Living in a thai country vilage

[Spellbound]

Does any one live in a remote(ish) thai village. I have visited my GF village many times, BUT I have not made any commitment to living there.  When we go there, we stay at her aunts house (nice thai style house) we stay there because her family home is occupied by her sister, husband and 2 young kids. Her mum lives at another daughters house along with another 2 teenage kids that belong to her elder sister.

When ever we go there, I am made very very welcomed, and I have NEVER been nagged for money. The only time her mum nags me is when I keep some of the locals/family out late drinking beer on the varanda. Last time  I was there was Songkran, had a GREAT TIME, and yes I paid for some beer 4000 bath for 10 case beer Chang, MY IDEA. because we all went to the village green for a massive party that went on all day.  But for sure after a few days I feel ready to go back to BKK.  

The village is near Phi Mai, 15k, and no other falang live there, so are any of you in this position ? and how do you cope once you have made the commitment to change your life. If you have your own house for sure life and privacy will help, but I have a nagging doubt about living like this.

Comment Please. tell me if life in a Village is fullfilling enough.

Cheers

[sevinnow]

You know when things feel right, then you have found a place to lay your hat.

But if the bright lights of BKK keep calling you back, then hey, where ever you lay your hat.

Maybe you are still sowing seeds?

Good Luck

Sev

:cool:

[tatom]

Living in a small village is great! I really think a person would know if it was right for them. If you are a night owl, party person, need to be around your own kind, and generally require alot of mental stimulation, then forget it. For the right individual its a great way to live. Especially, with a good woman, a good dog, some land to work on and for privacy. Being the only farang around has its advantages. You have no choice but to learn the language and the culture. Its not always easy to adjust, it takes awhile to rid yourself of the years of built up stress, but eventually you will mello out and a feeling of calm and contentment will replace the heavy baggage you brought with you. Its best to try to fit in with your neighbors and keep a low profile. Just remember, you will always be a farang. No matter what others tell you, you will never be one of them, they will alway see you as a farang. Thats not a bad thing, thats just the way it is. A short wave radio and stalite dish really helps too! So, the bottom line is, I think down deep one already knows if its the right life for them. It is a good life, good luck.

[MrSam]

I used to live in a small village with my ex-wife in Nonthaburi. While away from the city, it was very nice. The people there were very friendly with me.

Get used to power outages and water shortages though  :laugh: ... we had plenty of both.

If you think you're comfortable out there and you like it... go for it. Just don't make a commitment you think you're not ready to make. Good luck.

[lopburi3]

I am not a "night person", nor do I have to be around my own kind.  But I do not believe I would be happy out on the farm without the chance to go out to a real restaurant, shopping center or be that far from decent medical facilities.  Not everyone's idea of a good life is what some can find in the village.  There would be no future for children or grandchildren so that alone would keep many of use closer to the large cities.

[poohbah]

Living in a mid-sizw town like Sakon Nakhon for 3 years was difficult enough. It would take a super duper outgoing individual to effectively handle life in a rural village. A nice phat paycheck or pension would also help. That way you could afford to have some of western amenities flown in.

[Martin]

By luck, I got what I find is the best.

We live in Isaan on the edge of an amphoe, which is a small town that is the administrative/market centre for the 62 surrounding villages. (It appears that our little township is counted as 4 villages for some purposes).

Mine is the only white face in town; and that turns out to be a pleasant situation (though to begin with I sometimes felt like an animal in a zoo, as all the ladies at the market asked my wife "What do you feed him on?".

Now, after five years, they are quite used to me. Having only heard about sex-tourist farang men previously, they now tell my wife that she is very lucky because "he is not like other farang men". Which just shows that generalisation isn't confined to Westerners!.

One of the best things about our amphoe is that it is less than an hour's drive to the city (either Khon Kaen or Udon Thani). So we have supermarkets and nightlife scenes on tap.

And I have been lucky to come here  just after satellite tv and the internet became available.

I have just returned from a month in UK, visiting relatives, old friends and colleagues, and have spent a lot of time explaining that LOS is much more than Bangkok, beaches and bar-girls!

And that there are great chances for single retired men(even though they only have a small pension by western standards).

But choose a village that is not far off a city.

[MaiChai]

I live in a village consisting of three moo baans (administrative village numbers). Whats it like, well depends what you want. If you want peace and quiet away from it all and want to experience slow paced rural life, then its great. Personally, I love it. Always seems to be a party going on somewhere, or certainly some event in the village to go to. Never a dull moment with three kids too.

But, there is almost no work for farangs in rural Thailand, and you may feel that you need a hobby or something to keep you busy. I got used to not having much farang company for a long time, and got to know all my neighbours well. If you are used to using your mind alot and like to keep mentally busy, you may find village people not very interlectual or don't have much interest in things outside their lives. This may take some getting used to.

However, there seems to be a lot of farangs dotted round the landscape these days. Now there are at least 5 farangs in our village now, and we are quite up country. They even have a football team that plays other local teams; ok, sometimes there isn't enough farangs to make up the team, but they make the numbers up with Thais. I remember quite recently that many of the farangs had arrived from their European countries and the team managed to get up to about 8 farangs (I don't play by the way). I'm not used to having so many farangs around, and while I do like to visit them sometimes, I normally prefer to be with my Thai friends. I guess I have turned a little Thai, and I get fed up with hearing about the farangs problems, irritations, concepts of how things are, etc, etc. The Thais are much more straight forward and easier to spend time with, and are more interesting for me than a bunch of people from back home.

How does it pan out for the long term? Well, if you like sitting around all day doing nothing, then its fine. This you can get used to! However, most people want to keep busy with something, particulary something that can earn some money and maintain you savings in the bank. So a sensible thing to do might be to work in or around Bangkok and then return to the village for weekends, etc. This is what I plan to try out next. IMHO living in a village like this would be ideal for retirement; much better than say living in Pattaya where you will get fed up with the crime, prostitution, overcharging, etc.

[chonabot]

IMO the best thing about living upcountry, or anywhere remote in Thailand, is the proximity of Airports. I'm sure that in Isaan at least, you are never more than 2 hours from an airport. For a developing country , that is pretty impressive.

So as the previous posters have stated, when you feel like being dragged back into the 21st century, its only a few hours away.

[goofy]

Living just a little north of Buriram, and likes it a lot sometimes and sometimes not, but thats life.

In the village i live in iam the only farang, just a kilometer avay its some others staying so if company needed its always to be found.

20 min to supermarket and 20 min to airport so its easy to go away if i want to.

as so many say the biggest problem is doing nothing, my brain gets cooked without work, but i start again in october just 2 and a half months left....

[jayenram]

Many of my farang friends live in villages somewhat remote from the town (I live 3 km out of Surin). Personally I couldn't deal with village life, but they appear to manage. As has been said, it's each to his own, horses for courses. However, if it's going to be home for the rest of your life, make sure you know what you're doing.

[pnustedt]

I'm aiming to settle a fair bit out of Surin - nearer to Sisaket than Surin. Not sure that I could settle for town life in Isaan. As you say, it's "horses for courses" but if your 3km out of Surin life must be pretty rural - what's the score?

[jayenram]

I live in a village but the location is within the Surin Amphur so land is expensive. In my opinion, Surin has more to offer than Buriram, but of course, it hasn't got all the facilities of Korat or Khon Kaen. By the way, there are around 150 farangs living in or around Surin.