11 minutes ago, 3NUMBAS said:

the udonmap forum is full of expat nutters ,,theyve all lost it

 

 

take a look

if the moderators did not doing their job, you know how it would have been here at AseanNow to? Only nutters left

Edited April 24, 20233 yr by Hummin

On 4/23/2023 at 4:21 PM, ArnieP said:

Udon’s a small city enclosed within a ring road and there’s very little of interest to expats. It’s urban, not picturesque and is largely devoid of culture and entertainment apart from some kinos and two small bar areas. Most of the colourful entertainment got closed by the military in January 2015. 

sounds depressing. WHY on earth would you or any expat want to live there. Im facinated to know...

24 minutes ago, ubonr1971 said:

sounds depressing. WHY on earth would you or any expat want to live there. Im facinated to know...

He's talking about a very small part of the town. Udorn is actually quite large, one of the largest in Isaan. Lots to do if you can be bothered to find it. The surrounding areas are very nice too.

 

Quote

What's life like for a single older expat in isaan?

All the snatch and Thai friends you can pay for. 

15 hours ago, MrJ2U said:

That's what you do if you want to live in Issan and actually enjoy it.  Nice home with infinity pool, good internet, android box to access basically anything on TV. 

 

I've got kids also.   Time flies with a functional family and a nice abode. 

 

Stock up on food from Makro, Villa Mkt, Topps,  etc. 

 

In the end though I'd prefer being close to a city and beach,  Isssn can be tough to live.

That life married with kids living in a house in suburbia with a pool wouldn't suit me ,I would rather be free 

10 hours ago, 3NUMBAS said:

the udonmap forum is full of expat nutters ,,theyve all lost it

 

 

take a look

Years ago when I was up there I used to like the farang supermarket ,it had a theme to it ,was it Open All hours or similar name ?

Probably long gone now 

5 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

That life married with kids living in a house in suburbia with a pool wouldn't suit me ,I would rather be free 

Definitely  a life choice. 

 

But I get where you are coming from.   Much cheaper also!.

 

 

On 4/24/2023 at 6:07 PM, 3NUMBAS said:

the udonmap forum is full of expat nutters ,,theyve all lost it

 

 

 

They need to rename udonmap to DooDoomap.

 

DooDoo is one of the only nutters who still posts there. That forum looks like it's on its last leg.

The only upside is cheap rural brothels filled with Laos women.bamboo huts with concrete furniture.

Herr Schopenhauer has written quite extensively on this subject. Unfortunately, he is often portrayed as a pessimist and employed terms that are too strong to be applicable to rural life in Isan. With this in mind, I am convinced that the person the OP claims to be looking for—who actually fits the description—will not appear on this forum of their own accord, but would rather avoid it like the plague.

 

 

In sum, everything depends on what you have inside your head.

 

Those of little weight can't bear the thought of the absence of external entertainment.

 

Those with brains stuffed with thoughts doubts information and information-processing can barely cope with the lightweight over-stimulus of the big cities. 

On 4/24/2023 at 10:52 PM, ubonr1971 said:

sounds depressing. WHY on earth would you or any expat want to live there. Im facinated to know...

 

Years ago, most sex workers in Pattaya came from Udon. Their mothers had been socialized by the American airmen, who started their bombing raids over Laos at Udon air base.  The Americans had built a nice Friendship Highway to Udon, and there was a train.  Easy to travel to Pattaya. 

 

The sex workers brought their bounty back to their villages, and settled down with their beloved husbands. 

 

Most of these village ATMs wouldn't notice the difference between Kumphawapi, Kuala Lumpur and Honolulu anyway.

1 hour ago, Lorry said:

Years ago, most sex workers in Pattaya came from Udon. Their mothers had been socialized by the American airmen, who started their bombing raids over Laos at Udon air base.  The Americans had built a nice Friendship Highway to Udon, and there was a train.  Easy to travel to Pattaya. 

 

The sex workers brought their bounty back to their villages, and settled down with their beloved husbands. 

 

Most of these village ATMs wouldn't notice the difference between Kumphawapi, Kuala Lumpur and Honolulu anyway.

Barstool BS ... think you may have missed a few other bases ...

 

My wife wanted me to move to the farm in Isaan many years ago. Then her in the USA, we were going to return when COVID hit, but under certain conditions as she'd become acclimated to American culture. Now...less and less she's interested in the farm and we'll probably find another place that better suits our lifestyle.

We visited about two years ago and it was less than thrilling. She's just not happy with things in rural Thailand. She'd changed. We'd changed. We are just not on the same wavelength with her family.

Even her daughter, who grew up in Thailand until she emigrated with her mother when she was 12 or so was less than thrilled with visiting the farm. She went back to Thailand last year and didn't even stop by, just spent time with her friends that she still keeps in touch with in Khon Kaen. Lifestyle differences.

There was about a 10% chance way back when that I'd give up my career and go live rural. Only took a second trip to Thailand to realize that it was not in my favor to move there at the time.

A few years ago we looked at homes in Khon Kaen, but we want a quieter place to live, despite liking a lot about the city.

Here in the States, we keep to ourselves. Her daughter is the same way. We are not social animals and are happy at home with our solitude. I'm retired, but wife works because she likes to make her own money and she's providing some support back home and she wants her own money when we relocate. Luckily, she has a great job that pays well and is close to home.

So Issan is fine, but a fair to moderate cosmopolitan life would be nice, or simply a nice place where its quiet and a pretty view and our own place to call home. We could potentially get some sort of leased land from a relative by marriage that has a nice view of a reservoir and isn't too far away from Khon Kaen. Keep away from the sugar cane trucks, pesticides, sugar can field burnings, snakes....wife hates snakes.

Some people thrive in the rural life, giving up what they had before. I wonder how many initially thrive then thrown in the towel tired of the ways there in the countryside.

On 4/22/2023 at 4:44 AM, Keep Right said:

I knew a guy that was very happy to live in Issan. He bought a house for his tee luk and even started farming with a water buffalo.

A laughing "stock"

3 hours ago, Celsius said:

A laughing "stock"

It's nice to see him spending quality time with his granddaughter.

11 hours ago, TedG said:

It's nice to see him spending quality time with his granddaughter.

Is that possible?

She looks close to 40yo, he looks late 60/70 (poor guy, doesn't look well), I'd say a 30 year age gap