information about the hosts from Jui's Homestay and the guide from Jui's Swisstrips

Somchai Phetrophat, nicknamed Jui, was born in 1974 in in a village of Nopphitam district in the north of the province Nakhon Si Thammarat in southern Thailand. he grew up here, with his brothers and sisters, attended school until he graduated from high school. because of his excellent academic performance, his teachers convinced him and his family to study in Bangkok. so Jui started studying political science and public administration at the Ramkhamhaeng university in Bangkok, which he successfully completed with his bachelor's degree.

in order to finance his studies and livelihood in Bangkok, Jui started working in the hospitality industry. He took a job as a waiter at Centara Grand Hotel Bangkok. After graduating, he continued to work at the Centara Grand, now as chef de rang at the Italian restaurant Don Giovanni. then Jui moved to Kho Samui to work for Le Royal Meridian Hotel followed by a contract at The Evason Resort & Spa in Phuket.

finally, Jui was able to fulfill his childhood dream: to get on a plane and fly to foreign countries, as he always said as a little boy when he saw a jetliner in the sky - one day I will be in such a plane and fly away. Now his hospitality experience took him aboard a cruise ship in the caribbean. This was followed by a five-year stay in Ireland, where Jui worked again as a waiter for a Thai restaurant and finally for The Purple Ocean Restaurant before the unexpected happened: on a holiday trip to Switzerland in October 2008 Jui and Mark met. a long-distance relationship began until Jui moved to Switzerland a year later. he learned the German language and finally found work, again as a waiter, in the leading ****S hotel in Thun. Jui speaks fluently thai, english and german.

Markus Keller, short just Mark, was born 1955 in Heimberg. the blue house in which Jui's Homestay is located today was his parents' home, built in 1924 by his paternal grandfather. here he grew up with his younger sister. Mark went to school in Heimberg before starting an apprenticeship as a machine draftsman in 1971. After a few years of practical experience in his job, Mark decided to study mechanical engineering at the Bern University of Applied Sciences in nearby Bern. he graduated with a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering in 1984, followed by a six-month stay in england to improve his english skills. Back from England, Mark started to work as a design engineer for a larger company based in Thun in late 1984. Further studies in computer-aided design and manufacturing followed. until his retirement at the end of 2020, he was responsible for the implementation, operations and maintenance, further application development of computer-aided design and product lifecycle management systems, as well as for project management and staff training.

since the end of his school days, Mark loved to travel. he visited many countries throughout europe, africa and asia as well as australia. in asia he spent most of his time in thailand. so there was a common basis when Mark met Jui on his vacation trip to Switzerland in autumn 2008. Mark now became a regular visitor to Ireland until Jui moved to Switzerland. together they discovered now the obvious and hidden beauties of switzerland, which led to the idea of showing them to other people as well. naturally, the primary target audience is Thais from all over Thailand and many other countries as well.

Jui and Mark live in a registered partnership under Swiss law, which was officially sealed in November 2008 in Schadau Castle. they first lived in the blue house, which is Jui's Homestay now, until they moved to the next door multi-family house built by mark and his sister in 2019.