You All Seem So Content

[leisurely]

Just an observation, I often flick around these forums (?forii) and have noticed how content and peaceful everyone seems who live up there. Something in the water maybe?

Congratulations on your jai yen yen.

[phibunmike]

Drop round for a beer

Edit: By the way, it's "fora"

[Boo]

One of the things I have always enjoyed about the Issan forum is the lack of slagging off & arguing that occurs in most threads in the Pattaya or Samui subforums.

Is it because Issan dwellers are too isolated from other farang to make comparisons or disagreements as they are too spread out or have they just adopted the famously laid back Issan attitude, as living in a small village or town miles away from the toursit hot spots mean that the things that pattay/samui/phuket dwellers may find important & frustrating are just so uniporttant when you are the only (or one of few) farang in town?

[phibunmike]

One of the things I have always enjoyed about the Issan forum is the lack of slagging off & arguing that occurs in most threads in the Pattaya or Samui subforums.

Is it because Issan dwellers are too isolated from other farang to make comparisons or disagreements as they are too spread out or have they just adopted the famously laid back Issan attitude, as living in a small village or town miles away from the toursit hot spots mean that the things that pattay/samui/phuket dwellers may find important & frustrating are just so uniporttant when you are the only (or one of few) farang in town?

Interesting question I think that living in a rural area does help remove the chaff from the rice, so to speak, when deciding what is really important. When I see some of the struggles my neighbours go through, it sometimes makes me feel humble, and embarrassed, that I have been annoyed by something trivial like not being able to buy the type of cheese I prefer...

Cheers,

Mike

[Gary A]

Some of us are fortunate enough not to have to work anymore and the only reason we sometimes know the date is because we want to make sure our pension has been deposited in the bank account. I have a watch but don't wear it because I don't care what time it is. I go to bed when I'm tired and get up when I can sleep no longer. My wife feeds me several times a day and the house and my clothes are always clean. I go up on the mountain two or three times a week and drink beer. Some times I like to do little projects in my workshop and sometimes I work in the garden, but not TOO often. I have made an art form out of avoiding stress. What more is there to what life we have left?

[macb]

Yes its my Paradise and Shangrila:

Is it better than UK it sure is

[Thaicoon]

Yes its my Paradise and Shangrila:

Is it better than UK it sure is

Mac,

UK.......?, It is now called Benifit Britain, place sucks, cannot wait to get back to Buriram.

[Thaddeus]

I have made an art form out of avoiding stress.

When I was asked why I was moving here, especially to Isaan, my answer was always.... Early grave avoidance strategy.

Sometimes though, and I think it applies to a few of us, we can be like swans..... graceful on the surface with legs going 16 to the bar underneath (that was a musical phrase, not a beer one) but without the pressures of having to work for an existence it's quite easy to take that in your stride.

I do own a watch, white face with white hands, I'm long sighted, the wife bought it for me and that's fine ..... if I really want to know what time it is, I look at the shadows or check my hunger level.

[Lourens]

We have but a few friends in Isaan and if you p*ss any of them off, it makes for one less friend to depend on for your weekly farang fix.

[macb]

Some of us are fortunate enough not to have to work anymore and the only reason we sometimes know the date is because we want to make sure our pension has been deposited in the bank account. I have a watch but don't wear it because I don't care what time it is. I go to bed when I'm tired and get up when I can sleep no longer. My wife feeds me several times a day and the house and my clothes are always clean. I go up on the mountain two or three times a week and drink beer. Some times I like to do little projects in my workshop and sometimes I work in the garden, but not TOO often. I have made an art form out of avoiding stress. What more is there to what life we have left?

Thumbs up to that mate: 1st of the month is a good date I retired when I was 55 yrs young and I do what I want as well pottering anything laundry ironing strimming DIY great life and a good wife helps too

[Cent]

One of the things I have always enjoyed about the Issan forum is the lack of slagging off & arguing that occurs in most threads in the Pattaya or Samui subforums.

Is it because Issan dwellers are too isolated from other farang to make comparisons or disagreements as they are too spread out or have they just adopted the famously laid back Issan attitude, as living in a small village or town miles away from the toursit hot spots mean that the things that pattay/samui/phuket dwellers may find important & frustrating are just so uniporttant when you are the only (or one of few) farang in town?

Interesting question I think that living in a rural area does help remove the chaff from the rice, so to speak, when deciding what is really important. When I see some of the struggles my neighbours go through, it sometimes makes me feel humble, and embarrassed, that I have been annoyed by something trivial like not being able to buy the type of cheese I prefer...

Cheers,

Mike

Mike,

Well said, and I agree. So, what kind of cheese do you prefer? Makro in Surin has blocks of Aussie cheddar that is tasty. Also have mozzerella too. Martin of Farang Connection infamy can do you up a take away cheese platter that is out of this world, blue cheese, edam/gouda, sharp cheddars and such, brie, with crackers and German black bread for a really decent price that'll last you a few days! Try him out when you are around and you'll be pleasantly surprised at the cheese selection and the reasonable cost. Plus the Grolsch is cold and tasty and the Famous Grouse smooth and warming on these cool November evenings.

Cent

[Cent]

Just an observation, I often flick around these forums (?forii) and have noticed how content and peaceful everyone seems who live up there. Something in the water maybe?

Congratulations on your jai yen yen.

Leisurely,

"Something in the water maybe?"

Nah, not the water man, it's whatever is in the damned beer Chang that does it! 2 of those big boys and most are thoroughly mellow.

Cent

[farangnoi]

Some of us are fortunate enough not to have to work anymore and the only reason we sometimes know the date is because we want to make sure our pension has been deposited in the bank account. I have a watch but don't wear it because I don't care what time it is. I go to bed when I'm tired and get up when I can sleep no longer. My wife feeds me several times a day and the house and my clothes are always clean. I go up on the mountain two or three times a week and drink beer. Some times I like to do little projects in my workshop and sometimes I work in the garden, but not TOO often. I have made an art form out of avoiding stress. What more is there to what life we have left?

So that's the recipe. Just read a few days ago in a Dutch newspaper, that the dutch how are living abroad, especially in the warm countries, are getting older then when they live here (Holland).

[helicoptor]

Some of us are fortunate enough not to have to work anymore and the only reason we sometimes know the date is because we want to make sure our pension has been deposited in the bank account. I have a watch but don't wear it because I don't care what time it is. I go to bed when I'm tired and get up when I can sleep no longer. My wife feeds me several times a day and the house and my clothes are always clean. I go up on the mountain two or three times a week and drink beer. Some times I like to do little projects in my workshop and sometimes I work in the garden, but not TOO often. I have made an art form out of avoiding stress. What more is there to what life we have left?

my altimate aim..........! no-where near yet tho

[Gary A]

my altimate aim..........! no-where near yet tho

Unfortunately it took me until I was 58 years old to pull it off. I see no reason at all to be aggravated during the time I have left. I had given up on finding a good woman that would put up with me but I seem to have gotten VERY lucky. Must have come from my good clean living.

In case of emergency I DO have my Nokia Rolex. It tells me the time and can even show me the calender. It was a LOT cheaper than a Rolex for my wrist.

[Jared]

Im loving my life at the moment and a year and a half ago I wouldnt of dreamed of it ending up the way it has. I married my Thai girlfriend in the summer and we had our first child 3 weeks ago and im really enjoying myself. I live in Korat town and I pretty much spend all my time with the family. I work from home so I can do as I please, if i want the day off I can if I dont want to work for a week I dont have to all i have to do is look after the wife and child, although I think its the wife looking after me and the child. I havent even been out for a beer since ive been here as there does not seem to be anyone around my own age, the nearest I got was at the mall when i spotted a pub downstairs so I sent the misses to do some shopping and i spent an hour in there. But as much as I love my life here at the moment I know it cant last forever as im 24 and I would like to go back to the UK in a few years or when I can convince the wife that its a nice place. I dont fancy doing visa runs for the next 40 years.

[Thaicoon]

Im loving my life at the moment and a year and a half ago I wouldnt of dreamed of it ending up the way it has. I married my Thai girlfriend in the summer and we had our first child 3 weeks ago and im really enjoying myself. I live in Korat town and I pretty much spend all my time with the family. I work from home so I can do as I please, if i want the day off I can if I dont want to work for a week I dont have to all i have to do is look after the wife and child, although I think its the wife looking after me and the child. I havent even been out for a beer since ive been here as there does not seem to be anyone around my own age, the nearest I got was at the mall when i spotted a pub downstairs so I sent the misses to do some shopping and i spent an hour in there. But as much as I love my life here at the moment I know it cant last forever as im 24 and I would like to go back to the UK in a few years or when I can convince the wife that its a nice place. I dont fancy doing visa runs for the next 40 years.

My Thai wife has been in the UK now for coming up 11 years, as you say the UK is a really nice place, it is a Beautifull country, amazing in the summer, not so good in the dreaded months of Nov through to Feb (cold and dreary), i love going to the pub on a nice summers evening and having a couple of pints of the old rev james, one thing i will miss, the only problem with the country is the people running it, if you employ people and have a Business the Government just screw you, it does not matter what party gets in, i think they are all tarred with the same brush, and the country is changing for the worse not better, i am not political, my Wife now wants to leave, she has also had enough of the place, i am 42, selling or leasing my Business and moving to Land of smiles full time, as i say in a previous post, i am going to put a few eggs in the basket in thailand, and have a better quality of life.

Another thing i would like to do to keep me busy is to build a custom trike, or a Cobra replica, i have built a cobra before, it will be the case of getting parts shipped over from the uk. and got a couple of guys interested in this project as well.

[Mossfinn]

Whenever I am feeling fed up or had a bad hair day at work, I just pop in to the Isaan forum, cheers me up no end.

Cheers Folks, you've done it again.

Good Luck to all

Moss

[raslin]

One of the things I have always enjoyed about the Issan forum is the lack of slagging off & arguing that occurs in most threads in the Pattaya or Samui subforums.

Is it because Issan dwellers are too isolated from other farang to make comparisons or disagreements as they are too spread out or have they just adopted the famously laid back Issan attitude, as living in a small village or town miles away from the toursit hot spots mean that the things that pattay/samui/phuket dwellers may find important & frustrating are just so uniporttant when you are the only (or one of few) farang in town?

Interesting question I think that living in a rural area does help remove the chaff from the rice, so to speak, when deciding what is really important. When I see some of the struggles my neighbours go through, it sometimes makes me feel humble, and embarrassed, that I have been annoyed by something trivial like not being able to buy the type of cheese I prefer...

Cheers,

Mike

Mike,

Well said, and I agree. So, what kind of cheese do you prefer? Makro in Surin has blocks of Aussie cheddar that is tasty. Also have mozzerella too. Martin of Farang Connection infamy can do you up a take away cheese platter that is out of this world, blue cheese, edam/gouda, sharp cheddars and such, brie, with crackers and German black bread for a really decent price that'll last you a few days! Try him out when you are around and you'll be pleasantly surprised at the cheese selection and the reasonable cost. Plus the Grolsch is cold and tasty and the Famous Grouse smooth and warming on these cool November evenings.

Cent

The disaster is that Makro no longer have Aussie cheddar but tasteless muck made by Aro. I got a refund when I took back the block I bought.

[Cent]

One of the things I have always enjoyed about the Issan forum is the lack of slagging off & arguing that occurs in most threads in the Pattaya or Samui subforums.

Is it because Issan dwellers are too isolated from other farang to make comparisons or disagreements as they are too spread out or have they just adopted the famously laid back Issan attitude, as living in a small village or town miles away from the toursit hot spots mean that the things that pattay/samui/phuket dwellers may find important & frustrating are just so uniporttant when you are the only (or one of few) farang in town?

Interesting question I think that living in a rural area does help remove the chaff from the rice, so to speak, when deciding what is really important. When I see some of the struggles my neighbours go through, it sometimes makes me feel humble, and embarrassed, that I have been annoyed by something trivial like not being able to buy the type of cheese I prefer...

Cheers,

Mike

Mike,

Well said, and I agree. So, what kind of cheese do you prefer? Makro in Surin has blocks of Aussie cheddar that is tasty. Also have mozzerella too. Martin of Farang Connection infamy can do you up a take away cheese platter that is out of this world, blue cheese, edam/gouda, sharp cheddars and such, brie, with crackers and German black bread for a really decent price that'll last you a few days! Try him out when you are around and you'll be pleasantly surprised at the cheese selection and the reasonable cost. Plus the Grolsch is cold and tasty and the Famous Grouse smooth and warming on these cool November evenings.

Cent

The disaster is that Makro no longer have Aussie cheddar but tasteless muck made by Aro. I got a refund when I took back the block I bought.

Raslin, Mike,

Was in the Farang Connection this morning and noticed Martin, the fat ugly bugger, had four or five of the big cheese blocks in his frige. The New Zealand cheddar. Said he saw it on sale for 2 for 1 and he bought the lot of it. That's why we can't buy any, the greedy bastard bought it all in the Makro! So go see him if you want some, he's cornered the market on cheese it seems.

Cent

[jayenram]

Was in the Farang Connection this morning and noticed Martin, the fat ugly bugger, had four or five of the big cheese blocks in his frige. The New Zealand cheddar. Said he saw it on sale for 2 for 1 and he bought the lot of it. That's why we can't buy any, the greedy bastard bought it all in the Makro! So go see him if you want some, he's cornered the market on cheese it seems.

Cent

I assume that he's not adding his own mark-up!

[macb]

I think Martin is following me around the Topics, must be looking for some useful hints from me as to why my Topics are so educative and informative

[farangconnection]

Was in the Farang Connection this morning and noticed Martin, the fat ugly bugger, had four or five of the big cheese blocks in his frige. The New Zealand cheddar. Said he saw it on sale for 2 for 1 and he bought the lot of it. That's why we can't buy any, the greedy bastard bought it all in the Makro! So go see him if you want some, he's cornered the market on cheese it seems.

Cent

I assume that he's not adding his own mark-up!

And whole Gouder & Edam cheeses. And Danish blue, Camenbert, Brie & Processed cheddar for cheese burgers. Although we do a pretty mean Danish Blue Burger.

And in reply to Cent...................................when you walk into Makro, and they are doing NZ Cheddar, buy one get one free, I'm certainly not leaving any on the shelves. As soon as I saw that I relised they were getting rid of their stock and were not getting any more in. That was nine months ago anyway.

We had a delegation from Makro round to our shop five weeks ago. I gave them a list of 12 items that you could not get any more in the store. They promised me they would look into it. Yesterday, I was presented at the till with 3 cans of Black Olives. And the rest of the list I inquired?

"We searched all through the store, all through the store-rooms, and this is all we could find." was the answer.

In five weeks they came up with three tins of olives. They did not even consider ordering new stock.

T.I.T

and to mac ...................................Ballacks

[Jai Dee]

In five weeks they came up with three tins of olives. They did not even consider ordering new stock.

No wonder you stock up big in Patters.

[phibunmike]

Interesting question I think that living in a rural area does help remove the chaff from the rice, so to speak, when deciding what is really important. When I see some of the struggles my neighbours go through, it sometimes makes me feel humble, and embarrassed, that I have been annoyed by something trivial like not being able to buy the type of cheese I prefer...

Cheers,

Mike

Mike,

Well said, and I agree. So, what kind of cheese do you prefer? Makro in Surin has blocks of Aussie cheddar that is tasty. Also have mozzerella too. Martin of Farang Connection infamy can do you up a take away cheese platter that is out of this world, blue cheese, edam/gouda, sharp cheddars and such, brie, with crackers and German black bread for a really decent price that'll last you a few days! Try him out when you are around and you'll be pleasantly surprised at the cheese selection and the reasonable cost. Plus the Grolsch is cold and tasty and the Famous Grouse smooth and warming on these cool November evenings.

Cent

Hi Cent,

I have (once) been to FC and did enjoy the place and Martin, but did not sample their cheese. I enjoy brie, camembert, blue, *good* mozarrella (you know the real buffalo one that comes in a bag of liquid ), good cheddar... hate processed cheese, Dutch cheese, Swiss cheese....

But I also like 20 baht of fried chicken with 10 baht of sticky rice....

Cheers,

Mike

[Lourens]

Processed cheese, together with instant coffee and bats, are the devils work.

[macb]

Be careful though Martin keeps his socks in the fridge

[farangconnection]

Be careful though Martin keeps his socks in the fridge

gotta wrap the cheese in something

[toptuan]

My guess is that you'd notice the same differences between a Los Angeles forum and a Butte, Montana forum. High-stress city life & laid-back country living is the same the world over.

Further, economics seems to have nothing to do with it. I live in one of the poorest provinces of Isaan. (Now, I make about the same monthly salary as I made 40 years ago as a teenager in my home country.) Yet, my province is considered the "happiest in Thailand" by the Mental Health division of the Ministry of Public Health. Further, Thailand runs always in about the top 15-20% in the "happiest countries on earth" surveys taken by various organizations over the years. That's out of over 200 countries. Just can't beat it!

[macb]

What a lovely life and a lovely day it has been throwing sacks of rice around not cos I have too but because I wanted to.

Hot so what a nice cold shower after wards and in the evening sit outside with a cold beer.

Then on here to see who has posted what and post my thoughts and I hope slightly intelligent comments sometimes cheeky as well.

Wonderful life if any one is thinking about dont think to long because everythink day is a day lost in paradise