During my last holiday I spent nearly 2 ┬╜ months living in a farming village in Isaan, and now see this as a possible alternative to living in places like The Extreme City or the Big Mango when I retire.
Having the advantage of really enjoying country life is the key motivator here. Those who donтАЩt would not even want to consider this.
During my time there, I met three farangs who meet daily at the one-and-only coffee shop in the town of Kantharalak , all of whom live in the country surrounding Kantharalak on a full-time basis. One guy is still working as an English teacher at one of the local schools, and the other two are retired. All three are str8 and living with Thai girls whom they met during their earlier travels to LOS.
A few things these gentlemen all seemed to share in common included the fact that they enjoyed country living, emphasizing the health factors, e.g., low stress environment, healthy organic food diets, clean air, warm and friendly people, and last but not least, the fact that living there was almost free. Almost free meaning, each of them have homes which they had built, girl friends who did all the cooking with ingredients which were either tugged from the garden or purchased from the local market for dirt cheap prices, and needed no more than motorbikes to get them around.
After listening to these guys, I found myself comparing their lifestyles to those whom I have met who survive on low fixed incomes when they retire, in places like Pattaya or Bangkok. Many of these guys are forced to live in small (sometimes flea-bitten) hotel rooms and walk around the food stores looking for dented cans on sale just to be able to maintain their tight budgets. Many of the guys I know in these circumstances also use their extra cash for offing boys тАУ which of course is their primary purpose for living in places like this. So, having said that, I guess another key prerequisite to living in the country would be having a steady boy in tow.
One of the three farangs seemed content to never leave the country as he is a degreed Horticulturist and enjoys spending all of his time in the garden with his wife. The other two balanced their time in the country with routine trips to other places, e.g., Chiang Mai, Bangkok, Phuket, etc. These are the guys I listened to the most, as even though I love the country aspects, I would want (need) to get away to the big cities routinely myself if living there.
As I mentioned in my last trip report, you can build a nice smaller home in Isaan for about 200,000 bt, and a large (two story) home for about 300,000 bt excluding the land.
It is not possible for a farang to purchase land or a home in LOS, which of course, like everything else here in LOS, must be in a Thais name. I opted to re-build my BFтАЩs parents home, which includes a second level for he and I to reside, versus purchasing a home of our own for the time being, as I need more time to determine if our relationship is going to last before going on the hook for another home (in his name). As crass as this may sound, the money IтАЩve been saving by living with him and his family in the country versus roosting in Pattaya and living on the party scene - has offset the money I spent building his family a house. I was literally able to build this home for them with the money I saved from a few past holiday budgets. There are many homes speckling the Isaan country-side which were purchased by farangs for their Thai lovers тАУ with no sign of the farang in sight if you get my drift.
If you have a place to live thatтАЩs paid for, you can live a quality life in the country for less than 10,000 baht per month, not including the money you would be spending on those monthly trips to the big city. There are more boys running around in the country than you could shake a stick at, and frankly, I see this number increasing over-time as the sex scene in LOS dissolves and the boys are forced to return to the farm fieldsтАжjust a thought.
The boys in the country donтАЩt ever approach a farang in the same manner as they do on the working scene. I think that fact should be obvious to most, although IтАЩve heard many comments by farangs to the contrary in the past. They are almost always a little shy and reserved, although very eager to meet you and get to know you better.
I met a country boy like this once in the town of Phrae (north-central LOS) during the towns Songkran celebration, who was, to say the least, a very hot number. He almost insisted on being my guide as I splish-splashed along the sois with a camcorder in one hand and a Singha in the other. The day ended with the two of us back at my hotel room showering together, followed by a toss in the hay that IтАЩll never forget. I turned down the offer to meet with him again, as I think he was a bit youngтАжIтАЩll blame my decision to invite him back to my loom on the Singha and hot afternoon sun. I handed the boy 500 baht and referred to this as just a little beer money. He was more than elated.
My retirement is still a long way up the road, and my plans are always in a constant state of flux, so IтАЩm not really sure what the outcome will be, but IтАЩm glad to have found country life as just one more option.
If your thing is golfing, shopping in big stores and going to nightly cabarets, the country would not be for you тАУ even on a part-time basis, but if you could see yourself fishing in the day time and sitting under the stars with your BF on those quiet evenings, you just may want to give it a try.
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Originally Posted by Dodger
