Expats in udon thani or sattahip/ban chang

[LPCustom69]

As most of my original time in Thailand was spent near US military installations, I am curious as to the number of expats living in or near Udon Thani and/or the Sattahip/Ban Chang areas in Thailand. At that time these were great areas to live in, but I know things have changed. If possible I would like to know what the scene in those areas is like now. I am going to be in Thailand this fall and want to check out some areas besides the usual Bangkok, Pattaya and Chiang Mai areas, although I will also spend at least a few days in each of those areas again. Thanks for any helpful information.  :cool:

[LPCustom69]

Wow, I'm new to this board, but I did expect a few replies with useful info. One of my buddies and his thai wife were in Udorn last year on vacation, and he told me that he saw a lot of falangs there and his wife said they lived there. He did not check out the nightlife as his wife wanted to spend time with her family, so he stayed there. Also there is a major highway to Nong Khai and Vientienne is less than an hour away. I wasn't sure about Sattahip, But I'll check it out -- I have 90 days this time instead of two weeks. So the itinerary will be the usual Bangkok, Pattaya, and Chiang Mai, as well as the two cities mentioned. I'll also try the beaches, and scuba diving somewhere around Phuket or Kohsamui. I've seen a few posts on the beaches, but not much on scuba diving down south. I like small towns off the beaten path so I'll let you know if I stumble upon anything worthwile. Thanks anyways!  :cool:

[TRIPxCORE]

My wife is from Udon and we spend a lot of time there.  As far as I have seen, not really much in the way of nightlife.  Number's of farangs there varies when I am there but have seen a few Americans at the hotel gym when I go.  Have eaten at a restaurant that is owned by a UK man that is around the corner from the mall.  If you go there and enjoy Italian food, go check out Enrico's.  He is my Italian friend and he run's it with his Thai wife.  Very friendly and reasonably priced.  It's across from the lake in the middle of the city.  He usually has some expat's there eating.  And you'll always see some farang in the mall if you go there and walk around, especially in the little beer area on the ground floor.  Hope this helped.

[lopburi3]

Am not sure what you expect but this is a new group and doubt that there are many people living in Udorn posting here; or anywhere else for that matter.  The 'military' era ended 28 years ago so those that are still around are not likely to be much into computers and most probably don't even have a telephone line.  The US Consulate closed years ago.  Am sure there are a few foreigners around but suspect most have/had nothing to do with the military but are recent arrivals who have married girls from that area.  I don't believe many people have any reason to go there except for transit to Laos.  There are several new hotels of tourist class available but don't believe they have had that much development.  But I have not been there since the mid 80's myself.

[LPCustom69]

Thanks guys for the info. It's been 28 years since I was in NE Thailand. The italian restaurant will provide a nice alternative while I'm there. I know I plan on revisiting the archaelogical site down the road. Sounds like a week or ten days will be plenty in the area. Like I said I have a lot more time on my hands this time than usual, and I wanted to visit places off the beaten track. I kind of imagined that some of the falangs there are in a different time still and may not pay much attention to computers and such. Thanks for your feed back. :cool:

[edd]

hi.

our house is 20 miles north of udornthani and we go in quite often.

if you are American you should try   TJ`s this is on the same road as Tesco lotus just past and on the opposit side just off the first junction.

tj is an american expat he is quite old now and not to well but he is the almost unofficial advice center.

many of your copuntry men go there for help, food and company.

there is another bar [nothing seedy]  up the tesco/airport road about 1 mile from tesco on the opposit side run by a Dutch man plenty of farangs and good cheap food, sorry i have forgotten the name  but you cant miss it as it has a tuc tuc out side it.

HOTELS.

charonse grand [next to robinsons complex] 1200 b and up  its not worth the extra.  

charon hotel about 800 b  to 1200 b  [yellow bird disco at the rear, quite good].

udorn hotel 500 to 600 b [good clean but no pool there is ENTERETAINMENT just opposit  [20 girls on a stage all unable to dance but what the hel_l]

i hope that this helps   edd.

[LPCustom69]

Thanks Edd for the information, it should be very helpful. Now I have a couple of options for dining out in addition to the local fare. The hotel info also will be useful, although if I stay there long term I may try to rent a bungalow, as long as the neghbors aren't put off by acoustic guitar. The people in Udon were some of the friendliest I encountered in my 3 years in Thailand, hopefully that hasn't changed. Do you know if there are any e-cafes in the area or should I bring a laptop to keep up on things? Once again many thanks.

:cool:

[edd]

hi

      there are several in Udorn the one that i have used is on the main road through the town just near the main telephone exchange and on the opposit side to the market.

DONT FOR GET, IF YOU ARE CONTACTING YOUR BANK CLEAR OUT YOUR HISTORY ON THE COMPUTER WHEN FINISHED.

if you want to take your laptop with you and can get access to a phone line you can just go on the net your self.

if you want to buy some time on the net you can buy  prepaid accerss from any ATM or from most 7-11s this is not expensive you just get an access number and code word.

ENJOY THE LAND OF SMILES

           Edd.

[exchange1973]

Hi there,

my wife is from Namsom. It's around 100km from UdonThani. But we spent a lot of time in Udon because her sisters live there.

1. e-cafes: there a lot of, really, you can find some e-cafe in every mainstreets. When you need some special applications forget the computers in most of the e-cafes. They mostly run a good old Win98. But my experience is, that the owners of the cafes don't mind it at all when you connect your laptop to the LANs of the cafes. They are very amazed and look over your shoulder. And the best of all: you don't have to pay any extra-cash. Isaan-people are very friendly. Much more friendly than in germany (I come from germany  )!

2.Sightseeing & usefull informations:

try www.udonthani.com

I think it's a very good website with a few links!

OK! Enjoy Isaan!

GTX from Berlin!

[LPCustom69]

Thank you Exchange 1973 for the info. Everything you and everyone else has provided will come in handy. I am grateful to all. Glad to hear that they don't mind letting you use your own laptop, although I wouldn't have a problem using theirs. It's just more convenient for me. thanks

:cool:

[LPCustom69]

I just want to thank everyone for their postings, the information provided will help greatly. Special thanks to those who PM'd or e-mailed some great info. Will probably spend close to a month in Udonthani, with side trips to Chiang Mai. I guess, by lack of posts from that area that there is not much happening in the Sattahip/Utapao area, so that will just be a short sojourn while in Pattaya. Thanks!

:cool:

[Amicitia]

HALLO DEAR FRIEND ,YOU COME TO THE RIGTH PLACE. UDON IS A WONDERFUL TOWN WITH LOTS OF FARANG FRIENDS .

I am going ther for the past 1.5 years -3-4 times per year . It is easy and cheap to live ,we have everything your heart desires. Good friendly small hotels and guesthouse (99.9% farang coustomers) for 400 bath,healthclub in nice hotel 50 bath per use or 400 bath per month,wonderful hotel breakfast or lunch buffets for 100-120 Bath,farang bars ,tons of internet shops ,Vfw post -monthly meetings,house rent (3 BR)-w/o furniture 3000-5000 Bath,I live in a village near the airport with at least 10 farang friends around -there is never a day w/o meeting friends and never ever a day w/o a reason to have a drink or throw a party-we have a very nice little group there -come and join us .There is not enough space to tell all the nice things .

Contact me if you need more specifics .I will be back in July and August

 :cool:

[Amicitia]

Forgot to tell you abo the great new French restaurant(2 White Elefants)-not really easy to find ,but worth the efford to look for it ,good German food at Erwins, English/Aussie pubs at Steves on the Ring road and at Harrys in the town center. And yes there is nigthlife -just got to know where to look for it .

Come on -buy/rent a motorbike rent a house and enjoy the good life. No -I am not getting paid by the Udon tourist board ,I honestly and truely love the place. :cool:  ???  :cool:

[Roger13]

Hi Exchange1973

Thanks for the site you suggested.

I just visited the Site - it is very Comprehensive.

Here is a Link for others to click on :

http://www.udonthani.com/english/

Roger

[utapaortnab]

Howdy,

Ken Bower here.  Just joined this forum.  I was stationed at U-Tapao Royal Thai Navy Airbase 1971-1972 at the US Army Satellite Communications Station TS-54 there and later as Station Chief of the US Army Microwave Communications Station in Sriracha, Thailand.

I was a 35 year old SFC E-7 when I arrived in Thailand for the first time.  Lived the whole tour in a bungalow off So. Pattaya Rd in Pattaya Beach.  I've made about 35 trips back to Thailand since then and briefly retired in Pattaya Beach Jan 1995-Apr 1996.  Married my current wife Rattana from Chiayaphum in Sep 1995 and we jointly decided to relocate back to San Antonio in Apr 96.

IF you or any other member was stationed at U-Tapao or Camp Samae-san or the nearby Corps of Engineer compound, or Sattihip Deep Water Port, or Hill 272 Commo Station, we'd like ro invite you to join our U-Tapao Yahoo Group.  We have 275 members ALL of which were stationed at U-T sometime between 1965-1976.  It's a great group.  We do have one member that still lives in Ban Chang full time.  His kids live here in San Antonio, so my wife and I had him over during his last stateside visit a few months ago.

Hope to check in here weekly or so to read all the posts and meet y'all.

Oh, I've been to 39 countries and all 50 United States and there is NO WHERE better than San Antonio...

Just my opinion.

Ken and Rattana Bower

US Army Retired

San Antonio, Texas

[LPCustom69]

Amicitia, it's good to know some things are still good. I know it's cheap there in Udorn, glad to hear of some of the new businesses. I'm going to rent a house there after I find a decent one, just for a month or two for now. Will probably see a lot of the guys in the area while out and about. Thanks for the info. Hey Ken, I worked at the CG station around the bend from Samae San. We ran a loran station for the benefit of the aircraft, similar to what GPS does now. Very accurate! What is the address of the Yahoo group. I was glad to hear that someone is living in Ban Chang, there was too much infrastructure and scenery there not to. Kind of like Pattaya without the BS at the time. Later.

:cool:

[LPCustom69]

I was PM'd another useful website regarding Udon Thani:

My Webpage

Anyone who can make that a link, it would be appreciated. That's what I tried to do but you see what happened. Thanks

[Roger13]

Let us see if this works as a link:

My%20Webpage]http://www.tourismthailand.org/about_t....Webpage

Yes - it does

Roger

[LPCustom69]

Hey Roger13 -- Thanks for trying, but it took me to Chiang Mai and said no information. I guess if someone is interested in the area they can type it in. I just thought it would be easier for others to click a link. I got it in a PM, but was unable to add it to the message here, the correct address doesn't have my webpage on the end. That was added when I tried including it here in the forum. Thanks anyways.

:cool:

[Roger13]

Hi LPCustom,

Sorry - I only checked that the link opened

- I did not check the Content !!

I think this is what you wanted:

http://www.tourismthailand.org/about_t....20THANI

(I don't know why we cannot see the whole link - just tooo looong?.)

This one goes to the List of ALL the Provinces to click on:

http://www.tourismthailand.org/about_thail...ation_guide.php

Roger

[LPCustom69]

Thanks Roger13, that did the trick. Also appreciate the other link, I bookmarked it. How do you go about putting links in this forum using what's provided? Thanks.

:cool:

[Roger13]

Hi LPCustom,

Well - all I do is to Copy & Paste ...

Highlight what is in the "Address" Box

Copy it, then Paste it in the Forum Reply Box.

Is that Sufficient explanation?

If you receive a WORKING Link in an

e-mail you can Copy & Paste it.

(There were errors in the "Link" that you

posted - maybe you did the copying OK -

just the Original had got corrupted somewhere)

Roger

[LPCustom69]

Roger13 -- Got it. Hopefully it goes smooth next time. Thank you.

:cool:

[lopburi3]

Selecting the address as shown on IE will not always get you where you want to go.  As an example try the link below:

http://www.thaiembdc.org/index.htm

The above is the Royal Thai Embassy web site in Washington.  Anywhere you go in that site the address bar in IE will say the above (at least on my computer).  The only way to get a direct link is to right click the page you want and select 'properties' and then highlight/copy/paste the address URL as listed on the pop up.

[LPCustom69]

Thank you lopburi3 for the info. I will try that technique when I post another link. I want to do it right to make it easy for viewers to connect. Thanks again.

:cool:

[Roger13]

The only way to get a direct link is to right click the page you want and select 'properties' and then highlight/copy/paste the address URL as listed on the pop up.

Hi Lopburi,

Great - Thanks

I learn something new everyday here at the Forum !

(AND - probably spend tooooo much time reading

everything ...)

Roger