Living in a quiet Issan village

[colinneil]

Always amazes me when reading posts saying how quiet it is living in Issan villages.

Last year we had a murder directly across the road, chaos going on most nights, with motorbikes/ drugs/ drink.

Friday night, just after midnight our 2 dogs kicking off, ohh s++t whats going on, dogs around the village kicking off, people shouting,then vehicles going along the road, thats my sleep finished for the night.

Morning comes, wifes cousin at the gate, you hear what happened in the night.

House about 80 meters away, son drunk and possibly high on something, starts hitting the 3 year old son of his sister, saying his mother is taking better care of sisters child than his own.

His mother pushes him away from the baby, so he beats his mother over the head with a chair, with all the noise going on his uncle from next door arrives, tries to stop the aggro, gets beaten himself, police called son legs it off around the village, police give chase, catch him, cart him off the the cells.

At the moment his mothers condition is unknown to us, will find out later when the village wakes up.

The joys of living in a quiet Issan village.

 

[Matzzon]

Why in the world are you punishing yourself by staying there, if it is so bad?

As I have been reading your posts for quite a long time, it´s not the first time you bring up how terrible it is and how unsafe you are feeling in your village.

Edited December 21, 2019 by Matzzon

[Puchaiyank]

Thank you for posting a vivid word picture of your Issan village life.

 

Don't name your village...everyone will want to live there...????

[colinneil]

Just now, Matzzon said:

Why in the world are you punishing yourself by staying there, if it is so bad?

Why? Because my wife was born here, and will not move, in my condition it would be impossible for me to move without her.

Also as the house has been adapted for me, winches, wheelchair ramps, kitchen work heights, accessible bathroom.

Moving would have to be to a new house built to suit my needs or a house suitable for me.

[CharlieH]

Only thing that ever happens here is when someone gets married or dies !

Oh, or wipes out drunk on a motorcycle.

Other than that, don't hear a damn thing.

 

After 8pm it's total darkness and no one in sight til 4am next morning.(usually)

[cyril sneer]

i think when people say 'quiet' they usually mean lack of things to do, which ironically seems to cause more noise

 

when the speakers come out these villages are louder than most cities

[jastheace]

i lived in the middle of nowhere in issan for 3 years. daytime, peaceful like paradise, some evenings however, would have been quieter in bkk north bus station on a friday evening.

Edited December 21, 2019 by jastheace

[Matzzon]

18 minutes ago, colinneil said:

Why? Because my wife was born here, and will not move, in my condition it would be impossible for me to move without her.

Also as the house has been adapted for me, winches, wheelchair ramps, kitchen work heights, accessible bathroom.

Moving would have to be to a new house built to suit my needs or a house suitable for me.

Ok, the excuse for your situation and condition I can understand, due to the extreme costs that would follow a move.

However, the talk everybody have regarding that their Thai wife refuse to move is just silly.

Anyway, It must be terrible for you. I hope you get a good and peaceful christmas anyway. New Year is terrible anywhere in Thailand, unfortunately.

[OneMoreFarang]

27 minutes ago, colinneil said:

Why? Because my wife was born here, and will not move, in my condition it would be impossible for me to move without her.

Also as the house has been adapted for me, winches, wheelchair ramps, kitchen work heights, accessible bathroom.

Moving would have to be to a new house built to suit my needs or a house suitable for me.

Maybe try ear plugs.

I am not sure if only at night of better 24/7.

It must be hard.

[ezzra]

Quiet village life used to mean something towards the quality of life, now days it's become a metaphor and illustrate a quiet place, like quiet as a church mouse have you ever seen a quiet mouse in a church?...

[sammieuk1]

Colin do you watch Emmerdale and Coronation street to relax they probably will look such peaceful places to you????

[fishtank]

Not sure about the violence but Isaan must be the noisiest place I have ever lived in.

I spend most of my days with ear plugs in. ☹️

Dreadful place.

Maybe I just chose the wrong part of Isaan to live.

[justaphase]

If I lived in a small community in Isaan I would constantly be on the guard for thieves

[Ventenio]

bigger cities have what we need........police presence.  Sure, they might not take our side, but they might.  in small towns, there is no police and it's all drug smuggling and self-imposed laws.  kids get bored and own the streets, usually drunk which leads to bad decisions.  

 

in a big city like Chiang Mai, tourism still means something and the police know it.   

[neeray]

Suggestion: New Years at Colin's.

BYOB. Lots of pyrotechnics. Open exhaust motorbike race on his street.

Bring sleeping bag in case too drunk to drive. All loud-speakers welcome.

Wife (Colin's) will ring loud bell for Thai-style breakfast at 6:00 AM. She will feed you and then tell you "go home noisy farang, you too silly".

[1FinickyOne]

we had fewer crazy incidents in the course of my near 20 years in a village.

 

I think by quiet most farang mean no movies and burger king..  

[Mbaki]

On 12/22/2019 at 6:46 AM, CharlieH said:

Only thing that ever happens here is when someone gets married or dies !

Oh, or wipes out drunk on a motorcycle.

Other than that, don't hear a damn thing.

 

After 8pm it's total darkness and no one in sight til 4am next morning.(usually)

Same here, we must live in the quiet Issan village hardly any farangs and definitely no tourists. Loving the clean fresh air and water without the city life hassles.

[Mbaki]

On 12/22/2019 at 7:56 AM, justaphase said:

If I lived in a small community in Isaan I would constantly be on the guard for thieves

The smaller the community the more people look out for each other, I can leave my doors and windows open without any problems, if I did the same back in Australia my place would be emptied. Must say I feel a lot safer here than there.

[Brunolem]

I live in a very small village...less than 200 people in a normal day...and it is not so quiet.

 

Of course, it is not Bangkok, but even a small number of people can manage to make a lot of noise.

 

There is the usual radio turned at maximum volume...they don't know another option...but it doesn't happen too often, to be fair...

 

More frequent are the motorbikes, especially when they try to fix them by testing the accelerator for hours...

 

But the worst are the pets, which they all want but are totally unable to take care of.

 

And both cats and dogs, left to themselves, are much more active at night than in the daytime...meaning that I have to sleep with earplugs, something I don't need to do when I visit Bangkok!

 

So, when it's all said and done, villages are quiet, but not that quiet.

 

Finally, the clean air and food are an illusion.

 

They use pesticides and all kinds of <deleted> in large quantities and the atmospheric pollution is everywhere, save from some pollutants like cars exhaust fumes...I am severely allergic to air pollution and I have to take as much medicine in the village as I have to do in Bangkok, or anywhere else for that matter...

[djayz]

On 12/22/2019 at 6:46 AM, CharlieH said:

Only thing that ever happens here is when someone gets married or dies !

Oh, or wipes out drunk on a motorcycle.

Other than that, don't hear a damn thing.

 

After 8pm it's total darkness and no one in sight til 4am next morning.(usually)

Pretty much same where I live. I love sitting out on porch at night, it's usually soooo quite. 

[Brunolem]

8 minutes ago, Mbaki said:

The smaller the community the more people look out for each other, I can leave my doors and windows open without any problems, if I did the same back in Australia my place would be emptied. Must say I feel a lot safer here than there.

Not only do they look for each other, but there is always someone looking, even if you don't see them.

 

In fact, it can be embarassing since it is sometime difficult to have some privacy.

 

If someone does anything out of the usual, everyone will know about it in the following hour...

[Captain 776]

I live in a small actually quiet village 25 km north of Chiang Mai.

In the 5 yrs here, never witnessed what you have listed, we just have one a German couple that are the giant hemorrhoids on the ass of this Moo Baan but no matter who you are or what country you live in,.......there will always be that 1 (or more) neighbor.

I punched his lights out in his driveway 3 yrs ago..........not smart.

They went to police station with 3 people I never saw before that claimed to be witnesses and I almost got my Visa revoked...........out of the entire Moo Baan only one other a German lady speaks to them..........the rest wouldn’t <deleted> on them if they were on fire.

He rides motorcycle like an idiot.........never a helmet........I pray daily he gets his head splattered and Karma delivers.

 

Sux tho........with your physical disabilities that you can’t live out your remaining years in the solitude you anticipated.

Edited December 23, 2019 by Captain 776

[wgdanson]

46 minutes ago, kenk24 said:

we had fewer crazy incidents in the course of my near 20 years in a village.

 

I think by quiet most farang mean no movies and burger king..  

Download movies from torrents, and make own burgers with Macro's Angus beef mince.

[wgdanson]

16 minutes ago, djayz said:

Pretty much same where I live. I love sitting out on porch at night, it's usually soooo quite. 

Except for the buzzing of the mozzies!

[SteveK]

I'm the only farang in my village, well the only permanent one anyway. I see the odd one visiting for a few nights or the odd one who might stay a bit longer (always coming with a girl) but very rare. I haven't spoken to a westerner since May.

 

My village doesn't have any of the grief you mention. Very quiet here. Sometimes about 6am a truck drives around blasting something out on a megaphone trying to sell mattresses or fruits or whatever and every few months one of the neighbours will have a party. Well actually there was a party last night but it was all over by 9pm.

 

There are no bars, restaurants, no cinema and certainly no western foods available. There is a small place that does 79 baht pizzas but they are like the 7-Eleven ones, no mozzarella cheese, and basically just a piece of awful bread slathered with ketchup and mayonnaise with toppings on. No wonder everyone around here says they don't like pizza. Theres a Chaysee and a Champ noodle truck, and a market with lots of food vendors.

 

Unfortunately lao khao usage here is rampant. My wife's nephew in law is a hard working guy, not very well educated, but gets through 2 large bottles a night, I really don't know how he does it. Every few months he will remove all the things he paid fro from the house and disappear in a drunken stupor over something petty. There are occasional drunken motorbike deaths, but crime is non-existent, we never lock the house, always leave keys in the vehicles etc never an issue.

Edited December 23, 2019 by SteveK

[Lacessit]

Village 25 km from Chiang Rai. Most of the noise at night is from geckos and roosters.

The pooyai here settles most neighbor disputes. I've not seen a police presence here in 8 years. The locals mostly get drunk on Lao Khao, Saturday nights.

I leave the villagers alone, and they leave me alone. Exchange the occasional Sawadee krap, sabai dee mai. Shop in the dalat nat for food occasionally.

[4MyEgo]

Live opposite a river which is about 100 metres away and has a gradual slope of say 5 metres below the road level, so no neighbours opposite.

 

Neighbor to the left is a Yi and is about 20 metres from our house, then houses continue up the road to the village from there, in all about 10 to the bend, then there's the village. 

 

Neighbor to our right is about 100 metres, what separates us is the rice field between our place and theirs, then there is about 4 house after theirs and out of the village you go and into the next over a bridge.

 

Behind us is rice fields.

 

Before we purchased this slice of land and built the house, I got first hand experience of what it was like living in an Isaan village, staying at the in-laws place when we would visit for a month, no different to back in the old country, except they don't have noise control here, it's do what you want, bass sound blaring out of big speakers for no apparent reason, loud music after 11pm, and when it's whatever season to bring in bands till 6am in the morning, I count our lucky stars that we are where we are so that we don't have to hear anything but nature.

Edited December 23, 2019 by 4MyEgo

[SteveK]

5 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

The locals mostly get drunk on Lao Khao, Saturday nights.

In my village most of the guys drink it every night. The concept of having one or two drinks after dinner to unwind seems alien to them, they drink until they fall over. I can't stomach the stuff, it smells like petrol mixed with turps.

Edited December 23, 2019 by SteveK

[villagefarang]

I'm sure we have neighbors out there somewhere.

 

[from the home of CC]

9 minutes ago, SteveK said:

In my village most of the guys drink it every night. The concept of having one or two drinks after dinner to unwind seems alien to them, they drink until they fall over. I can't stomach the stuff, it smells like petrol mixed with turps.

lol sounds like many countries except the drug smells better..