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Urban living or Rural living, what's your choice?


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Posted

If both works for you, that is great.

We tried it for awhile but found we simply didn’t want to spend that much time in Bangkok anymore. It made more sense to stay in a hotel or with friends, as infrequently as we returned from Chiang Rai.

Posted

@Huawei

Most of us can but choose not to. What VillageFarang stated holds true in most cases. Easier to have a home base and go hang at other locations as the "get away".

For me it would get boring bouncing between the same 2 places. I did that in the US. Had a nice house in city and small cabin near Yosemite. First 2 or so years were go there all the time, 3 year and beyond the trips to Yosemite tapered off and soon no one wanted to go. I tried the rental program and that proved to be too much work and hated calls at night that something did not work and I was 3 hours away to go fix.

One thing very nice about Thailand is you can rent a nice place on a beach for little money and go hang out. They are fully furnished. When done you pack up and leave. Its far to inexpensive to rent versus own multiple places in Thailand IMHO.

Posted

Good Post OP,

I'm on the fence about it. As a kid I grew up in the Santa Cruz mountains on a little farm. Out back of our land was 2,000 acres of open BLM land to go off and do whatever. Its was a very small town, everybody knew everybody etc. Leave the doors and garage open and nobody stole anything. I was up early everyday with my dad and took care of animals and the land and then went to school. Was an awesome life and great character building. Had some of the best surfing waters to be had as a kid only 45 minutes away. Later I moved to Orange County in Southern Calif and went to college. Went from a quiet, know everybody, small town life, to the crazy world of the big city living which cost a heck of a lot of money and everything seemed far more complicated. But again awesome time in my life once I was entrenched in the the big city life and of course still sustained excellent surfing waters in Huntington beach.

Comparing the 2, I like the living in a small town but within a 10 to 15 minute drive to city life which fulfills the things I need. For me its about balance after living both. I will call it "Urbal" living. Where my wife and I live is just that. I require a social life and like meeting and talking to folks. I know I could not do deep rural living anymore nor could I do straight up condo living in BKK(I've done them both in Thailand). Again nothing wrong with either but for me rural living is just too far removed as it was when I was a kid. City life is fun with all the glitz, glamour, bars, people, but the trade off is noise, congestion, garbage, sirens, accidents, loud neighbors and shared amenities. For me having a few rai at the end of a quiet street with a nice secluded home allows me to stay active and do things I grew up doing but sustain a level of privacy. I have paved roads, hear birds and frogs morning and night, but not cars and noise except for an occasional moto off early to market. I can work on my moto, trucks and cars, do some yard work, have a BBQ, play some horseshoes and when I want to go see a movie I can drive to Central Mall and catch a flick and after grab a Swensen's Ice cream with the missus. I do not require much western anymore. A simpler life and less consumerism suits me just fine.

Los Gatos/Millbrae boy here - I had the thought of Bonnie Doon when OP posted - of course could be anywhere from Felton/SC to Watsonville.....I was in Santa Cruz when the quake hit but living in Felton at the time.....

Great places to grow up and live in Calif///I was in Janesville between Susanville & Reno with 2600BLM acres adjacent to my place....could go almost to Lake Tahoe without hitting pavement cutting across it.......

@PGramm.

Felton is a cool little place, you live on a hiway 9 past the town heading towards Santa Cruz?. I remember when Western Auto when out of business when Ernie(A good friend of mine) opened up Ernies Auto Supply by the Safeway. as for LG I I used to fish Lexington dam a lot. LG is a nice area. WAY to expensive now and I am still not sure why. When I first got into racing cars there were few of us that used to road raced over highway 17 late at night from Santa's Village to Cats. This is long before they had the center divide. It was always timing runs and we built our cars for that road. Specific camber/caster set ups, adjustable panhard bars and shocks, rear end gearing sets and tires. I had a 1969 RS Z/28 Camaro, my racing buddy had a 1970 Boss 302 Mustang. These cars were not stock but looked it. We could routinely blaze from Santa's Village to Cats in just over 11 minutes. None of us ever clipped the 10 min mark, got close quite a few times. 11min 09 secs was best time by me. I used to love to absolutely destroy unsuspecting Corvettes and Porsches. Had numerous CHP OMG's as well but never was caught. Later we moved our hooligan activities to Highway 9 to Boulder Creek. A lot more technical and the road was a challenge. Ate up a lot of trannies.

Small world to connect with a few guys from our neck of the woods on a Thai website living in Thailand. biggrin.png . And Yes as a kid there back in the day there were awesome places to grow up. Sadly some of those cool places are saturated with Meth heads now.

@ JAFO - yep fun times around Lexington & running highway 17.....I was driving my Hemi powered Red Studebaker pick up - engine weighed 754# - whole truck was 2245#....it screamed - did more than a few banzai runs myself on 9 & 17.....Mt Charlie's - the Iron Door - The Garcia Bros band at the Catalyst.....knocking the wire walker off throwing peanuts after softball at Magoo's in LG.....getting chased by the HP on highway one - especially the crazy one that kept totalling his cars chasing people down.....Riding the Honda & Ducati in the 100's of miles of roads hidden in the mountains between San Mateo and San Gregorio......

Great area to grow up in....

Posted

It was the bible of the back-to-the-earth movement -- reading some of the stuff on here I wonder if some ever got over it.

I also remember a dog-eared copy of this first published 1954:

51154IL7jmL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

Posted

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>



Did you grow up in a town called Loma Prieta? What years did you live there?

I'm sure you've heard of the band The Doobie Brothers. That is where they are from. They are one of my all time favorite bands,

Your old neck of the woods is where I enjoyed camping and/or taking long bicycle rides and weekend drives in my convertible. That is beautiful country up there in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

As far as noise here in Bangkok goes, you can avoid it depending on the building. I prefer older (by Thai standards) high-rise condo buildings because they have thicker walls. Also make sure there is no construction, empty lots, open markets, karaoke bars or repair shops nearby that can make lots of noise.

One of my pet-peeves is people that still act like they live out in the country an leave their front door open when living in a high-rise condo. They do this because they're too damn cheap to run the air conditioner. As a result, I can hear EVERYTHING they're doing inside their condo even when my door is shut. I used to live in a building an had a family down the hall that left their front door open all the time. I constantly heard them washing their dishes, watching TV, taking a crap on the toilet an even smelled their nasty cigarette smoke. I moved up to another floor so I didn't have to hear it.

Luckily I live in a building with considerate neighbors and the condos use double pane windows for sound insulation. I sleep like a baby an never woken up to any noise from outside. Yet I have an awesome view of the Bangkok skyline an walking distance to BTS.

@3SoiDogNight

Of course I remember the Doobie Brothers(Long train running, China Grove....). They ironically played at a couple of High School dances I went to before they took off. Great band. Came back at one point in late 70's to do a charity concert to save the Graham Hill Road fairgrounds(Which was actually more of a big horse field). Carlos Santana was there and Eddie Money and some other local groups which later became huge if IIRC, I was there when the big quake hit. I was called over to help as I had been a volunteer fireman on and off earlier on. Showed up in Ben Lomond at the Old Henflings bar. Downtown Santa Cruz was a wreck. Interestingly my parents house so close suffered only a cracked chimney. As for me I grew up very close to Quail Hollow Ranch near Zayante road. I was also there during the big flood in 1983 as well when the San Lorenzo River washed homes out. Awesome Steelhead fishing when I was a kid. Now its like many rivers, polluted and stagnate in places.

Funny on the door open at the condo, used to annoy me as well. Also was the fact all was cement and tile so as folks walked along to the elevator everything they said echo'd. They were not being rude just the building materials.Sheetrock and carpet sure deaden a lot of noise. Other part in the Condo life that was unnerving was being that all room floors are tile or marble anytime someone dropped something below or above you, you heard it loud and clear. Heck some one would drop a 10 bht coin and you could hear it hit, bounce and role LOL!

I love The Doobie Brothers. I have all of their albums including their quadraphonic reel-to-reel tapes an 8tracks. They still perform live till this day but I told myself that I would only see them IF they performed with Michael McDonald. I love the McDonald era just as much as the Tom Johnston era.

They also performed at Roger & Rerun's high school on the TV show - What's Happening. smile.png

@PGramm.


Los Gatos/Millbrae boy here - I had the thought of Bonnie Doon when OP posted - of course could be anywhere from Felton/SC to Watsonville.....I was in Santa Cruz when the quake hit but living in Felton at the time.....



Great places to grow up and live in Calif///I was in Janesville between Susanville & Reno with 2600BLM acres adjacent to my place....could go almost to Lake Tahoe without hitting pavement cutting across it.......

Felton is a cool little place, you live on a hiway 9 past the town heading towards Santa Cruz?. I remember when Western Auto when out of business when Ernie(A good friend of mine) opened up Ernies Auto Supply by the Safeway. as for LG I I used to fish Lexington dam a lot. LG is a nice area. WAY to expensive now and I am still not sure why. When I first got into racing cars there were few of us that used to road raced over highway 17 late at night from Santa's Village to Cats. This is long before they had the center divide. It was always timing runs and we built our cars for that road. Specific camber/caster set ups, adjustable panhard bars and shocks, rear end gearing sets and tires. I had a 1969 RS Z/28 Camaro, my racing buddy had a 1970 Boss 302 Mustang. These cars were not stock but looked it. We could routinely blaze from Santa's Village to Cats in just over 11 minutes. None of us ever clipped the 10 min mark, got close quite a few times. 11min 09 secs was best time by me. I used to love to absolutely destroy unsuspecting Corvettes and Porsches. Had numerous CHP OMG's as well but never was caught. Later we moved our hooligan activities to Highway 9 to Boulder Creek. A lot more technical and the road was a challenge. Ate up a lot of trannies.

Small world to connect with a few guys from our neck of the woods on a Thai website living in Thailand. alt=biggrin.png> . And Yes as a kid there back in the day there were awesome places to grow up. Sadly some of those cool places are saturated with Meth heads now.

@ JAFO - yep fun times around Lexington & running highway 17.....I was driving my Hemi powered Red Studebaker pick up - engine weighed 754# - whole truck was 2245#....it screamed - did more than a few banzai runs myself on 9 & 17.....Mt Charlie's - the Iron Door - The Garcia Bros band at the Catalyst.....knocking the wire walker off throwing peanuts after softball at Magoo's in LG.....getting chased by the HP on highway one - especially the crazy one that kept totalling his cars chasing people down.....Riding the Honda & Ducati in the 100's of miles of roads hidden in the mountains between San Mateo and San Gregorio......

Great area to grow up in....

Nice!

I've done that stretch in several different cars. My friend's 1965 Pontiac GTO was a LOT of fun! That 389cu" can haul some serious @ss! It was on highway 17 when I realized the limitations of 4-wheel drum brakes...

He still has his GTO fully restored but it has 4-wheel disc brakes now.

The most fun I had on highway 17 was in a 1998 Lincoln Mark VIII LSC.

It was on a Sunday morning an totally empty. I was impressed at the handling around those hair-pin turns at 70MPH!

Other fun cars I drove that stretch in was my friend's 1968 Mercury Park Lane convertible.

My own 1978 Lincoln Mark V, 1987 Chrysler Bebaron convertible an current 1977 Lincoln Town Car.

Another car I'd like to own one day is a 1968 Buick Wildcat convertible. That should be fun on those roads.

Posted

... and now it's the rural life in Thailand with nothing artifi-shell except the wide screen Plasma with 373 TrueVisions sports channels.

Posted

Seeing others have posted pictures, here is one of our rice paddy bungalow which I have previously posted in the Finished House Pictures Topic. Country living means different things to different people.

sunset%2520%2520003.jpg

Nice looking photo.

That picture sums up why I like being in Thailand during the wet & rainy season. You get some impressive cloud formations that lends it's self to fantastic photos like this. I like living in a high-rise with a westerly view to see the Bangkok skyline during the Golden Hour - especially after an intense rain storm. The rain season has the best sunsets.

Also fewer tourist during the rain season.

That said, I love the countryside in cold climates. To me, this is the country living I much prefer. Eventually I'll by on the north shore of Minnesota on Lake Superior. I'll still keep my place here in Bangkok for some real city fun/action but for country living, I want to go all the way and be in a winter wonderland.

snow-kiting-minnesota_zpsccea2706.jpg

AutumnonPalisadeHeadNorthShoreLakeSuperi

Posted

Having a view is great for seeing where you aren't.

True.

It's great to lay back in my easy chair or in my bathtub drinking a gin & tonic enjoying the view of the city rather than sitting in traffic or in a crowded bus heading out to the outskirts of town.

Posted

Then again when viewing nature, the view is part of where you are and not some separate place which you are not a part of. It is what make a place special for me.

With so many places to see in this world I have never understood returning to the same place every year for a holiday. Live in a beautiful location and then go explore someplace new while on vacation. I guess I understand the desire for familiarity but I am guessing that is not what everyone wants on a holiday.
Posted

If you are viewing a place in nature that is special you are not there because if you were really there you could not see it.

That was always the joke in Denver that you had a great view of the front range that you didn't have if you were in the front range.

6C7997709-040624_denver_hmed.blocks_desk

Posted

Fussy an crabby aren't we?

Sounds like someone isn't happy out there in the country.

Perhaps someone needs to get out an smell the roses...err....during fruit.

No one is judging you for preferring the country.

Then again when viewing nature, the view is part of where you are and not some separate place which you are not a part of. It is what make a place special for me.

With so many places to see in this world I have never understood returning to the same place every year for a holiday. Live in a beautiful location and then go explore someplace new while on vacation. I guess I understand the desire for familiarity but I am guessing that is not what everyone wants on a holiday.

Agreed!

Although I prefer to have two homes and visit different places for vacation.

Posted

I am able to fill each day with joy and wonder and to hell with the view. Now living by an ocean with a constant 3 meter pounding surf is calming to me but flat water doesn't do it.

Posted

I am able to fill each day with joy and wonder and to hell with the view. Now living by an ocean with a constant 3 meter pounding surf is calming to me but flat water doesn't do it.

Enjoy.

Knock yourself out! thumbsup.gif.pagespeed.ce.dtxKiAJ9C7.gif

Posted

I am able to fill each day with joy and wonder and to hell with the view. Now living by an ocean with a constant 3 meter pounding surf is calming to me but flat water doesn't do it.

Enjoy.

Knock yourself out! thumbsup.gif.pagespeed.ce.dtxKiAJ9C7.gif

I do -- it's a big world out there and stuff is happening all over. These days you can take part while sitting at a computer terminal. Big change from 25 years ago when I first ventured to PRChina and everything had to done by telex.

UN/Geneva went into session today and I can monitor proceedings live and even communicate directly with some of the participants. Several US court court cases involving access to knowledge are wending through the courts and will probably end up at the Supreme Court. Exciting times. Since Geneva is 5 hours difference makes it easy to do the chores or swim in the morning. Can't do that in the rice paddy.

Posted

I am able to fill each day with joy and wonder and to hell with the view. Now living by an ocean with a constant 3 meter pounding surf is calming to me but flat water doesn't do it.

Enjoy.

Knock yourself out! thumbsup.gif.pagespeed.ce.dtxKiAJ9C7.gif

I do -- it's a big world out there and stuff is happening all over. These days you can take part while sitting at a computer terminal. Big change from 25 years ago when I first ventured to PRChina and everything had to done by telex.

UN/Geneva went into session today and I can monitor proceedings live and even communicate directly with some of the participants. Several US court court cases involving access to knowledge are wending through the courts and will probably end up at the Supreme Court. Exciting times. Since Geneva is 5 hours difference makes it easy to do the chores or swim in the morning. Can't do that in the rice paddy.

I'm not that young.

I do remember life before Al Gore invented the Internet. rolleyes.gif.pagespeed.ce.hZ59UWKk-s.gif

  • 1 month later...
Posted

My Thai wife & I are considering moving to rural Thailand somewhere around Chiangmai but I have concerns about her safety more than my own. The reason being that we would be in a new area with no friends or family networks locally combined with her not being a local & also married to a farang could she be a target. A Target being that some & I say some Thai's see Thai women that are with farang........As I'll say it whores!!!

Posted

My Thai wife & I are considering moving to rural Thailand somewhere around Chiangmai but I have concerns about her safety more than my own. The reason being that we would be in a new area with no friends or family networks locally combined with her not being a local & also married to a farang could she be a target. A Target being that some & I say some Thai's see Thai women that are with farang........As I'll say it whores!!!

I lived close to Chiang Mai with Thai women who were hookers and women who were not hookers. Thai people can spot a hooker a mile away so I wouldn't worry about that. No problems either way. The smoke got to me and as I'll say it quirky!!! expats.

They speak a different language so the people will be able to tell where your wife is from if she is not from the area and some get a bit uppity about that or skin color but like I said I never had any problems.

Looking back on my experience I had a lot of fun with my hooker partners in Chiang Mai as there are some interesting clubs there. You can go by yourself or take a partner but I always found it more interesting with a partner. Not for everybody but the guys with ex bar ladies as wives seem to have more fun in Chiang Mai.

Posted

My Thai wife & I are considering moving to rural Thailand somewhere around Chiangmai but I have concerns about her safety more than my own. The reason being that we would be in a new area with no friends or family networks locally combined with her not being a local & also married to a farang could she be a target. A Target being that some & I say some Thai's see Thai women that are with farang........As I'll say it whores!!!

I lived close to Chiang Mai with Thai women who were hookers and women who were not hookers. Thai people can spot a hooker a mile away so I wouldn't worry about that. No problems either way. The smoke got to me and as I'll say it quirky!!! expats.

They speak a different language so the people will be able to tell where your wife is from if she is not from the area and some get a bit uppity about that or skin color but like I said I never had any problems.

Looking back on my experience I had a lot of fun with my hooker partners in Chiang Mai as there are some interesting clubs there. You can go by yourself or take a partner but I always found it more interesting with a partner. Not for everybody but the guys with ex bar ladies as wives seem to have more fun in Chiang Mai.

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