Vegemite

My wife and I will be visiting Hua Hin later this year with my 25 yo son.

We have stayed at Thipurai Guesthouse some years ago and it was great but quite a walk to town.

Has anyone stayed at The Fat Cat guesthouse and if so what did you think of it.

Any ideas would be very wellcome. We were trying to find a guesthouse or apartment close to town without to much noise.

Thanks in advance.

If anyone is still interested

I have had quite a bit of success by soaking the cut chips in a bowl of water with a squeeze of lemon juice in it.

Put the bowl in the freezer for a while. I like it if a skin of ice has formed on the top.

It has worked very well for me when the spuds are less than perfect.

A pinch of chicken stock with the salt gives good flovour as well.

Are there any other Farang/International Bars/ restaurants in Roi Et ??

Thanks

Dave

2 years ago there was a place called 101 Pizza on the oposite side of the lake form the city.

A few Farang met there every afternoon. Someone else may know more or even if it is still there but the food was good and it was a nice place to have a few beers and look out over the lake.

Roi Et is a great place I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Definately check out White Elephant.

Great shame about PB Air.

Hi there, it has been a couple of years since we stayed at Roi Et but there are a number of serviced/or not apartments there.

For 3 years in a row we have stayed at Poon Petch Sport Club, phone 0-4351-6391-4 or 09-2731003. One of these numbers is a fax. It is very close to Roi Et city hotel and only a few doors away from White elephant bar and restaurant wich has excellent German food. White Elephant may be able to give you some information on other accommodation and the number is01-0590060.

I found Poon Petch very clean and comfortable and also very cheap.

Hope this helps.

Hi there,

Wrong Way Cafe was good for us when we were there a couple of years ago.

The food is good and there are rooms for rent out the back. Basic with TV shower toilet and clean.

Hilarious thread. I have never seen such an outbreak of truth on Thaivisa.

Where are all the superior Brits claiming that they have certainly never experienced these kind of problems and if people do it is because they have no understanding of Thai culture etc.

No doubt the moderators will be along soon using the house accounts to make some posts more in keeping with the fantasy

You have a very good point. Last year, after a less than satisfactory stay at " the village " I got ripped to bits for giving some realistic advise to someone planning to visit a SMALL upcountry village.

Most of the nasty posts came from people living in main centres such as Mahasarakham which is still upcountry but a world away from a tiny village with less than 100 houses.

These people may not even be living there any more!

I dont live in a small village and never could.

I have found after visiting the family a number of times that on the first time or two, you are the talk of the town whether you like it or not. But as time goes by you become less of a novelty.

Eventually you / I get left to your own devices. This is O.K. if it suits you and it does suit me to a point but not when ther is no Thai or western food ( only Issan food up there ) or anyone that can speak english anywhere.

I get on my little motor bike and explore but you just cant do this all day.

I go to the local shop????? and sit under the corrogated iron to drink a couple of beers and watch the world go slowly by.

Maybe take some photos.

Anyone who thinks that you can sit on the ground and lean against a tree beside the lake doesnt live where I go.

You cannot sit on the ground anywhere because of the ants and they do bite.

My next visit will be to the nearest city with air con ( only fans at the village and up to 40C ) and some decent food.

Food is my biggest problem and anyone that can eat that crap ( ants eggs, scorpions, and the toughest beef known to man all cooked with hand fulls of chillies ) has my utmost respect/sympathy.

Good luck.

I have recently spent a month in Thailand, one week in Koh Chang, excellent place so peaceful and not overrun with visitors. I stayed at the VJ Residence which was ok,but,luckily I kept an eye on my online banking. After I left I found that I had been charged 6300bht for a week,which was ok, but on the same day they had been into my account for two more 6300bhts! I got it back but it was not easy, so I will be paying cash in future.

I will be back in October and am thinking of having a week in Rayong,does anyone have any information about the place and can suggest anywhere to stay, nothing to expensive say 500 bht a night? Thanks for any forthcoming help.

We stayed at PMY Resort on the coast at Rayong and it was fantastic but probably more than you want to pay.

We stayed at a nice clean Thai ownen bungalow place at Ban Phe just 30 mins from Royong and looking at Koh Samet. It was great in a basic way and had real toilet and shower, AC and fan and a fridge. Beachside resturant type places across the road and quiet. It cost us Bht600 pernight but there are units for Bht500.

Pics are probably mixed but PMY has the sea views and at Ban Phe ( it is called S land ) has the trees and bungalows.

hi im off to roi et wheres a nice place to take my girlfriend.and is there much nitelife there .a nice places to eat would be good with issan food yummy .and is there any farang pubs there ,will get transport so closes by ok to .

I agree with everything that citizen33 has said.

The White Elephant has excellent food and 101 Pizza is a great place to have a burger and a beer and take in the surroundings close to the lake.

It is a great place and very clean and friendly.

Trying searching the forum for Roi-Et as there is a lot of info in here.

These pics are a couple of years old and that was the last time I was there.

We've all been to places where you've vowed "I'm never going there again" but giving credit where it's due where are the places you'd go to again regarding service, etc. I live in Khon Kaen but please feel free to add your own town's "gems"

Last weekend I went to the fairly new small nursery opposite Big C next to the big bank to pick up some stuff for the garden and while my wife was browsing noticed a little traditional Thai massage place. Not wanting to spend hours waiting for my wife and seeing as I've got slight back pain I thought I'd give it a try. Friendly old Thai granny running the place, nice and clean, aircon and I have to say the guy who did my massage was one of the best (if not the best) I've ever had. 280 baht for 2 hours which I thought was ok. Been back twice this week!

Driving past NE university I saw an Italian restaurant. I don't usually go that side of town so I'd never noticed it before. Pretty authentic food and very relaxing. Really thin crust pizza which I like and proper salami etc. I think the owner is a westerner due to the authenticity of the grub.

Any more?

The White Elephant German resturant and bar at Roi-Et

It was a few years ago but they served the best meat balls on mashed potato that I have ever had. I still think about it now and have tried to copy it.

Hi there

I have to tell you that the first time that I went " up there " was a few years back and I got a wealth of information from this forum.

Ray23 was invaluable with his advice and you can probably search the forum in the little white box at the top with the word Mahasarakham.

Try it and you can read the questions that I asked and see the answers.

The first time that I had the guts to visit the village we flew to Roi-Et from BKK and Roi-Et is really worth visiting. It is also a good option for you to home base at as it has food that you are used to and good hotels/apartments ect..

We trundled our way into the village on the back of a utility truck with seats down the sides and it was allmost like being the great white adventurer. Going where no white man has been before.

We slept on the sisters concrete floor downstairs. Most of the residents dont have concrete downstairs so I guess we were the lucky ones. The chickens started crowing ( or what ever chickens do ) at 5.00 AM inches from my head and at 6.00 the local temple gave the news on a looud speaker.

Ox and water buffalo are herded past the house every morning and evening and when the rice isnt being planted or picked the people just do nothing except eat and sleep.

Nobody there spoke any english and the food will just blow your mind. Forget Thai resturants because this is nothing like that unles the ones that you have been to serve insects.

But still it was an adventure.

Now after 3 trips there and now that the locals now me enough to be a regullar. I have lost the adventurer spirit.

It is very hard going in the village that I visit

If you want my advice, stay at Roi-Et and visit for the day.

All the best.

Surely you don't want to deny him that "great white adventurer" feeling you had? Now you've been a whole 3 times to a village and have conquered Isaan, seen the fried insects and heard the cock crow at 5.00 am, I guess there's no point another farang repeating your epic journey, eh?

I am just trying to help someone that has never been to Thailand before and in as much I am trying to be honest.

Do you think it would have been better if I had said that once I got to the village I just kicked back in absolute luxury and enjoyed the feeling and I would recomend it to people of all ages and walks of life?

It does not suit all people and some would find it very hard going ( please read some of the previous posts )

By the way, how many times have you done the village thing?

Hi there

I have to tell you that the first time that I went " up there " was a few years back and I got a wealth of information from this forum.

Ray23 was invaluable with his advice and you can probably search the forum in the little white box at the top with the word Mahasarakham.

Try it and you can read the questions that I asked and see the answers.

The first time that I had the guts to visit the village we flew to Roi-Et from BKK and Roi-Et is really worth visiting. It is also a good option for you to home base at as it has food that you are used to and good hotels/apartments ect..

We trundled our way into the village on the back of a utility truck with seats down the sides and it was allmost like being the great white adventurer. Going where no white man has been before.

We slept on the sisters concrete floor downstairs. Most of the residents dont have concrete downstairs so I guess we were the lucky ones. The chickens started crowing ( or what ever chickens do ) at 5.00 AM inches from my head and at 6.00 the local temple gave the news on a looud speaker.

Ox and water buffalo are herded past the house every morning and evening and when the rice isnt being planted or picked the people just do nothing except eat and sleep.

Nobody there spoke any english and the food will just blow your mind. Forget Thai resturants because this is nothing like that unles the ones that you have been to serve insects.

But still it was an adventure.

Now after 3 trips there and now that the locals now me enough to be a regullar. I have lost the adventurer spirit.

It is very hard going in the village that I visit

If you want my advice, stay at Roi-Et and visit for the day.

All the best.

dear members

i m staying in bangkok since 5 years,but 1 thing irritates me is,....

thai people dont understand value for time,they are always late on appoinments,

i understand traffic problems of bangkok,but there are many other ways to reach any plance on time.

and they dont even say sorry for being late,as if these is their routine activity.

i am facing this problem everyday,and is seriously driving me nuts.

please share ur ideas on this

thnx

I am with you Yogi,

they drive me crazy as well.

" I will see you tomorrow at 9.00 AM " means that I will leave sometime after 9.00 AM and probably stop for some food on the way, maybe visit the sister who lives close to the food shop and take care of her baby for a couple of hours while she goes shopping.

Get stuck in the traffic ect. ect..

Sometimes you are lucky to see them by the evening .

To make it worse, it took a full hour of talking on the phone yesterday to organise all this and when the the said visitor finally does arrive, they will all sit on the floor and eat for another hour before WE can do anything.

Day finished.

It blows my mind.

Hi

I'm pretty new here so if I get things wrong please tell me. I will be offended but I've been married so I can take most things.

I have recently met a woman on the internet and I will be making my first visit to Thailand on 5th February 2009 til 22nd to meet her. She is coming to BKK to meet me so at least that should avoid me making a mess of things with my limited Thai language skills. Although exact dates haven't been decided we will eventually end up in her village 'ban dong noi' about 4.5km southeast of mahasarakham. For part of this time she will be at work so I will be able to find out first hand what it is like to be alone in the village.

Although she speaks reasonably good english I think she may be an exception in her village. She studies at the university and works at a local education centre that seems to focus on vocational skills such as carpentry, electrics and that sort of thing. This may be why she speaks good english although we can still hit a bit of a brick wall sometimes even if I can find the word I'm looking for in my phrase book.

I don't know if anyone knows this village, unfortunately it's just outside of the higher resolution area on Google maps so I can't even see how big it is. It would be good to meet another english speaker but as yet I'm not really sure how I would manage this.

I think this could be something of a culture shock but as they say " what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" so here's to strength or death.

Hi there,

could you tell me where in the world you are coming from and have you been to upcountry Thailand before.

It seems to make a difference where you come from as some people do better than others.

Do you know what real Issan food is like? Do you know what you will be sleeping in?

All the best and welcome.

Ahh, you mean the Tookay, the bigger brother of the common gecko, or the '<deleted> you lizard' as I used to call them, I thought that was what they where saying at first.

They are very territorial, and while they have a source of food (insects) they will not move on. So, you either let them stay and let them control the bug population, or you kill all the bugs yourself. As they are no danger to people, the first option is probably the easiest.

We had one of these things at a hotel/apartment place that we stayed at in Khon Kaen recently.

Every now and then through the night I could here the same thing. I honestly thought it was a joke electronic door chime on the door of a " bussy " room.

It allways started loud and faded out over a half a dozen repeats.

I was sure it was saying " <deleted> ME ".

Have had the same lizard in our bedroom upcountry waking me up all night but this one sounded different. Maybe eating different bugs or rodents. The wife says that they eat rats as well.

I just spent a week in one of those " nice little villages " and couldnt wait to get out.

How any normal farang can live in these places is beyond me. I know of others who say the same.

All the best.

I guess that is part of the attraction for some me included, but on occasion it's nice to meet up with foreigners for general chats and banter about locals. The only foreigners who abode in hotels are visiting tourists (people who only come here for a couple days to visit their partners' family), everybody else have their own house in which to live in. Rather relying what other foreigners tell ya, have a look for yourself. In term of social and night life, yes Khon Kaen & Udon Thani are a much better bet, agree. Having fun, socialising and cultural stuff is far more advanced in KK & UDT than anything I've seen in all Australian cities (bar Melbourne).

Hello Sarge,

I have to tell you that I have had a look for myself.

I have had a look for the last 3 years.

Maybe you live in a place that is slightly more upmarket than the village that I visit.

In this village, there have only ever been 3 farang pass through and I am the only one to go back for seconds. It is around 45 minutes from Mahasarakham in a southeast direction.

In the middle of nowhere so to speak. There are buffalo, ox and chickens everywhere and not a lot else other than the ants, scorpions, lizards ect..

They throw thier rubbish out of the house window and what the chickens dont eat gets scratched up every blue moon and burnt. Until we put a ceiling in under the main house the odd baby rat would drop through the gaps in the floorboards. It was great for the kids to play with before they threw the things to the chickens.

The people are very nice but they cant talk to us farang and even if you know some Thai you wont here it there. They speak issan/Lao.

So I do know something about it.

All the best.

interesting, when I live in mahasarakham I make regular weekly shopping jaunts to 101, I'll make sure I stop there next time. How's the food?

I thought 101 Pizza was good for a beer with a nice view of the lake. Last year I found the food O.K..

I thought that the farang owner/husand died last year. Is this place still running?

O.P. When I was in Roi-Et last year thhere was a small group of farang that met at 101 pizza every afternoon for a beer. Nice normal sort of blokes. It is on the other side of the lake from the city from memory, maybe someone here can clarify.

The food at White Elephant does have a German lean but they make the best meatballs on mashed potatoe that I have ever had.

We have a Thai friend that comes from Roi-Et and she told me recently that the farang population is getting close to 20% and that there are a couple of new bars and resturants in town now. Can anyone confirm this?

As much as it is a delight to spend time with the ball and chain, one is expecting a slightly longer duration of stay this time in the lovely setting that is Pho Chai , due mainly to the collapsed wreckage that is the UK economy.

In order to avert the usual pattern of loneliness, decaying to total despair followed by a row with the old woman and a PB Air flight to Bangkok, does any one else of English tongue live in this area?

If so and if you want to come round for numerous ice cold ones, post away or PM me.

Many thanks.

There are dozens, maybe hundreds in the area, not everyone reads the forum though. I believe a watering hole & meeting place is "The White Elephant" in Roi Et town. Not to be confused with the 'White Elephent' on my site in Surin Town.

White Elephant is the name that I have on the bussines card.

They have excellent food and it is a very comfortable place to have a drink or a game of pool.

It is run by a thai lady called Poo and husband Klaus.

Phone number on the card is 043-514778 mobile 01-0590060.

Address 59/2 Rommung Naimung Roi-Et.

I only visit Roi -Et once per year and didnt get there this year so the info is one year old.

For me, it is worth a trip to Roi Et just to eat at this place and the owners wouldnt know me from a bar of soap.

Know what you mean about Village life!

All the best.

There are very few foreigners living around mahasarakham city, mostly involved with the university. I could go for several days before I meet one. Most of the foreigners just have a house and wife there, they come visit from time to time. Like to know if there is a get together among foreigners around the city of mahasarakham.

Mahasasarakham Province has over 1,200 foreigners living within the province (count as of 2005). Only about 50 are involved with the university.

Most are tucked away in little rice villages and seldom come to town. In one village alone, over a dozen Isaan women are married to Swedish farangs and the town is overrun with little blond-headed, brown-skinned "luek-khruengs" scampering about.

You gotta rattle the bushes.

I just spent a week in one of those " nice little villages " and couldnt wait to get out.

How any normal farang can live in these places is beyond me. I know of others who say the same.

Any farang that actually has the balls to survive in these places will have to be very well set up and enjoy being alone.

All of them will go to the nearest Tesco Lotus or similar to get supplies on a regular basis.

One farang resturant owner in Khon Kaen told me that most farang husbands stay at the nearest hotel to avoid " the nice little village ", one person has a deal with his wife and has never been to the village.

To the OP, why dont you just shoot into Khon Kaen for a night every now and then. Plenty of good food, farangs to talk to and not far from Mahasarakham.

All the best.

Hi there,

we will be in Roi-Et in the next few weeks and, the last couple of times, we have stayed at Poon Pecht sports club.

Despite the name the place is just a block of nice clean serviced apartments and just a few doors down from The White Elephant resturant and bar which is a place that I am really looking foward to visiting again.

Excellent food++++++++

I was wondering if there are any other good clean places to stay up there that are similar to Poon Pecht.

We are ( the wife ) cheap Charlies when we travel and we ( the wife ) will spit the dummy if we stay anywhere expensive.

I personally enjoy the relaxed feeling of staying in apartments. Nobody opening doors for me and it is not to mant luxuries other than TV, AC, fridge and balcony.

I met a POME, sorry, english man up there a couple of years ago and he was living in a different serviced apartment block that he spoke very highly of but I lost contact with him before I could get the details.

Does anyone know of such a place ?

And does anyone know if 101 Pizza is still open?

Thanks for any input

All the best.

Wrong forum? should be Eastern THailand??

Yes that is very true.

But.

There does not seem to be many TV members there. 2 online at last glance.

Kantary Bay - Rayong

On the beach, just north of Rayong town, off Sukhumvit. Great place, with balconies.

TH

Thanks for that, looks like a great place.

Anyone know of anywhere else?

Hi,

I put this post in the wrong forum so I will try here.

I am looking for a half decent hotel/guesthouse/apartment in Rayong in early October.

I am trying to avoid staying with the in laws.

They live somewhere close to Rayong city but not sure where.

I am hopeing someone will know of a place to stay for a week or so, preferably an apartment or guesthouse with a balcony( I smoke ) but will be happy to get any info or ideas on anything.

Have to try to keep the other half happy and still keep some independance and privacy if you know what I mean.

Thanks for any help.

Thanks,

we are staying for about a week and might get out to the island if we can.

Not sure where the inlaw lives but aparently close to the city.

Have to try and keep the wife happy and still keep my independance. A bit like jugeling.

Didnt realise there was an Eastern forum here.

Maybe I should have asked this question there.

Thanks for your help.

Does anyone on this forum live in the Rayong area or know enough about it to give me some advise?

I will be visiting the area in a couple of weeks and I am trying to avoid staying with some of the inlaws.

Great looking sister but the kid will drive me crazy and I like a bit of privacy.

Can you suggest any hotels, guesthouses, apartments or similar that are half way decent.

Ideally I would like something like an apartment / Guesthouse with a balcony.

Any ideas will be thankfully recieved.

Thanks.

R U TWO DONE YET?

shall we get a room mate?

you join in on some spit roast action :-)

BKKJames, it is quality posts and subjects like this that have the Thaivisa masses glued to their seats. Will there be another reference to idiots? What is a shop contract? Who is Ron Bicardi?

I tell you this mate, when all is said and done, you'll not be sorry to have read through 2 pages of posts about such a fine subject as this.

Drugs for sure, ex-Kiwi as well!

Nothing wrong with a young person asking some questions.