How's Life at Suphan & U-Thong?

[pgrahmm]

My wife has her family in the U-Thong area.....

We live in the CM area.....She has mentioned/wondered if we could ever move there....

We're in a nice Moo Baan here that is stable, secure & safe to walk or bike ride - which I do about 5k daily.....Life is comfortable with convenient access to restaurants, good medical facilities, shopping native & western), english book stores & movie theaters, etc. within a 20 minute drive.....

 

In U-Thong I'm surprised to see another farang.....

 

Is there any Moo Baans in the Suphan area similar to what is near Chiang Mai? 

Is there a decent choice of services available for farang?

Dining - Medical facilities - decently stocked pharmacies - decent choices in food shopping - english movies & books.....Although we don't do the bar, club thing - is there any night life.....

 

Is the area safe? It seems someone always needs to babysit/guard the houses there....From what I've seen of the drivers riding a bike on those country roads isn't safe...

 

How's life down there? I'm looking for opinions/options/observations....

Thank you.....

[HAKAPALITA]

We lived there, its well maintained, no CM rif raf, id say its like Phitsanulok. Big Central Plaza just opened as we left. Enjoyed the place, but the Kids said it was too quiet. Yes they do drive very fast, but better than NE Clod Hoppers. We would recommend it as Cities go.

[tutsiwarrior]

I've lived in the Songphinong district close to Uthong with my wife's family for about 17 years, 2 years now continuously and if you're useta western comforts don't come here as you will be deprived...I live in a small town about 12k pop and the surrounding area is all farming country (rice and sugar cane) with farmers...the main economic activity in town is the local market and most of my neighbors are involved there, selling and preparing food, etc...

 

Like most agricultural places there is no night life, folks work 10-12 hours per day for a pittance and retire early and only have enough for the basics...I've gotten useta planning my diet around what's locally available at the market and at our local small tescos, for western luxury tidbits I go to the changwat up the road about 30km to the big tescos and makro, go every 90 days for the immigration report anyway...there's plenty of good street food at stalls near the market in the evenings, quite partial to a nice bowl of kweiteo muu daeng meself...for books and movies internet torrents are my friends, they got most anything that I'm interested in...amazon won't ship any ebooks or movies to Thailand anyway...

 

if ye wanna go out fer a beer then the food stalls near the BKK bus stop will havta make do...that's where they set up for the evening food stalls after about 6 pm and you can get a beer then as well...there are usual karaoeke places on the edge of town with whiskey, etc but I find them to be unsavory with unpleasant drunken thai men...went once many years ago and then never again...

 

and there ain't no other falangs, I'm the only one in the market district that I've seen and I've rarely seen others close by...but the local folks are friendly, mostly because they've known me or seen me around for years, etc...I don't mind as I'm a reclusive type and prefer my own company, plenty of entertainment down at the market...looks like some 'ethnic' sequence out of a John Huston movie...

 

there aren't any gated moobaans that I've seen...where I live near the market it's mostly shop houses and because there's always activity nearby I haven't had any security problems...got the usual problems with the street dogs so that one hasta be careful when walking, they don't like white folks...

 

I broke my leg and needed orthopedic surgery for which I went to the military hosp in Nakhon Pathom...there is a district hospital nearby but they only seem capable of primary care, caesarians, appendectomies, dengue, etc...a 6 y.o. nephew died there under mysterious circumstances and I never got the full story but I'm sure that whatever he had was treatable...if I need to be looked at for anything I go to the local clinic where they've known me for years and where I can get meds for diabetes and high BP...

 

it's cool and I'm comfortable and I've become like my wife who was uncomfortable wandering far from home...don't like BKK and miss the peace and quiet, I'm grateful to crawl back into my bed in my house with my kindle when I get home...

 

btw Suphanburi town (changwat, provincial capitol) has a lot more western stuff (shopping malls, bars, restaurants, cinemas, big hospital, etc) but generally speaking is just another provincial shithole and should be avoided...

 

 

[pgrahmm]

14 minutes ago, tutsiwarrior said:

I've lived in the Songphinong district close to Uthong with my wife's family for about 17 years, 2 years now continuously and if you're useta western comforts don't come here as you will be deprived...I live in a small town about 12k pop and the surrounding area is all farming country (rice and sugar cane) with farmers...the main economic activity in town is the local market and most of my neighbors are involved there, selling and preparing food, etc...

 

Like most agricultural places there is no night life, folks work 10-12 hours per day for a pittance and retire early and only have enough for the basics...I've gotten useta planning my diet around what's locally available at the market and at our local small tescos, for western luxury tidbits I go to the changwat up the road about 30km to the big tescos and makro, go every 90 days for the immigration report anyway...there's plenty of good street food at stalls near the market in the evenings, quite partial to a nice bowl of kweiteo muu daeng meself...for books and movies internet torrents are my friends, they got most anything that I'm interested in...amazon won't ship any ebooks or movies to Thailand anyway...

 

and there ain't no other falangs, I'm the only one in the market district that I've seen and I've rarely seen others close by...but the local folks are friendly, mostly because they've known me or seen me around for years, etc...I don't mind as I'm a reclusive type and prefer my own company, plenty of entertainment down at the market...looks like some 'ethnic' sequence out of a John Huston movie...

 

there aren't any gated moobaans that I've seen...where I live near the market it's mostly shop houses and because there's always activity nearby I haven't had any security problems...got the usual problems with the street dogs so that one hasta be careful when walking, they don't like white folks...

 

I broke my leg and needed orthopedic surgery for which I went to the military hosp in Nakhon Pathom...there is a district hospital nearby but they only seem capable of primary care, caesarians, appendectomies, dengue, etc...a 6 y.o. nephew died there under mysterious circumstances and I never got the full story but I'm sure that whatever he had was treatable...if I need to be looked at for anything I go to the local clinic where they've known me for years and where I can get meds for diabetes and high BP...

 

it's cool and I'm comfortable and I've become like my wife who was uncomfortable wandering far from home...don't like BKK and miss the peace and quiet, I'm grateful to crawl back into my bed in my house with my kindle when I get home...

 

btw Suphanburi town (changwat, provincial capitol) has a lot more western stuff (shopping malls, bars, restaurants, cinemas, big hospital, etc) but generally speaking is just another provincial shithole and should be avoided...

 

 

 

 

On our last visit I saw 2 farang at the U-Thong Friday market & 1 at a large restaurant that has a couple of karaoke rooms....

 

That's more than I'd seen on any other visit....

 

Thanks for the insight....

 

btw Asia Books - you can order online....Pay at a counter & they'll ship to you (free if over 1,000B)....