Many of you know or remember my thread on "moving to the Moo Ban" a couple of years ago. Well, here we are again!
As mentioned in that thread I truly liked living "upcountry" and would have still been there if it hadn't been for the torrential rains that drove me nutso. Perfectly understandable why Chantaburi/Makham are the fruit basket of Thailand. There is definitely no shortage of water.
Recently met a neat lady from Isaan, that has me totally under her spell. Great gal that has a lot going for her, job, family, foster son and a great personality. Speaks Engrish well too lolol.
Have spent a few weeks with her here outside of Nong Khai and am loving it. She has a modern large bungalow on 4 rai and really isolated in terms of neighbors etc. Village is 2 clicks in one direction and about 3 in the other. Can barely here the tanoy from the first on a clear morning.
Have no idea of where I am of course: between Nong Khai and the Nong Khai golf course on the way to Phon Pisai, behind an international school of some type; my cell phone says Tiptani I think.
Have found a couple of watering holes and various spots of interest in Nong Khai. Most importantly is I found a source of all I need for baking breads etc. right in Nong Khai.
There is some type of festival going on in Nong Khai at the moment, a remembrance of some great battle fought in years past. The center of town is full of furniture vendors and plant vendors, so, I've already started an orchid collection... Condo living in bangers really didn't afford that opportunity.
Living in BKK was ok for what it was, but I didn't really need it other than the Foodland, Villa access. Occasional trips will allow for that to be remedied I'm sure. Of course any time you move its a loss of friends etc. but the plus side is that you get to meet new acquaintances and form new friendships. The old ones never really go away but just simmer for time until renewed.
I had originally thought that the "modern" shopping available in BKk wouldn't be available here, WRONG. Like most Thai cities of any size at all (especially provincial capitals) have most of what you want, you just have to find the shops that carry it. - similar to the bakery supply shop I found.
An hour a way is Udon, where you have, Tesco, Big C, Carrefour, Makro, Homepro, Homeworks,Global etc. Including a Tool store that is reputed to be the best in Thailand. I'm also sure there are a lot of shops in Udon that carry whatever your looking for. Just got to find them lolol.
So, this looks like home. I'll be going down to BKK to load up the clothes and junk collected over time and hauling it all up here. Regular trips to BKK will of course be on the agenda once all is settled.
Only thing that pissed me off so far is that my Gin is 50 baht more expensive here than in BKK
This thread won't be as extensive as the previous but just some observations of moving to Isaan. Lots of folks don't understand why one would do it but I am about to.
E. G.