Living in a quiet Issan village.

[Wang Lalker]

6 minutes ago, sanemax said:

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

i need at least 4 7/11 within walking distance to feel satisfied even if they do rotate the staff to different people most days also a change of visit time can show up new people

6 is better plus a family mart and tesco express  or two

 

 

[soalbundy]

13 minutes ago, jenny2017 said:

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. 

A lot of what happens depends on the puu yai, we have a good one, before internet cables were brought to the village officially he had us connected with the school which had internet outside the village, semi-legal. He organizes village clean ups regularly, proper rubbish disposal, regular village meetings once a month so we have a real community spirit and people are proud of their village.

[kevvy]

6 hours 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.

Wow, where i live you can hear a mouse fart . so sad for the man .RIP

[CGW]

30 minutes ago, jenny2017 said:

. And if you know how they live you can't blame them for. 

I live on the outskirts of a village and truly feel sorry for their way of life in a lot of respects - its tough!

The kids are in school at 3 years old being brainwashed to be the next lot of wage slaves so the "elite" families can continue to live their lives in the manner they have become accustomed to thanks to the minimum wage workers they employ! Whiskey & drugs are a temporary refuge, if they feel like crap the next day it don't matter, there going to feel the same way anyway!

The reality is, the same system is in place all around the world, but its pretty dam brutal here! ?

[Rarebear]

1 hour 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. 

If it is unreported how did you find out about it? 

[meechai]

7 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.

 

Sorry to hear this Colin

Years ago on one of our return road trips from the in-laws village my wife

and I were discussing just this scenario and what it could grow into

(which yes since that time has gotten much worse)

 

Reason being we had heard about some yaba fueled incidents & were surprised about it

happening in the village. But when we thought about it a village with its slow life & lack of

exciting things for the young ones to do is a prime candidate for drug addiction

 

We always said they need more hero's in Thailand for the kids to look up too.

For them to dream the possibility to become Olympic champs or something to aspire to

 

I saw the same happen elsewhere in the world decades ago. Even sleepy beautiful islands

like Fiji later became homes that resembled prisons with all the window bars to keep druggies out.

Actually many places in Thailand sadly already have bars on most windows

 

[swissie]

Yeah, sorry to hear that too, colin,

 

Possibly it makes a difference, where one lives in rural Thailand. During my 5 year stay "in the sticks" near the Myanmar border, not a single major crime occured within a radius of 50 km's.
The trusted police-force only had to deal with rare traffic accidents. Said trusted police-force met for a friendly game of poker during the night and slept during the day at the police station in a comfortable back room. To get any "service" one had to ring the desk-bell vigorously at the reception.

Country living may have it's charms, but there is a vulture circeling over the heads of many a Farang. The vultures name is "boredom".
There is agood reason that 99.9999999% of Farangs living in the sticks, are embedded in some kind of "Family-Environement".
(It's the one thing, that keeps the vulture at bay).

Very sad to hear, that in some places the peace & quiet is increasingly interrupted by neighborhood-violence.
I remember old Thai folks complaining that the youngsters having lived "in the city", think they are "something better and bring bad things back to the village". Modern times reaching rural Thailand?
Hope not. Cheers. 

[Enoon]

4 hours ago, Rarebear said:

If it is unreported how did you find out about it? 

 

It's not "reported" to the police or by the press.

 

But it is talked about.

 

Behind closed doors......to and among people who can keep a secret.......but don't.

 

A very straightforward mechanism........in existence as long as there have been........"closed doors".

 

 

 

[colinneil]

As most members on here know i am not a lover of the police here.

Yet the local police have done something  good.

My wife has just told me that they have paid for the poor mans coffin, and given his mother 10.000 baht towards funeral costs.

Well done and thank you for the kind act.

[garrya]

Not being funny but this is apparently normal in Thailand.

Things that I know:

- wife's aunt's neighbour was a drunk fellow, pissed some other neighbours off, one day he got shot and died

- village arguments near my mother-in-law's village ended in bullet in head and body

- guy dead with bullets in his body in the street where I lived (he repeatedly complained about the local disco club'snoise / that was actually built illegally on a public land

 

ET CETERA

I could tell you more and more of these sort of stories

Wake up, you live in Thailand

[faraday]

7 minutes ago, garrya said:

Not being funny but this is apparently normal in Thailand.

Things that I know:

- wife's aunt's neighbour was a drunk fellow, pissed some other neighbours off, one day he got shot and died

- village arguments near my mother-in-law's village ended in bullet in head and body

- guy dead with bullets in his body in the street where I lived (he repeatedly complained about the local disco club'snoise / that was actually built illegally on a public land

 

ET CETERA

I could tell you more and more of these sort of stories

Wake up, you live in Thailand

I think Colin is very well aware of how foul Thailand can be, most probably, much better than you.

[garrya]

1 minute ago, faraday said:

I think Colin is very well aware of how foul Thailand can be, most probably, much better than you.

Well buddy, he is not more aware as he mentioned only 1!!!! occasion and it seems to be something spectacular. Now I listed 3 items just like that and I could list even more just from my PERSONAL experience. #

So what is your post about?? 

I had lived in Thailand for years, lived among Thais speaking their language, liaising with them, experiencing their culture, reading their language etc. Well, I guess you genius know it better!

[soalbundy]

15 minutes ago, garrya said:

Not being funny but this is apparently normal in Thailand.

Things that I know:

- wife's aunt's neighbour was a drunk fellow, pissed some other neighbours off, one day he got shot and died

- village arguments near my mother-in-law's village ended in bullet in head and body

- guy dead with bullets in his body in the street where I lived (he repeatedly complained about the local disco club'snoise / that was actually built illegally on a public land

 

ET CETERA

I could tell you more and more of these sort of stories

Wake up, you live in Thailand

That isn't my Thailand, it's your nightmare experience not mine.

[garrya]

3 minutes ago, soalbundy said:

That isn't my Thailand, it's your nightmare experience not mine.

Hmm, why is it a nightmare?

I am more than happy to invite you to my wife's family and talk about these things.

You could see whether it is my nightmare or not. No hard feelings.

[colinneil]

10 minutes ago, garrya said:

Hmm, why is it a nightmare?

I am more than happy to invite you to my wife's family and talk about these things.

You could see whether it is my nightmare or not. No hard feelings.

I posted about this murder to make people aware how bad the drug thing is getting here.

Not to start a war of words... My village is more violent than yours, there is no need for it.

Th murderer told the police the argument started over a packet of mama noodles.

The dead man refused to share, so he got attacked and killed.

[soalbundy]

7 minutes ago, garrya said:

Well buddy, he is not more aware as he mentioned only 1!!!! occasion and it seems to be something spectacular. Now I listed 3 items just like that and I could list even more just from my PERSONAL experience. #

So what is your post about?? 

I had lived in Thailand for years, lived among Thais speaking their language, liaising with them, experiencing their culture, reading their language etc. Well, I guess you genius know it better!

You shouldn't tar everywhere with the same brush, of course there are bad places but that's just the same anywhere be it the UK , Germany or Thailand. In my village there is some poverty, little jealousies, arguments etc. that's a normal part of life, there are a few who the villagers describe as 'bad people' but don't go into detail, they are generally shunned. I have never seen any of the horrors described here. My wife tells me that 30 years ago our village had a bad reputation for trouble makers but then the village temple got an abbot with fire in his belly and everything changed for the better and has remained so. The temple plays a central role in village life here as does the puu yai and between the two of them they keep a lid on things. About 3 years ago our puu yai was voted the best in the province and was given, of all things, a gun as a prize. 

[garrya]

1 minute ago, colinneil said:

I posted about this murder to make people aware how bad the drug thing is getting here.

Not to start a war of words... My village is more violent than yours, there is no need for it.

Th murderer told the police the argument started over a packet of mama noodles.

The dead man refused to share, so he got attacked and killed.

Wait wait wait!!!!! I am not generating a war here. One of your follower told me off and I had only defended myself. 

I understand what is happening in your village as I have gone through all this.

I am not your enemy mate. I just tried to explain one of these geezers that the experience you had gone through is rather common in Thailand. I did not disparage you nor did I try to say anything negative about you.

Why are you all aggressive on this forum?? Seriously?

[Crossy]

Gentlemen(?) let's play nicely shall we?

 

A couple of bickering posts have gone walkabout, any more and holidays await.

[garrya]

1 minute ago, soalbundy said:

You shouldn't tar everywhere with the same brush, of course there are bad places but that's just the same anywhere be it the UK , Germany or Thailand. In my village there is some poverty, little jealousies, arguments etc. that's a normal part of life, there are a few who the villagers describe as 'bad people' but don't go into detail, they are generally shunned. I have never seen any of the horrors described here. My wife tells me that 30 years ago our village had a bad reputation for trouble makers but then the village temple got an abbot with fire in his belly and everything changed for the better and has remained so. The temple plays a central role in village life here as does the puu yai and between the two of them they keep a lid on things. About 3 years ago our puu yai was voted the best in the province and was given, of all things, a gun as a prize. 

Well thanks for the story. I am not a bad guy here just the one who is trying to tell REAL stories. I am sorry if they are not your cup of tea.

[garrya]

8 minutes ago, colinneil said:

I posted about this murder to make people aware how bad the drug thing is getting here.

Not to start a war of words... My village is more violent than yours, there is no need for it.

Th murderer told the police the argument started over a packet of mama noodles.

The dead man refused to share, so he got attacked and killed.

Right, I dont want to argue with you. I only replied to another bloke.

[soalbundy]

23 minutes ago, garrya said:

Hmm, why is it a nightmare?

I am more than happy to invite you to my wife's family and talk about these things.

You could see whether it is my nightmare or not. No hard feelings.

I would describe living in a village where people get shot a nightmare, OK it's not your personal nightmare but I wouldn't feel safe in such an environment.?

[Happyman58]

Sad story Col. Getting like Redfern a suburb in Sydney where the cops are even afraid to go there after dark. Just awful Col bloody awful. Least the story I would have told of the 15-year-old girl setting up brothel across the road from me was a bit more cheery.

[soalbundy]

5 minutes ago, garrya said:

Well thanks for the story. I am not a bad guy here just the one who is trying to tell REAL stories. I am sorry if they are not your cup of tea.

?

[Crossy]

And a post discussing moderation has also gone away.

 

Everyone, please read the forum rules here https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/terms/ Rule 7 applies.

 

Quote

7) You will respect fellow members and post in a civil manner. No personal attacks, hateful or insulting towards other members, (flaming) Stalking of members on either the forum or via PM will not be allowed.

 

 

[garrya]

12 minutes ago, soalbundy said:

I would describe living in a village where people get shot a nightmare, OK it's not your personal nightmare but I wouldn't feel safe in such an environment.?

LOL< this is what I explained. I lived in the same environment where Thai people died in strange circumstances. What are we talking about here???

[Lacessit]

I'm wondering if Issan is more violent. I live periodically in a Thai village south of Chiang Rai. It's reasonably prosperous, they crop rice twice a year. Have never seen a police presence there. The poo yai settles local disputes. The biggest problem is petty theft, everyone has barred windows.

I feel quite safe there, although I must admit my next door neighbour's habit of blasting away with a shotgun during thunderstorms to frighten away evil spirits is a bit unsettling.

[bkk6060]

All sounds like a fearful horrific life and lifestyle. 

After reading this, I certainly appreciate living in a place like Pattaya. ?

Good luck to all you villagers.  Stay safe out there.

 

[garrya]

5 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

I'm wondering if Issan is more violent. I live periodically in a Thai village south of Chiang Rai. It's reasonably prosperous, they crop rice twice a year. Have never seen a police presence there. The poo yai settles local disputes. The biggest problem is petty theft, everyone has barred windows.

I feel quite safe there, although I must admit my next door neighbour's habit of blasting away with a shotgun during thunderstorms to frighten away evil spirits is a bit unsettling.

The feeling is always like this. You never feel being hunted, do you?

I never felt unsafe but when every week I heard stories of Somchai being murdered, and Somsee being beaten to death et cetera, I though <deleted>? 

Thailand is a place where locals know everything but nothing is known to public.

 Welcome to countryside of Thailand.

[neeray]

I read every entry in this thread that Colin inspired. Very interesting an enlightening.

While I realize the events took place in Issan, I read of both quiet areas and not so quiet areas. It did allow me to draw a comparison to villages that I became pretty well acquainted with in the south, areas within maybe 50 km of Ao Nang/Krabi or Surat Thani City. While I noted reasonable night time security measures around the homes, most never went to any extreme. Motorbikes were pulled back but not necessarily locked down tight. I saw lots of iron gates but saw the opposite too. While I'm sure dreaded drugs were apparent, I have no awareness to any.

But none of what I read would deter me from visiting Issan or even living there.

Without TVF as my prime information source, I wouldn't be as enlightened as I am to the pros and cons of so many areas of the country. So I thank TVF for being there (even though as a businessman myself, I fully recognize that it is first and foremost a for-profit enterprise).

[soalbundy]

1 hour ago, garrya said:

LOL< this is what I explained. I lived in the same environment where Thai people died in strange circumstances. What are we talking about here???

It's just that not everywhere is the same, there are good and bad places, drugs are a scourge which has destroyed many nice areas, I'm beginning to agree with Duterte, a quick bullet to the head.