What have you been up to this August? We’ve had a very busy month setting up a new social media management business, which is why this post is so late this month. We’ve also not been exploring as much as we would have liked, but if you’re curious to find out what we’ve been eating, reading and watching this month, then stick around. And while you’re here, we would love to hear all about your adventures too! Let’s swap some stories, and recommendations down in the comments.
Alright, let’s get going…
What we’ve been doing
August was an incredibly important month as it’s when we decided that moving back to the UK is not something we want to do in the near future, so we had to figure out a way to earn some good money locally without totally giving up our freedom. This is how TESR Social Media Management came to be. We ended up selecting a handful of our favourite bars, restaurants and beach clubs that we wanted to work with and we got to work. We’ve now successfully signed six venues and are considering expansion already. It’s been hard but it’s also enjoyable and we’re loving this journey so far.
We also met up with some of our Instagram friends. We’d never done that before, have you? It was so lovely meeting people in real life, swapping stories and enjoying a beer… or a happy-hour cocktail. We met Jayne & Glenn – check out Jayne’s Instagram for some serious travel inspo, we had been messaging for almost a year and immediately built a connection as we all used to live in Brighton.
The very next day and completely by chance we met Amelia & James [@teach_onthebeach] when we were in the pub watching the women’s World Cup. Amelia & James have recently moved to Koh Samui from the UK and will be here for at least the next two years, teaching at a local school. We’ve already introduced them to roasts at The Shakespeare and no doubt we’ll be hanging out again very soon.
What we’ve been eating
We’ve been super busy with the new project so we’ve not spent a lot of time eating out this month, choosing to eat at home or order takeaways… a lot of takeaways. We did pop out a few times to the village to enjoy some Thai snacks at Karma Sutra and a Thai lunch at La Brisa. We also visited our favourite beach club – The Deck – for breakfast, our favourite falafel guy – Tasty Bits (in Bangrak) and our favourite grill restaurant – Nam Jai (in Bangpor) for burgers & lobster.
To be totally honest when we’re not at a client meeting or sitting at our laptops you will usually find us at Bangrak Beach House, which is a new little bar opposite Bangrak Beach and you can order falafel wraps and souvlaki from Tasty Bits… honestly, they are so good, we actually ended up having two in two days.
What we’ve been watching
All the Money in the World
We love films based on real-life events and this was no exception. This is based on the kidnapping of 16-year-old John Paul Getty III and how his mother had to try and convince his billionaire grandfather to pay the ransom to set him free.
Interestingly, actor Christopher Plummer who plays John Paul Getty helped his grandson, Charlie Plummer, to get the role of John Paul Getty III, acting alongside each other as fictional grandfather & grandson.
It’s an incredibly sad story and the lasting impact on John Paul Getty III was that he ended up becoming addicted to drugs and alcohol and suffered a stroke as a result which left him severely disabled for the rest of his life.
I Care A Lot
We weren’t sure about this one when we first started watching it, but there are a couple of great twists in the story. The lead role played by Rosamund Pike is a woman named Marla Grayson, a legal guardian. She is appointed by the courts to take care of those who can’t take care of themselves… turns out Marla doesn’t care so much about the elderly patients and ends up picking on the wrong old lady.
Dark Waters
Another real-life tale, Mark Ruffalo plays a corporate defense attorney who takes on an environmental lawsuit against a chemical company that exposes a lengthy history of pollution in a small town in West Virginia. He is originally contacted by his grandmother’s neighbour, a farmer whose cattle have been poisoned by a nearby landfill and he wants to sue chemical multinational DuPont. The case lasted years but unearthed some shocking revelations about how these corporate giants use bribery and some other unsavoury methods to keep the public unaware and under control.
DuPont’s stock price dropped by 7.15 points the week this movie was released. It’s a must-watch!
Marcella
We’re still on season 1, so no spoilers please.
It started super slow and there are a lot of different characters to understand and take in, but we’re on episode six and we are fully invested. Still not sold on the acting but it’s a good crime-thriller British TV show.
What we’ve been reading
The Midnight House – Amanda Geard
I didn’t love this one, I picked it up cheaply for my Kindle but it just felt too long and the story felt familiar but not special, it was way too descriptive making sentences drag unnecessarily. The timeline flicks between 1940, 1958 and 2019, telling the story of different women who share a connection to a mysterious house in County Kerry. Just wasn’t for me.
Nine Perfect Strangers – Liane Moriarty
I’m about halfway through this and loving the storyline so far. As with Liane Moriarty’s previous novel, Big Little Lies, this has also been turned into a TV show. I love the characters and their backstories and I’m excited to see how this one pans out as I’ve never seen the show.
What we’ve been listening to
Podcasts have taken a backseat this month as I’ve been crazy busy work-wise and also just needed time away from technology and socials. We still listen to Greatest Hits Radio almost every morning whilst we’re setting ourselves up for the day, so still got the classics on.
What we’ve been celebrating
Tembo Art & Style Weekend
We love Tembo Beach Resort and this month they hosted the first Art & Style weekend in Koh Samui, bringing together artists and creatives from Koh Samui & Koh Phangan to showcase their talents.
We visited on Saturday to watch the Junk Kouture TRASHion show, with an important message regarding plastic waste and how this impacts our environment. We were completely blown away by the talented individuals and the costumes they created that were both inspiring and absolutely beautiful. We were also surprised to see our beautiful friend Nayaa had entered the competition, she looked like an absolute Goddess and was awarded the first runner-up prize.
As part of the event on Saturday, they also had a tombola. You paid £2.25 for a ticket and you were guaranteed a prize, everything from biscuits and cheese to luxurious products and meals out at some of the island’s best restaurants. All the money raised was to help the local elephant sanctuaries so we bought a couple of tickets and won a meal for two at Salt Society – part of the Centara Reserve Hotel worth over £100.
The Tembo team did an incredible job, turning their beautiful beach resort into an art gallery & fashion house, whilst still managing to serve cocktails and tapas and run all sorts of workshops and live demos… I was particularly taken by the sand sculpture artist, who spent 8 hours creating a masterpiece that would lover the following few hours be changed by the elements.
It was such a fantastic event and we’re already excited for next year’s Art & Style weekend.
Make sure to check out Tembo’s Instagram, to keep up to date with all their latest events and offers.
Starting our SMM Business
It’s been a long and tiring month whilst we set up our new business, making and attending meetings and photoshoots, preparing contracts and invoices and ensuring that our offering was competitive enough for local businesses.
Luckily Koh Samui is a very friendly island with lots of digital nomad-friendly cafes, bars and restaurants and even some new co-working spaces. To make sure we still manage a nice balance of work and play we have worked from a ton of different spaces around the island that have all been very welcoming.
What we’re looking forward to for September 2023
September is our first month working with our new clients, so there will be lots of photo shoots, lots of social media projects and hopefully lots more opportunities to expand our portfolio and our clients.
But first up we have my 37th birthday celebrations where we’ll be cashing in our brunch voucher for Salt Society and enjoying a few Frozee cocktails in the village.
So, what did you get up to this August and what are you most looking forward to for September, share it with us in the comments.
It would be great to connect over on Instagram or on Twitter, we love building our little community of fellow travellers and travel lovers, or if you want to follow along on our travel adventures why not subscribe, we aim to post something new every week.
Until next time…
travel eat sleep repeat 