LaosLover

I can't answer you. You didn't explicitly ask me to answer you, so by your way of thinking, I can't. Ever. You don't KNOW me -like a brother- so I can't answer you. Nor should you ever be held to account and brought up short by aimless time wasters making small talk -which is how you see it. Again, I'm respecting that wacky boundary. I think Yahoo News, where you're just yelling blindly into a gaping internet maw and no one ever answers back would be a good fit for you. No one will ever cross examine you there as to whether or not your wife really was or wasn't a hotel desk clerk when you met. Most furiously declaiming thrifters are just broke and jealous. It's not principle, it's that extra quid for a beer. In a bar with actual walls. And A/C. Not 'affin it, am I right? I'm an unusual person here since I did come from a city, moved to a country setting, got sick of it, and now crave city life. I know, I know, no one specifically ASKED me to tell that, least of all you, deep in Issan seclusion with your blinds drawn. But many people of even middling social acumen like to share a laugh or two about where they come from.

Wot? No fish farm at the Soi 7 beer garden? No ancient petrographs, you say? Nary a single wat made out of beer bottles? I demand a recount!".

Agreed. My recent stay on soi 33 had more restaurants and interesting bars than half of the Old City in Chiang Mai. To be in the countryside, you really have to like growing things. Otherwise, you will find it to be clearly lacking, not just run of the mill-lacking.

I respect your boundaries. You're on an internet chat board, but you're also hiding out in the witness protection program. We're good. Your answer does not fall within the parameters of "clearly lacking", more like a Marcel Marceau imitation.

You got me there. Take the completely harmless story of your meet up to your grave.

Did you meet your partner in Issan? I can't recall any such stories and would be very interested in hearing it. And obv, most Issan people working in tourist areas aren't on the game. My wife is from Appalachia, or as I call it, White Haiti. No double-way would I have ever met her if I moved there.

Did you meet her in Issan? I find this claim to be clearly lacking. Not just generically lacking, but you know, clearly lacking. Like, lacking in a way that a face-down brit drooling on a sodden Weatherspoon's bar mat could discern as clearly lacking. When I wanted to study Issan folk religion, I went Pattaya, not Ubon. There I met the English-speaking, western-comfortable practitioners who were happy to talk about it. In Issan, beyond the lack of English, there was shyness and even suspicion about my curiosity. From there, I ventured out into the field with more cosmopolitan Issan people. My plan -was it clearly lacking? Hopefully someone who plucked his Noi out of a rice paddy will weigh in.

One problem with techno dancing is that the other techno dancers consider your old self to be a bit of a downer just by being there. Said no one at a rave, ever: "Where are the old people at?".

The exceptional women in Issan would most likely be found at the bus station, leaving Issan, for greener pastures. We had a beloved poster here for a while who travelled Issan far and wide, looking for a good girl. No moo ban wet market was too small to try exchanging a few furtive glances with some devout Buddhist who lives with her mom in. He came up empty. "Clearly lacking?". I think so.

Yeah, of course. I don't live in Issan. A few visits there have confirmed these impressions. Love Issan. Loved Mississipi too. Rural places tend to follow the ol' religion and be hierarchal. You are bending over backwards to take offense when no disrespect at all was given. What's "clearly lacking" from you is any inclination to share anything beyond your sniffy, superior, passive aggression. English, am I right? So what exactly would Joe Blow do all day in the moo ban? This oughta be good.

So as an Australian, how many people from Sydney do you know who eff off to the outback, or even Adelaide? Adelaide would be like Manhattan compared to Udon. Even factoring the language difference, what you'e describing is rare the world over. In my former Appalachia, I was the first person to move to that (English speaking) town in memory. Memories that went back to at least the 40's. My wife's family had been on the land since 1820. What did I have to say to those salt of the earth Lord-lovers? Really, nothing. So I did what you're saying, under super-ideal conditions (interest in bluegrass music, no hangups about them all being crazy-racist), and I would never do it again. To do this in feudal, Animist/Buddhist, non-English speaking Issan? I would want a Noi assigned to me right off the bus. You notice there's a very important 3rd sentient being in that classic pic of the guy with the water buffalo. And do what? would be the big question. How much do you LOVE fish-farming? Partic without a Noi in the picture?

I've also heard Higher Power referred to as your best, most evolved self. But I agree, most successfully long term AA people have that God component. -Which is not an option for a lot of people; who should therefore check out curious sober.

Whew, mystery solved. So if I mention a hot dog on a stick do you instinctively want to chow down or move your head away?

It's economics. If I get tired of being Hugh Hefner in Thailand, I can move to Somalia and be Elon Musk.

Dance parties? That's a new one. Like Thai-dancing? That's gonna be a no from me, Dawg.

The longer I'm here, the less I want to do. Twas a time when I'd be carefully parsing every bowl of Khao Soi Noodles in Chiang Mai, or visiting every night market in Hua Hin. And of course, visiting every last waterfall. 10 months in, I find it hard to leave whatever soi I'm on. Most of the soi's are pretty good, just like the one next to it.

An old white woman talked to me at the gym today. OK-ish looking. Seriously, mind blown. First time ever for: 1) someone talking to me at the gym 2) a white woman here talking to me at all. Pot bars are very social and all ages. If you can resist boomer-lecturing and remembering when a slice of pizza was a quarter, people are happy to engage. Just don't harsh their mellow. No Trump talk, etc. Over on Reddit Chiang Mai, someone was asking about bars where tourist oldies might socialize. I asked: you mean non-pay for play bars? People were urging him to try Cooking School. I threw him a bone and suggested The Writer's Bar.

Rural life is the same everywhere; either you love watching that pumpkin grow and having a lot of quiet or it drives you mad. I did it for 12 years in Appalachia. It was great, but eventually it did my head in. Most people who like it were raised in it, like my wife (who had to chop wood for a hot bath in her lifetime). I'd be interested in the accounts of people who came to rural living late in life cold and loved it. I'd had an intermediate phase of a few years in a small English town. But to go from Manhattan to the rice paddy? 30 days would have been the absolute outside estimate. Me and my wife are relieved to see a little traffic and sushi every day of our lives.

I live a luxurious life on that budget, but I like to spend more. In Chiang Mai, the low end of a luxury apartment with pool, ac, internet etc toss in is prob 25K a month. A meal with a glass of wine is prob 800 baht in a nice, not luxurious, restaurant. So after rent, you can spend about 2,500 day. Two of us live very happily, ordering in from Starbucks on that. Decent if your vice is weed and you can get the local 100 baht a gram price. A little tight if your vice is a girlfriend with a long story. We budget $4,800 a month (includes health insurance of $800 for 2). Every couple months when the baht piles up, we fly down to Bangkok and eat at some prime restaurants. Spent $250 at Lanna (Northern food as nouvelle as it gets) and then alternated with going to an Unagi restaurant (like $70, a third the price in New York or Tokyo). To be able to eat in a 4-5* restaurant a couple of times a week is a dream come true. I love the passive-aggressive emoticon below pretending he don' unnnnerstannnn what I'm saying.

Solo life is good if you're comfortable alone. I just killed a week in Hua Hin 100% solo. Nice people in the office at the condo rental, the odd convo over breakfast, a bit of banter at the gym. If I was in Saraburi or Roi Et, it wouldn't be any difference. I might not have the same vast choice of pizza outlets, but everywhere has a farang-ish little pub, sushi, and a decent gym (prob at the mall, which everywhere also has). I'll be railroading my way back to Chiang Mai in a month, making a few stops. Unless I'm out in a field with cow, it will be the same. If that happens, it's no diff from the cow in a field I left behind in the states.

Johnny No-mates Alert. I'll always toss back a nod. But if they don't want to nod? I want to set them free from nod-dom It the southern US, idiots ask me where I hail from. I say Manhattan and list my cross streets (14th Street. and Third Avenue). Then they say something like "I hail from the great state of Mississippi", and I'm like, great to who? Somalians? But a nod-nagger is actually worse than hailer. Thanks for clearing that up.

Liars and posers are often easy to spot... Nah, I think an astrology girlfriend would be as easy to satisfy as an Episcopalian. Pretend to have "an open mind" about It, and toss out a few "you're such a libra because of X's". I personally like a little of the nutty Stevie Nicks thing in my mix. I mean even possibly current day, 70 year old Stevie. A hot stone massage believer would be about my water level. Aromatherapy is testing it.

But if Bob met a gripping hottie and she was an earth sign, Ol' Bob would be googling to find out the right zodiac sign to get with her. "I'm Bob, The Leo. And I'm bold. Being a Leo and all".

I come from a part of the states where they seriously believe Jesus is telling them to invest in gold ingots with Trump's face on them and that a fetus that looks like a peanut is the same as your Uncle Bob. So a little astrology or whatever? Possibly ethnographically interesting, at minimum, a bit charming. I'm the opposite of the OP, I'm sad that Thailand is slowly losing its Nang Kwaks and Naga shrines. It's much less amulet-drenched than it was 10 years ago. But like all over the world, the young have less use and time for the old gods of their parents.

Yeah, the full range of beers. I like a highball with sushi (a shot of so-so whisky in a huge glass of soda water). Also ate twice at Unagi Sanya (suk 39). Eel-specific restaurants are rare, They do a lovely job doing them over charcoal. It's very rich, a small portion goes a long way.