typical expat day in ban dung issan thailand part 2

ban dung in issan is not exactly the most exciting place in the world but with a little imagination you can find lots of things to fill up your day OK here we are part 2 we made it to lunch in part one
but failed dismally at trying to check the internet again
but with a little help from big Dave ex up to you bar i have gprs set up not the best but at least you can check your mail inexpensively even out in the boonies of issan

well its gary.s bar for a cold drink then onto a beer Gary does a good sausage butty
best washed down buy a cold tiger
he gets a few different people in there that don't make to the other side of town mostly so iam always up to meet new people its good that eddies as some decent competition in ban dung it keeps things interesting and makes sure everybody is focused on looking after the customers

well after watching the loonies on the road outside fly buy like rockets for a hour our so its time to pack up and move on what to do ok dident have to think long its nearly 2 so better head of to eddies i will probaley be the first of a few that turn up there this afternoon

eddies bar as a elevated bench like bar top running nearly the full length of the place great for people watching and having a good lean on love it
what i have noticed there quiet a few times and aim sure it happens all over issan
a Thai girl and falang on a motorbike pass buy the guy notices the bar while riding passenger something i don't like to do unless feeling suicidal
he turns is head and nearly dislocates is neck while the girl rides on blinked she.s thinking lets get out of here i don't wont my atm getting in there with those die hards
anyway before i go on i will stop and wait for part 3 to give you a possible outcome for the rest of the day in ban dung

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typical expat day in ban dung issan thailand part 1

my expat day out in ban dung issan Thailand
well i guess depending on what you did the night before this could be a typical day in ban dung issan ok you wake up is to the tweet of birds our the sounds of some dodgy mowlem song well anyway your awake you stumble from you room to find the house empty you missed takbaht again

never mind the wife our one of the family kept you in the good books again i don't mind popping up to the temple but trying to sit down on the mats to long kills me so lets give it a miss today
what do you eat for breakfast in Thailand I normally try a a couple of slices of toast and a cup of coffee with the heat of the day approaching if possible i would head in to ban dung about 10am have a full English at eddies bar our garys its good to have the choice as one time you could not get much of anything

anyway we make it to ban dung fill up for the day our at least till about 5 when the roast chicken over the road from eddies is done know i need to check my email and contact with the outside world well this is the part thats starts to get you worried is your mail box going to be full of spam again our are there people out there that give a dam about you it would be great to find out only problem internet is down again

but never fear i have a back up plan gprs internet which used to be total rubbish but these days its nuch faster then the old mister tongs internet cafe in udon thani god that place used to have me pulling my hair out does anybody remember that place
lets say we did waste 1 our 2 hours surfing the net until lunch whats next
i better wait till part 2 as i am hungry as hell here does this fit in with your typical morning in Thailand ?

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Changes to Ban Dung issan thailand

ban dung changes buy roger goodchild
During my 2009 visit to Thailand I went back to Ban Dung to meet up with some of the friends that I made on previous visits, when I visited my son Dean and girlfriend Lang at their Bar just a few kilometres outside Ban Dung called The Five Bell Bar. Today the bar is barely recognisable as it use to be, the frontage is taken up with stalls selling bags of salt, and I’m told that they do do some Thai food there, I don’t know first hand because after seeing it when passing on the bus, I have not been able to go back and see exactly what it is like. This change of use has come about because my son, unfortunately died in 2007 at just 40years old, and I believe that his girlfriends mother is either living there or is using it during the day for business.

I have arranged to meet up at another ex pats bar called Eddies Bar in Ban Dung,owned byEddie and Pin his wife.
Most of those I expected to meet were there some with their wives some without, those who were not there were back in UK or wherever. Much reminiscing about times past and several beers later I was taken to spend the night at a new hotel in Ban Dung, called MB mansion.

The hotel is owned by the widow of a friend of my son. The rooms are big and all have free Wi009 Fi, air conditioning, TV, small fridge,and toilet and shower.
They are very reasonably priced. You can have a small breakfast of eggs, bacon, tea/coffee and toast in the morning to start the day off

They have also got car and bike rentals available.
Contact details for MB Mansion:-mbmansion1@hotmail.com, 042 273859 Office, 081 5973936 Porn speaks English, 087 6123629 Sam

I never got to see much of the town during this stay but I do intend to go back and see what has changed.
A few weeks later and I have made it back to Ban Dung,I have already mentioned the changes to The Five Bell Bar, and the new Mb hotel The next big change that I notice is to the road into Ban Dung, it is much much wider now and a030 much better surface than it had 2-3 years ago. There have been some development work in the town, with new shops opened and one cafe that use to be on the corner near the bus station, that looks like it is closed down now, I had many early morning beers there while my Thai lady friend had her breakfast, if it had been there now I would join her in eating rather than drinking that early in the morning.
I found a shop that, although it has probably been there for several years, one or two had made mention of because over the years with the growth of the ex pats population the owner has been wise enough to start stocking a lot of more western type foodstuff to cater for them. One that has been mention more than most is the availability now of Weetabix, which seems to have a big following in Ban Dung. The prices are a bit higher than you would expect to pay in somewhere like Big C or Tesco Lotus but when you consider the cost of fuel to get to those places they don’t seem to be far out.
The next thing was to check out the ex pats bars that I know about, if there are any I miss out I am sorry.

The first one as you approach the town from Penn Road is Trent’s bar was one of those not at Eddies Bar the night I met old friends there, for obvious reasons, his bar is on the left hand side of the road directly opposite the Ban Dung Crown Prince Hospital, and benefits from this position by serving mainly Thai food for the nurses that frequent it, I haven’t, tried it yet but am reliably informed that they do a very nice Full English breakfast, The menu also includes burgher and chips, cheese burgher and chips for the less adventurous and a selection of drinks. I enjoyed the food, both Thai and Western, and it was all very reasonably priced.
Contact number for Trent’s Bar:-
081 0791171

along the road, also on the left hand side you come to Eddies Sport Bar, very with ex pats from in and around Ban Dung, I would class it as a drinking man’s bar, having said that I have eaten there on more than one occasion, and can recommend the Pie Chips and Mushy Peas, there are a good few other dishes on the menu, including English Breakfast, all at reasonable prices. Eddies also have rooms to rent at reasonable prices
As you would expect in a sport bar there is a lot of memorabilia and a pool table and UBC TV to watch live or reruns of special events.

Contact numbers for Eddies Bar:- 0854553646, 042 271034

gary.s Bar The third and last ex pats bar ,that I am aware of, is on Salt Road, on the left hand side opposite the filling station and is called Gary’s Bar and Restaurant. There are two menu’s at Gary’s one Thai Menu and one for the Western palate. Western food menu has a large range of pizza’s, which I heartily recommend, along with Chips in two portion sizes, burgher and chips, and of course the Traditional English Breakfast, again this comes in two portion sizes, with the best tasting sausages in town, allegedly.
The Thai food is highly recommended by one who knows. All of this very reasonably priced.
The atmosphere here seems very relaxed and friendly, with a mixture of nationalities amongst the regulars.

Contact number for Gary’s Bar and Restaurant:- 0890308729

I would say that Ban Dung is an expanding town and seems to be attracting more ex pats as a result.
There are one or two places of interest if you are staying around for a day or two:-

Kham Chanot

Wat Kham Chanot (Thai: วัดคำชะโนด) is a Buddhist temple near Ban Kham Chanot, Amphoe Ban Dung, Udon Thani Province in North eastern Thailand. It is located in the Wang Nakhin area at a lake where the Nāga, a mythical large snake, is supposed to be living.
Picture source”Work by User:Mattes
The Naga is an enormous serpent, often suggested to have seven heads. Buddhist iconography popularly depicts this mythical beast as a dragon-like water serpent, and at times we see the Buddha depicted as standing upon its head.

Nāga worship is one of the main issue in this small monastery. About ten monks live here permanently. It is believed that the snake has a hideaway on the island. It is connected to the other Wat premises by a bridge. The origins of the wat are located on the island.

A small zoo with turtles has been added to the monastery.
Opposite of the main temple building, a permanent (rural) market for visitors is provided.

In the modern physical world the Naga still claims a position. Once a year, for several days, pilgrims make their way to the banks of the Mekong River in North east Thailand to watch the ‘Naga Fire-balls’ emerge from that river This phenomena has been recorded and witnessed by many, and is as yet not adequately explained. Unless that is you are of the same ilk as those whom ascribe all U.F.O.’s to being air balloons and meteors, in which case you will be happy with the current explanation of swamp gas and fireworks. The observers, and other advocates, claim that the Naga lives in the Mekong and that it shoots these fireballs up out of the water.

Ban Chiang World Heritage Site

Legend has it that Ban Chiang was discovered by a clumsy American college student, who fell in the road of the present town of Ban Chiang, and found ceramics eroding out of the road bed. The first excavations at the site were conducted in 1967 by archaeologist Vidya Intakosai, and later by the Fine Arts Department in Bangkok and the University of Pennsylvania under the direction of Dr. Chester F. Gorman and Pisit Charoenwongsa have revealed evidence of prehistoric occupation beginning as early as 3600 B.C. and continuing until about A.D. 200.

The site is one of the largest prehistoric Bronze Age sites in this part of Thailand, measuring at least 8 hectares in size. Archaeological research at the site has revealed a fully developed Bronze Age metallurgy, but lacking the weaponry so often associated with it in Europe and the rest of the world."
article buy roger goodchild

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missing ban dung issan thailand

expat dreams and gripes
yes its comes to all of us after spending a few weeks our for those more lucky a couple of month's the trip to Thailand to see friends and family is never just long enough it makes you start to wonder why we do what we do i guess most people reading this will contact in some way with what i am saying



we spend are lives running round in circles to get to a ever elusive gole of living the ban dung issan expat dream getting a wad of money together to live out for some of us the golden years of are lives away from are homes in the west
are thai wifes our girlfriends spend years away from home trying mostly in vain to make so called big money in the west

i speak for myself when i say sometimes i wish i had a Thai passport no visa hassle no long waits at the laos border just being able to get on with your life maybe start a local based business seek out a simple living and enjoy life what comes my way do i really need to work my backside of in the uk to buy a big house big car then when i get all this i need a big bank balance to support my chosen lifestyle


anyway ban dung may be a Thai backwater but it beats living in the UK hands down that is for sure with this year been more our less a totally right of maybe i should take a year out
ok gripe over i need to get back to working on my new website
Thai expat info
that should keep me out of trouble
ok readers you seem to come from all over the world come on quick comment
where are you from when do you plan to retire

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ban dung dangerous

it comes as no surprise that even in ban dung issan Thailand you can place yourself in harms way throw no fault of your own yesterday i met a gentleman from ban chiang area the world heritage site who while sleeping was awaken buy intruders who viciously beet him around the head with a steel bar at least 4 times the guy managed to keep upright blood soaked and the burglar ran away

the police have yet to catch the person falangs are i guess presumed to be big money targets in Thailand i would surget that wherever you stay you put some security measures in place and if your home is burgled you do not attempt to confront them yourself here are a few suggestions of my own feel free to comment and add your own

1= have a designated room in your home  preferably your bedroom which can be used as a safe room the door and hinges should be heavy duty a five lever lock and 2 large door bolts fitted as standard

2= windows steel security grills should be fitted to this room and preferably the whole house our at least the rear of your house if your home is round faceing street lighting and the screw heads used should be rounded of our a dot of weld applied

3= outside lights are inexpensive to fit motion detectors can be fitted but make sure power cables are routed from within your prpotey if possible

4= don't keep large amounts of cash and gold at home and make sure your wallet and house and car keys are kept out of view a fireproof safe is relatively inexpensive and a safe place to keep you wallet and passport the hassle and of losing these items can far out way the cost of fitting a safe to your safe room

follow some simple rules and greatly lower the chances of becoming a victim and don't forget Thailand is far safer then Europe our north America so don't become paranoid but don't become complacent  these 4 steps can be put in place anywhere in the world your feedback welcome especially if you have your own ideas for personnel security

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ban dung issan high speed internet shops

if your looking to find decent internet speed in ban dung then here are the places i have used over the last year our two / things have changed for the better in ban dung the shop below is very close to the Thai farmer bank if your directly in front of the bank

walk to your right take the first left road turning and this shop is within sight on the right side of the road as all the shops look alike here are a couple of photos i paid 20 baht for a hour and used my laptop via lan cable its the same price to use there computers with sleek screens and very comfy seating

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contact details = parninternet@hotmail.com  240/6 srisuttho bandung udopnthani A1190 tel=042-271200 mobile-0850085828

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ban dung issan Thailand bars restaurants

eddies bar ban dung offer a large open sided seating area and terrace they do a decent breakfast just what you need to set yourself up for the day eddies bar open around 9 am till past my bedtime so you should always be able to get a beer early our late and if you don't fancy the drive home then you can rent a room from 350 baht per night for short our long term with the centre of ban dung near everything is within walking distance if you go to ban dung for the first time its certainly worth a stop 

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garys bar ban dung is just on the edge of town drive out past the bus station towards the salt flats and just about 100 meters round the corner on your left you will find a very well presented bar and restaurant run bye himself and wife the breakfast was excellent best sausage i have hate on this holiday so far the bar is set back a little from the road directly over from a petrol station so you can fill your bike and belly up at the same time good luck Gary

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trents Thai and falang food over the road from ban dung hospital you will find a great little restaurant popular with the nursing staff and local Thais they also do a western style breakfast and beer at Thai prices other western dishes include cheese toasties and burger and chips if you need to beat the credit crunch then this place should it the spot see photo album to help you get your bearings

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