys there There are lots of Foreigners based in Ban Phe and some in Ko Samet who visit Rayong frequently.

If lonely i would recommend Ko Samet at the weekends as it attracts a lot of tourists and teachers living around the area so it could be a potential place to meet people or at the worst a place to come and socialize with other foreigners.

[Dellie]

I think Rayong is fine. Not sure I would have chosen it at 22 though. It's a pretty sleepy town unless you like very lo-so entertainment.

[NickJ]

Not a towne to live in if you dont have at least a motorbike. Like I said. I love the place. I have been in Thailand 24 years and have lived in a few places....looking back to when I was young.....I would not pick this place to live in

[OJAS]

I presume you'll be starting work in April as the schools are just starting to break up for the holidays so depending when you arrive here you can have plenty of time to travel around. If your job is in the centre of Rayong you could get a songthaew from Ban Phe or the beach at Hat Mae Rhumpung for 20 baht each way if you didn't want to live in the city as there is a quiet expat community here and you will have access to Koh Samet if you did want to party although Rayong has some nice bars along a stretch of road which runs parallel to the main Sukhumvit road. If you need any help or advice about accommodation if you decided to take up the post and wanted to live around Ban Phe please pm me any queries you might have. Also be aware that Rayong is extremely industrialised and only if you go towards Klaeng or Laem Mae Phim do you get away from it.

Klaeng in my experience has little to offer the expat. On the other hand, Laem Mae Phim, being by the sea, is livelier, although Ban Phe might be a better bet in your case, both as a place in its own right and for its ease of access to Koh Samed as referred to by sandrabbit. The industrialised part of Rayong Province lies mainly on the other side of the city to Ban Phe, around Mapaput - which is also where the local immigration office is located. So a bit of a trip from Ban Phe and, if that is an issue for you, Ban Chang, which is a lot nearer, might be more suitable. But the immigration office itself is generally quite pleasant to deal with in my experience, in stark contrast to the horror stories about other immigration offices you read about on this forum.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating as they say. So my advice to you would be to give wherever you might choose to live in Rayong Province a go, and, if you don't like it, simply move on.

Edited April 2, 2016 by OJAS

[Ireland32]

I presume you'll be starting work in April as the schools are just starting to break up for the holidays so depending when you arrive here you can have plenty of time to travel around. If your job is in the centre of Rayong you could get a songthaew from Ban Phe or the beach at Hat Mae Rhumpung for 20 baht each way if you didn't want to live in the city as there is a quiet expat community here and you will have access to Koh Samet if you did want to party although Rayong has some nice bars along a stretch of road which runs parallel to the main Sukhumvit road. If you need any help or advice about accommodation if you decided to take up the post and wanted to live around Ban Phe please pm me any queries you might have. Also be aware that Rayong is extremely industrialised and only if you go towards Klaeng or Laem Mae Phim do you get away from it.

Klaeng in my experience has little to offer the expat. On the other hand, Laem Mae Phim, being by the sea, is livelier, although Ban Phe might be a better bet in your case, both as a place in its own right and for its ease of access to Koh Samed as referred to by sandrabbit. The industrialised part of Rayong Province lies mainly on the other side of the city to Ban Phe, around Mapaput - which is also where the local immigration office is located. So a bit of a trip from Ban Phe and, if that is an issue for you, Ban Chang, which is a lot nearer, might be more suitable. But the immigration office itself is generally quite pleasant to deal with in my experience, in stark contrast to the horror stories about other immigration offices you read about on this forum.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating as they say. So my advice to you would be to give wherever you might choose to live in Rayong Province a go, and, if you don't like it, simply move on.

So nice to walk into a Smilin Immigration office

[Ireland32]

Not a towne to live in if you dont have at least a motorbike. Like I said. I love the place. I have been in Thailand 24 years and have lived in a few places....looking back to when I was young.....I would not pick this place to live in

You need transport...

[buythisdashcam]

I wonder where they live on Koh Samet ?

Rayong is a decent city. There is everything you need. Im not sure there is a huge amount of young westerners there but i have seen lots of married guys there There are lots of Foreigners based in Ban Phe and some in Ko Samet who visit Rayong frequently.

If lonely i would recommend Ko Samet at the weekends as it attracts a lot of tourists and teachers living around the area so it could be a potential place to meet people or at the worst a place to come and socialize with other foreigners.

[aras]

Young lady you can thank me later by giving us a full report here on your adventures/ findings in rayong since i havn't been there yet

I just checked couchsurfing and more than a few young girls are listed there ...so you can befriend a few when you are there. Just go to the site and message the ones you might want to meet....they sure can help you out a bit.

Thailand is one of the safest countries in the world, if you mind your own business. Once there you will be busy with so many things and will make friends, locals and foreigners.

some "obvious pointers:

Don't feel free to give your opinion about everything like religion or politics etc keep it friendly. If you are from europe you might not understand things can be sensitive ...

Thais really don't like tourist behaving as if they are superior...most of them dont live of you and are not your taxi driver or prostitute. So many have bad experience with foreigners, if you behave decent you'll make good friends.

Learning a few words in their language/ reapeating what they said can break the ice....they probably laugh at you but is a nice way to get to know them lol

Go have fun...it is thailand...not south america. Nothing wll happen...everywhere you have way too much foreigners and people who speak some english.

good luck and waiting for your next post about how rayong was

[squidy]

Thanks so much guys! And thanks for the advice I will post in the other group!

Hi Sarah,

I'm Thai and lives in Rayong. I stay in downtown near Srimuang park. If you want some information or wanna know somethings I can help, please contact me.

^__^ my name is Tommy but I'm a girl.

[buythisdashcam]

Welcome to Thailand <3

Thanks so much guys! And thanks for the advice I will post in the other group!

Hi Sarah,

I'm Thai and lives in Rayong. I stay in downtown near Srimuang park. If you want some information or wanna know somethings I can help, please contact me.

^__^ my name is Tommy but I'm a girl.