Country Life

[TheAceFace]

Hi Guy's

Sorry if this topic has been posted before as I am quite new to this site.

I would like to know for the guy's whom have settled out of the cities and costal areas to country places....what was your motivation behind this and what do you most like about the areas you have settled.

I have been living in BKK for 4yrs now and occasionally visit my wifes home town but I find it very quiet and not a place where I would like to settle for various reasons:

Language difficuly.

Culture shock.

Not many places to chill and meet other farangs.

No home comforts, cable, decent shopping ect....

No recreational activities.

Maybe it's just the location as it is a village not too far from Satgeaw (spelling)?

My wife keeps saying that one day in the future she would like to settle back home, but I honestly can not see myself doing so, plus I would rather my son grow up in a more busy enviroment. Plus it would not be good for me as there is no way I could commute to work, or find any work there for that matter.

It would be interesting to hear some positive stories on lifesyles, likes and dis-likes of country life.

Look forward to your replies

TAF

[pnustedt]

Currently I'm living and working in HK and will move to a small village in Sisaket Province (where my wife was born) in two years. I get many comments of disbelief when I tell people of my intentions, together with many of the questions which you have asked.

It is actually me who wants to move - my wife would be happy to stay in HK.

We have a fair amount of land where we grow our food with the family, the air is good and I feel so much more healthy when there.

I see myself farming the land with the extended family, plus probably a few small business involvements, be involved in the upbringing of many neices and nephews and enjoy the rural life. I also enjoy painting and my wife and I have a few creative hobbies and we plan to travel a bit.

But I think the man attraction to me is that there we can really make a difference and there seems to be a purpose in getting up each day. For example, every time my wife's elderly uncle sees me his face is covered with a grin from ear to ear - I paid for his catarract ops. Makes me feel that life is worth living.

I will ensure that my neices never need go to work in Pattaya or Bkk bars, at least one of my nephews is mechanically inclined and wants to work with cars, perhaps we'll start a garage.

I think that if I had my own kids to bring up I would think a bit differently, I am also financially secure.

[TheAceFace]

Currently I'm living and working in HK and will move to a small village in Sisaket Province (where my wife was born) in two years. I get many comments of disbelief when I tell people of my intentions, together with many of the questions which you have asked.

It is actually me who wants to move - my wife would be happy to stay in HK.

We have a fair amount of land where we grow our food with the family, the air is good and I feel so much more healthy when there.

I see myself farming the land with the extended family, plus probably a few small business involvements, be involved in the upbringing of many neices and nephews and enjoy the rural life. I also enjoy painting and my wife and I have a few creative hobbies and we plan to travel a bit.

But I think the man attraction to me is that there we can really make a difference and there seems to be a purpose in getting up each day. For example, every time my wife's elderly uncle sees me his face is covered with a grin from ear to ear - I paid for his catarract ops. Makes me feel that life is worth living.

I will ensure that my neices never need go to work in Pattaya or Bkk bars, at least one of my nephews is mechanically inclined and wants to work with cars, perhaps we'll start a garage.

I think that if I had my own kids to bring up I would think a bit differently, I am also financially secure.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Great response, and I understand your position and I admire you for the helpful things which you are providing for your extended family. And yes the air is much better out in the sticks..well to BKK anyway.

At the moment I am not financially secure and will have to keep working for many moons to come. Plus with a young child I think it best I remain inner city where he can gain a good education.

Great reply all the same.

[billd766]

Hi Guy's

Sorry if this topic has been posted before as I am quite new to this site.

I would like to know for the guy's whom have settled out of the cities and costal areas to country places....what was your motivation behind this and what do you most like about the areas you have settled.

I have been living in BKK for 4yrs now and occasionally visit my wifes home town but I find it very quiet and not a place where I would like to settle for various reasons:

Language difficuly.

Culture shock.

Not many places to chill and meet other farangs.

No home comforts, cable, decent shopping ect....

No recreational activities.

Maybe it's just the location as it is a village not too far from Satgeaw (spelling)?

My wife keeps saying that one day in the future she would like to settle back home, but I honestly can not see myself doing so, plus I would rather my son grow up in a more busy enviroment. Plus it would not be good for me as there is no way I could commute to work, or find any work there for that matter.

It would be interesting to hear some positive stories on lifesyles, likes and dis-likes of country life.

Look forward to your replies

TAF

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I live about 6 km outside of a village with my family. My wifes family live down in Samut Prakhan about 400 km away but my wife bought some land up here a few years ago.

Language difficulty.

Yes but it helps a lot if you can speak Thai. I can a little and it is something that I MUST do to talk to our friends etc.

Culture shock.

True, the people up here are so much nicer and more friendly than most places I have been and definitely better than cities.

Not many places to chill and meet other farangs.

I dont need to chill out so much as I am semi retired and my nearest farang neighbour is only 12 km away and RC is only 175 away.

No home comforts, cable, decent shopping ect....

Home comforts are really what you make for yourself, cable no, Dsat TV yes, decent shopping depends on what you need to shop for. We have 2 local markets a week plus the daily one in the village, if you mean falang stuff then Nakhon Sawan is only 125km away in the pick up every couple of weeks.

No recreational activities.

What recreational facilities do you need?

I am lucky as I dont need that much.

We grow a lot of our own food and sell stuff we dont need.

There is a whole lot of fresh air and peaceful living and it is so quiet at night you can hear people talking 100 metres away. No pollution, no hassle, no water sometimes for several weeks at a time, friendly local people who know me in passing and we talk in their best English and my mangled Thai. Kids who laugh and smile a lot and talk to me, a good bank and a good manager, fresh wild boar every so often when the guy who works for us catches one. No rats since the snake moved in the field next door, that was fun for the dogs.

I love it here but at the moment I am working overseas so my wife can have a fish pond, build a house extension etc.

Hopefully in the future our son will learn to like it as well but as he is only 1 it all new and exciting to him.

Live in a city. Not for us.

[Nam Kao]

>>>No recreational activities.

Mia Noi hunting is fun and you dont need a hunting license

[Totster]

>>>No recreational activities.

Mia Noi hunting is fun and you dont need a hunting license

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Or a brain.....

totster

[RamdomChances]

I have been living in BKK for 4yrs now and occasionally visit my wifes home town but I find it very quiet and not a place where I would like to settle for various reasons:

Language difficuly.

Culture shock.

Not many places to chill and meet other farangs.

No home comforts, cable, decent shopping ect....

No recreational activities.

Maybe it's just the location as it is a village not too far from Satgeaw (spelling)?

I've been living in a small rural community for about 5 years now. I love it but it's not for everyone.

Language difficuly :- You do really need to make an effort to learn some of the language. I had 20 hrs of lessons before I came here to live and I did really put the effort in for that time. While after that ammount of time you only know the basics it does give you a good base to learn from. It is really invalble as if you dont speak any Thai you will be totaly dependant on you wife.

Culture shock :- I did'nt really find this much of a problem, mabye its a case of "total imersion" you just get over it quicker, probably easier than just visiting sometimes.

Not many places to chill and meet other farangs.:- Yes this is a problem for some people, I sometimes go months without seeing an other Falang. It can help to make local friends, also although the distances are much further here due to the lower traffic, you can usually make good time. I think nothing of driving 40 Km to see my nearest neibour for a few beers (its only 1/2 hour) and usually the wife drives back or I spend the night. I get people visiting fairly often. Depending on what part of Thailand your wifes village is in there may be quite a few Falangs around (there seem to be a lot in Issarn from the postings on this board)

No home comforts, cable, decent shopping ect.:- As Bill said, you make your own really. Most reginol cities have decent shoping malls and you get into the habit of whenever you are in BKK ect of stocking up on the things you cant get "upcountry" UBC, Satillite Internet, Air con are avalible countrywide.

No recreational activities.:- This depends on what you actually like to do. Even small(ish) towns have reaseraunts, bars, pub/resteraunts (usually with some sort of entertainment). Visting other people, fishing, most cities will have a movie theater. I find there is always something going on but then I have the farm to keep me occupied and I like a drink so a couple of evenings chatting with friends and a few beers usually does it for me. I'm only about 2.5 hrs from BKK and about 3 from Pattaya, if you go and live in a village its not like going to jail you can get out an about if you want to.

I dont really know much about Sa Geaw so cant help you there, there was a good thread on "village life" not that long ago and some of the block's had horror stories so a lot can depend on your wifes family and the location of the village. I'm fairly luck on both counts. You really do need a car or pick-up and you soon get used to the distances. My blog has some general "lifesyle" stuff in it (link at bottom of page) although I have'nt updated it for a while.

Basicaly I would say you need :- A house of your own that you are comfertable with, a decent car/pick-up, at least some knowlage of Thai (you'd probably have to learn the local dialect as well for Issarn) and you need to get out and try and meet people, make new friends and try to be part of the community not just a visitor (this is probably the hardest part)

Lots of people have had different experiances thats just my view on things from my experiance here.

RC