Is life in Ubon boring?

[ssergione]

Hi guys,
I'm thinking move living to Ubon from Hua Hin, with my wife and small child.
The main reason to moving, is the price for build home/buy land. We do have land in Ubon city 1 ngan so can built simple home around 1-2ml ฿
My wife is thinking that it will really boring there for me and nothing to do. 
I was there few times and for me is typical thai city, nothing fancy but not worse than HH. Same same for me.

There is only few pros for HH, like close to BKK and the sea, but the sea is not good  here, if compare to samui where i used to live first years of my life in Thailand.
I'm 35 years old, not drink too much ( as result socialization through alcohol is not working for me :) ). I can read/speak thai, not too much but doing improves everyday.

Can you confirm (somehow) or refute her suggestion for me? I'm really not sure about what asking because it is of course depend on me, what is my interesting and so on. But maybe you can share your opinion.
Thanks!

 

[DILLIGAD]

What stops you being bored inHua Hin that you ‘might’ miss in Ubon?

By moving to Ubon would that be near her family?

I guess your not an English teacher and most farangs nearer your age in Ubon will all be teachers. Do you have friends of your age in Hua Hin???


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[MrTrip]

My wife's family live in Kantalak, Sisaket. Not far from Ubon. We went to the candle festival a couple of years ago and I loved it. Such a chilled out place even with thousands of visitors for the festival. Only a couple of streets from the centre was bliss compared to the mayhem and traffic in central HH. The visits have only been for a week at a time but you get the feeling for a place quickly I think.
I think there's a reasonable expat scene there from my understanding, if that's your thing.
Personally I'm really looking forward to my next visit but living there may be a completely different story.

I'm sure a few on here will offer very sound advice based on much more experience than me.

Good luck [emoji6]


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[kflyco]

Moved to Ubon from USA several months ago with wife and 3 year old son.  Picked Ubon as it was close to my wife family (about 2 hours) but not too close.  So far have really enjoyed living here.  I suspect that like you, when you have a young one your life and time tends to center around them. So don't have a huge need for hitting the bars or spending large amount of time socialising outside of family. I am still new here, so everyday is an adventure, but in my short time here is what I like about living here.

 

-Close to family (again not too close) that allows my son to hang out with grandparents, nephews, etc.  He absolutely loves spending time with them.  And...we now have family to help out and allows us to get occasional breaks for ourselves (like a weekend in Bangkok, etc).  A lot of my wife old university friends are also close by making for occasional get togethers.

-There are a number of farrang hangouts and restaurants to get your occasional fix for western food (Outside Inn, Wrong Way Cafe, Spaggo's, Peppers).  Clearly not as extensive as Hua Hin but enough for me and my budget.  The also now have  food delivery called Ubon Heros from a large number of local restaurants.

-Have found a group of westerners who golf twice a week at the two golf courses in the city.  Great group of people and have been very welcoming.  Suspect there are more out there as well.

-Flights to Bangkok are frequent and cheap...around 700B. UBP now has direct flights to Pattaya and Chiang Mai. UBP is easy to get to being located downtown.

-Places to take the little one such as the Ubon Zoo(it is actually pretty nice), waterpark, Pattaya Noi (lake about 30 minutes east of town with banana boats, jet skis, and food). Of course you have the Big C, Central, Tesco that have the kiddie areas.

 

Thats my two cents.  Have to say I have not been bored in the short time I have been here. Let me know you have any questions.  Good luck.

 

 

 

[jayceenik]

I met my present young TGF in Pattaya a few years back. She comes from a village 100 km NE of Ubon and she finally decided that we should go live in Ubon so she could be close to her family and maybe get a job. We bought a house and car and moved to Ubon early this year. Quite a pleasant prosperous clean city with all conveniences that a farang would need. Lots of very good Thai style restaurants. Cost of living way down from BKK and Pattaya. Real estate is also much more affordable here.

But boring ? Depends on your lifestyle but not for me because I'm a retired senior who enjoys a quiet life with my TGF.

I'd think that a farang relocates to Ubon to either get a teaching job (it's a uni town) or to suit his Thai lady.

A few farangs in my new Sarin Company subdivision. Next door neighbor is a German who works in Singapore.

 

We have closed down our Pattaya rental but I have kept my BKK rental studio for short stays every two or three months. NOKAIR has below 2000b promotion return fares.

 

 

 

[geriatrickid]

Interesting case, but I don't understand why someone age 35 would move to Ubon, if there was not a bonafide reason to do so like a job or research.

OP are you gainfully employed, or do you have a guaranteed income  such as an annuity or investments or even an allowance from your  parents?

I have nothing against Issan or Ubon city, but it is not a hot spot of action. There's the university, multiple military facilities, the relatively new Central, but not much in terms that would compare with a modern advanced civilization. The people are nice and I certainly felt  much safer at night walking about. The place goes to bed at 10 pm, and good luck trying to find a taxi after the late night movie ends at the Central cinema. 

[ssergione]

Hi guys,

thanks for your opinions! I very appreciate it. Give me food for thinking.

 

@DILLIGAD yeah, you are right I'm not a teacher. And the truth is I'm also boring here in HH. I have one friend here but we are not too much closed. So probably I can say, no I don't have. I cycling sometimes this i see only one fun thing now. 

@MrTrip Thank you! Yes candle festival is awesome for visiting. 

 

@kflyco You just tell all reasons I kept in my head about living there. We also have family about 70km from Ubon ( near si muang mai ) so I think is the best option to left my child there while traveling. Also there a lot of same age children and  mine will have real fun. 

 

@jayceenik Yeah, this is the problem now about life style. I'm thinking maybe I have those midlife crisis :) And search for myself. 

 

@geriatrickid I have small business in my home country so I don't need to work to much, just manage it remotely about 3 -4  hours in the day. I like quiet places, what goes sleep early with airport ( :) ), and whenever I want I can go somewhere for relax, to see big cities lights.

 

 

[DILLIGAD]

After reading your post above, I cannot see why it would be much different to where you are now (except the sea). Why not rent for 6months/year to ‘test the water’ and then decide if you ALL want to put down more permanent roots in the area. I live not too far away (Sisaket) and think it’s great.


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[Patriot]

No

[Patriot]

In addition to the above, come here, get a short lease/rent on the place, check it out, sus put the local waterholes - if that’s your “c.o.t”, and probably the best advice is to get on the UBON Hash  House Harriers for an entertaining Saturday pm. There are a couple of rum fellows there such as Steve and Jason, but the rest are reliable!!!!!!

You won’t regret the move

[tso310]

Ubon has a decent football team.

[AP7100]

Hello,

I can surely recommend Ubonratchathani as it is a nice medium-sized city that has everything you need in both farang-style and thai-style. There are beautiful parks and great playareas, nice big CentralPlaza, plenty of schools and not too noisy or wild like other cities. From the airport you can go to lots of domestic locations if you need to see something else sometimes. Also likewise there are plenty of NCA busses, vans and good transportation (Ubon has its own taxies).

Shopping is also not a problem with several Tesco Lotus, Big C, 7-11, Saveland, Tops and so on. As the years has gone by the number of expats living here has increased and No - we do not all drink a lot (as some like to assume!). I am 45, has 2 kids and living here for more than 3 years now.......and before that I lived in other cities but this is actually 2nd time I live here. 1st time I lived here 5 years so Ubon is kind of a city I keep coming back to :-) On Facebook there are several Ubon-groups that you could join as well to learn more. Good luck with it all and welcome here, the people here are very friendly and helpful and there are plenty of good local markets next to both Starbucks, McDonalds, PizzaHut and so on.... :-)

[baansgr]

If the main reason is as you state to build a house..... Dont.  Why spend 1.2  mil on something you wont own in an area that at present you dont know anyone except for inlaws. Rent there and see what its like. You already have the land, build costs wont increase that much over the next 5 years or so. Rent is wasted money i know but 1.2 mil is 10  years worth so take your time. Many a guy, married, with kids has nade the same move only for it to be the start of the end. 

[sead]

Is your stay in Hua Hin exciting?

I would say its same without the water.

[Gillyflower]

Well I don't live in Ubon and don't want to either.  But it seems to me that you have received a lot of extremely good advice. Act on it dear boy!   I think above all, that you should listen to the people who have advised you to rent rather than build for the moment.  Very sensible.

[timendres]

On 11/15/2017 at 12:06 AM, DILLIGAD said:

After reading your post above, I cannot see why it would be much different to where you are now (except the sea). Why not rent for 6months/year to ‘test the water’ and then decide if you ALL want to put down more permanent roots in the area. I live not too far away (Sisaket) and think it’s great.

This is exactly the advice I wanted to offer. It would be plain silly to invest in a house before spending a reasonable amount of time there (at least one year) to see if it suits you. Then you can invest with confidence.

[EcigAmateur]

Anywhere is better than Huahin, you are not taking a big risk !

 

 

 

 

[Happyman58]

I live in Ubon with my Thai wife Apart from cheaper living it is nice place to live  Living in Hua Hin is expensive because of the tourists that go there Try it for 6 months and rent and you can always go back if you dont like

[MeMock]

20 hours ago, tso310 said:

Ubon has a decent football team.

Apart from the corrupt umpiring.... 

[catman20]

On 11/15/2017 at 12:06 PM, DILLIGAD said:

After reading your post above, I cannot see why it would be much different to where you are now (except the sea). Why not rent for 6months/year to ‘test the water’ and then decide if you ALL want to put down more permanent roots in the area. I live not too far away (Sisaket) and think it’s great.


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great advice.

[PerkinsCuthbert]

If you can survive Hua Hin you can survive anywhere.

[craigt3365]

I'd also recommend giving it a shot before permanently moving.  Especially trying it out during the hot season.  And the burning season.

[ubonjoe]

9 minutes ago, craigt3365 said:

I'd also recommend giving it a shot before permanently moving.  Especially trying it out during the hot season.  And the burning season.

Not much hotter here than other parts of the country. No burning season here either.

[craigt3365]

2 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

Not much hotter here than other parts of the country. No burning season here either.

It's pretty rare for us to hit 34 or higher here in Pattaya.  33 is pretty close to the max.  I think Issan can get quite a bit hotter than that.  Right?

 

During the burning season, it's even bad here in Pattaya and we've got the sea breezes to help....a bit. LOL.  There burning all over the place here right now.  Sadly.

[ubonjoe]

2 minutes ago, craigt3365 said:

It's pretty rare for us to hit 34 or higher here in Pattaya.  33 is pretty close to the max.  I think Issan can get quite a bit hotter than that.  Right?

 

During the burning season, it's even bad here in Pattaya and we've got the sea breezes to help....a bit. LOL.  There burning all over the place here right now.  Sadly.

I can remember it being pretty hot in Pattaya when I stayed there. I couple of degrees is not a lot.

No burning here in the city. Perhaps out in a village somewhere.

[Coota]

I live in Surin and visit Ubon regularly for small holidays. I much prefer Ubon to Surin, it is a nice city compared to Surin. Lots to do there and some incredible places to visit out of the city.  I used to live in Pattaya so can compare places and Ubon is the best of the 3.  

[bergen]

34 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

I can remember it being pretty hot in Pattaya when I stayed there. I couple of degrees is not a lot.

No burning here in the city. Perhaps out in a village somewhere.

Not burning much in the villages either!

[craigt3365]

5 minutes ago, bergen said:

Not burning much in the villages either!

We took a road trip a few years ago from near Nong Khai to just east of Ubon a few years ago.  This was in early April and we took as many back roads as possible to follow the river....as best we could.  The heat was intense and the burning was everywhere.  We stayed on the Mekong River a few times and couldn't even see the other side due to the smoke.

[DILLIGAD]

We took a road trip a few years ago from near Nong Khai to just east of Ubon a few years ago.  This was in early April and we took as many back roads as possible to follow the river....as best we could.  The heat was intense and the burning was everywhere.  We stayed on the Mekong River a few times and couldn't even see the other side due to the smoke.

Nong Khai is near Udon and a long way from Ubon. Are you talking about the right place as in the title??

You are right about the heat, however.

 

 

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[craigt3365]

4 minutes ago, DILLIGAD said:

Nong Khai is near Udon and a long way from Ubon. Are you talking about the right place as in the title??

You are right about the heat, however.

 

 

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Please read my post again.