Another farang, living the dream in Isan!

[Shark]

13 hours ago, dj230 said:

it's a breath of fresh air.

and your in Bangkok right? 555

[dj230]

8 hours ago, Shark said:

and your in Bangkok right? 555

yup and it's been great

[Shark]

43 minutes ago, dj230 said:

yup and it's been great

but for fresh air you might wanna get out of the north ;-) just saying.

[dj230]

2 hours ago, Shark said:

but for fresh air you might wanna get out of the north ;-) just saying.

wait you mean go to the north? or is bangkok the north? 

[Shark]

1 hour ago, dj230 said:

wait you mean go to the north? or is bangkok the north? 

from my objective bangkok is pretty much north yes.

[TukTuk]

On 8/25/2021 at 8:01 AM, Faraday said:

Wait until the rice straw burning starts...

Burning the rice stubble.

[thai3]

On 8/25/2021 at 5:02 PM, King Cotton said:

Don't tell the boss, but @King Cotton is taking just a few more minutes off work!

It's Wednesday 25 August and, just like yesterday, my Thai wife, Tas, and her old school chums have gathered at our place, on the fringe of the village and a huge rice paddy, to talk about old times.

After a few minutes of their almost deafening banter, I am left feeling like I've somehow landed in some sort of dream.

These people, most of whom have barely a baht to spare, are so happy it actually brings tears to my eyes. Half-an-hour ago, we were joined by the village som tum specialist who brought another huge bag-full of seafood salad . . . and, boy, is that stuff delicious.

Beers going down well, as is the food, but most of all, I'm left wondering how can these people be so happy when there's so much shit going on in the so-called powers-that-be, just a couple of hundred miles from here?

These folk never talk about that . . . and maybe that's why they're so happy.

OK, back to work, sticking a few more 'Cools' on all your posts . . . what a bloody life, eh, for this dreaming farang?

Purgatory without the music, morlam and luktung or kantrum in Mrs village  they can stick the food, their beer and the chin wagging, put the music on and dance.

[Haggi]

On 8/25/2021 at 5:16 PM, Rain said:

Siwilai folk.

Funny you should say that .... sitting around swilling beers, joking and playing easy card games is how I mostly enjoy spending time with the family when we're in Siwilai or on holiday together.

[TWS60]

The dreamy world of Issan village life wears off, eventually. 

I enjoyed the lack of structure as a fish out of water farang with limited Thai language skills.  No idea what they were saying or what the drama of the day was.  Having come out of a work situation with lots of stress,  the peaceful ignorance was bliss.

Wife took care of virtually everything.  My main "job" was sweeping up around the garden keeping things tidy every afternoon.  Organized a recycling program and was 'in charge' of that.   Early morning walks with the dogs and coffee out in the local rice fields and trees was idyllic and picturesque in the wet/green times of the year.   Former mates/work colleagues saw our photos and videos and from their POV, we were 'living the dream in Thailand paradise".

It all got a bit tiresome after 4 years.  Bored, uneducated villagers fill idle hours with gossip and (some) drinking rot gut alcohol to ease away their reality.   Lots of elderly people in the village, so it became rather morbid to hear the sad Thai music start playing over the village speaker system and wonder who it was this time.  Became more frequent near the end as folks aged out.  A few times the music played twice in the same week. 

Finding and hiring skilled tradesman was difficult as the better ones (mostly) worked in the city or down in BKK, so construction/electrical/plumbing work was the village standard with electrical tape and bubble gum, unless we got lucky.  Outfitting the house (at first) with furniture and kit from the city and getting it delivered was hit and miss; some shop owners were happy to make the sale but cancel when the wife gave our address.   Too far.   Worked in our favor the first time I got an extension (marriage) and the Immigration folks passed on doing an in-person house visit.  Too far.   

Local village water was atrocious.  Electric felt like it was teetering on the edge of failure, and often did.  The seasonal struggle as nature and critters attempt to reclaim their territory from the invading humans, attacking electrical fixtures and electronics, and hopefully you catch signs of Termites before it's too late.   Constant awareness about snakes, and we had plenty, which was fine, I like that sort of thing.  Big Huntsmen spiders were neat.  The big, evil looking Centipedes though....no thanks.     

Long drive into the city for some "civilisation".  Big monthly shopping trips to Makro/Tesco, buying everything in bulk to store back at the house.  There was a dodgy local market we never went to.  The big "weekend" market on Thursday was much better, and that's how I knew what day of the week it was.  

Moved to a smaller house in a moo baan on the outskirts of the city.  Houses are close together.  Not as much land and elbow room.  It's ok.  A lot less work to maintain the house and the smaller garden.  Sometimes I miss sweeping up the garden refuse into a pile to burn.  Can't do that here.  Oddly enough, it's more quiet here than in the village.  All the other factors from the village mentioned above are vastly improved being closer to infrastructure and resources, but this is as close to the city as I ever want to get.  Sadly, time marches on and the urban sprawl is creeping in.

Glad I had the village experience.  I might be up for it again.  The wife?  No way.  Never.

[Marc26]

6 hours ago, TWS60 said:

The dreamy world of Issan village life wears off, eventually. 

I enjoyed the lack of structure as a fish out of water farang with limited Thai language skills.  No idea what they were saying or what the drama of the day was.  Having come out of a work situation with lots of stress,  the peaceful ignorance was bliss.

Wife took care of virtually everything.  My main "job" was sweeping up around the garden keeping things tidy every afternoon.  Organized a recycling program and was 'in charge' of that.   Early morning walks with the dogs and coffee out in the local rice fields and trees was idyllic and picturesque in the wet/green times of the year.   Former mates/work colleagues saw our photos and videos and from their POV, we were 'living the dream in Thailand paradise".

It all got a bit tiresome after 4 years.  Bored, uneducated villagers fill idle hours with gossip and (some) drinking rot gut alcohol to ease away their reality.   Lots of elderly people in the village, so it became rather morbid to hear the sad Thai music start playing over the village speaker system and wonder who it was this time.  Became more frequent near the end as folks aged out.  A few times the music played twice in the same week. 

Finding and hiring skilled tradesman was difficult as the better ones (mostly) worked in the city or down in BKK, so construction/electrical/plumbing work was the village standard with electrical tape and bubble gum, unless we got lucky.  Outfitting the house (at first) with furniture and kit from the city and getting it delivered was hit and miss; some shop owners were happy to make the sale but cancel when the wife gave our address.   Too far.   Worked in our favor the first time I got an extension (marriage) and the Immigration folks passed on doing an in-person house visit.  Too far.   

Local village water was atrocious.  Electric felt like it was teetering on the edge of failure, and often did.  The seasonal struggle as nature and critters attempt to reclaim their territory from the invading humans, attacking electrical fixtures and electronics, and hopefully you catch signs of Termites before it's too late.   Constant awareness about snakes, and we had plenty, which was fine, I like that sort of thing.  Big Huntsmen spiders were neat.  The big, evil looking Centipedes though....no thanks.     

Long drive into the city for some "civilisation".  Big monthly shopping trips to Makro/Tesco, buying everything in bulk to store back at the house.  There was a dodgy local market we never went to.  The big "weekend" market on Thursday was much better, and that's how I knew what day of the week it was.  

Moved to a smaller house in a moo baan on the outskirts of the city.  Houses are close together.  Not as much land and elbow room.  It's ok.  A lot less work to maintain the house and the smaller garden.  Sometimes I miss sweeping up the garden refuse into a pile to burn.  Can't do that here.  Oddly enough, it's more quiet here than in the village.  All the other factors from the village mentioned above are vastly improved being closer to infrastructure and resources, but this is as close to the city as I ever want to get.  Sadly, time marches on and the urban sprawl is creeping in.

Glad I had the village experience.  I might be up for it again.  The wife?  No way.  Never.

Thanks for your honest experience 

 

How far were you from a big city?

 

We will build in the village soon but we are lucky in that it is a full on quiet village but only 20mins to a decent size city and 1hr40mins to Bangkok

 

And I envision heading down to Bangkok for long weekend stays 

 

I don't do drama. My wife knows I don't want to be involved 

But she herself detached herself away from most in the village 

She'd get involved in the drama with all the other girls her age but she withdrew from that early 

 

She now stays with her favorite Aunt and her best friends family

Both who treat her like gold and relatively drama free

She doesn't even really associate with any of her extended family in the village 

 

But I have a rule

I will only live in the village if we are a 10min drive from her family

She knows I wouldn't live next to my family so I won't live next to her's

 

 

Snake's are a total worry for me

But in 20 years knowing her and going to the village we haven't heard of one big snake experience 

 

I still worry though.....

[TedG]

7 hours ago, TWS60 said:

 

It all got a bit tiresome after 4 years.  Bored, uneducated villagers fill idle hours with gossip and (some) drinking rot gut alcohol to ease away their reality.   Lots of elderly people in the village, so it became rather morbid to hear the sad Thai music start playing over the village speaker system and wonder who it was this time.  Became more frequent near the end as folks aged out.  A few times the music played twice in the same week. 

 

I'd be bored after one week.  

[Marc26]

1 hour ago, TedG said:

I'd be bored after one week.  

I am interested to know why and your age?

 

I don't mean that as any sort of a challenge, just curious why you think that or feel that way?

 

I have been with my wife for 20 years,  never lived in the village but have spent considerable time there and we plan on building

 

I have always lived in downtown areas in Boston/NYC/Vancouver and at 51yrs old, still have a very active social life in Vancouver

 

But there are weeks where all I do is work, go to the gym, take my dog out and watch sports............by choice

 

 

So although I do think there will be times I will be bored in the village, a lot of times I will be doing the same as I do in Canada.

 

But I plan on building a nice house I enjoy spending time in and won't live in the village full time

 

 

About 5-6 months in village, 2-3 months back in Boston and then two 4-6 weeks stay at different beaches in Thailand

 

With a bunch of long weekends in Bangkok and some small trips to neigbouring countries..........

 

And I very much intend to build a "man cave" that is completely wired that I can watch sports as if I was back in the US

[TWS60]

6 hours ago, Marc26 said:

Thanks for your honest experience 

How far were you from a big city?

We will build in the village soon but we are lucky in that it is a full on quiet village but only 20mins to a decent size city and 1hr40mins to Bangkok

And I envision heading down to Bangkok for long weekend stays 

I don't do drama. My wife knows I don't want to be involved 

But she herself detached herself away from most in the village 

She'd get involved in the drama with all the other girls her age but she withdrew from that early 

She now stays with her favorite Aunt and her best friends family

Both who treat her like gold and relatively drama free

She doesn't even really associate with any of her extended family in the village 

But I have a rule

I will only live in the village if we are a 10min drive from her family

She knows I wouldn't live next to my family so I won't live next to her's

Snake's are a total worry for me

But in 20 years knowing her and going to the village we haven't heard of one big snake experience 

I still worry though.....

- Roughly 60 km from the house to city, but a world away. Now we are 12km to the city, and the suburbs by the house has all we need for normal things, Tesco, Makro, good markets, pubs, restaurants, etc.   

- Your future: Quiet village 20 mins to a decent sized city and 1.4hrs to BKK sounds perfect.   We are about 2:30 hrs down to BKK.

- Yep.  We did weekends in BKK, Pattaya, Hua Hin, road trips around Thailand, Chiang Mai, etc.  That lasted about 5-6 years.  We don't travel around Thailand much anymore.  Been to one Thai town, you've been to them all.  International travel is a must.  Sanity check.

- My wife grew up to age 14 in the village we landed at first.  Family drama sent her to BKK to finish school and work, so she's more of a BKK city girl, not a die hard "village girl", but is well traveled, can still swing a machete, dig in the dirt and roll killer Sushi and cook farang food- best of all worlds.   We landed in the village at first for practical reasons, for 4 years, and then moved on. 

As I said, I was ok with it.  She wasn't, but put up with it.  How can I say this without sounding too elitist...... it just wasn't our speed for the long haul.  For me, oblivious and ignorant at first -  no problem.  For her.  Not so much. 

Closer to the city and dare I say "modern" people is more our swim lane, but not BKK. She doesn't want to be down there again.  Neither do I. Same for Pattaya or any other tourist place.  No thanks.  

If that helps any.  IMO, your future situation sounds OK to me.

Edit:  We are about same age, me 54, wife is 51.

[TWS60]

4 hours ago, Marc26 said:

I am interested to know why and your age?

I don't mean that as any sort of a challenge, just curious why you think that or feel that way?

I have been with my wife for 20 years,  never lived in the village but have spent considerable time there and we plan on building

I have always lived in downtown areas in Boston/NYC/Vancouver and at 51yrs old, still have a very active social life in Vancouver

But there are weeks where all I do is work, go to the gym, take my dog out and watch sports............by choice

So although I do think there will be times I will be bored in the village, a lot of times I will be doing the same as I do in Canada.

But I plan on building a nice house I enjoy spending time in and won't live in the village full time

About 5-6 months in village, 2-3 months back in Boston and then two 4-6 weeks stay at different beaches in Thailand

With a bunch of long weekends in Bangkok and some small trips to neigbouring countries..........

And I very much intend to build a "man cave" that is completely wired that I can watch sports as if I was back in the US

That sounds perfect.

[TWS60]

5 hours ago, TedG said:

I'd be bored after one week.  

Acknowledged without objection.

At that point, we were traveling around Thailand, and at a minimum, annual trips abroad for a month or two.  So there was that.  Crazy though, sometimes I could shut the driveway gate at the house (in the village) and not go outside it for a week or more.  

--------

Maybe guys who served on ships at sea or oil rigs offshore(?) can relate.  I got into a routine, and next thing you know, a week or two has gone by, like WTF, really?

[Marc26]

1 hour ago, TWS60 said:

- Roughly 60 km from the house to city, but a world away. Now we are 12km to the city, and the suburbs by the house has all we need for normal things, Tesco, Makro, good markets, pubs, restaurants, etc.   

- Your future: Quiet village 20 mins to a decent sized city and 1.4hrs to BKK sounds perfect.   We are about 2:30 hrs down to BKK.

- Yep.  We did weekends in BKK, Pattaya, Hua Hin, road trips around Thailand, Chiang Mai, etc.  That lasted about 5-6 years.  We don't travel around Thailand much anymore.  Been to one Thai town, you've been to them all.  International travel is a must.  Sanity check.

- My wife grew up to age 14 in the village we landed at first.  Family drama sent her to BKK to finish school and work, so she's more of a BKK city girl, not a die hard "village girl", but is well traveled, can still swing a machete, dig in the dirt and roll killer Sushi and cook farang food- best of all worlds.   We landed in the village at first for practical reasons, for 4 years, and then moved on. 

As I said, I was ok with it.  She wasn't, but put up with it.  How can I say this without sounding too elitist...... it just wasn't our speed for the long haul.  For me, oblivious and ignorant at first -  no problem.  For her.  Not so much. 

Closer to the city and dare I say "modern" people is more our swim lane, but not BKK. She doesn't want to be down there again.  Neither do I. Same for Pattaya or any other tourist place.  No thanks.  

If that helps any.  IMO, your future situation sounds OK to me.

Edit:  We are about same age, me 54, wife is 51.

My wife similar upbringing

 

She was born in Petchabri village bur has lived in Bangkok since pretty youth

Small stint in Suphan Buri village when she was a young teen 

 

But most of life lived in Bangkok 

 

So not an all-out village girl, similar to your wife

 

I asked your age not to see if there was any age gap

 

I asked because I've been going to my wife's village since I was 32yrs old and only started to have a desire to spend real time there when I was around 47-48yrs old

 

 

Thanks again for sharing your experience 

[TedG]

2 hours ago, TWS60 said:

Acknowledged without objection.

At that point, we were traveling around Thailand, and at a minimum, annual trips abroad for a month or two.  So there was that.  Crazy though, sometimes I could shut the driveway gate at the house (in the village) and not go outside it for a week or more.  

--------

Maybe guys who served on ships at sea or oil rigs offshore(?) can relate.  I got into a routine, and next thing you know, a week or two has gone by, like WTF, really?

I'd be happy with a little condo off the BTS line. 

[TedG]

7 hours ago, Marc26 said:

I am interested to know why and your age?

I don't mean that as any sort of a challenge, just curious why you think that or feel that way?

I have been with my wife for 20 years,  never lived in the village but have spent considerable time there and we plan on building

I have always lived in downtown areas in Boston/NYC/Vancouver and at 51yrs old, still have a very active social life in Vancouver

But there are weeks where all I do is work, go to the gym, take my dog out and watch sports............by choice

So although I do think there will be times I will be bored in the village, a lot of times I will be doing the same as I do in Canada.

But I plan on building a nice house I enjoy spending time in and won't live in the village full time

About 5-6 months in village, 2-3 months back in Boston and then two 4-6 weeks stay at different beaches in Thailand

With a bunch of long weekends in Bangkok and some small trips to neigbouring countries..........

And I very much intend to build a "man cave" that is completely wired that I can watch sports as if I was back in the US

I'm on the downside of 50.  I need bookshops and restaurants.   

[Marc26]

4 hours ago, TedG said:

I'm on the downside of 50.  I need bookshops and restaurants.   

Two good needs I'd say....

[QECE]

On 10/9/2023 at 7:42 AM, TedG said:

I'd be bored after one week.  

Boredom is self-induced.

Has little to do with surroundings and locale.