Do You Live In A Thai Village Full Time

[mxyzptlk]

<br />I haven't read all 22 pages of this thread, but one thing keeps occuring to me: Why would anyone want to live like a Thai peasant? <br />Don't get me wrong, heyseeds can be nice people, but living without meaningful culture -- no access to the arts, concerts, performances, exhibitions, theater, cinema, bookstores, fine dining, clubs of like-minded people, et al -- seems to be a dire regression in the quality of life. <br />I am not sure how many people in the West would say, "Yes, when I retire I want to live in basic conditions with no intellectual stimulation and feed pigs/watch rice grow/house countless relatives on my nickel, and so on. Oh, and since I can't really speak Thai, I have no idea what anyone is talking about unless my wife chooses to tell me, but even that's iffy since her English language skills are at about the level of a three-year-old English speaker."<br /><br />Almost everywhere I look, I find educated gentlemen from the West dumbing themselves down to the point where they are a pathetic parody of themselves. What could possibly be the key motivation for this? <br /><br />Of course I respect the right of the individual to conduct his last years, or his mature years, in any fashion he desires. But the motivation escapes me here. It would be like someone <i>wanting </i>to live in quasi-poverty among the uneducated (or under-educated) and the intellectually incurious....where a "big event" is going to "the city" to shop at Tesco? I mean that's just sad. <br /><br />And by the way, how many Western <i>women </i>come to Thailand to retire in a backwoods village? What does this tell you about the situation?<br />

<br /><br /><br />

By meaningful culture, do you mean one that fits you view of life?

Why did you come to Thailand?

Do you live here? If you can't learn Thai, does that make you one of the uneducated?.......LOL

If your wife can't speak English why don't you teach her? or is it your view that everyone in the countries that you visit should speak english?

.... last comment chopped as predicted....

[bina]

if we had the economic where withall then i would be one of those few western women living in the boonies raising buffalos and counting the seeds in the rice stack... for intellectual stimulation there is internet (my stipulation for living in a one room cabin on stilts is that there is 'net access); as for the arts: husband plays phin, i like to work with textile so would like to learn to do some of the older 'ethnic' activities that are getting lost in this generation; also would like to learn 'fon' dance; and i can spend hours (in central thai lingo) discussing the delivery of a breech baby (cow/buffalo that is...)or rumen problems.... i can make my own cheese, milk a cow, want to raise fighting cocks (not the ones on the forum, the ones with feathers)and spend my last years listening to the wind in the papayas....we just cant get the shekels together for the move at this moment... oral storytelling is also very stimulating and something i love to hear /and tell , too....... i was raised on museaums, art, restaraunts etc.. which means that im am eclectic enough in my tastes to be flexible and enjoy whatever there is around me, and whom ever there is around me... and i can understand why many people are drawn to that life. at some point in time, many people find themselves saturated frmo work/life in the big /little city... the same reason why folks in the country get up and go to the city (not just for financial reasons, but for the very reasons u stated: arts/music/social whirl/stimulation)... its is not dumming it down. since when did city = intelligent, lifewise. city just means city wise... im worried that by the time we have the means to move/live in husband's little muubaan, the little muubaan will have become a suburb of soengsang, and its 'quiet' agricultural style changing to a large town ....

bina

israel

[MJP]

I haven't read all 22 pages of this thread, but one thing keeps occuring to me: Why would anyone want to live like a Thai peasant?

Don't get me wrong, heyseeds can be nice people, but living without meaningful culture -- no access to the arts, concerts, performances, exhibitions, theater, cinema, bookstores, fine dining, clubs of like-minded people, et al -- seems to be a dire regression in the quality of life.

I am not sure how many people in the West would say, "Yes, when I retire I want to live in basic conditions with no intellectual stimulation and feed pigs/watch rice grow/house countless relatives on my nickel, and so on. Oh, and since I can't really speak Thai, I have no idea what anyone is talking about unless my wife chooses to tell me, but even that's iffy since her English language skills are at about the level of a three-year-old English speaker."

Almost everywhere I look, I find educated gentlemen from the West dumbing themselves down to the point where they are a pathetic parody of themselves. What could possibly be the key motivation for this?

Of course I respect the right of the individual to conduct his last years, or his mature years, in any fashion he desires. But the motivation escapes me here. It would be like someone wanting to live in quasi-poverty among the uneducated (or under-educated) and the intellectually incurious....where a "big event" is going to "the city" to shop at Tesco? I mean that's just sad.

And by the way, how many Western women come to Thailand to retire in a backwoods village? What does this tell you about the situation?

It must have taken you ages to find this post and only to make derogatory comments.

So people in the Thai villages are peasants, are they? This in turn makes them undesireable to live with, does it?

I assume the bit about living without culture was a slip of the keyboard. Most of the Thai villagers have culture older than you could imagine.

Living in a Thai village enables one to learn new things everyday. How to understand how nature works, how the family unit really should be. How not to look down on people just because of what they do. To get by day by day with no worries. It also enables you to watch kids respecting eachother and their elders.

Many people, myself included, have the patience, respect for local people and the intelligence to learn to communicate in the local language. Maybe that is beyond you.

I could always ask my wife to explain. Her English is good but admittedly not perfect. Then again it is her 4th language.

Two things someone like you should learn:

1) If there were no such people as the Thai villagers then this country would have nothing. These "peasants" feed the nation. Without them Thailand would have next to no economy and a huge trade deficit.

2) A happy life is not about having everything. It is about making the most of what you have.

Perhaps you should try village life sometime.

Just don't choose my village thank you. I wouldn't want my "peasant" friends to have to stoop so low as to talk to you.

Boy Oh Boy how right you are. It is our choice to live here amongst people who are generally caring' friendly, considerate all the good things in people that seem to be lacking in more urbanised environments. Any time I want to I can go to the city, indulge myself in the so called Arts, engage with my so called 'equals' etc. Every minute I live here I learn something new from these 'peasants' as you call them. Believe you me these people could teach you a thing or two. They may not be materialist wealthy, and may not have a great education but give me them any day to the so called hi-so's you probably mix with.

Yup and let's put it this way. When fiat money completely fails as a concept and economies collapse, these people will pretty much carry on regardless, they'll most likely be the survivors.

[bergen]

I haven't read all 22 pages of this thread, but one thing keeps occuring to me: Why would anyone want to live like a Thai peasant?

Don't get me wrong, heyseeds can be nice people, but living without meaningful culture -- no access to the arts, concerts, performances, exhibitions, theater, cinema, bookstores, fine dining, clubs of like-minded people, et al -- seems to be a dire regression in the quality of life.

I am not sure how many people in the West would say, "Yes, when I retire I want to live in basic conditions with no intellectual stimulation and feed pigs/watch rice grow/house countless relatives on my nickel, and so on. Oh, and since I can't really speak Thai, I have no idea what anyone is talking about unless my wife chooses to tell me, but even that's iffy since her English language skills are at about the level of a three-year-old English speaker."

Almost everywhere I look, I find educated gentlemen from the West dumbing themselves down to the point where they are a pathetic parody of themselves. What could possibly be the key motivation for this?

Of course I respect the right of the individual to conduct his last years, or his mature years, in any fashion he desires. But the motivation escapes me here. It would be like someone wanting to live in quasi-poverty among the uneducated (or under-educated) and the intellectually incurious....where a "big event" is going to "the city" to shop at Tesco? I mean that's just sad.

And by the way, how many Western women come to Thailand to retire in a backwoods village? What does this tell you about the situation?

It must have taken you ages to find this post and only to make derogatory comments.

So people in the Thai villages are peasants, are they? This in turn makes them undesireable to live with, does it?

I assume the bit about living without culture was a slip of the keyboard. Most of the Thai villagers have culture older than you could imagine.

Living in a Thai village enables one to learn new things everyday. How to understand how nature works, how the family unit really should be. How not to look down on people just because of what they do. To get by day by day with no worries. It also enables you to watch kids respecting eachother and their elders.

Many people, myself included, have the patience, respect for local people and the intelligence to learn to communicate in the local language. Maybe that is beyond you.

I could always ask my wife to explain. Her English is good but admittedly not perfect. Then again it is her 4th language.

Two things someone like you should learn:

1) If there were no such people as the Thai villagers then this country would have nothing. These "peasants" feed the nation. Without them Thailand would have next to no economy and a huge trade deficit.

2) A happy life is not about having everything. It is about making the most of what you have.

Perhaps you should try village life sometime.

Just don't choose my village thank you. I wouldn't want my "peasant" friends to have to stoop so low as to talk to you.

Puchooay - very well said!!

[bergen]

Almost everywhere I look, I find educated gentlemen from the West dumbing themselves down to the point where they are a pathetic parody of themselves.

try to avoid mirrors! i always thought i belong to the league "most arrogant àssholes" but you beat anyone of our club by many lengths.

Hehe......... I like this reply!

[Atmos]

I see this is in the Isaan Forum, well we're not Isaan, we live in southern Sa Kaeo province, many people have passed through SK on the way to the border at Aranyaprathet/PoiPet.

Before moving here I'd spent a year based in Phuket and traveling in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore.

I've never been to Isaan though, but imagine life has some similarities.

Our little town is 26km to an ATM and 7/11 if that's what you rate as civilisation.

We are well served by primary and secondary schools and enough shops for day to day living, about every 2-3 weeks we'll make the 100km round-trip to SK city, stop in at Big C, some things I can't get any nearer to home, like tasty cheddar!

It is a very dry climate here overall - we missed all the rains of last Oct/Nov that brought rain to the north, in fact the last recorded drop of rain was Nov 20. I looked at the Thai Met Ofice site and on average for the last 50 years we should have had one day's rain of 3mm since 1 Dec, but it hasn't happened yet! We have a 70x70x5m water reservoir for backup water supply and may use a lot of that in the next few months.

The climate impacts on what is grown, in our immediate area there are some rice crops - but they can only crop once per year unless adjoining a river, this family's 180 rai property is mainly sugar, cassava and some long-term plots of eucalyptus, fairly standard stuff, though some neighbouring places are growing rubber trees and more recently have seen palm oil plantations being started.

The 'day' during the week starts around 6am, the older local kids congregate outside our place at 7 and cycle off to school, younger ones go at 8am and there is some quiet. A food van with its speaker system usually arrives round 8 - pleased they have changed their route it used to be 6.15.

Day's work will depend on the season, I've spent a lot of time on improving drainage/water flow though won't know the results till maybe May. Cassava harvest is complete and stems prepared for planting, just had some eucs harvested - well almost, they seem to have stopped work a few days, maybe Chinese New Year. 60 rai of sugar waiting for contractors to cut, it's at the 'end' so soild will be ploughed, re-fertilised and replanted in next few months. And so the cycle continues.

We get involved where we can with school activities, go as adult helpers on school trips and sports days, great fun. I try and maintain/repair kids bicycles, an endless task as many are so run-down, but a nice hobby, and appreciated too.

I was originally from rural New Zealand, but spent much of my working life wrapped up in city-life, commuting, working, exercising, sleeping. Repeat x 5 then mow the lawns on Saturday, try and find time for sport and leisure.

We don't need to be here all the time, since April we've managed on average at least a week away every month, 3hrs south to the beach at Chanthaburi, see a movie if there's one we like the look of, if we wanted city life (we don't) it's a similar distance to Bangkok.

Not for everybody, but suits me now at this phase in my life.

A former neighbour on Phuket decided to move to his wife's town in Korat and lasted 3 weeks, wasn't for him he wants to live the life of a westerner, all his shopping from Villa Mart/Tescos etc, not knocking him, his 'Thailand' is just different to mine.

[DanielS]

I haven't read all 22 pages of this thread, but one thing keeps occuring to me: Why would anyone want to live like a Thai peasant?

Don't get me wrong, heyseeds can be nice people, but living without meaningful culture -- no access to the arts, concerts, performances, exhibitions, theater, cinema, bookstores, fine dining, clubs of like-minded people, et al -- seems to be a dire regression in the quality of life.

I am not sure how many people in the West would say, "Yes, when I retire I want to live in basic conditions with no intellectual stimulation and feed pigs/watch rice grow/house countless relatives on my nickel, and so on. Oh, and since I can't really speak Thai, I have no idea what anyone is talking about unless my wife chooses to tell me, but even that's iffy since her English language skills are at about the level of a three-year-old English speaker."

Almost everywhere I look, I find educated gentlemen from the West dumbing themselves down to the point where they are a pathetic parody of themselves. What could possibly be the key motivation for this?

Of course I respect the right of the individual to conduct his last years, or his mature years, in any fashion he desires. But the motivation escapes me here. It would be like someone wanting to live in quasi-poverty among the uneducated (or under-educated) and the intellectually incurious....where a "big event" is going to "the city" to shop at Tesco? I mean that's just sad.

And by the way, how many Western women come to Thailand to retire in a backwoods village? What does this tell you about the situation?

[/quo

For me and other retired western people here I think its about life quality to live in the countryside in Thailand.

[bina]

West dumbing themselves down to the point where they are a pathetic parody of themselves. What could possibly be the key motivation for this?

It would be like someone wanting to live in quasi-poverty among the uneducated (or under-educated) and the intellectually incurious....where a "big event" is going to "the city" to shop at Tesco? I mean that's just sad.

heyseeds can be nice people, but living without meaningful culture -- no access to the arts, concerts, performances, exhibitions, theater, cinema, bookstores, fine dining, clubs of like-minded people, et al -- seems to be a dire regression in the quality of life

darn. i wrote a whole long spiel to that last comment about western women; siting why i would prefer to live in an issaan village a really good school essay i wrote. anyhow; the jist is this:

i would love to live in hubby's dinky little village, the more boondocks the better; i have higher education, long of line of various types of work; done farming (goats and wild animasl among others); industry; now hotel/tourism.... have elclectic interests, have no problem learning new things, speak thai enough to gossip with the girls and hang out with the boys; hubby, the uneducated guyt hat he is, loves fishing, plays the phin,self taught fromt he internet (plays guitar but we bought a phin so he is now learning from listening), self taught to repair wshing machines and fix up whatever junk we find by the garbage bins on saturdays; i like sewing and textiles and want to learn the 'old' arts (basket weaving 101); im comfortable in high heels, button up and jacket, as well as in steel toed boots, flannel shirt and jeans, with my hands up a goat's kazoo...

forgot to mention, i was raised on classical music, wine tasting, museums and restaraunts and diplomatic stuff... hubby has limited hebrew (he's working on it finally, got him tutoring with a cute young thing so its fun for him), i'e been intellectualled to death. prefer to chew cud with a buffalo and use internet for intellect. unforutnately it seems that on my kibbutz budget and his low salary we may never get to actually live in thailand, we just cant save the money for even basic living (travelling back and forth to israel -to visit kids, visas etc/ and teh states for my parents, never mind visa /border running, medical crises, just seems an impossible goal for now......

forgot to say im a woman.

bina

israel

[mxyzptlk]

Good post bina, as was your previous one

[grimleybob]

Almost everywhere I look, I find educated gentlemen from the West dumbing themselves down to the point where they are a pathetic parody of themselves. What could possibly be the key motivation for this?

I will give you an answer simply to avoid socialising with a pompus &lt;deleted&gt; like you bliss.

[IsaanAussie]

I live in a Thai Village full time, why? Because I want to. Does it mean my mind is slipping, or I am Mai Tem Baht already? WHO CARES!

The amusing part of this conversation is everyone has the same motivation, a fierce defence of our own version of NORMALITY.

[MeMock]

Spot on Issan Aussie.

I have enjoyed reading all the responses to this thread and can agree with parts of all of them. However, why do people feel the need to run down someone else's choice of lifestyle? I'll tell you why. It is because their own lifestyle is so destructive and boring they feel the need to bring someone else down to make themselves feel better. Pretty sick in the head if you ask me.

[IsaanAussie]

Spot on Issan Aussie.

I have enjoyed reading all the responses to this thread and can agree with parts of all of them. However, why do people feel the need to run down someone else's choice of lifestyle? I'll tell you why. It is because their own lifestyle is so destructive and boring they feel the need to bring someone else down to make themselves feel better. Pretty sick in the head if you ask me.

MeMock,

I enjoy reading your blog and posts here.

I think the word bored was apt in my case. Before coming here to God's Waiting Room, my life was as a corporate high flyer but after living out of suitcases for so long, and repeatedly playing the game, it all got mundane. I needed a change, I needed to be free of the burdens of having to appear at occasions that held no interest for me any more, if ever, just to be considered "normal".

Here, you have a choice, you can be effected by the issues of petty jealousy and the like or just ignore them. You can live your own life, as yourself. Most people in circumstances such as mine fail if they cant get past being critical of others or complain too much. Two things that many westerners do in daily life without thinking. I believe we call it competitiveness, Thais call it rude.

But despite everything we are all human and not saints. Newspapers sell if they are loaded with bad news and the fire that burns others will always warm us. Such is life.

Isaan Aussie.

As Happy as a pig in SH1T

[Tracer Round]

The defensive seem to think that living in a Thai village is the key to something that cannot be had elsewhere:

Living in a Thai village enables one to learn new things everyday. How to understand how nature works, how the family unit really should be. How not to look down on people just because of what they do. To get by day by day with no worries. It also enables you to watch kids respecting eachother and their elders.

If you were brought up in the West and you don't understand how nature works, how family units should be, how not to look down on others, and learn as children to respect each other and their elders, then you didn't have the kind of upbringing that I and everyone I know did.

These qualities are part of maturing in any civilized society, not the sole domain of hardscrabble Thailand.

And I also see most, but not all, of the replies are ad hominem. And as such, do not require replies.

I was making a personal comment and one also based on people I know coming back from an Issan holiday complaining that life there is boring to the point of tears.

If you want to live in the sticks, more power to you.

By the way, by "peasant," I mean:

1. A member of the class constituted by small farmers and tenants, sharecroppers, and laborers on the land where they form the main labor force in agriculture.2. A country person; a rustic.

[mikey99]

By the way, by "peasant," I mean:

1. A member of the class constituted by small farmers and tenants, sharecroppers, and laborers on the land where they form the main labor force in agriculture.2. A country person; a rustic.

It could be easily understood that you mean the second of the definitions as described by the oxford english on line dictionary

http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_gb0613400#m_en_gb0613400

[zzaa09]

If you were brought up in the West and you don't understand how nature works, how family units should be, how not to look down on others, and learn as children to respect each other and their elders, then you didn't have the kind of upbringing that I and everyone I know did.

These qualities are part of maturing in any civilized society....

But do these character traits really exist in your civilised societies?

[isanbirder]

If you were brought up in the West and you don't understand how nature works, how family units should be, how not to look down on others, and learn as children to respect each other and their elders, then you didn't have the kind of upbringing that I and everyone I know did.

These qualities are part of maturing in any civilized society....

But do these character traits really exist in your civilised societies?

No, zzaa, he's fantasising.

[zzaa09]

If you were brought up in the West and you don't understand how nature works, how family units should be, how not to look down on others, and learn as children to respect each other and their elders, then you didn't have the kind of upbringing that I and everyone I know did.

These qualities are part of maturing in any civilized society....

But do these character traits really exist in your civilised societies?

No, zzaa, he's fantasising.

Yes, that quite obvious.....

[Gary A]

I have been in Thailand probably longer than most expats. I first moved here in 1991 and with the exception of returning to the US for a total of five years, have lived here full time.

For the first ten years or so, I was addicted to the bright lights and everything that goes with them. Had anyone told me that I would eventually end up living out in the boonies, I would have told them they were insane. Things change and I think that eventually a person burns out, gets bored and needs a change.

I was raised as a farm boy and never forgot about living on the farm. I wanted a workshop, a garden and a big dog. I now have those things and am quite content. Of course the right woman makes all this possible.

I have a good friend who has lived in Jomtien for eight and a half years. He has been calling me quite often and asking many questions. He has decided to give living upcountry a shot. He is moving just outside of Saraburi. Why Saraburi? His wife is originally from that area. I told him that some people can live in the boonies and some people just can't handle it. I advised him to give it try for a month or so, then make the decision.

[jamescollister]

I have been in Thailand probably longer than most expats. I first moved here in 1991 and with the exception of returning to the US for a total of five years, have lived here full time.

For the first ten years or so, I was addicted to the bright lights and everything that goes with them. Had anyone told me that I would eventually end up living out in the boonies, I would have told them they were insane. Things change and I think that eventually a person burns out, gets bored and needs a change.

I was raised as a farm boy and never forgot about living on the farm. I wanted a workshop, a garden and a big dog. I now have those things and am quite content. Of course the right woman makes all this possible.

I have a good friend who has lived in Jomtien for eight and a half years. He has been calling me quite often and asking many questions. He has decided to give living upcountry a shot. He is moving just outside of Saraburi. Why Saraburi? His wife is originally from that area. I told him that some people can live in the boonies and some people just can't handle it. I advised him to give it try for a month or so, then make the decision.

Very true Gary, few are suited to life in a rural village. As I drive around the Ubon district I see the relics of those who came spent and went. Nice houses inhabited by chickens. Jim

[kmj]

The defensive seem to think that living in a Thai village is the key to something that cannot be had elsewhere:

Living in a Thai village enables one to learn new things everyday. How to understand how nature works, how the family unit really should be. How not to look down on people just because of what they do. To get by day by day with no worries. It also enables you to watch kids respecting eachother and their elders.

If you were brought up in the West and you don't understand how nature works, how family units should be, how not to look down on others, and learn as children to respect each other and their elders, then you didn't have the kind of upbringing that I and everyone I know did.

These qualities are part of maturing in any civilized society, not the sole domain of hardscrabble Thailand.

And I also see most, but not all, of the replies are ad hominem. And as such, do not require replies.

I was making a personal comment and one also based on people I know coming back from an Issan holiday complaining that life there is boring to the point of tears.

If you want to live in the sticks, more power to you.

By the way, by "peasant," I mean:

1. A member of the class constituted by small farmers and tenants, sharecroppers, and laborers on the land where they form the main labor force in agriculture.2. A country person; a rustic.

You must get bored with all the culture living on Samui, ( Samui : the Blackpool of Thailand 555 )

[zzaa09]

I have been in Thailand probably longer than most expats. I first moved here in 1991 and with the exception of returning to the US for a total of five years, have lived here full time.

For the first ten years or so, I was addicted to the bright lights and everything that goes with them. Had anyone told me that I would eventually end up living out in the boonies, I would have told them they were insane. Things change and I think that eventually a person burns out, gets bored and needs a change.

I was raised as a farm boy and never forgot about living on the farm. I wanted a workshop, a garden and a big dog. I now have those things and am quite content. Of course the right woman makes all this possible.

I have a good friend who has lived in Jomtien for eight and a half years. He has been calling me quite often and asking many questions. He has decided to give living upcountry a shot. He is moving just outside of Saraburi. Why Saraburi? His wife is originally from that area. I told him that some people can live in the boonies and some people just can't handle it. I advised him to give it try for a month or so, then make the decision.

Very true Gary, few are suited to life in a rural village. As I drive around the Ubon district I see the relics of those who came spent and went. Nice houses inhabited by chickens. Jim

I'm surprised the squatters haven't moved in.

[Bkkorupcountry]

I've spent enjoyable hours reading this thread while feeding my new born son (I didn't feed him continuously for hours of course) and hope that you guys would continue with your very amusing and interesting stories. I will also be heading off down your way in the coming years so it's a great theoretical introduction.

Are there any non-farang's on this thread?

[Lesley99]

I haven't read all 22 pages of this thread, but one thing keeps occuring to me: Why would anyone want to live like a Thai peasant?

Don't get me wrong, heyseeds can be nice people, but living without meaningful culture -- no access to the arts, concerts, performances, exhibitions, theater, cinema, bookstores, fine dining, clubs of like-minded people, et al -- seems to be a dire regression in the quality of life.

I am not sure how many people in the West would say, "Yes, when I retire I want to live in basic conditions with no intellectual stimulation and feed pigs/watch rice grow/house countless relatives on my nickel, and so on. Oh, and since I can't really speak Thai, I have no idea what anyone is talking about unless my wife chooses to tell me, but even that's iffy since her English language skills are at about the level of a three-year-old English speaker."

Almost everywhere I look, I find educated gentlemen from the West dumbing themselves down to the point where they are a pathetic parody of themselves. What could possibly be the key motivation for this?

Of course I respect the right of the individual to conduct his last years, or his mature years, in any fashion he desires. But the motivation escapes me here. It would be like someone wanting to live in quasi-poverty among the uneducated (or under-educated) and the intellectually incurious....where a "big event" is going to "the city" to shop at Tesco? I mean that's just sad.

And by the way, how many Western women come to Thailand to retire in a backwoods village? What does this tell you about the situation?

I'm hoping to retire to my husband's village eventually, there are good and bad points to living in a village just as there is living in a city so it just depends what points are more important to you.

[zzaa09]

There are justified and balanced good and bad points towards anywhere in the world.

[Gary A]

Since the thread has started again, I can add that I still have a very nice sixty square meter one bedroom condo in Jomtien. It is within walking distance of the beach. I enjoyed living there but I have been a country boy all my life and missed the country.

My wife and I have lived upcountry for about 7 years now. I don't HAVE to live upcountry but I am content and like it here. Hopefully my wife will continue to put up with me and I won't have to move back to the condo.

As I previously posted, many people likely can't handle living in a small country village but it suits me just fine. We also have a VERY small get away house on one of the two small farms that overlooks a pond. I enjoy sitting on the front porch watching the sun go down over the mountains. I would really like to live there but alas, there is no electricity available.

There are a number of fine houses around here that for one reason or another are no longer occupied by the farangs who had them built.

[Bkkorupcountry]

Since the thread has started again, I can add that I still have a very nice sixty square meter one bedroom condo in Jomtien. It is within walking distance of the beach. I enjoyed living there but I have been a country boy all my life and missed the country.

My wife and I have lived upcountry for about 7 years now. I don't HAVE to live upcountry but I am content and like it here. Hopefully my wife will continue to put up with me and I won't have to move back to the condo.

As I previously posted, many people likely can't handle living in a small country village but it suits me just fine. We also have a VERY small get away house on one of the two small farms that overlooks a pond. I enjoy sitting on the front porch watching the sun go down over the mountains. I would really like to live there but alas, there is no electricity available.

There are a number of fine houses around here that for one reason or another are no longer occupied by the farangs who had them built.

Is it not practical to purchase a diesel powered generator for your electricity needs?

There has also been mention in other threads of so called abandoned houses. Any idea whether these are on the market or is ownership being disputed?

[jamescollister]

GaryA, I would love to be in your condo in Pattaya right now.3 days of driving rain, can't get out of the house never mind the village.

BKK if you see a big old farang house lying empty just go to the village head, he will tell you who owns it. Round this district there are many and the Thais won't live in them as they are usually to far from the village and family. Second hand houses don't have much value. Jim

[Gary A]

Since the thread has started again, I can add that I still have a very nice sixty square meter one bedroom condo in Jomtien. It is within walking distance of the beach. I enjoyed living there but I have been a country boy all my life and missed the country.

My wife and I have lived upcountry for about 7 years now. I don't HAVE to live upcountry but I am content and like it here. Hopefully my wife will continue to put up with me and I won't have to move back to the condo.

As I previously posted, many people likely can't handle living in a small country village but it suits me just fine. We also have a VERY small get away house on one of the two small farms that overlooks a pond. I enjoy sitting on the front porch watching the sun go down over the mountains. I would really like to live there but alas, there is no electricity available.

There are a number of fine houses around here that for one reason or another are no longer occupied by the farangs who had them built.

Is it not practical to purchase a diesel powered generator for your electricity needs?

There has also been mention in other threads of so called abandoned houses. Any idea whether these are on the market or is ownership being disputed?

Diesel generators are generally too big and expensive just to run a TV and a few lights. I do have a 2,500 watt gasoline generator that has plenty of power but it is still quite expensive to run for more than a few hours at a time. We seldom spend the night there but when we do I have a fairly large UPS that I bring from home. It will provide light overnight. I also have a propane fueled mantle light for outside.

I only know of one house that has been abandoned and that is a disputed ownership. Most of them are happily occupied by the ex wife and/or her family.

[David006]

hmmm never seen this thread before..probably because I am too busy living in the boonies.

Lots of very good comments on here mostly consistent with my/our adopted life style!

My living in the boonies and being a semi gentleman farmer sort of just happened...no plan whatsoever..never been a farmer except on dad's post war allotment in central London a million years ago.....he dreamed of having a small holding.. which never materialized...told me once on the telephone when we first bought the farm (when mum was asking "whatever for etc etc etc!?"), "keep doing what ya doing son ..you'll be okay".

So he was right... we are okay and very happy...now have the farm and a pleasant modest house we built 5 years ago.

OK sometimes can get a bit boring.. when it's pissing down and I can't take my usual turn around the farm with 6 dogs in tow.

Typical day is much like others inasmuch as it is: sleep ( anytime), eat, drink, potter around garden reorganizing,planting, weeding, potting... blah blah,start well water pumps to fill our tanks, help wifey collecting rubber sometimes,spreading fertilizer,brush cutting our euphemistic lawn,chucking rubber in the truck and selling...etc etc

Often get invaded by step kids, nieces and their friends all sitting cross legged on the veranda making tons papaya salad and stuff all at 10db conversation level( the mortar and pestle thumping does get to me though after a while)...I just sit on the other end of the veranda looking out over our farm and the valley below,veg with a scotch or beer and enjoy being surrounded by 5 or 6 pretty 17-20yo girls.

We go to Phuket quite often for R&R and have many friends there ...exchange a pile of used books, buy stuff that we don't need..get a bit drunk at our friends' bar/restaurant ( always a party for something and sometimes nothing), hit the beach etc ...try to ignore the unaccustomed "noise"...

Don't know that I would change anything...better than anything I could have imagined methinks..