Will Isaan Be the Safest Place to Live

[Surelynot]

15 hours ago, 2 is 1 said:

Everything nice in your ivory tower? Good filter that you not get nothing "smell" in your golden toilet?

Don't go out or some can be wrong person for you! Or maybe Bangkok , once in lifetime somebody can have dog or drink and drive LOL

...and in English?

[Surelynot]

15 hours ago, HauptmannUK said:

My wife has a house in rural Isaan and a condo in Pattaya. We spend time at both locations but even my wife gets bored in Isaan after 3-4 weeks and we head back to Pattaya.  Air quality was bad when we were there earlier this year - burning cane and they have a fondness for setting small fires and burning waste plastic, rubber etc..

I don't think anywhere in Thailand is particularly safe.

Spot on.....We spend (waste) 6 months in Isan (right out in the sticks) each year and 6 months in our condo in Bangkok. Agree exactly with what you say.....especially those ****** fires they light at the front of every house......they are are oblivious to the smoke and the damage it does...plus cooking on charcoal...that's a killer.....give me Bangkok every time.

 

[VillageIdiot]

16 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Plenty of people still living in stick huts outside the cities.

 

16 hours ago, Dumbastheycome said:

Pictures please. I am looking  for  designs.  Been collecting sticks  for years  too !

He means 'hooches'... just unsure of the terminology.

   Must have missed those SE Asian tours back in the early '70s.

   

[natway09]

North west back up the hill from Mae Sot would work if you can stand the quiet.

Have a couple of great building blocks available,,, 2 rai, give us a yell, just across the road from our house

[Nanaplaza666]

20 hours ago, 2 is 1 said:

LOL yeah have some elephant problem! In family rupper farm in mountain have 2 different wild elephant herd. Proke everything! And only 4 kilometer from our house was 4 wild elephant to proke houses lol. Only life.

Better than some crazy shoot you 

i don't know if getting proke in the rupper farm is better then getting shoot by some crazy ????????

[soalbundy]

21 hours ago, dick turpin said:

"Isaan, to me, doesn't seem to have moved much from the stone ages"...... you think it has even advanced as much as that.

In the 15 years that I have been here it has advanced a lot (better roads, very little electricity outage, nicer houses being built etc.) without losing its charming laid back attitude which is probably why we don't seem to get the hassle from police or IO's that is often reported here (of course I can only speak for the Surin province) Whenever I go on holiday or to BKK I am always glad to come back, can't imagine living anywhere else, the nicest people I've met so far.

[itsallmine68]

I live in Udonthani and talk about "Stone Ages" Yes we are progressing 

1) we now have a radio station up here

2) as for schooling, soon we will have grades past P7 for 13 year olds

3) As for a hospitals/Doctors the one vet we have has talked someone from Bangkok to locate up here

4) as for Safety the police Department now has 2 police Officers available but only 8 hours a day

and finally

5) the best of all is to select people we want to live up here, and well you just dont ___   it

[4MyEgo]

21 hours ago, bwpage3 said:

Issan, to me, doesn't seem to have moved much from the stone ages with no industry except the farm processing plants here and there.

 

Air is still good quality, lots of farm products, however lack of water is becoming a huge issue.

 

In the future, will this be the best area to live?

That is one of the main reasons I moved here, because it is 50 years behind the times and away from the hussle and bussle of the big cities, but it all depends on what you what you want from life, personally, I don't like Cities, never have, never will, too crowded and busy. I like the quiet and open space, plus the freedom to move about on the roads.

 

I like the scenery of the green surrounds as are relaxing when compared to concrete jungles which offer little privacy as you look into someone else's space.

 

Why we even had street lights put in our strip of the road being just on the outskirts of our village where we live, exciting, can't wait till they turn them on, oh plus we got internet in the house 3 years ago....lol

 

The Isaan village/country life suits us just fine, have all the comforts we need in our big nest with lots of A/C's which we rarely turn on as the house was built with a lot of planning taken into consideration for the hot tropical climate.

 

The biggest downside here is when they start burning the sugar cane and rice fields during that season, so stupid, but hopefully as the price of sugar cane drops the less farmers will keep doing it, well one can hope, as for rice, most here farm it to feed their families, so can't see that stopping anytime soon.

 

Another downside is we are far from the coast, but that makes us travel a few times annually to take it all as we drive to our holidays destination, Hua Hin, Phuket, and Ao Nang Krabi are all cheap enough, i.e. if you don't try going this long weekend with a few hotels marking up their prices as high as 85%, well they can certainly try it, but we will be home this weekend, money in our pockets, not theirs ! 

 

Life in Isaan is good, and yes one can get bored, but boredom can be anywhere, so if you are an indoors person like me and like all your comforts, this place is just perfect as I sit here looking at one of the local squirrels walking past one of our outside ledges to get to wherever he/she is going, a daily event.

 

Ask me how I am when the burning season starts and it will be another story ????

 

[Bigz]

I love it in isaan. The lack of water is a major issue though. A dealbreaker for most. If they don't do something about it in the next decade it will be almost impossible to have a comfortable life. You can get a well drilled if you live in a village but not in the cities. I have a friend in Buriram who couldn't use his washing machine for a month due to the lack of water or very low pressure from the mains.

[SunsetT]

22 hours ago, faraday said:

Can you remind me what cities are in Issan; are they 'stone age'?

 

Your comment is, without doubt, laughable.

It is meant to be......at least for those with a sense of humour...555

[Ireland32]

23 hours ago, CNXexpat said:

The Isaan is one third of Thailand. It depends where you want to live. 

I think the north isn´t more unsafe. I read very rarely about crime in Chiang Mai. But the pollution is a huge problem between middle of December till May.

CM is not Issan 

[Ireland32]

23 hours ago, Boomer6969 said:

Hardly a safe place, Dogs, Pickup trucks, Chikungunya, Dengue, Kids on Yabaa, Grownups drunk senseless...

The occasional horny elephant too.

 

22 hours ago, northsouthdevide said:

You're right about the future of Bangkok. 

For years, the elite 6% of this county's population, who allegedly own 60% of the country's wealth, have been buying up large areas of land around Pak Chong and its surrounding areas. 

 

Yes prices in Korat Krazy 

[Ireland32]

23 hours ago, Boomer6969 said:

Hardly a safe place, Dogs, Pickup trucks, Chikungunya, Dengue, Kids on Yabaa, Grownups drunk senseless...

The occasional horny elephant too.

I got Dengue in Pattaya Soi Kopai

[Ireland32]

You build a home in Isaan build a lil lake for fish and  water supply 

[Ireland32]

I struggle with Farang food in Isaan not enough choice , I guess I need to start cooking and buy a Freezer which is mandatory 

[seancbk]

On 7/23/2020 at 7:54 PM, bwpage3 said:

As the cities develop more and more, Thailand gets in bed with China with huge mega-projects that will increase pollution and congestion, will rural Isaan be the only safe place to live in Thailand in the next 10 to 20 years?

As that happens Bangkok will get bigger and better.   I'm looking forward to seeing how modern Bangkok can get in the next 30 years.   
 

[Kalasin Jo]

22 hours ago, Issanman said:

Except for the horny elephant part, that sounds exactly like my village in the far NE. 55

And hi lo, a game I do not understand at all, and card games. gambling. Clandestine "Casinos"  as my wife calls them, in almost every village.... and at almost every funeral party 24/7 for 3 days ( but never wedding parties ) there can be several hi lo mats on the go unless forbidden by the bereaved family... plus the loansharks. Tens of thousands changing hands. Where do they get it? A brown envelope and usually no worries from police unless reported in anonymously by a " good citizen".

[elliss]

22 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Plenty of people still living in stick huts outside the cities.

 

 Aka,  Barn ...

 Makes  a Barrett house in the UK , look like Buckingham Palace ..

[Dumbastheycome]

14 hours ago, BritManToo said:

I've done the 'traditional' foreigner trip through Korat to meet the hired helps family, 10Km down a dirt track from the nearest main road.

Holy poop .........  after two nights I ran.

 

Then once again near Lomsak .......

Corrugated iron hut 15Km from the nearest paved road, no doors or windows, just openings, no running water or toilet, just a communal shower hut in the jungle. Couldn't enter the house in the day unless you wanted to cook.

Lasted 2 nights before leaving forever.

 

One final go, Nan looks nice ...........

Slightly better ........ wasn't quite so hot ...... nothing to do but watch the corn field grow.

So typically  you describe your personal comparative as  some  valid assessment of quality of life.

Please note I say  quality of life  versus "standard of living" which  by  intended definition implies financial  capacity  to partake in  consumerism.

Perhaps  you  need  take the "traditional"  trip through the back street poor  accomodation areas of Bangkok to  witness that comparative?

Those that  live  in apparent subsistence in rural Isaan may  often have  the advantage  of  not being subject  to the  squalid conditions  of urban slavery whilst  enjoying  the relative freedom from that trap?

Voluntary  seclusion in a  concrete  bunker  is  not  yet a compulsory rural expectation .

Should it be?

 

 

[Ireland32]

22 minutes ago, Kalasin Jo said:

And hi lo, a game I do not understand at all, and card games. gambling. Clandestine "Casinos"  as my wife calls them, in almost every village.... and at almost every funeral party 24/7 for 3 days ( but never wedding parties ) there can be several hi lo mats on the go unless forbidden by the bereaved family... plus the loansharks. Tens of thousands changing hands. Where do they get it? A brown envelope and usually no worries from police unless reported in anonymously by a " good citizen".

If your other half is a gambler stay away from Isaan 

[ratcatcher]

On 7/23/2020 at 9:05 PM, ThaiFelix said:

Bangkok, once shes got you, she wont let you go!!

To paraphrase the great Dr Samuel Johnson's remark about London, "When a man is tired of Bangkok, he's tired of life." 

However I got tired of Bangkok and moved north to the peace and clean air of the lower north. Life is pretty good. Loud birds in the morning though. 

[CNXexpat]

2 hours ago, Ireland32 said:

CM is not Issan 

Yes, I know. It´s Lanna-land. That´s why I wrote "I think the north isn´t more unsafe".

[SiSePuede419]

No.

 

I'm thinking a deserted island would be "the safest" place to live. ????

[BritManToo]

9 hours ago, Dumbastheycome said:

So typically  you describe your personal comparative as  some  valid assessment of quality of life.

Please note I say  quality of life  versus "standard of living" which  by  intended definition implies financial  capacity  to partake in  consumerism.

Perhaps  you  need  take the "traditional"  trip through the back street poor  accomodation areas of Bangkok to  witness that comparative?

Those that  live  in apparent subsistence in rural Isaan may  often have  the advantage  of  not being subject  to the  squalid conditions  of urban slavery whilst  enjoying  the relative freedom from that trap?

Voluntary  seclusion in a  concrete  bunker  is  not  yet a compulsory rural expectation .

Should it be?

I don't have to live in either type of Thai hellhole.

But at least the concrete slum wouldn't involve me having to make long bus trips from my comfy house.

[BritManToo]

On 7/23/2020 at 7:54 PM, bwpage3 said:

As the cities develop more and more, Thailand gets in bed with China with huge mega-projects that will increase pollution and congestion, will rural Isaan be the only safe place to live in Thailand in the next 10 to 20 years?

Wondering where you think all the city people will come from.

Thailand's population is shrinking.

Do you think the rural areas will be abandoned?

[bwpage3]

10 hours ago, seancbk said:

As that happens Bangkok will get bigger and better.   I'm looking forward to seeing how modern Bangkok can get in the next 30 years.   
 

Really?

 

How do you like all the air pollution and American Fastfood Joints on every corner?

 

Yes sir, that is really modernizing Bangkok.

 

Let's toss in even more traffic and a few more floods.

[bwpage3]

32 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Wondering where you think all the city people will come from.

Thailand's population is shrinking.

Do you think the rural areas will be abandoned?

Not a chance.

 

[smutcakes]

57 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Wondering where you think all the city people will come from.

Thailand's population is shrinking.

Do you think the rural areas will be abandoned?

Haha. Since when is Thailands population shrinking?

 

[Ron jeremy]

17 hours ago, Surelynot said:

Spot on.....We spend (waste) 6 months in Isan (right out in the sticks) each year and 6 months in our condo in Bangkok. Agree exactly with what you say.....especially those ****** fires they light at the front of every house......they are are oblivious to the smoke and the damage it does...plus cooking on charcoal...that's a killer.....give me Bangkok every time.

 

Hate to break the news to you, but the air quality in Bangkok is one of the worst in the world, that's fact!

[ChakaKhan]

On 7/23/2020 at 9:36 AM, Boomer6969 said:

Hardly a safe place, Dogs, Pickup trucks, Chikungunya, Dengue, Kids on Yabaa, Grownups drunk senseless...

The occasional horny elephant too.

Does the Thai Penal codes apply to those horny changs?   Horny 2 mutt!!!