Lowdown on Udon Thani - anyone spent time there?

[sabang]

just stay clear of the central bars full of crazy falang IMO!

To be sure ! they are a strange collection to be found there! Most customers look like they are having a final fling before turning out the lights for good.
The girls ( Thinking, and searching for a kind description) are rugged. The surroundings are modest even by tin shack standards.
The available food is disgustingly bad.

I can hardly wait.
To go there again that is. I liked the place, the people especially.

[Rigger]

classic Vespa 150

anyone seen any Vespa for sale as mate up the road wants one or a Lambretter ???

[Udonite]

just stay clear of the central bars full of crazy falang IMO!

To be sure ! they are a strange collection to be found there! Most customers look like they are having a final fling before turning out the lights for good.
The girls ( Thinking, and searching for a kind description) are rugged. The surroundings are modest even by tin shack standards.
The available food is disgustingly bad.

You're talking about "Farang Alley" an arcade of bars, that open and close with the change of wind direction. You can't compare it Pattaya or Phuket. Udon farangs are mostly settled down with wives or girlfriends. A lot that use "Farang Alley" are old single guys who are living out their days on a meagre pension, and are indeed having a final fling before shuffling off their mortal coil. There is no better place to do it, and good luck to them. It could be worse, you could be retired in England where there is no fun to be had.

[drskosha]

classic Vespa 150

anyone seen any Vespa for sale as mate up the road wants one or a Lambretter ???

Hi Rigger,

there is a place up past Nonprajack park that sell mostly Vespas. Forget the name, but your best off going to Khon Kaen to the lad up there, he runs the scooter club. Nice guiys.

Lambretta bikes are far and few between. Alot in chiang Mai, but Udon and surrounding areas not a hope....

[forreachingme]

classic Vespa 150

anyone seen any Vespa for sale as mate up the road wants one or a Lambretter ???

Plenty and more in Vietnam !

No idea if importing is easy or not...

[drskosha]

Sorry, havent been in a while. Yet you are actaully thinking of bringing scooters through Loas from Vietnam....aye right. So spend all your time searching through Vietnams garden sheds to get a bike, or better still go to a local dealer, maybe one (fullstop) and then get him to pull the price down from the skys. I was trying from Chiang Mai, I know everyone there from being a avid fan of the old hair dryers, yet they al ahve the same problem (think money. get money, dont think of the future, sell now, never win longterm). Chiang Mai has the best Scooters in Thailnd, yet, they all keep em! Young lads love em (and thier ladies), so they never want to sell on a wider scope, fecked me up.....all those hours of analysis for what? Anyway on a lighter note you can send them back to the EU if you take em apart and box em, then build them at that other end, for tax reasons.....

[Frankenstein]

A guy I met up there summed it up well:

'You come to Udon to die'.

[peterpan]

I would have thought that was more applicable to Pattaya, I mean you don't see many jumping off condo balconies here, Not that there are many to choose from. But in many ways a bigger country town can be quite a reasonable choice for us more mature folk.
Easy to get around in, I take my kids to school, a 13 km round trip takes me 20 mins, In BKK the 5 km school trip took me about an hour.
There are plenty of diversions, sure, no Nana or Cowboy but good disco's and a few Coyote dancing type bars. There are 41 farang style bars here, the majority pretty ordinary I gotta say, in fact the best bars are owned and run by Thai people.
Its a good place to bring up a family, schools Ok and hasn't the big city problem of unruly, undisciplined kids with behavioural problems.Best of all clean air. But you have to say, you wouldn't come up here to get a pattaya experience or indulge in Thailands finest International cuisine.

[ota]

I'm so in love with my beautiful 3 & 6 year old half and half boys my other two sets of children have serious atitude problems about it. They just expected me to sit around dreaming of the past and remain loney with nothing to do but give them $ in exchange for a little time with them.

Not! ( as my teenager says ) For whatever faults my Thai wife may have she is loyal to me and makes me feel more of a Dad then my last 2 farang wifes.And she sure got my dick working again after suffering from inadaquacy issues with the last farang wife.SHe is so beautiful. I believed my last farang wife that I couldnt find and old hag to love me.That is how bad my mind succumbed to the repeated trauma of being raped in the family court system. SHe may be a bit more conservative in bed than I would like to fantasize about but nothing can replace having a women make you feel like a man again.( especially if she isn't comparing you to her 30 prior lovers ) Boy could those farang wives of mine do a good imitation of dead cold fish. ( with headaches and gas) I'm sure there are many farang wives as good as a good Thai wife. I just didn't meet them. Or I wasn't good enough for them. I remember when I was single 10 years ago farang women had a list of qualifications that knocked me out of the running usually right off the bat. At least back then Thai women would often say age and muscle specs didn't matter but kindness, security, and a good heart where most important. My wife who watches Thai SOAPS and reads alot of Thai womens magazines for hours each day says it's all changing. Is it? SHould I tell farang friends to look to Vietnam or Cambodia for a wife instead if they are serious? Sounds like land prices in those two countrys may still be cheap before development.

BY the way since I am rambling I'd like to know if I can still buy gold by the oz in a way I can trust and easily resale down the road in the USA as well as Thailand? How much do they let you take out of the country? What is the best commodity to buy when in Thailand that can turn a profit back in the states? My wife will be over in Thailand next week and we have a litttle xtra cash to invest. She wants to buy some land around Udon I think as that is where she is from although her gambling addicted and risk taking mother who can out guilt her daughter than my 88 year old Jewish mother could. That's sayng something. She is a few years younger than me and still thinks she is beyond any mans ability to resist. She is looking for a farang sugar Daddy now. It's all to much for me as I need quietude, safety and privacy. She has too many crazy people in her life and her needs from my wife are endless. She uses my wifes crippled brother to guilt my wife although any money intended for his relief are diverted to her desire for the party life.

[Marmite the Dog]

You're not allowed to export gold without a special licence.

[tamadah]

First time I visited Udon was on my first trip to Thailand in '79 when I hooked up with a couple ex-USAF Vietnam vet fliers on a reunion. Since I hadn't even experienced Bangkok yet, it was an eye-opener. I recall sitting in a bar late in the afternoon, the walls plastered with b/w photos of planes and pilots, CCR playing on a jukebox (!) and the overwhelming feeling that the staff were just waiting for the old regulars to come in from the AFB like they did probably 10 years earlier.

Fast-forward..... I just did 2 trips up there in the past 6 months and started the house building. So far I like what I see, certainly the slow-poke traffic is a blessing after the madness of Pattaya streets. One night I wandered down that alleyway of retiree watering holes with my tilac on my arm and could see the "Hello, they're new here" looks from some of the farangs and pretty much all the 'rugged' bargirls.

The new pile is out by Nong Bua so 5 minute drive to the nearest 7-11 and 10 to the nearest gold shop, can't be bad. Handy that all those HomePro, etc.. shops are a couple of minutes away! I plan on a 50-50 time share between Pattaya and Udon but playing it by ear to see if that ratio changes once the new place is finished. I think it will be half the time in Pattaya then up north for a reality check and then after same time in Udon, back to Pattaya for.... a reality check.

I did Songkran in Vientiane and caught the last day in Udon; much more sensible that the Pattaya version, almost bearable. Then did the hands and feet washing ritual with the 'out-laws' and the old guy down the street, very humbling but all very pleasing.

[DJ Pat]

I went to Udon in 2002.

I had a shit experiece at the Sirigrand Hotel.

[Udonite]

I went to Udon in 2002.

I had a shit experiece at the Sirigrand Hotel.

I'm sorry to hear it.
You chose a real dump of a hotel right on the Ban Chang Road.
There are much better places to stay.

[britmaveric]

Whats a good hotel in Udon? (might be dragged there shortly)

[Udonite]

Whats a good hotel in Udon? (might be dragged there shortly)

I would recommend the Irish Clock in Sampantamit Road, which is a short walk to all the action, Night Market, Farang Alley, and the Charoensri Mall.
Very nice rooms with UBC satellite TV, WI-FI internet in all rooms and in the bar. Breakfast included. 850 baht a night.

info@irishclock.com
IRISH CLOCK Udon Thani - Traditional Irish Pub with Draft Guinness & Kilkenny...
042-247450

If I was pushing the boat out then the Ban Chiang Hotel which is not far from Nong Prajak Park. Nice bars and restaurants around the lake.

I would book the Ban Chiang with Thailand hotels, Australia hotels, Singapore hotels, Malaysia hotels, Japan hotels if you decide to stay there.

[DJ Pat]

I have never given up hope that one day I will return there and have a great few days.

As long as I avoid that soi where the incontinent coffin dodgers and their haggard hoes-in-tow hang about.

[britmaveric]

I have never given up hope that one day I will return there and have a great few days.

As long as I avoid that soi where the incontinent coffin dodgers and their haggard hoes-in-tow hang about.

Somehow I think you'll end up there and give you smth to whinge about!!!

[DJ Pat]

Somehow I think you'll end up there and give you smth to whinge about!!!

Yeah probably mate, watch this space.

[ray23]

Rigger on a Vespa got to see that

[Rigger]

I ride them little ones too but only for safety reasons when pisst

[ray23]

After five years here I can say like anyother place it's what you make it.

You can set in a bar and complain all day or you can find something that interests you and enjoy your time here. But nothing is in your face here you have to make an effort.

These days a lot more farrang support types of places. I rarely go to Bangkok to get goodies anymore.

Theres bowling, golf, an occasional english movie. Enough farrang eating places now that you have lot of choices. For me it's Bike riding and touring along with Thai language school.

Yes there are old codgers here there are also whippersnappers. It's not a village it's a city.

For all new comers I to recommend Khan Kean for very selfish reasons

[Udonite]

A car rent company in Udon Thani,called LEK car rent has just started renting big motor bikes, looks like they have some 400cc Jap cruisers for rent.

[Gallowspole]

Hopefully those bikes might cull the flotsam and jetsam that are appearing ever increasingly in Udon.

[peterpan]

Your right about that and some of the totty they are bringing here with them is a bit much for Udon. Saw one yesterday in the centre with her punter, her pants were so short I was worried her pussy was going to drop out one side or the other, so I followed her around for a bit in case she needed help in tucking it back in.

[Gallowspole]

Your right about that and some of the totty they are bringing here with them is a bit much for Udon. Saw one yesterday in the centre with her punter, her pants were so short I was worried her pussy was going to drop out one side or the other, so I followed her around for a bit in case she needed help in tucking it back in.

Was there a snail trail to follow?