Visit Srisaket next week!

[Awa Shuen]

Hello from HK! I'm new to here, a chinese guy.

 

I have a Thai gf with her for 2 years, she is from Issan Srisaket, she bought land last year so I paid for building a house on her land for future. It's almost done, I have a long Chinese new year holiday so we will go there to have a look.

 

They are farmers so yes, my house is like in some jungle, 2 hours drive from Ubon city. As you guys know HK is a super busy tiny city like Singapore, so I think this visit will be quite interesting. My gf already warned me she will asked me to do all her farm work to experience how tough it is, cuz in past I complained about how exhausting to work a office job 14 hours a day everyday with computer. But she said its nothing compare with their farm work. But of coz, I'm not come here to compete who works harder. Just to see her family and soon we will get marry. This is the main reason I head to Srisaket.

 

Just wondered if any chance to pull a cable to my house for internet installation in such kind of village? I really doubt this. This is quite important for me coz I'm a designer, need internet to send files and communicate with customers. Not for now cuz I will still work a few more years in HK before i move to there, but just asking.

 

She said even drive to Srisaket town it still takes 1 hour, so I don't expect any nightlife, I can create party in my house ;-)

 

I know many of you here know Issan so well so gald to hear any advise!

 

 

 

Peace!

[DILLIGAD]

Hello from HK! I'm new to here, a chinese guy.
 
I have a Thai gf with her for 2 years, she is from Issan Srisaket, she bought land last year so I paid for building a house on her land for future. It's almost done, I have a long Chinese new year holiday so we will go there to have a look.
 
They are farmers so yes, my house is like in some jungle, 2 hours drive from Ubon city. As you guys know HK is a super busy tiny city like Singapore, so I think this visit will be quite interesting. My gf already warned me she will asked me to do all her farm work to experience how tough it is, cuz in past I complained about how exhausting to work a office job 14 hours a day everyday with computer. But she said its nothing compare with their farm work. But of coz, I'm not come here to compete who works harder. Just to see her family and soon we will get marry. This is the main reason I head to Srisaket.
 
Just wondered if any chance to pull a cable to my house for internet installation in such kind of village? I really doubt this. This is quite important for me coz I'm a designer, need internet to send files and communicate with customers. Not for now cuz I will still work a few more years in HK before i move to there, but just asking.
 
She said even drive to Srisaket town it still takes 1 hour, so I don't expect any nightlife, I can create party in my house ;-)
 
I know many of you here know Issan so well so gald to hear any advise!
 
 
 
Peace!

Welcome to Sisaket.
Been living & working there for about 6 years. It’s slow, quiet but I like it. There are a few different restaurants there, an aquarium, football stadium and the usual supermarkets. Drop into ‘Living in the past’ as it’s the oldest western restaurant and Frank is a wealth of info about the area. Ubon is a very large city with lots of everything you need and don’t need!
Good luck.
Dave.


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[Awa Shuen]

3 minutes ago, DILLIGAD said:

Welcome to Sisaket.
Been living & working there for about 6 years. It’s slow, quiet but I like it. There are a few different restaurants there, an aquarium, football stadium and the usual supermarkets. Drop into ‘Living in the past’ as it’s the oldest western restaurant and Frank is a wealth of info about the area. Ubon is a very large city with lots of everything you need and don’t need!
Good luck.
Dave.


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Thanks Dave! You live in village or town? The internet is workable at there?

[DILLIGAD]

Thanks Dave! You live in village or town? The internet is workable at there?

Lived in both. Most places can get either 3bb or True cable at decent speeds/costs. I wouldn’t say 100% of places but maybe 70%(at a guess).
What is the name of the village in question please?


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[Awa Shuen]

1 hour ago, DILLIGAD said:

Lived in both. Most places can get either 3bb or True cable at decent speeds/costs. I wouldn’t say 100% of places but maybe 70%(at a guess).
What is the name of the village in question please?


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Her village name is Kantaraluk (maybe wrong spelled...), really no idea where it is, but we found her sister's house nearby on Google map.

[jenny2017]

 

      If you can be a bit more precise about the location...if you're in a little village where nobody is yet connected you might have to look into satellite powered internet. But if anybody nearby has got internet you won't have a problem. In the worst case scenario you'd have to pay for the wire to connect your house. Welcome to Sisaket, living here for 15 + and still happy. 

 

        

 

      

 

 

Edited February 7, 2018 by jenny2017

[jenny2017]

4 hours ago, DILLIGAD said:

Welcome to Sisaket.
Been living & working there for about 6 years. It’s slow, quiet but I like it. There are a few different restaurants there, an aquarium, football stadium and the usual supermarkets. Drop into ‘Living in the past’ as it’s the oldest western restaurant and Frank is a wealth of info about the area. Ubon is a very large city with lots of everything you need and don’t need!
Good luck.
Dave.


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   The only things that are slow are unfortunately the driver's brains. If you can make it in Sisaket, you can make it everywhere. 

Edited February 7, 2018 by jenny2017

[isaanbanhou]

our home is next to the jungle about 1o km out of Sisaket.  Internet is not a problem in our town.   Dilligad's  suggestion to stop by "Living in the Past" is an excellent suggestion, Frank knows the community well , is a very friendly German guy and his food is great.  You couldn't have chosen a place more the opposite of Hong Kong, I lived in Manhattan for 6 years and love the quiet of Sisaket.  Kantharalak has pretty countryside and a decent pizza parlour 

[Awa Shuen]

33 minutes ago, jenny2017 said:

 

      If you can be a bit more precise about the location...if you're in a little village where nobody is yet connected you might have to look into satellite powered internet. But if anybody nearby has got internet you won't have a problem. In the worst case scenario you'd have to pay for the wire to connect your house. Welcome to Sisaket, living here for 15 + and still happy. 

 

        

 

      

 

 

 

32 minutes ago, jenny2017 said:

It's good.

 

  P.S. The place must be Kantharalak, 75 km away from Sisaket city. Near Cambodia and not so far away from Laos. 

 

26 minutes ago, jenny2017 said:

   The only things that are slow are unfortunately the driver's brains. If you can make it in Sisaket, you can make it everywhere. 

Thank you so much Jenny, very detail. I never been her home before so really hard to tell the excatly location. Once i arrived i will locate it on google map and show u guys. I know the life will be a big change for me, i been Canberra for 2 years for school, that place already super quiet for me, after i back to HK then realize the goodness of a quiet place. HK is a living hell, work like a dog but live in a dog cage size apartment (im sure way worse than Paris, HK now already hit #1 for the highest rental rate in the world). So now i just work very hard and save up for future in Srisaket, I really want to start a bug farm at there.

[Awa Shuen]

32 minutes ago, isaanbanhou said:

our home is next to the jungle about 1o km out of Sisaket.  Internet is not a problem in our town.   Dilligad's  suggestion to stop by "Living in the Past" is an excellent suggestion, Frank knows the community well , is a very friendly German guy and his food is great.  You couldn't have chosen a place more the opposite of Hong Kong, I lived in Manhattan for 6 years and love the quiet of Sisaket.  Kantharalak has pretty countryside and a decent pizza parlour 

Thanks mate, yep i understand once i moved to there i should stop thinking about the past, im ready to step into the farm do what they do, just need a little bit of internet so I can keep up my freelance design work. At least food is not a problem in her village, and I have a house already, so i can just to make a little spare money from my profession, no more OT and card the time everyday.

[DILLIGAD]

Thanks mate, yep i understand once i moved to there i should stop thinking about the past, im ready to step into the farm do what they do, just need a little bit of internet so I can keep up my freelance design work. At least food is not a problem in her village, and I have a house already, so i can just to make a little spare money from my profession, no more OT and card the time everyday.

Already briefly mentioned, but also go visit ‘Pizza4u’near the bus station in Kanthralak. Great stone oven cooked pizza’s and usually a good bunch of guys there. I believe there is also another western place called The Black Dog there too.


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[DILLIGAD]

Her village name is Kantaraluk (maybe wrong spelled...), really no idea where it is, but we found her sister's house nearby on Google map.

That picture says ‘Non Samran’ which is near Khon Kaen.
Are you sure where your going?


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[perconrad]

14 minutes ago, DILLIGAD said:

That picture says ‘Non Samran’ which is near Khon Kaen.
Are you sure where your going?


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I live in Kantharalak and like it. 

 

On the left side (and off some kms) of the road from Kantharalak to Khao Phra Wihan is a village named Non Samran.

[ubonjoe]

20 minutes ago, DILLIGAD said:

That picture says ‘Non Samran’ which is near Khon Kaen.
Are you sure where your going?

There is more than one Non Samran.

This one is in Kantharalak district in Sisaket. https://goo.gl/maps/R1v5JDsqJuA2

[perconrad]

Here are a screen dump from Google maps showing Kantharalak in the upper left corner and the Non Samran area i pink.

[DILLIGAD]

Thanks guys for clearing that up. I’m easily confused this early in the morning!!!


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[Awa Shuen]

1 hour ago, perconrad said:

Here are a screen dump from Google maps showing Kantharalak in the upper left corner and the Non Samran area i pink.

 

1 hour ago, ubonjoe said:

There is more than one Non Samran.

This one is in Kantharalak district in Sisaket. https://goo.gl/maps/R1v5JDsqJuA2

 

57 minutes ago, DILLIGAD said:

Thanks guys for clearing that up. I’m easily confused this early in the morning!!!


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Yes that's really confusing, I looked up "Non Samran" in google map they show 3x Non Samrans but in different region, plus those tiny road in the village don't even have a road/street name.... but my place is around there, if you look into the street view mode there is only endless fields and trees but nothing....

[ubonjoe]

15 minutes ago, Awa Shuen said:

Yes that's really confusing, I looked up "Non Samran" in google map they show 3x Non Samrans but in different region, plus those tiny road in the village don't even have a road/street name.... but my place is around there, if you look into the street view mode there is only endless fields and trees but nothing....

Street names or numbers are a rarity in small villages. Even within cities they often only have numbers.

Street view is often a few years old. New construction will not show on it.

For internet service you will need to ask around the area to find out the availability. If is a connection nearby to your house they will run it to you but it could be costly.

[Awa Shuen]

6 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

Street names or numbers are a rarity in small villages. Even within cities they often only have numbers.

Street view is often a few years old. New construction will not show on it.

For internet service you will need to ask around the area to find out the availability. If is a connection nearby to your house they will run it to you but it could be costly.

hm..... hope it doesn't cost a NASA rocket..... if seems it can't be avoid to pay a lot for it. 

[Brunolem]

17 hours ago, Awa Shuen said:

You live in village or town? The internet is workable at there?

I have been living for a long time in a village in Nonkhun, which is the amphoe right north of amphoe Kantharalak.

 

For information, a province like Sisaket is divided into amphoes, which are themselves divided into tambons around which are gathered a number of villages...villages have names but are often officially known only by their number (moo baan 8).

 

With regards to hard work farming, you probably shouldn't worry too much, since the definition of "hard work" considerably vary from one place to another, and in Isaan not much is required to be labelled as such.

 

By the way, what is it that they are actually growing?

 

With regards to internet, it will be probably costly, or even impossible to get a private high speed line, but 4G is available almost everywhere, which is good enough.

 

Kantharalak is indeed quite far from the major cities, such as Sisaket and Ubon.

 

If you look for modern life, with shopping centers, movies and so on, Ubon will be your best choice...not 2 hours away, but maybe 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes or so, depending on how remote is the village, and how bad are the roads around it.

 

 

[bergen]

2 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

There is more than one Non Samran.

This one is in Kantharalak district in Sisaket. https://goo.gl/maps/R1v5JDsqJuA2

 

He'll be "close" to me then................

I'm along 2248 at Suan Loong Daeng just east of Ban Non Yang in Ubon province.

Btw. internet is probably not a problem. There's been good development during recent years.

Edited February 8, 2018 by bergen

[oobar]

2 hours ago, perconrad said:

Here are a screen dump from Google maps showing Kantharalak in the upper left corner and the Non Samran area i pink.

We're  in Sisaket, Kanthararom Ampur, less than 40km from Ubon City, but we are in a very, very rural area and more than a km from  the nearest small moobahn.  For a few years, we used a line-of-sight internet feed from a tiny dish at our house to a cell tower (which can be up to 15 km distant, I think).  This was not perfect, but the TOT guys gave good service, usually solving any problems quickly.   We could usually get 8-10 megs, which was adequate, and we were grateful to get that, considering where we live (no neighbor homes in sight).  But now, suddenly, 3BB has brought fiber-optic all the way to us.  It's supposed to be 200 megs, but we actually get above 210 most of the time.  This is NICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Talk to the 3BB folks.  If nothing there, see the TOT.   Maybe you'll be able to hold on to your sanity (just make sure you have air conditioning; the heat will arrive).

[oobar]

1 hour ago, Awa Shuen said:

hm..... hope it doesn't cost a NASA rocket..... if seems it can't be avoid to pay a lot for it. 

Had to pay the first year, which covered complete set-up as well, a little over 16k (3bb), then next year it's B1200+ monthly, I think.  The line-of-site TOT service was less than half that monthly, and set-up was low as well.

[Awa Shuen]

46 minutes ago, Brunolem said:

I have been living for a long time in a village in Nonkhun, which is the amphoe right north of amphoe Kantharalak.

 

For information, a province like Sisaket is divided into amphoes, which are themselves divided into tambons around which are gathered a number of villages...villages have names but are often officially known only by their number (moo baan 8).

 

With regards to hard work farming, you probably shouldn't worry too much, since the definition of "hard work" considerably vary from one place to another, and in Isaan not much is required to be labelled as such.

 

By the way, what is it that they are actually growing?

 

With regards to internet, it will be probably costly, or even impossible to get a private high speed line, but 4G is available almost everywhere, which is good enough.

 

Kantharalak is indeed quite far from the major cities, such as Sisaket and Ubon.

 

If you look for modern life, with shopping centers, movies and so on, Ubon will be your best choice...not 2 hours away, but maybe 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes or so, depending on how remote is the village, and how bad are the roads around it.

 

 

You're right, the worst case I still get 4G from my phone, I don't expect a private high speed line but ofc anything faster is better!

 

They primary growing rubber trees, mushroom farm and pigs farm. Secondary are rice, small chicken farm and a small pond for fish and ducks. They used to grow watermelon but lost the crops for some reason so they gave up on that.

 

No shopping centre is need for me, I rarely do shopping, when it comes to "modern life".... although I'm still in hk, but my daily life is just work with computer, do some cooking and drink some beer at home, I rarely go to the pub. I go to the gym everyday but I think the workout could be a lot more intense at the farm LOL. So I don't worry too much.

[Awa Shuen]

40 minutes ago, bergen said:

 

He'll be "close" to me then................

I'm along 2248 at Suan Loong Daeng just east of Ban Non Yang in Ubon province.

Btw. internet is probably not a problem. There's been good development during recent years.

 

21 minutes ago, oobar said:

We're  in Sisaket, Kanthararom Ampur, less than 40km from Ubon City, but we are in a very, very rural area and more than a km from  the nearest small moobahn.  For a few years, we used a line-of-sight internet feed from a tiny dish at our house to a cell tower (which can be up to 15 km distant, I think).  This was not perfect, but the TOT guys gave good service, usually solving any problems quickly.   We could usually get 8-10 megs, which was adequate, and we were grateful to get that, considering where we live (no neighbor homes in sight).  But now, suddenly, 3BB has brought fiber-optic all the way to us.  It's supposed to be 200 megs, but we actually get above 210 most of the time.  This is NICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Talk to the 3BB folks.  If nothing there, see the TOT.   Maybe you'll be able to hold on to your sanity (just make sure you have air conditioning; the heat will arrive).

 

7 minutes ago, oobar said:

Had to pay the first year, which covered complete set-up as well, a little over 16k (3bb), then next year it's B1200+ monthly, I think.  The line-of-site TOT service was less than half that monthly, and set-up was low as well.

Hey oobar good to hear that! 16k for start-up sounds reasonable, I planned to move to there after 3 years so probably their network development will be even better.

[tryasimight]

3 minutes ago, Awa Shuen said:

You're right, the worst case I still get 4G from my phone, I don't expect a private high speed line but ofc anything faster is better!

 

They primary growing rubber trees, mushroom farm and pigs farm. Secondary are rice, small chicken farm and a small pond for fish and ducks. They used to grow watermelon but lost the crops for some reason so they gave up on that.

 

No shopping centre is need for me, I rarely do shopping, when it comes to "modern life".... although I'm still in hk, but my daily life is just work with computer, do some cooking and drink some beer at home, I rarely go to the pub. I go to the gym everyday but I think the workout could be a lot more intense at the farm LOL. So I don't worry too much.

Do a little research about what you are allowed and not allowed to do as 'work'.  Officially farming is prohibited for non Thais although you probably won't have any problems.  Same with your on line work.  

[Brunolem]

2 minutes ago, Awa Shuen said:

 

They primary growing rubber trees, mushroom farm and pigs farm. Secondary are rice, small chicken farm and a small pond for fish and ducks. They used to grow watermelon but lost the crops for some reason so they gave up on that.

Growing rubber trees can be a major hassle, especially in Isaan where the climate is not really appropriate.

On top of that, prices vary wildly, generally more on the way down than up, and have sent many farmers into bankruptcy.

 

Depending on how big is their plantation (how many rai?), it can require quite a lot of work, especially during this (very) dry season since rubber trees need a lot of water.

 

Then there is the daily collection of the latex and its immediate treatment.

 

So yes, if they have a large plantation and work without any outside help, there can be a lot of hard work...much more than with growing coconuts or bananas!

 

[Awa Shuen]

3 minutes ago, Brunolem said:

Growing rubber trees can be a major hassle, especially in Isaan where the climate is not really appropriate.

On top of that, prices vary wildly, generally more on the way down than up, and have sent many farmers into bankruptcy.

 

Depending on how big is their plantation (how many rai?), it can require quite a lot of work, especially during this (very) dry season since rubber trees need a lot of water.

 

Then there is the daily collection of the latex and its immediate treatment.

 

So yes, if they have a large plantation and work without any outside help, there can be a lot of hard work...much more than with growing coconuts or bananas!

 

No idea how big..... but I see them work hard as hell, day time they do the crops and feeding the animals, finish the work already 4-5pm, have a simple dinner then sleep, wake up at 2am for the rubber trees (she told me its better to work at night for rubber tree, I have no clue but whatever.) so they are working all day with short and random rest. I convinced them to try cricket/any bugs farm but they are not interested to it, I will do more research about it coz I always believe bug is the future protein for human being...

[Brunolem]

9 minutes ago, tryasimight said:

Do a little research about what you are allowed and not allowed to do as 'work'.  Officially farming is prohibited for non Thais although you probably won't have any problems.  Same with your on line work.  

Depends what one calls "farming".

Giving a (free) hand in your family farm, from time to time, is not the same as managing a big farm for your own benefit.

Generally speaking, the authorities in Isaan are not busy looking what "villager farangs" are doing with their time...not at all the same as it is in places such as Pattaya or Bangkok...

[Awa Shuen]

16 minutes ago, tryasimight said:

Do a little research about what you are allowed and not allowed to do as 'work'.  Officially farming is prohibited for non Thais although you probably won't have any problems.  Same with your on line work.  

eh I really don't know about it, I'm a chinese (although my grandpa is a thai) hope they can't spot me after I tanned up like a thais.... sounds like a potential risk (I know the risk is slim though) but compare with survival and get busted, I go for the first one.