Welcome to Life in Udon Thani Thailand
Udon Thani is a city in North East Thailand, where things do not work quite as they should! To illustrate....below are two of the most notable features of the city, which are often used for helping ferang find their way around. The first one is the "Fountain" roundabout, the 2nd is the "Clock Tower" roundabout, but what you may have noticed is that neither the fountain or clock are actually working! (Pictures taken within 15 minutes of each other). For me, this sums up life in Udon Thani quite nicely, with nothing working they way you might expect it to - and this applies to nearly everything you are likely to encounter both in Udon Thani and the rest of Thailand.
There is a third roundabout in Udon Thani, but it is one that I rarely pass en-route to anywhere else. The centerpiece of this rather colorful traffic island is the statue of Prince Sinlapakom, who was the founder of Udon Thani.
Having lived in Thailand for a few years and having witnessed so much of the lifestyle here I finally decided to tell the world of my experiences out here. A lot of it will be familiar to other foreigners (Ferang) that have chosen to move away from their country in Europe, US or Australia to seek a better and relaxed life. This website will provide you with most of what you need to know and a lot of it is meant to be lighthearted and not disrespectful of what the Thai lifestyle is like - no matter how bizarre it may seem to us ferang! A lot of what is on this website is what you do not normally get to read about because most information on the Internet in relation to Thailand is the tourist attractions and girls. This is meant to be a little different and will give you more of an insight in to what to expect should you choose to live here too.
About Me
My name is Neil and I originate from England, 51 years old, divorced from an English wife and have one son still living in the UK. I worked for a utility company in the Anglian region for many years but due to the structure of the company it became very difficult to progress up the food chain without relocating, something the wife was not prepared to do. On a personal level I could probably have coped with it on my own but with a "ball & chain" who would dig her heels in, it was never going to happen.
The eventual divorce (and in hind-sight it was inevitable) came about in 2009 and for me it was extremely painful, not to mention expensive as I lost a fair bit of money that I had invested in to our home. I was bitter and very unhappy with everything that had happened and I need to get my head straight to start weighing up my options for my future life. Thankfully the transition did not take too long and within 18 months a new life in Thailand had begun.
The eventual divorce (and in hind-sight it was inevitable) came about in 2009 and for me it was extremely painful, not to mention expensive as I lost a fair bit of money that I had invested in to our home. I was bitter and very unhappy with everything that had happened and I need to get my head straight to start weighing up my options for my future life. Thankfully the transition did not take too long and within 18 months a new life in Thailand had begun.
Living in Thailand
Living here is good but there are so many things that are very different and you need to get an understanding (if possible) as to why they do things the way they do. This website and blog is going to give you an insight in to daily life and the challenges you are likely to face should you decide to marry and live here too. Would I recommend it? Hell yes but only if you have a fairly placid nature to begin with. Thailand is no place for "hot heads" as the people in general are very calm and don't like conflict or confrontation.