Isaan hard to like after 3 months

[Andycoops]

I have lived in Isaan for more than 10 years and am very content here.

I enjoy forays to places like Udon, Pattaya to catch up with friends.

 

I occasionally go to nearest Makro and Robinson's.

 

I use Lazada Villa to deliver any farang food items I fancy but make my own version of Thai cuisine.

 

But most of my time is spent within the village or immediate surroundings.

 

Most important to develop some linguistic skills and to have hobbies to use your time up during the day.

 

 

[Red Forever]

On 5/28/2023 at 7:09 AM, bignok said:

Nong Khai has potential but its not there. It needs a Central Mall. It needs some more temples. Some better hotels.

 

Udon is a downmarket version of Pattaya. Khon Kaen is a Isaan version of an attempt to be sophisticated. Korat is a poor man's Bangkok.

 

 

So you just travel in a straight line then?

[tandor]

On 5/27/2023 at 8:46 PM, CharlieH said:

One man's feast is another man's poison, you gotta do what's right for you. We are all different. ????

 

just find what makes you happy and be glad you did.

OPs been to the beach, Bangkok, Korat and Chiang Mai....eenie/meenie/miney/mo  ????

[bignok]

51 minutes ago, Red Forever said:

So you just travel in a straight line then?

Yes and?

[arick]

Go to the northwest then.  Lots of very honest people there. 

[jesimps]

On 5/28/2023 at 7:21 AM, scubascuba3 said:

it's true that many people think that but Pattaya has so much more to offer incl really nice countryside and beaches just outside, but many just stay in the bar area

I agree. When you say Pattaya, people think you must live halfway along Walking Street. I live a 20 minute drive towards Sattahip and it's stunning. Lovely countryside with golf courses, the beach is a five minute drive and not a girly bar in sight. The beauty of it is if you do fancy a bit of excitement, the city is just down the road.

 

[The Fugitive]

31 minutes ago, jesimps said:

I agree. When you say Pattaya, people think you must live halfway along Walking Street. I live a 20 minute drive towards Sattahip and it's stunning. Lovely countryside with golf courses, the beach is a five minute drive and not a girly bar in sight. The beauty of it is if you do fancy a bit of excitement, the city is just down the road.

Good recommendation! Plus, you are not far from Koh Samed (great IMHO) and, of course, Utapao airport.

[berrec]

Hua Hin, the "Royal Coast"

 

God's country!

[Rimbuman]

On 5/28/2023 at 8:29 AM, jerrymahoney said:

I just don't get excited about sea or gulf waters with pout waves. (Pulau Nias Sumatra Indonesia)

 

Nice photograph!

[Neeranam]

Food is horrible, soil not good, women too dark, I moved after 18 years.

[The Fugitive]

3 hours ago, bignok said:

Yes and?

You choose to travel by rail and/or coach?

[bignok]

18 minutes ago, The Fugitive said:

You choose to travel by rail and/or coach?

All modes

[jerrymahoney]

30 minutes ago, Rimbuman said:

Nice photograph!

Yes -- I was there for 2 weeks but not a surfer.

[Pink Mist]

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[bignok]

2 hours ago, arick said:

Go to the northwest then.  Lots of very honest people there. 

Mae Sariang?

[Will B Good]

I guess the real question now is why did it take three months?

[bignok]

Just now, Will B Good said:

I guess the real question now is why did it take three months?

I think you need to give cities a chance plus look around different options. 

[Reginald Prewster]

On 5/28/2023 at 8:37 AM, GinBoy2 said:

Obviously there is not the farang bar scene you get in Pattaya or Phuket, but that never interested me anyway.

21 Years I was living in Pattaya and never could get a hang to it.

 

Yes Pattaya was convenient:

Due to my worldwide travelling while working abroad, it needs not more than one and a half hour and you are at the airport.

Lots of Farang food for sure..

But that's all for me... 

 

About 9 years ago, I was full of it and started hating this city so much, that we rented a house in isaan for a test living. (Also near Khon Kaen.)

 

Born and raised up countryside I felt immediately what I did miss in Pattaya.

Now surrounded by Isaan People, having a Housemaid who can almost all Farang Dishes I wish to eat I changed even more.

But after getting used to isaan food I prefer her food she makes.. 

 

What I do not miss at all are the many foreigners, who just come over the rounds and "talking big one" There are really too many of them in Pattaya.

 

I moved now completely to Isaan and somehow Pattaya is forgotten for me.

I miss the laughing people around me, our farm and animals, our trees and our lake, my river, my BBQ island... 

 

It was a delightening step back to silence and country life. 

 

I understand that others might think just the opposite but lucky we are all different... 

[Andrew65]

On 5/28/2023 at 1:01 AM, Haveasay said:

The entertainment in Pattaya now mostly a gogo and that's sad. So many chasing sex money and the weather is stifling and it's lousy beer. The beach walk less cluttered but in repair again and roads detiorating or in repair or needing it. Welcome to wherever appeals.

I lived in Thailand from 1998-2018, I had also visited 3 times in 1985/86. Initially I was over at Soi Cowboy pretty much every night, but probably around 2005 I didn't really bother with it any more. I became quite cynical about that stuff. It was getting a bit too expensive, the girls weren't really into what they were doing anyway, and I didn't want to be hassled whilst drinking.

In the last 10 years that I lived there I hardly ever went to such places, but a wealthy friend was still visiting nightly, as if he had first got off the plane on his first visit to Thailand 17 years earlier.

[scubascuba3]

13 minutes ago, Reginald Prewster said:

21 Years I was living in Pattaya and never could get a hang to it.

 

Hard to understand that as someone could isolate themselves just outside of Pattaya in the country and not see other farang or bars. Pattaya gives all options unlike Isaan

[bignok]

54 minutes ago, Reginald Prewster said:

21 Years I was living in Pattaya and never could get a hang to it.

 

Yes Pattaya was convenient:

Due to my worldwide travelling while working abroad, it needs not more than one and a half hour and you are at the airport.

Lots of Farang food for sure..

But that's all for me... 

 

About 9 years ago, I was full of it and started hating this city so much, that we rented a house in isaan for a test living. (Also near Khon Kaen.)

 

Born and raised up countryside I felt immediately what I did miss in Pattaya.

Now surrounded by Isaan People, having a Housemaid who can almost all Farang Dishes I wish to eat I changed even more.

But after getting used to isaan food I prefer her food she makes.. 

 

What I do not miss at all are the many foreigners, who just come over the rounds and "talking big one" There are really too many of them in Pattaya.

 

I moved now completely to Isaan and somehow Pattaya is forgotten for me.

I miss the laughing people around me, our farm and animals, our trees and our lake, my river, my BBQ island... 

 

It was a delightening step back to silence and country life. 

 

I understand that others might think just the opposite but lucky we are all different... 

Out of the 14 places I have visited Khon Kaen and Nong Khai seem the best options.

[Andrew65]

10 minutes ago, bignok said:

Out of the 14 places I have visited Khon Kaen and Nong Khai seem the best options.

I liked Nong Khai town, spent a few nights there many years ago.

[whereyougo]

Lots of expats trapped after building a house and pretend it's amazing 

[Hummin]

8 minutes ago, whereyougo said:

Lots of expats trapped after building a house and pretend it's amazing 

It is a decent life ????

 

How woulld you know? 

[Reginald Prewster]

48 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

Hard to understand that as someone could isolate themselves just outside of Pattaya in the country and not see other farang or bars. Pattaya gives all options unlike Isaan

At the begin it was for a contryside boy like me, sure something new and exciting, but it became very quick boring. Anywhere you go, its like repeating itself on an endless tape.

 

I must say we established ourselfs very well and built up a great relation and respect from all kind of people and are well known in the villages around..

The absolute breakthrough came, as we met our (now) security guard and his wife (70 years of age), who lost in an inheritage case his land and home. 

I didn't hassle and built him a small house on our farm and employed him..

 

Since then the locals are open approaching and I am part of the village life, may it be a son becomes Buddha, the Major has birthday or the lads want to go for a fishing trip.. Real countrystyle life.. 

 

How many "Pattayan's" I have seen at the stone table or in bars day in and day out and call this their retirement.

Is that all they like, then OK, but for me it is not, what I call a life.  

 

[Stocky]

On 5/28/2023 at 11:41 AM, bigt3116 said:

Benjamarachutit School; Nakhorn Sri Thammarat, listed as 12th best high school in Thailand

Is NST in Isaan now!

[Gecko123]

1 hour ago, whereyougo said:

Lots of expats trapped after building a house and pretend it's amazing 

Not saying that never happens, because it could happen anywhere, but saying "lots" of expats are trapped after building a house is an exaggeration.

 

Most everyone I've ever met who was dissatisfied either with their marriage or the rural lifestyle has found a way to leave. They either return home (perhaps having held onto real estate back home), or moved back to more familiar haunts within Thailand.

 

Your comment infers that many expats have sunk their life savings into building a house. Again, not saying that never happens, but most are cautious and financially savvy enough to avoid doing this.

 

Furthermore, the claim that someone would be financially trapped after building a house doesn't stand up to scrutiny because chances are anyone who built a house did so because they married, and if they decided to leave they would most likely divorce as well. With divorce, they would no longer have to support their wife and any Thai dependents, which often results in a significant lowering of their overhead, and would provide a financial cushion to relocate.

 

My "eureka" moment came when I realized that whenever I considered relocating somewhere else, the goal was always to recreate the same lifestyle which I enjoy here in Thailand, i.e. quiet country living in a village which offered a sense of community.

 

Frankly, sounds a little bit like sour grapes for you to suggest that anyone professing to be happy in rural Thailand must be either feigning their contentment or self-deluded. Or perhaps it's just a failure of imagination on your part.

 

 

Edited May 30, 2023 by Gecko123

[Espanol]

On 5/28/2023 at 5:43 AM, dingdongrb said:

My favorite place and where  plan to move to in the near future is Nan.

 

 

A very nice, quiet and very clean city.

 

[petermik]

51 minutes ago, whereyougo said:

Lots of expats trapped after building a house and pretend it's amazing 

 

This is my monthly retreat in Huay Yot Trang from my base here in Pattaya.....built 9 years ago for the princely sum of 1.3 million baht ( 25k UK pounds at the time) my Gf and myself visit monthly staying 10/14 days.....surrounded by rubber trees it is a peaceful break from sin city,no bars nearest 7/11 6 kms away nice folk down here and not another farang anywhere nearby.....I enjoy the break but look forward to returning to Pattaya.....trapped....nah never as I will never spend money here that I cannot afford to walk away from if needs be.....when I first thought about having it built I explained to my GF that it was for her when my toes eventually curl up but I could never life there permanently as it was too quiet for me....she understands this and if at any time she decides to want to stay there I will wish her well.

[bignok]

46 minutes ago, Stocky said:

Is NST in Isaan now!

No but it is a cool city.