Living in a quiet Issan village.

[colinneil]

Just after midnight last night, i was woken hearing shouting and 1 scream, woke the wife open the monitor now (cctv).

Nothing untoward on our property, but local dogs going crazy, so that was the end of my sleep, spent the night looking at the monitor.

At 8 this morning police everywhere, wife goes out to see whats going on.

Turns out the noises i heard was a disabled neighbour had been hacked to death.

The house where it happened is only 20 meters away, directly across the road.

The dead mans mother had gone to Bangkok for the weekend, leaving a friend f her disabled son to take care of him.

Police went looking for him found him at his uncles house,covered in blood, and he admitted killing his friend.

At 2 this afternoon police/ tv cameras and lots f people acrss the road, for a re enactment.

The offender had a bullet proof vest and full face hat on.

Apparently they had been drinking and taking drugs, had an argument, he lost it and hacked the poor defenseless man to death.

[Pat in Pattaya]

Cool story, bro. Never a dull moment where you 'live' then.

[colinneil]

2 minutes ago, Pat in Pattaya said:

Cool story, bro. Never a dull moment where you 'live' then.

Never a dull moment is an understatement, quiet Issan village, with all the drugs about now its like the wild west.

Sad thing about last night, the poor man who was murdered was struck down with polio when he was a child, and like me his legs were useless, so unable to get away.

[FritsSikkink]

"spent the night looking at the monitor."

Why not go outside and have a look if you could help? 

[chickenslegs]

4 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

"spent the night looking at the monitor."

Why not go outside and have a look if you could help? 

And today we might be reading about 2 disabled men being hacked to death.

[colinneil]

4 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

"spent the night looking at the monitor."

Why not go outside and have a look if you could help? 

Being paraplegic certainly restricts my mobility

Also no way would i allow my wife outside at night on her own

[Crossy]

4 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

"spent the night looking at the monitor."

Why not go outside and have a look if you could help? 

One assumes you are not aware of Colin's mobility issues.

 

[colinneil]

4 minutes ago, chickenslegs said:

And today we might be reading about 2 disabled men being hacked to death.

So you think i should hide the big knives in case the wife gets ideas.??

[FritsSikkink]

8 minutes ago, Crossy said:

One assumes you are not aware of Colin's mobility issues.

 

No, I wasn't.

[colinneil]

3 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

No, I wasn't.

No problem mate, i am thinking over and over about it and being unable to get outside.

[namatjira]

Unfortunately, I can confirm the sad status of Thai village life, I stayed with my girlfriend for a few months out near Phayoa and was surprised that in the rural areas it was like a battle zone...everyone locked up tight at night, cars, motorcycles locked away and no way would anyone open the door after dark if someone was knocking.

i thought it would all be laid back and everyone knowing each other with little crime.....not to be.......it’s not what it appears to be.

[jenny2017]

46 minutes ago, colinneil said:

Never a dull moment is an understatement, quiet Issan village, with all the drugs about now its like the wild west.

Sad thing about last night, the poor man who was murdered was struck down with polio when he was a child, and like me his legs were useless, so unable to get away.

Colin, the pills are now available for around 100 baht, after Thaksin's war against drugs pushed one pill up to 500 baht. Thanks for sharing. It's sad that handicapped people who can't defend themselves are victims of some schizophrenic people. 

 

 

[phuketrichard]

1 hour ago, colinneil said:

Being paraplegic certainly restricts my mobility

Also no way would i allow my wife outside at night on her own

thats really sad,

not that ur paraplegic, (sorta sad but  thats just your karma)  but that u live somewhere u cant go out at night

[colinneil]

1 hour ago, phuketrichard said:

thats really sad,

not that ur paraplegic, (sorta sad but  thats just your karma)  but that u live somewhere u cant go out at night

When i first moved t this village 7 years ago, lovely quiet village, but in the last 5 years drugs have become a major problem.

At dark we lock down everything, not safe to venture out.

In our soi 3 men are in jail for drug dealing, 1 man and his wife in jail for stealing a neighbours cows.

We have discussed moving, but as we have spent a lot of time/ money adapting the house for my disability we have decided against it.

[grollies]

T'was ever thus. Our village, if you can call it that, had only one shop at the crossroads and a noodle shop next door.

 

In the last three years got another shop, noodle shop, agri shop and tapioca collection depot opened.

 

There are still only 12 houses within a 1km radius of us.

 

I recently found out that the village didn't develop as every so often people here shot each other over minor disagreements which put people off moving here.

 

Drugs and lao kow are a problem locally but, I have to say, we know everyone here abouts and get on well with all.

 

We did buy a gun though.

 

Just out of interest Colin, why didn't you call the BIB?

[soalbundy]

2 hours ago, namatjira said:

Unfortunately, I can confirm the sad status of Thai village life, I stayed with my girlfriend for a few months out near Phayoa and was surprised that in the rural areas it was like a battle zone...everyone locked up tight at night, cars, motorcycles locked away and no way would anyone open the door after dark if someone was knocking.

i thought it would all be laid back and everyone knowing each other with little crime.....not to be.......it’s not what it appears to be.

That is not my experience of an isaan village, I live in one and have done so for 13 years, quiet, peaceful, friendly. The have been instances of drugs but it's not 'in your face' and certainly no violence. I get up at 3:30 have a coffee and a ciggy then I go for a 5km walk around the nearby lake and return home at 6:00 and have always felt safe.

[colinneil]

43 minutes ago, grollies said:

T'was ever thus. Our village, if you can call it that, had only one shop at the crossroads and a noodle shop next door.

 

In the last three years got another shop, noodle shop, agri shop and tapioca collection depot opened.

 

There are still only 12 houses within a 1km radius of us.

 

I recently found out that the village didn't develop as every so often people here shot each other over minor disagreements which put people off moving here.

 

Drugs and lao kow are a problem locally but, I have to say, we know everyone here abouts and get on well with all.

 

We did buy a gun though.

 

Just out of interest Colin, why didn't you call the BIB?

 Reason we didnt call the police, the house next to ours have many late night drunken sessions and we assumed it was just them carrying on.

[Emmess]

Of course you feel safe. That is the time the druggies and drunks are stoned out of their heads and are asleep. ? 

[soalbundy]

9 minutes ago, Emmess said:

Of course you feel safe. That is the time the druggies and drunks are stoned out of their heads and are asleep. ? 

actually I've never seen a real live druggie in my life and certainly not where I am, the police are quite active and one only hears, he has been arrested for dealing at his university (village pu yai's son) etc. you never see anything. As for drunks it's very civilised, they buy their booze at the shop and go home and drink it, never seen anyone staggering around. In fact not only do I not lock my door at night I leave it open because the dog likes to get up around midnight and wander around the garden. We did have a local thief (now in prison) but he was a likeable rogue who wouldn't harm a fly. On my morning walks around the lake I usually meet a few individual joggers around 5 AM (it's cooler then) both men and women, some in their teens so yes, it is a safe civilised village where I live, I wouldn't be there if it wasn't.

[sanemax]

3 hours ago, namatjira said:

I stayed with my girlfriend for a few months out near Phayoa and was surprised that in the rural areas it was like a battle zone...everyone locked up tight at night, cars, motorcycles locked away and no way would anyone open the door after dark if someone was knocking.

Battle zones are not like that .

Villagers tend to wake up at sunrise and sleep a few hours after sunset .

[Wang Lalker]

lowcals you cant trust 'em
one of the reasons i keep moving, dont stay in one place longer than 3 months and you escape the lowcals wrath, you can always return months in the future and you will find any wrath that may have been developing has left town or dissipated, start again a fresh
so perhaps have a seaside residence or cheap hotels in a number of different places for frequent month long holidays elsewhere.
that said i very rarely stay in hotels that i havent stayed in before these days as i have a huge cache of pretested places in the region

people are mostly please to see you on return and treat you even better than before cumulatively.

[soalbundy]

1 minute ago, Wang Lalker said:

lowcals you cant trust 'em
one of the reasons i keep moving, dont stay in one place longer than 3 months and you escape the lowcals wrath, you can always return months in the future and you will find any wrath that may have been developing has left town or dissipated, start again a fresh
so perhaps have a seaside residence or cheap hotels in a number of different places for frequent month long holidays elsewhere

I can't equate that with my own 13 years of village living so I don't know what you are doing wrong. I speak Thai but not the local dialect but that doesn't matter, they can all speak Thai. The puu yai gave out an order once that there was to be no credit given at the shop anymore, when my wife found out why they still gave me credit she was a bit shocked, she told me that the two local women who worked at the shop said "He is so nice we can't refuse him so we do it secretly'', I didn't even know there was a credit ban so I just shopped normally and paid at the end of the month. 

[Wang Lalker]

i dont see that i am doing anything wrong. i like variety and get bored going to the same shops places people etc so a change of location adds missing variety even if one does the same things in the next place

[jenny2017]

3 hours ago, colinneil said:

When i first moved t this village 7 years ago, lovely quiet village, but in the last 5 years drugs have become a major problem.

At dark we lock down everything, not safe to venture out.

In our soi 3 men are in jail for drug dealing, 1 man and his wife in jail for stealing a neighbours cows.

We have discussed moving, but as we have spent a lot of time/ money adapting the house for my disability we have decided against it.

The rape of minors is incredible, while villagers seem to be afraid to treat HIV/AIDS victims. I've seen uncles and grandfathers I wouldn't trust one minute. 

 

I know a woman who never washed her HIV/Aids infected daughter because she thought that she'd get infected. The poor girl died in circumstances I don't want to talk about.

 

  Another woman, who's married to a Japanese guy was brought back to the village to die. I always visited her and tried to give her the feeling that she's not alone, but Thais don't seem to understand that. 

 

   But all villages have the same rules, not talking about something where anybody could lose face. A girl losing her virginity through her uncle, dad, granddad, etc.. is mostly unreported and they give birth to a child that shouldn't be there first place. 

 

I'm not kidding now. 

[soalbundy]

1 minute ago, Wang Lalker said:

i dont see that i am doing anything wrong. i like variety and get bored going to the same shops places people etc so a change of location adds missing variety even if one does the same things in the next place

I only said that because you mentioned the 'locals wrath' so I assumed you must have annoyed them somehow.

Village life is not everyones cup of tea I'll admit that, you have to have it in you to like it. I am what some would call a spiritual person who likes the solitude of the countryside, my ex colleagues who sometimes visit me from Germany would say I was a nutter, that may be so but then I am a happy satisfied nutter who is no longer stressed out from the rat race.

[jenny2017]

2 hours ago, colinneil said:

 Reason we didnt call the police, the house next to ours have many late night drunken sessions and we assumed it was just them carrying on.

Colin seems to know what's going on, calling the cops is like adding some water to the Mekhong in Mukdahan and try to find it in Sisaket. 

[StreetCowboy]

5 hours ago, chickenslegs said:

And today we might be reading about 2 disabled men being hacked to death.

Colin: have you thought about scytheblades on your mobility scooter a la Queen Boadicea?

[jenny2017]

16 minutes ago, soalbundy said:

I only said that because you mentioned the 'locals wrath' so I assumed you must have annoyed them somehow.

Village life is not everyones cup of tea I'll admit that, you have to have it in you to like it. I am what some would call a spiritual person who likes the solitude of the countryside, my ex colleagues who sometimes visit me from Germany would say I was a nutter, that may be so but then I am a happy satisfied nutter who is no longer stressed out from the rat race.

I totally agree with you. When I settled down in my wife's village I used to do what everybody did. That includes going to the rice fields and harvest rice with your arms, not a machine.

 

And the usual Lao Khao "Nit Noi" but every two minutes. I stopped when all came out through my nose.

 

  At least six people now have died because of the deadly whiskey, which I'd call the whiskey for the poor. There's nothing else to do, and one rice harvest means a freaking boring life. 

 

 Getting up at 6 am, and coming home around 5 pm, a shower some hard to eat food, then some TV soap operas before you go to bed.

 

But I couldn't live like that anymore, it was something different 15 years ago, but now impossible to live in a village where they aren't even connected to the Internet. Even our now 20-year-old son couldn't live in the village anymore. 

 

The Jaba smoking kids are in every village, the price for one pill went down to around 100 baht, the price of two cheap beers. And if you know how they live you can't blame them for. 

[sanemax]

26 minutes ago, Wang Lalker said:

i dont see that i am doing anything wrong. i like variety and get bored going to the same shops places people etc so a change of location adds missing variety even if one does the same things in the next place

I do like some variety and change as well  , sometimes I go to the 7/11 a bit further away in the other direction to buy my Chang .

  Although its a bit disappointing when I go all the way to the other shop and the same girls are working there from my normal shop

[soalbundy]

4 minutes ago, jenny2017 said:

The rape of minors is incredible, while villagers seem to be afraid to treat HIV/AIDS victims. I've seen uncles and grandfathers I wouldn't trust one minute. 

 

I know a woman who never washed her HIV/Aids infected daughter because she thought that she'd get infected. The poor girl died in circumstances I don't want to talk about.

 

  Another woman, who's married to a Japanese guy was brought back to the village to die. I always visited her and tried to give her the feeling that she's not alone, but Thais don't seem to understand that. 

 

   But all villages have the same rules, not talking about something where anybody could lose face. A girl losing her virginity through her uncle, dad, granddad, etc.. is mostly unreported and they give birth to a child that shouldn't be there first place. 

 

I'm not kidding now. 

That sounds awful, I must be living in paradise, that is not to say that I haven't had my own moments of despair sometimes. A woman in my village whose 18 year old son got a 15 year old pregnant arranged an illegal abortion at 7 months (cost a fortune) I offered to take the child if it was born and raise it as my own but this was refused because everyone would know. I didn't speak to her for months but my wife just said to me you are British,what do know about poverty, she would have to support the child and mother and still pay for her sons higher education, it's not yours to judge, be still. It still bothers me now after 5 years but that is all that has happened as far as I recall.