7th June – Finding the house

The day started off well with Nick getting a good deal on a hire car for two weeks. We piled all our bags into the little Yaris with difficulty but were all really happy that we could now explore properly without having to worry about how much it would cost for a taxi. The only map we had was the one in the guide book so we decided to just drive and see where we got to heading South. We had to meet Wellta, the lady who had some houses to show us at 11am so we thought we would have a look around ourselves first to see what we could find. It seemed as we drove around that there were plenty of houses for rent, but we were looking for a particular combination, pool and internet. A few that we phoned said they had a minimum rental of six months or a year, we wanted a max of two months. Wellta showed us the house we had already looked at the previous night, which the girls turned their noses up at, and one that was absolute paradise but a bit expensive. We had just decided to go for the more expensive one, which we were going back to have another look at, when we passed a large gate with about ten houses inside. A sign in English read that one was available for rent. When we called the number and spoke to the guy he said that normally he rents it for 40,000 baht (£600) per month, but as he had been let down, it was empty and he was desperate to recoup some money so he would let us have it for 25,000 baht (£375)!!! We couldn’t believe our luck when we were shown around it. It was gorgeous with three big bedrooms, a beautiful pool and he also said he would try his best to arrange internet access for us. It was better than we could ever have hoped for, like something out of a magazine. We even have Sam, a housekeeper, with the house, who comes in everyday to clean, make beds, tidy up and look after us.
Having dumped our bags we headed over to the Tesco Lotus to get some supplies to cook our own dinner for the first time in over two months. We got a massive shop which unsurprisingly enough cost almost half of what it would have done in England or France!!
When we got back Sam had made up all the beds and helped us put all the shopping away. It was great to be eating in our own home for a change and a real treat to have so much space. We all agreed that travelling in and out of hotels for the past three weeks has made us not only appreciate what we have but also small things like being able to do our own washing and cook our own food.