Country Life or Close To The City - What's Best?

[MrPlum]

Having lived on an Algarve hillside for 7 years, I really loved the pace, the scenery and the morning walks with the dogs. The downside was the cold winters, the lack of close company and stimulation. I managed by travelling for 6 months of the year.

A neighbour is moving to Issan and we chatted about how it might work out for him. My concern is that, like me, he will enjoy the novelty for a year and then gradually come to wish he was closer to a built up area. If he's bought a house, he may be trapped. Like a tired marriage, life then becomes a test of endurance.

My own preference is to be close enough to entertainment to stave off the boredom. That way I have the relative peace and solitude yet can access company/entertainment when I want it. I found 10-15 mins away was about right.

What has been the experience of others? Could you hack the bugs, heat, snakes, village gossip. Or is country life a constant joy?

[nevets]

Give me the country life living on 15000 sq mt watching the bananna grow and walking the dog. I like the vilage life . And fishing in the river petch.

[migrant]

I've lived (not currently), and yearned to live, in the country.

Not too far, maybe a hour - two from a city center for entertainment, culture, restaurants, etc.

W|hen I lived in Maine, northeastern part of the states, we had a large property with deer, moose, fox, etc running around but could make a city run in a hour.

[richard]

Being a Yorkshire country boy I would love it

BUT although we ( she) has a large spread 70 km's north of Khon Kaen I need to get to a hospital pretty quick bearing in mind my health

Can't afford a copter though

[Guess]

What has been the experience of others? Could you hack the bugs, heat, snakes, village gossip or is country life a constant joy?

I lived in Khon Kaen province in Isan for six months. I had enough. The people were friendly and although I was a novelty at first they soon accepted as a local.

I was aware that people bred and ate bugs but it was hardly the norm. I've seen more bugs in Pattaya and Bangkok than anywhere else. Heat??. It's all relative, I think my threshold is higher and narrower than most farangs. I remember freezing my balls off a few times in Isan. I don't like the gossip but my last years in the UK were in Sunninghill, Ascot so I know all about gossip.

I like visiting cities but have no aspirations to live in one. I like the sound of Migrant's Maine. I lived on the other side in the Bay Area near to San Jose. I could get into my workplace in silicone valley, the beach, or the mountains within one hour. God compromise but at a cost.

Now in Bang Saphan it seems ideal. I don't need a city. The weather's good here as well.

[Vital Spark]

I think it depends on who you're living with.

I wouldn't live where I do now on my own, I would be extremely lonely although I'm surrounded all sides by Thais. However, it's great living here with a farang husband, we tend to be hermits in our little pocket of paradise. I could live without lovely cheese, but I couldn't live without farang company. However good my Thai is, it's just not the same. Being a female does make a difference, however much I love drinking beer I don't think that I would be accepted joining a Thai drinking party.

VS

[migrant]

I like visiting cities but have no aspirations to live in one. I like the sound of Migrant's Maine. I lived on the other side in the Bay Area near to San Jose. I could get into my workplace in silicone valley, the beach, or the mountains within one hour. God compromise but at a cost..

People mention that to me when I tell them I live in So California, how everything is so close. My problem with it, and you also must have experienced it Guess, is that a million other people head there too. Every day.......

Now in Bang Saphan it seems ideal. I don't need a city. The weather's good here as well.

Actually Bank Saphan is an area we are seriously looking at (seriously as in two years time). As you mention it seems far enough out, but still reachable to HH when needed. I also like getting closer to water and HH is getting so expensive, plus water quality seems better down south.

[Randy Cornhole]

You should have made this a poll question Mr Plum.

I have lived in HH for 5 years although to be honest I had had enough of it for the last year or so I was living there. I now live near Surin on a rai of land in a 160sqm 3 bed bungalow that when finished will have cost me about £15,000. The views are to die for and there are no pissed ferrang to look/deal with. I am happy at present and can go into Surin anytime I feel the need for a faster pace of life. I think the big thing for me was how much prices had gone up in HH. Much more than was nescessary. I mean 5,000,000 for a small house on Dusit land 7 sitting on 1/4 of a rai give me strength!! and the dual pricing system that has been flogged to death on previous threads, just got me angry ergo it was time to split.
If I ever get fed up with country life I will check out Chaing Rai/Mai. Unfortunatly the way HH has been going I cant see myself wanting to return again despite having made many good friends there....

[johnnyk]

We lived 4 years in rural France and got tired of having to drive 12km to the shops/services. A real pain in the arse when doing a job and discovered you needed a single item and couldn't finish the task without it.

A movie was 25 minutes drive and of course it seemed we wanted to see only one out of every three. No library or bookshop/newsagent either.
We missed the stimulation of talking about books, movies, current affairs and so forth. Mostly people wanted to talk about things like drains, baby nappies or proper cement-sand ratios. It was a very physical life insufficiently balanced with life of the mind.

In HH we are about 8 mins. by bike from Wat Hua Hin, very quiet and there are many small shops much closer than even 8 mins., e.g. DVD repair, cold Chang, restos and carts, cold Chang, ATM, cold Chang, hardware store, cold Chang, fruit and veg sellers, cold Chang...

[MrPlum]

You should have made this a poll question Mr Plum.

Sorry about that. Will remember for the next one. Great blog by the way.

Is it too much of a stretch to say people who live in the city want to live in the country and those who live in the country want to live in the city? We all think the grass is greener on the other side. Or else we just fancy a change. That's my excuse, anyway.

I'm in Dusit 7 myself. Nice property and neighbours and I have a good deal on the rent. Starting to get itchy feet, which has been my pattern throughout life. Probably the military background, always moving. The first year is great, the second ok, early in the third, time to move on.

I do take your point about pricing and my question was partly driven by the fact that my pension can be made to go a lot further. I'm reluctant to buy any large assets having been made a pauper one too many times through divorce. Half of nothing is nothing and all that. Life is just fine for me being able to walk out the door and not look back. I know it isn't the romanticized ideal but you haven't worn my moccasins so don't judge me.

I think it depends on who you're living with.

Yes. No.1 factor for me.

I have a youngster (not from my loins) at Yamsaard, which does complicate matters. She's made great progress and sticking her in a government school would see her going backwards. It doesn't help when she thinks I'm adorable... which I am

Sigh... The pendulum twixt domesticated bliss and a restless spirit swings first one way, then the other.

You get used to stunning scenery, so it would need more to hold me. If I could rent a house on a lake with a few 'farangs' close enough to drop in on, then maybe. Or else get myself interested in growing a herb and vegetable garden. The thought of plunging a hook into a poor worm/fish/maggot's body has never appealed, neither has dashing an eel's head upon a rock. Must have been the bag of maggots my brother poured into my shorts when I was a youngster. Traumatized me.

Fishermen are all callous killers IMO.

I found Chiang Mai a bit cold and damp at times, polluted and traffic heavy. Pool tables are poor too. Rents are cheap and I'm sure outside the town it has a lot to offer. I did notice local women seemed less beautiful than in other areas. So if you're single and taken by beauty, I'd bring your own.

If I had a passion, it wouldn't matter where I lived. Some men opt for women and booze but these attractions clearly have their drawbacks.

There is a saying.. 'You spend the first half of your life looking for excitement and the second trying to avoid it'. I'm more the latter these days. Maybe my senses are becoming dulled and it's time to abandon the world of sense gratification and find a temple in the mountains to retire to.

Vegetables and Vipassana.

[Guess]

...................... My problem with it, and you also must have experienced it Guess, is that a million other people head there too. Every day.......
[\quote]

There are certain time and places that need to be avoided to miss the RV, camping and skiing crowd.

Actually Bank Saphan is an area we are seriously looking at (seriously as in two years time). As you mention it seems far enough out, but still reachable to HH when needed. I also like getting closer to water and HH is getting so expensive, plus water quality seems better down south.

Send me a PM for my email address and I can keep you informed of prices and trends. Most affordable plots are within 500 metres of the sea. Mine is 200 metres away. Typically land is selling for between 1 and 1.5 million Baht per Rai but it is rising. People with experience have told me that is is easier to build here than in Hua Hin. Less red tape and no crooked farangs to deal with.

[buksida]

Is it too much of a stretch to say people who live in the city want to live in the country and those who live in the country want to live in the city? We all think the grass is greener on the other side. Or else we just fancy a change.

I'd say that was a good summary, after living in HH for nearly ten years I have the urge to move somewhere quieter. This is primarily because Hua Hin today is a far cry from the one I arrived at years ago as Randy states.

That said though I don't think I could go fully native and move up to Issan, tried it for a few weeks many years ago. I just don't think there would be enough stimulus for the grey matter there!

A good balance is hard to find!

[Chas]

I would say that we have the perfect solution in Hua Hin and I have often congratulated myself on coming here to live. It is big enough to afford a variety of activities, markets etc and we are out of town far enough for peace and quiet to be the norm.

However, this is NOT necessarily a given in moving to the country! You might think you would find peace and quiet in a country village, but the opposite is more likely to be true. IMHO Thailand is a very noisy country. (This was and continues to be the biggest "culture shock" for me even after 7 years and I actually have earplugs with me at all times. . ..and I use them.)

In the villages in which I have stayed ( in Issan mostly) the first shock is the village loudspeaker system. . tall poles with speakers aimed in every direction and ( in the village I know best) used at length by the headman starting at 5:00 in the morning!! (I see them in villages around here too.)

Then too, every house has a vast booming stereo system (and I just really really hate being at the mercy of someone else's musical tastes. I have sat with my "family" and listened to three different stereos blasting away.) The streets are plied with mango sellers etc. . all with loudspeakers attached to their trucks. The village women also like each other's company so much that shouting from house to house goes on all day. .and I wont even mention the dogs and chickens.

Now, of course village life has its charms ( the people are just wonderful for starters)and I return there on a regular basis. .but I would never use the word "peaceful" to describe the experience and I really do not think I could live there for more than a few days.

[crazy88]

I prefer a mix of both worlds myself . You can acheive this 10-20 mins drive from Hua Hin .I had a great day today .Went to the local village resteraunt with some friends,had a great breakfast for buttons money and enjoyed the company of the villagers with whom we have become friends over the last couple of years .Then went for a few beers by a charming lake .Whacked a few golf balls around and dangled a rod in the water for a while then played pool in a bar surrounded by stunning scenery .6 km from the town centre and not a single vehicle drove by in several hours .Drove home through the odd herd of cows to a lovely sociable meal .Reminded me of my youth in the west country of England .

I think Mr Plums Idea of living in a well spaced community around a lake will be my eventual choice although I have to disagree on the fishing thing .

Mr Plum wrote

" Fishermen are all callous killers IMO."

I love fishing and I eat fish .There is no need to smash their heads on rocks or leave them to asphyxiate slowly,simply plunging a knife sharply into the brain sac kills them instantly .My prefered method of fishing for food is with a speargun .If you know what you're doing it is a very selective and efficient method of catching your dinner .If you are not sure of a kill shot ,don't shoot .Much more humane than the huge trawlers that are raping the worlds oceans,taking with the catch species that we do not even eat IMHO .

If HH ever ends up like Pattaya then Kanchanaburi would be my next choice to ramble on to .

Crazy 88

[lomuamart]

I've spent some time up in Buriram province. Over the years, the people were friendly - with some exceptions.
At the start, I could handle a couple of days there - the heat, the dirt, no communication, the beer.
Then two weeks was OK - give me a hammock and the chance to cook for the village. And some beers.
Then beer and no communication. After that, I was on the first bus home. 50 million kilos of rice in hand - "how am I going to get this from The Northern Bus Station to the bloody taxi?".
A bit of bright cotton tied around my waist or head as I arrived back in BKK? I've done it, with all the porters shouting out "farang khmer".
And all that.
I did enjoy it up there. I just wasn't with the right person.